The Best Thing

No vampire has ever been loved as much as you, Grandpa Gus. Tell my dad I said hi.

“If you’re reading this, none of y’all better be crying. I’m not kidding. Not a single tear. But if you really need to, it’s okay. I would miss me too.”

I could barely understand what the hell I was saying as I muttered, “Are you telling me to go? To go be with him across the fucking world and leave you?” I hiccupped. “How the hell could you tell me that? How could you tell me to not be with you and see you and…”

Those strong, safe arms—the strongest, safest arms I had ever known for the majority of my life—didn’t let me down. They cradled me. They loved me. They adored me right then, as my grandpa said, “I’m telling you to go live your life, Len. I’m telling you to go be happy. That’s what I’m telling you to do.” Those hands of his palmed my face and pulled me back just far enough away so he could look right into my eyes. “And who the hell says you’re leaving us behind? Jonah invited us to come along too. My bag has been packed for weeks.”

“Some people are lucky to find one person in the world to love. Some people are even luckier to find more than one person to love and be loved back. Some don’t find anyone. If you find someone, you don’t let them run away. We love them the way we need to love them. The way they need to be loved. And we don’t give up on that. We don’t throw that kind of thing away or push it to a better time, because there is no better time. If you love that kid the way you say you do, you don’t give that up. You fight for it, you stick with it, and you go for it. You keep it.”

A million times in my life, I had thought that I couldn’t love my grandfather more than I did right then, and every single time that was proved to be a lie.

“But Maio House is our family legacy.”

The old fart rolled his eyes even as he smiled. “Maio House is our family business, Len. You, Mo, you two are our family legacy.”

“I would fight to the death for you, Len. You were—” He smiled at me before correcting himself. “You are my everything. My soul mate. My best friend. My enemy.”

He stared at me, and I stared at him.

For a minute.

For two.

Finally, out of fucking nowhere, he beamed at me.

And that scared the fuck out of me.

As I sat there, worried and alarmed by the fact him smiling made him look like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, he reached forward—scaring the shit out of me again—and cupped my cheeks in his hands.

Yeah, that kicked it up to me being basically terrified.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He reached up and tugged on my earlobe. “Other than you being a sad little shit.”

I laughed, a tiny bit of relief sliding over my shoulders. “I’m not sad.”

“But you are a little shit?” Grandpa smiled.

“It runs in the family.”

“Yeah, on your mom’s side,” he replied.

“Yeah?” he replied, those golden-brown eyes sparkling, or at least to me, it seemed like they were.