A Love Like Ours

16. Grandparent's Day

Macie groaned from the dining room when Jay pointed down at the piece of paper in front of her, reminding her she needed to carry on with her homework and not let Alfie distract her. They had been sat at the table ten minutes already and she had only done half of her homework - which was just to spell the five words they had learned during the week three times over each - and Jay could feel himself starting to get impatient because she couldn't hold her concentration on it long enough to write more than one word at a time.

It didn't help her focus when Hailey called her name out from the kitchen as she dug through the girl's rucksack, collecting any stray paper that might have been shoved in there over the week. Hailey lifted out the flyer and unfolded it.

"What's this?" She asks her daughter as she skimmed her eyes over it.

Macie looked up to see what her mother was referring to before she nodded her head, remembering the flyer she had been given two days prior before leaving for her Thanksgiving weekend.

"It's for my class's Grandparent's Day."

Hailey had read that on the front of the flyer and she couldn't help but feel this was the universe's way of reminding her she still had to make her mind up about what she was going to do with her parents following her mother's out-of-the-blue invite yesterday. She continues to read over the information on the front and she can't help her eyebrows knit together in confusion.

'Calling all grandparents! Today is the day all about you! Our kindergarteners are requesting you come and put your feet up while we celebrate you in all your amazing grandparent-ness. 29th November @ 4:20pm'

Hailey rolled her eyes slightly as she placed the flyer down and continued with her task digging through the contents of Macie's backpack in case there was any school letters she would need to read. As she is zipping it back up again, she hears Macie pipe up from behind her.

"Do we get to go to Grandparent's Day?"

Her voice makes Hailey turn on her heels so that she's facing the table and she watches as Jay shakes his head softly.

"You've gotta bring a grandparent, haven't you?" He asks despite knowing the answer.

She doesn't respond to his question anyway and completely slides past it, bringing up another issue. "Who are my grandparents?" She wonders.

They weren't surprised she was asking, it had been almost two years since the last time she saw Hailey's parents and she had never met Jay's, but it still felt like a gut-punch to both of them when she had to ask who they were.

Jay leaned his chin down toward her, lowering his voice down with it. "Well my mom and dad are both in heaven, they both died a while ago-"

Macie cut in, swiftly moving forward. "But what about Momma's mom and dad?" She asks.

Jay sighs. "It's complicated." He replies, just hoping she would let it go at that and not ask further questions.

She seemed to at first and she writes down another couple of her words before she brought the subject back up again with a slump in her shoulders. "But all my other friends have grandparents."

He bobs his head. "I know, Mae, it's just one of those things," he says before tapping the table again to change the subject. "C'mon, you've only got three more words to write and then you're all done so keep going." He instructs and she does as she's told, finishing up her words before grinning up at her father when he lets her get down from the table and return to what she was doing before she got called to do her homework.