After Auguste

Chapter 16 - She's the one

Chapter 16: She's the one

We were greeted at my grandmother’s door with hugs and kisses. Claire was welcomed in as if she were a long lost relative reuniting with her real family for the first time. It was nice to see. Behind her smile, though, there was a kind of sadness that lingered. One that would take years to rid of and months to notice. An incurable jealousy over my family. You could see it in the glistening of her eyes and the slight waver in her smile. She wanted something like this more then she’s ever wanted something before.

“Claire Walker, what a lovely name,” my grandmother remarked. Claire just blushed and giggled a little. She seemed nervous with being in the spotlight for too long and my grandmother’s constant admiration was making her uncomfortable. My grandfather let out a low chuckle and pulled my grandmother away from Claire. “You have such beautiful eyes, darling,” my grandma complimented. 

“Honey, you’re making the poor child uncomfortable,” my grandfather laughed. 

“Oh shush, Billy. You know nothing,” my grandmother retorted, but she went against her words and left Claire alone, leaning further back into her husband. “I’m Heather by the way.” Claire smiled politely before looking towards me, shifting her weight so that her duffel wasn’t sitting on the floor. My grandmother’s eyes shot towards Claire at her slight movement and immediately tutted at my grandfather. “You didn’t show Claire her room?”

“Darling, I can’t do more than one thing at a time.”

“No excuse, Billy. You’re always so full of excuses,” she joked. My grandfather turned her around and kissed her quickly before turning to us and nodding his head for us to follow. Claire looked at the floor as she maneuvered behind us through the house until we arrived at the guest bedroom. 

“Here we are. Help her get settled in while I go unpack the groceries I just got. Then you can go put your stuff in your room, Grayson.” He smiled at the both of us before turning and dashing away, most likely to go make sure his wife hadn’t touched anything in the kitchen. One fact was for certain about my grandmother: she couldn’t cook for the life of her. 

“Your grandparents are wonderful,” Claire praised while she set her duffel down on her bed. She pulled out her toiletry bag and set it near the door alongside her shoes. Then she got out her phone charger and plugged it into the wall.

“Yeah, they’re pretty great,” I agreed. The tension was still thick between us, but it had died down a bit since we had arrived. She seemed lost in her own little world as she hummed quietly to herself, taking out various items and placing them on the tiny night stand next to her bed. I just stood in the doorway, watching. I didn’t know what to say. Eventually, Claire turned back to me and gave me a small, hesitant smile.

“Where’s your room?” she asked softly, wary of the tension that was between us. I motioned with my head to the attic stairs that resided close to her room. She followed behind me as I climbed up and opened the door. The musty smell brought back memories. Some memories that I wished to keep in my brain until the day I died, and some I would rather have forgotten. Thinking back to the last time I was here, I realized that that had been during the time that Auguste had ruined me. Now I was back again, but this time with someone else. Someone who had helped me get over Auguste and her heartbreaking ways. “Wow,” came Claire’s quiet murmur of amazement. Littering the walls of the attic were baby photos of me. Both of my parents holding me and smiling. One of my in a suit at one of my father’s dinner parties for his firm. A couple more photos were of Cole and I when we had been in middle school. My shaggy, Justin-Bieber cut had my brown hair falling in front of my eyes. Cringing I looked away. Those were not my most attractive days. Claire’s eyes trailed the walls, letting the images sink in and stick in her prying mind. I collapsed onto the bed and let out a sigh. No words were exchanged for the minutes that followed. Claire followed the endless trail of photos while I watched her, trying to figure out the enigma that she was. She was unsolvable in most things, but I would try and crack her code. I would eventually. Maybe she could crack mine.