Scarlet and Diesel found everyone at the food-filled formal dining room table… even Granny. Scarlet's body jittered with excitement because that meant somebody had gone upstairs, helped Granny into her wheelchair, wheeled her downstairs, and helped her into a dining room chair. Somebody who wasn't Diesel. She couldn't stop thinking that Diesel's cousin and aunt were the solution to all her problems.

She didn't want to start drooling at the sight of them, so she looked at the hideous green and brown wallpaper. The dining room's dust could have filled an urn. Cobwebs covered the gaudy chandelier, and only a few dim lights burned. She had visions of bugs falling down and into the food below.

"We don't usually sit in here," Granny said breaking the silence. She wore her hair pinned up in a bun but had on one of her standard over-sized, flowery gowns. The funeral was the only time Scarlet had ever seen Granny wear anything else. She had been a spectacle, thick rimmed black hat with black veil and all.

"It's fine, Grans," Diesel said. "Thanks for dinner, Aunt Lucy."

"It's a little early for dinner," Granny grumbled. "Who has dinner at such a ridiculous hour?"

"Why thank you, Diesel."

Scarlet smiled at Aunt Lucy. Not only can she cook and handle the wheelchair, she can handle Granny perfectly fine, too.

"The chicken is overdone," Granny said. "Augustus will you go get me some water?"

Scarlet didn't mind when Diesel jumped up and ran to the kitchen because the thought that it wouldn't be happening for much longer brought her peace and happiness. "We haven't formally met," Scarlet said to Lucy. "I'm Scarlet Hawkins."

"So nice to meet you. I'm Lucy, and this is Aiden."

"You're a great cook."

"Thank you."

Aiden grabbed the serving fork and stuck it into a piece of chicken, which sat on a plate in the middle of the table.

Granny said, "I wouldn't do that."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Aiden held up the thigh, offering it to her. "Did you want it?"

Granny squinted and licked her lips. "If you take the last piece of food from a serving platter, you will never marry."

Aiden glanced at his mom, who gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. He put the chicken back on the plate.

Amused, Scarlet grabbed the chicken with her hand. "Well," she said, taking a huge bite. "If you ask me, marriage is overrated." She felt Granny's disapproval and loved it. She winked at Aiden. Obviously impressed, he grinned as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes.

Diesel came back into the room with a glass of water, placing it in front of Granny.

"Stellar dinner, really." Scarlet stood before Diesel had a chance to sit back down. "Please excuse us." She ignored Diesel's confused and questioning face, and she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the dining room and upstairs to his room before she answered any of his questions.

Once inside his room, she went to his closet, found a backpack, and started pulling clothes off of hangers.

"Scarlet! What the hell are you doing?"

Next, she went to his chest-of-drawers and took out his underwear and socks and added these to the bag.

"Answer me!"

"This is your chance. Don't you see? Let them do it. Let them take care of her. Look, if you stay here, they're going to leave, and you'll be stuck here, forever. She's probably going to outlive you, too. Do you want to be stuck here forever?"

"No, but the letter said…"

She stared at him. "Diesel, your mom…" She stopped and rethought her strategy. The last thing she wanted to do was put him back in defense mode. She wanted to say the letter was bull, and his mom was completely off her rocker. Instead, she took a breath, smiled, and said, "Your aunt and cousin are not going to leave a helpless old lady by herself. They're very nice, naïve people. You'll be leaving Granny in very capable hands. They'll be fine and can take better care of her than you."

"I've already paid for next semester."

She fought to ignore the twinge of guilt. Maybe asking Diesel to leave after he had been accepted to Notre Dame wasn't fair; he had been so thrilled. But this was an opportunity they couldn't pass up. "We'll use the money you got from your mom to get us started. I'm sure other universities have just as good biochemistry departments. You didn't even look to see what was out there. This is your chance."

"I'm actually happy with—"

"And wherever you pick is fine with me, as long as it's not in Indiana. I'll go check myself into the nearest high school. I only have the one semester left." She wasn't planning on going back to school if she left Kingwood, but she didn't want to give Diesel an excuse not to leave. She would tell him later, when it was too late to turn back. "I'm doing this for us… Don't you love me, Diesel? Don't you want to be with me?"

He growled and huffed a couple of times but nothing dramatic; he seemed to be thinking it over. "Okay," he finally said.

She smiled. "Okay. I have to stop by my house and grab a couple of things." She threw the bag to Diesel, and he caught it.

They walked out of the room and into the hall. Diesel said, "I need to get something from the kitchen first. In case…."

When he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, she knew it had something to do with his mother. "Whatever," she said. "Just hurry."


All the cabinet doors stood wide open when they entered the kitchen. "Your aunt's a bit of a slob," Scarlet said and started to close one of the doors.

"I opened those." Diesel put his hand on hers, stopping her from closing it. She started to ask why, and why his aunt Lucy hadn't shut them while she cooked dinner, but instead she put her hands up and backed away.

Diesel rummaged through a couple more drawers, finally bringing out a piece of paper. He walked through the kitchen and into the dining room. Scarlet followed. Setting the paper on the table in front of Lucy, he said, "Make these every day… every day for Grans. Don't forget. You understand?"

She frowned and shook her head no.

"Just do it," he said and glanced at Aiden. "I'm out of here." He walked to Granny and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry. I'll call you later."

Scarlet followed Diesel out of the room. Even though she heard Lucy behind them asking them to wait, they hurried through the front door without looking back.