Chapter 26, enjoy! Only one chapter this update, this story has taken a backseat to One Beer and Painfully Personal, so my apologies to you all. One Beer is complete and I am still coming up with ideas for a sequel, so this story is higher up on my list now.
"Flight 123 to Austin now boarding, Flight 123 to Austin now boarding," Someone went over the intercom at the airport. Matt was flight 123 to Austin. He gathered his bags from the seat in the waiting area and headed towards the gate. All of his belongings fit in three large suitcases. He had sold all of his furniture and all most of his belongings, excluding some clothes, to purchase his plane ticket. He went through the security check and boarded the plane.
The three hour plane ride was uneventful. Matt got off the plane in Austin and got a taxi to Dillon. When he arrived in Dillon, he noticed not much had changed. He arrived at his grandma's house and paid the taxi. He walked up the old porch of his Grandma's rundown house and rang the doorbell. A woman in purple scrubs with brown hair that was braided in long French braids opened the door.
"Can I help you?" She asked Matt.
"Yes ma'am. I am Matt Saracen, Lorraine's grandson, and I'm here to visit," Matt explained.
"Oh yes!" The woman responded inviting him in the home. When he moved to Chicago, his mom had hired a live-in nurse for his Grandma. "I'm Lydia, your grandmother's nurse," The nurse introduced.
"Nice to meet you," Matt mumbled as Lydia led him into the kitchen where his grandma was eating her lunch.
"Lorraine, you have a guest," Lydia informed her.
"Who's here?" Lorraine asked.
"Grandma, it's me, Matt."
"Oh Matthew!" Lorraine exclaimed. "This is my grandson Matthew. He used to play for the Dillon Panthers! He was the quarterback!"
"Wow, how cool," Lydia responded.
"And now he lives in Chicago with his fiancé Julie Taylor, the daughter of the great football coach, Eric Taylor!" Lorraine announced excitedly. "Where is Julie? Did she come?" Matt sighed, his grandmother's mind really was fading. He had explained he was coming to live with her and that he and Julie broke up on their last phone call.
"I'm living with you now Grandma," Matt corrected. "And Julie won't be coming around anymore."
"What! Why not?"
"Well, we broke up," He explained.
"What'd you do to that sweet girl Matthew?" Lorraine accused.
"We just grew apart," Matt summed up, not wanting to go into the still painful details. "Grandma, I'm going to go put my bags in my room. I'll be right back," He told her as he walked into the living room leaving Lorraine in the kitchen. He gathered up his bags he had brought in and placed them in his old bedroom. Lydia, the nurse, had followed him into the living room.
"Her memory is really going," Lydia informed him. "It's been pretty bad lately."
"I could tell, I had already told her over the phone that my girlfriends and I broke up."
"I'm sorry Matt, I'm sure that was painful to retell, snd she seems to have made an impression on your grandma."
"Yeah, Grandma adored her dad," Matt replied with a weak, sad chuckle. "He was my high school football coach."
"Well I thought I'd just let you know that her memory is declining," Lydia awkwardly changed the subject from the previous, which she could tell was still a touchy subject. Matt opened the fridge searching for any sort of alcohol, which he was currently craving. He shut the fridge door, disappointed when he didn't find any. He went over to the pantry where his grandmother occasionally stored a bottle of wine, but walked away empty handed.
"I'm gonna run to the store, do you need anything?" Matt asked.
"Not that I know of. I went shopping yesterday, did I miss something?" Lydia responded.
"It's no big deal really, I'll just run up to the store and get it," Matt replied, not wanting to confess about his new addiction. He grabbed his grandmother's keys from the hook by the front door and got in her car to drive to the store. He pulled into a parking spot at the small Dillon grocery store and killed the engine. He ventured into the store that hadn't changed in the 6 years he'd been gone. He made his way to the back of the store where the liquor coolers can be found. He located the one with Bud Lite in it and reached for the door handle.
"Matthew Saracen!" An older woman's sweet southern voice shouted. Matt quickly let go of the door handle and dropped his hands to the side. He didn't yet know who this person was, but he sure didn't wan them to know he had resorted to drinking his sorrows away. "Oh Matty, it has been so long since I've seen you!" The voice was getting closer, and Matt finally realized who it was when he turned tp face the woman. It was Mrs. Clarke, Landry Clarke's mother.
"Hey Mrs. Clarke, good to see you again," Matt greeted her with a smile.
"How are you Matt?" Mrs. Clarke asked.
"Pretty good, and you?" Matt returned.
"Good, thank you for asking," She replied with a warm smile. "What are you doing back in Dillon? I thought you were living in Chicago with that Taylor girl," Mrs. Clarke inquired. Here we go, Matt thought. Now he was going to have to explain Julie left him and he lost his job. He might as well stand atop the water tower and announce it to the whole town, for he would be questioned about it anytime someone recognized him. He had one thing working for him; he had let his hair grow out and hadn't touched a razor to his face in a while, so he was somewhat unrecognizable.
"Julie and I parted ways so I decided to come stay with Grandma for a while," Matt explained without going into great detail. He didn't want to admit that Julie dumped him, he lost his job, got evicted from his apartment, and was now an alcoholic to his high school best friend's mom.
"Oh I'm sorry Matt. I'm glad you are getting to spend some time with your grandma though," Mrs. Clarke replied. "Landry will be back in town next week, you will have to stop by!"
"I will! It was good to see you Mrs. Clarke," Matt replied. Mrs. Clarke waved by and went down another aisle. Matt quickly grabbed the beer from the cooler and checked out.
Hope ya'll enjoyed!