“Dean Torkelson,” William acknowledged her.
“Badgering the locals again, William?” she asked.
I held back a laugh.
“Dean, it’s so nice to see you again,” I said, hugging her.
“Beverly,” she insisted, and I couldn’t help the grin that took over my face because she hadn’t told William to call her by her first name.
“Can I go play, Grandma?” Wesley asked.
“Of course, sweetie,” Beverly said, and the boy took off running.
“Elsa will be by to pick Pastore up later,” William said, heading for the door.
The dean didn’t acknowledge him, but her eyes flitted in his direction as she loud-whispered to Tristan, “I’m not supposed to say a peep, because the formal announcement isn’t until tomorrow, but congratulations, the board chose your mural for the theater lobby.”
William’s feet stalled, and Tristan’s mouth fell open. “What?”
Beverly chuckled. “You won the grand prize, my dear. The mural is absolutely stunning.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but if they were talking about the same mural as I suspected, I knew what it meant to Tristan. She wouldn’t just give it away when it was her memories of her grandmother.
Beverly was still talking to us, but her eyes were on William again. “Whatever are you going to do with the hundred thousand dollars you won?”
Then, she walked away, following her grandson toward the play structure and the laughing children and leaving a stunned silence in her wake.
My urge for Rocky cheers was coming back. I wouldn’t have held back at all if I’d had Tristan’s assurance that she wasn’t giving up on us. It would have made the wins of the day complete.
William, however, was not of the same mindset. He stood exactly as Beverly had left him, and a quiet rage took over his face. He looked back at Tristan. “Good luck with the store. I have a feeling you’ll be closed before the year is out. You can’t sustain it the way it is. This town doesn’t need a music store anymore.”
His cold words stabbed me in the heart, and if they did that to me, I knew they were torturing Tristan even more. I stepped between them. “Like I said before, this isn’t the time or place.”
William looked around at the eyes we were drawing. Not everyone was paying attention to the conversation, but Nash had suddenly become aware of our rigid stances and was stalking over.
William saw it as well, turned sharply, and left.
I breathed out a sigh, giving Nash my bestEverything’s finelook so he’d stay away and I could talk to Tristan again.
“Are you okay?” I asked quietly, assembling the baskets I’d helped her collect.
She nodded, but I knew her well enough, that the nod was hiding her real mix of emotions.
“You gave away Elana’s mural?” I asked. I didn’t intend for it to be an accusation as much as deep sorrow that she was giving away the thing that had gotten her through her grief. The art that represented her grandmother in all her forms. On top of that, I was pretty sure it was worth way more than the hundred thousand she was getting for it.
She raised her chin, slightly defiant. “I didn’t give it away. I entered it in their contest.”
“You didn’t have to do it for the money,” I said, voice lowering a notch with worry.
“The money was only part of it. This was also about the mural…about Grams.”
“We would have found another way.”
She glanced around the yard one more time before whispering, “Stop trying to save me.”
Then, she grabbed the baskets and walked away, distributing them to the kids so they could search for the eggs she’d hidden. The ones she, Hannah, and I had spent an evening filling. It had been the start of something. I’d felt it in my bones.
I needed to talk to her. I needed to make her see that this thing between us was too big to yield just because of one shitty comment from one shitty human being. But just like the party wasn’t the place for William’s conversation, it wasn’t the place for our conversation either. I’d have to hold on to it until I could get her alone and make her see how muchmoreshe too deserved out of life. Until I could prove to her that the way we filled the gaps and holes and missing parts of each other was meant to be.
