Summer of '65 (Bishop Family Book 1) by Brooke St. James

Author:Brooke St. James [St. James, Brooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue House Press
Published: 2017-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Maw-maw didn't end up making squash casserole like I thought she had. The menu was stuffed chicken and fried eggplant, and she was patiently waiting over the frying pan, watching one batch of eggplant when we came into the kitchen.

My grandpa had passed away when I was younger, and my grandma never remarried. She had always been really independent. On the days when we ate lunch at her house, she would leave church a little early so she could get home and begin heating everything up, she was in the middle of doing just that.

Maw-maw took to Michael right away. She had no idea he had just brought me over there on a motorcycle—let alone one that he built. She didn't ask him what it was he did for a living, and neither of us brought it up. We laughed and talked to her, and she fed Michael samples, which he gladly accepted. He went on and on about how much he liked the eggplant.

We were there for about ten minutes before Alice showed up with my brother and two other young people from church. There was also another older couple that my parents had invited, and this brought the grand total of guests at lunch to nine. Maw-maw fried five batches of eggplant, and there wasn't a single, solitary morsel of it left by the time we all finished eating.

Michael was a gentleman. He didn't know all of the ways and customs of people in the south, but he was adaptable, and he had no problem getting along with everyone and pretending he didn’t notice my dad's appraising stares. My grandma had a batch of bread pudding with caramel sauce, and we made a big deal about Michael trying it since it was his first experience with bread pudding of any sort.

He ate it and reacted the way any grandmother would love, with a look of genuine amazement at how good it tasted. My grandma was as charmed as I was.

My dad was cordial to Michael.

That was the most accurate way I could describe his behavior. He was cordial. He wasn't overly friendly, but he also wasn't cold—maybe somewhere in the mid-to-cold section. I honestly didn’t even pay attention to my dad. I just did my thing and let him act how he wanted to act.

Michael answered a few questions about motorcycles, but they came later, after we had already eaten lunch and talked about lots of other things. It was my little brother who finally asked Michael about his motorcycles, and Michael ended up answering several questions about it from Jacob and others. My dad didn't say anything. He just sat there and listened.

"Aww, awwww, goodness Maw-mawww, what do you feed him? Awwww." Jacob held his hand over his face, looking down at Duke like he should be ashamed of himself. He fanned the air in front of him. "You need to go outside, boy."

"Don't fan it over here," my mom said, causing us all to laugh.

Maw-maw clapped her hands.

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