“Just the three of us.”
Willow was his new girlfriend, a sharp-boned young woman in her late twenties with crystals hanging from her ears and a voice that always sounded like she was humming some tune only she could hear. “Why would you want me tagging along?” I asked him, suspicious. “Because I love you, Grandma,” he said, flashing that smile that used to melt my heart when he was seven years old.
“And besides, it’ll be way cheaper if we all travel together. Split the costs, you know? Make it affordable for everyone.”
There it was.
Cheaper.
That was the real reason he wanted me there. But I was so desperate for a connection with him that I ignored that warning bell in my head and said yes. I packed my small suitcase with my medications, my comfortable shoes, and the nice cardigan Marianne had given me years ago.
I thought maybe this trip could be a chance to reconnect with my grandson. We drove down to Charleston on a Friday afternoon. When we finally arrived after four hours of driving, I expected us to pull up to a hotel, maybe something modest but clean with a comfortable bed.
Instead, we pulled up to a rundown apartment building in a shady neighborhood. “This is where we’re staying?” I asked. “It belongs to one of my spiritual brothers,” Tyler explained as he pulled our bags from the trunk.
“He’s letting us crash here for the weekend. Way better than wasting money on some corporate hotel, right?”
The apartment was small, cluttered with crystals and incense burners, and nothing like the cozy getaway I had imagined when I agreed to this trip. My heart sank, but I kept my mouth shut.
“Just for the weekend, Grandma,” Tyler said quickly when he caught the look on my face. “Hotels are a total waste of money. This is authentic, you know?
Real living.”
Inside the apartment, I noticed there were two bedrooms. Tyler and Willow immediately claimed one, and when I peeked through the doorway, I saw a wide bed in the center and, tucked in the corner near the window, a smaller single bed that looked perfectly suitable for me. My heart lifted with relief.
“Oh, good, there’s space for me in here. I can take that little bed by the window.”
Tyler’s expression changed instantly. “Uh, no, Grandma.
That won’t work. Willow and I need our energy protected during sleep. You know, with the smell and the snoring and everything.”
At that point, I knew what he meant.
They didn’t want an old woman ruining their romantic weekend. I was just there to help split the cost of gas. Instead of giving me the spare bed or even offering me the couch I’d spotted in the living room, Tyler walked to the hallway closet and pulled out a thin yoga mat that was barely thicker than a towel.
He unrolled it right there on the hardwood floor in the narrow hallway between the two bedrooms. “Here you go. You’ll be totally fine, Grandma,” he said.
“You’re strong, always have been. Plus, sleeping on the floor is actually really good for your spine. And you might even absorb some positive energy from being grounded.
It’s a spiritual thing.”
