He remained silent and kept his gaze fixed on the now closed elevator doors.
“She may be easier to handle if I am there,” I said. I wasn’t sure of this, but she seemed very fond of my gran and I was thinking like a woman here.
His shoulders rose and fell with another heavy sigh. He hung his head forward and for a moment, he didn’t look like the guy from a coastal vacation commercial. He looked like a guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Okay, you’re right.” When he lifted his head, he finally looked at me. There was no gleam in his eyes or smile on his lips. Only fear and weariness. My chest ached and emotion began to stir inside me. This wasn’t new for him and I didn’t know how long he had lived this over and over again. From the look on his face though, I would guess more times than he could count.
I didn’t say anything more. He may not want me to help but he needed me. This wasn’t about his hot and cold behavior toward me. At this moment, I didn’t care about that. He needed help and I was possibly the only person he had that could be of use in this situation.
The elevator doors opened and he held out his hand for me to exit first. I did so then waited for him to join me in the parking deck. “Let’s take my car. There’s more room for all of us,” I said, thinking about his truck.
“I have her keys,” he said and pulled out a key fob. A sleek black Tesla’s headlights came on that was parked in the reserved spot directly to our left. “I can’t trust her with the keys,” he said simply then headed for the car.
I followed him then had to pause when I couldn’t figure out how to open the passenger door. Saul looked at me over his door as it slid up slowly. He said nothing but walked over and opened the door for me. “Get in,” he said and I did as I was told. He closed my door behind me before going back to the driver’s side.
We drove out of the parking deck and out the gate onto the main road. He didn’t say anything and I didn’t ask questions. When he turned right at the light and headed out of town and toward the Florida state line, I wondered exactly how far we were going. Lily didn’t have access to her car so how far could she have gone? Did she have friends that would have come to get her? I wanted to ask, but Saul probably didn’t want to answer my questions at the moment or ever.
“Lily loved Honey,” he said.
I looked at him, waiting to see if he said more but he didn’t.
“How did Gran know Lily?” I asked him since he brought the topic up.
“Honey brought snacks to the local AA meetings. Every other day, she was there with cookies, cupcakes, chips, and lemonade. About five years ago, Lily went on a bender and missed two meetings. Honey showed up at the gate of the Hendrix and I found her trying to talk security into letting her inside. She was there to check on Lily. She went with me to find her.” He stopped and glanced at me a moment. “Like you.”
Of course, my gran would take snacks and drinks to an AA meeting when she had never once needed to go to one herself. That was just like Gran. Always helping others. Always looking for ways to better the world. Always trying to “fix the bullshit.”
My tears stung thinking of Gran, but I blinked them away. Crying was not what Saul needed right now. He needed me to be Gran. I would never be the woman Gran was, but I would do everything in my power to help him and Lily.
“I miss her,” I said.
“Yeah, so do I,” Saul replied.
We may never be friends and tomorrow he could go right back to disliking me and being rude, but right now, none of that mattered. Gran was still here fixing things it seemed. Even from the grave.
Saul crossed the state line and immediately turned left down a narrow street then pulled into the parking lot of a run-down bar. It was built from cement blocks with three flashing beer lights in the windows. The open sign blinked off several seconds then back on as if it wasn’t sure it wanted to work or not. Only three cars were in the parking lot.
Saul glanced over at me. “If you don’t want to go in there I understand,” he said.
“I’m going, I just need you to open my door,” I replied because there was no way I wasn’t going to go inside and help him with Lily. That was why I was here. I just wasn’t going in if he didn’t get me out of this futuristic fancy vehicle.