Episode 883: Grandpa?

When Enid returned, she handed Tansy the lemonade and took the seat beside her. “I wasn’t sure if you felt like eating or what you might want so I just picked a bunch of stuff, the tiny cups are some kind of cold soup, I don’t know if that’s comforting for sick people like hot soup...”

“Thanks,” Tansy said. “I’m sorry I’m being such a downer.”

“You can’t help it if you’re not feeling well.” Enid scrunched up her face suddenly feeling horribly guilty. “I really wanted you to be here, but maybe we should call your parents to come get you, I mean, I don’t know if mine can leave since they’re supposed to be networking or whatever, but yours are home, right, so-”

“No, no, don’t call them, please. It’s not that bad.”

“Are you sure?” Enid leaned close and pressed a hand to Tansy’s forehead. She didn’t feel any warmer than anyone else on a sunny summer day. She didn’t look much paler than usual, either. “Um, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not saying this to be mean, but are you really sick? I mean, physically? You seem more like you’re nervous, like how I am a lot of the time in situations like this, you know, with crowds and talking to strangers, that’s partly why I wanted you to come, I thought I’d be more relaxed with a friend, but if you’re too nervous to stay, I totally get it, there’s a ton of people...”

“It’s just two people who have me nervous, well, four if you include my parents.” Tansy finally confessed that this was her grandparents’ garden party and neither they nor her parents knew she was here, and her mom was estranged from them. “I really wanted to come with you today, it’s always fun with you, it’s just that now that I’m here, I’m just kind of hiding out I guess because I’m afraid, I mean, I just don’t want them to kick me out or something, especially not in front of a friend.”

“I bet they’d actually be happy to so see you. C’mon, it sounds like this stuff has gone on way too long between them and your mom, and it’s stressing you out so maybe we can fix it.”

“I don’t know, I don’t want them to be mad at me, or my mom to get all upset if she finds out it went bad for me or for you to see how messed up-”

“The messed up stuff is what friends are for,” Enid insisted. “C’mon, I’ll go with you to say hello. It won’t be as bad as you think.”

Enid was close to her grandparents, she honestly couldn’t imagine that Tansy’s grandparents wouldn’t welcome her with the hugs she needed from them. They spotted Tansy’s granddad at one of the refreshment tables and Enid thought she’d done a good thing by tugging Tansy over there. But, after Tansy hesitantly said, “hi,” to him, Enid wasn’t sure who looked more shattered, Tansy, when her granddad asked “do I know your parents, dear?” or was the granddad more shattered when Tansy replied, “my mom is your daughter, dear.”

Episode 884: Denial