count on me (l.h)

"it makes so much sense"

chapter twenty: it makes so much sense

MONDAY AFTERNOON. After fully gathering myself, I let my grandparents know that we were leaving to head their way. The drive took almost a full hour, but it was nice to have a mini road trip with Luke. We drove with the windows down and the radio playing. It was perfectly relaxing after my stressful morning.

Luke had convinced me to let him drive my car—he said that he missed driving while on tour, so I couldn't turn down his request. Plus, I hadn't been in the mood for driving so it was probably a good thing he had asked to do so instead.

I told Luke to take one last right turn, into the driveway of my grandparent's house.

"Holy shit—your grandparent's live in a mansion." Luke drove up the driveway slowly, leaning closer to the steering wheel as he observed the estate. "I'm not surprised but I also had no idea what to expect."

"My grandma's from old money and her taste is very expensive. This place was hers at birth," I told Luke with a slight roll of my eyes. "My grandpa always wanted to live in the lucky house, you see. But my grandma didn't like its vibes."

"How Selma of her," Luke joked, yet was spot on. I was glad he was catching onto things so easily.

Luke parked in the cul-de-sac driveway, after making a couple comments about how he'd always been envious of cul-de-sac driveways, and then we got out.

"I cannot get over the size of this fountain," Luke gleamed once we were both out of the cars, after we had closed our doors.

"It's been there for my whole life and I still can't," I told him through a scoff as I waited for him to meet me at the front of the car. "You should see the size of the pool in the back. My grams had three slides installed when we were younger."

"I can't believe you grew up like this," Luke said, shaking his head slowly as his hand found mine. "It's just the opposite from what I'd expect... this seems so beyond you. In the best way. I know we've talked about you wanting nothing to do with all of it, but if I didn't know anything about you personally, I'd still know that this doesn't interest you."

"I can't express how happy that makes me," I told Luke, truthfully. Say what you will about wealth, but I have never found it nearly as luxurious as it seems.

Hand-in-hand, we walked up the steps to the front door before ringing the doorbell. Not surprisingly, my grandma's assistant Lettie opened the door for us with a kind smile. She had been working for my grandma since I was just a kid, so it was always nice to see her. I instantly wrapped my arms around her and she laughed as she hugged me back, giving me a mighty squeeze despite her small size.