“You obviously needed the rest. You didn’t get your nap yesterday.”
Great. More ammunition for him when he insisted that she nap.
“Can I see one of the albums?” she asked to distract him.
He handed over a pale blue one that was obviously a baby album. “Here. You’ll like this one.”
She opened the first page and started to giggle at the baby she spotted in the first photo. His face was screwed up and red, he was obviously wailing. “This is you?”
He blushed. “Um yes. Grandma always said that I came into the world screaming my lungs out, letting everyone know I was displeased with my new accommodations.”
She went through the photos. “You were such a cute baby.”
“You think so?” He peeked over her shoulder then placed his hand down on the photo she’d been studying. “Hey, no looking at my nudie photos.”
“But they’re so cute,” she crooned.
There were photos of him with a young woman that had his hair and eyes. Sometimes his dad appeared, he was usually glaring into the camera as though he’d been dragged into the photo. And never once was he holding Macca.
A number of the photos were with a younger Penny. Gigi ran her finger over one where she stood in a floral dress. A tall, handsome man stood next to her, his hand on her shoulder as he stared down at her adoringly. Macca, who looked to be about two and was adorably chubby, clung to her hand.
“That was my grandfather,” Macca told her, pointing to the handsome man. “He died when I was three, I don’t really remember him but my nan loved him. She never even looked at another man.”
“The way he’s staring at her, it’s easy to see he loved her too.”
“Yeah. Not sure how they managed to raise an asshole like my dad.”
She reached for his hand, squeezing it gently. “I’m so sorry she’s gone, Macca.”
“Me too. But at least I know she’s with my grandfather. She missed him horribly.”
Gigi placed the photo album down and moving on instinct, climbed into his lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. He buried his face in her shoulder, like he had yesterday. Only this time, she felt the hot splash of tears against her neck. She didn’t say anything, just held him tighter and let him grieve.
“She was a great woman,” she whispered to him.
“The best. She was the best. I’ll never forget her.”
“Neither of us will. I promise.”
19
She sat on the porch, staring out at the ocean.
Today had been hard. Yet beautiful at the same time. It was her first funeral. Well, that she could remember anyway. Her grandparents had died when she was young, but she didn’t remember that.
Saying goodbye had been hard, but the ceremony itself had been beautiful. So many people had come to pay their respects and it had shown her how many lives Penny had touched.
Today was the first time they’d seen Macca’s father since Penny had died. They’d had to put on a pretense with everyone around. She knew it had been extremely difficult for Macca to act like he was on good terms with him after everything his father did, but he managed it. Even if he had been kind of cool and detached all day.
She couldn’t blame him for that. She stood with a sigh and stepped down off the porch onto the grass below. She walked barefoot through the strands. She still didn’t know what she would do when she left here. The reading of the will was in two days, something that was a little unusual now, but apparently Penny requested it that way. And she’d wanted Gigi there. She had no idea why except maybe Penny had left her some jewelry or something. It would be nice to have some small token to remember her by.
She just didn’t want to think about what came after that. She hadn’t had time to think about a job or getting a new place to live.
And she really didn’t want to think about saying goodbye to Macca.
“Gigi? Gigi, where are you?”
She turned at his voice and stepped down on something sharp. A cry of pain escaped her lips before she could contain it and she dropped onto her bottom, grabbing at her foot and turning it towards her. That’s when she saw the wasp lying in the grass. Obviously, it had stung her.