It has been a while since Henry had last seen his grandparents, and he always enjoyed being around them, but this has got to be the worst timing.

Surprisingly they all rode to the airport to send Henry off to Florida; Emma's parents were pretty stereotypical when they retired and decided to settle in Miami. They both hugged and kissed Henry on the cheek and watched him board the plane. As he was sure his parents were only worried about him having a safe trip, Henry was thinking about all the mess his parents were going to get into while he was away, and then there was Grace.

The moment Henry exited the terminal he saw his Grandpa holding up the biggest sign he's ever seen. You would've thought he was coming back from war with how excited they were. Henry hugged and kissed his grandparents as they mentioned how much they missed him, squeezing him too hard to let him do the same. It felt like nearly an entire 5 minutes before they let Henry go.

The conversation on the car ride to the house was thankfully only about the things they had planned for the summer instead of asking Henry the usual questions about school and friends, he wasn't sure how he would have answered them if they did. Henry was sure they knew about everything that has been happening already, his grandmother wasn't really too keen on staying out of the loop about the happenings of her family. Even if his parents did try to keep it from her, she would only continue to bother them until they told her something.

Once they got to the house Henry went straight to the guest room and started to unpack his bags. He knew it was going to be a long summer, but he thought that maybe he could get something, anything done while he was here. Only time would tell.

It was about an hour when he had finished putting his clothes away in the dresser and headed back downstairs. He found his grandparents in the living room, his Grandpa reading the newspaper, and his Grandma crocheting. His grandparents weren't really a conventional old couple. To start off, there weren't that old, they had Emma at a very young age. High school sweethearts and they had her soon after graduation. They lived in their small town of Maine until they retired. Mary, his Grandmother, was a schoolteacher, she enjoyed teaching the kids about nature and the animals more than any of the other subjects, so much so that the kids gave her the nickname "Snow White", the jet-black hair also played a part. David, his Grandfather, on the other hand, was the Sheriff, the job Emma has now. He was a great peacekeeper, the whole town loved him; he was able to charm any troublemaker into doing the right thing. The entire town was disappointed when he retired, but soon got over it when they learned that Emma was taking his place. She's more of a jokester, but still just as great for the town.

For the first three weeks, it seems like his grandparents had a lot of things planned out for him like they said they did. They went to the park, the beach, they even had a jillion puzzles to put together, leaving Henry little time to read his comics, or think about much else. Within that time Henry had talked to his parents a few times individually and Grace only once during the first week. He tried to come up with ways to apologize to her for how he was acting since he got on the plane, but nothing he ever thought of seemed to be enough. Their one conversation was so awkward and just plain sad. Since school and a mess of a family was all Henry had going for him, he didn't have much else to talk about, and it seemed like Grace had nothing else to talk about either. They ended up ending their phone call in only 10 minutes. Henry's summer wasn't starting off as well as he hoped.

On the drive back from the beach with David, Henry decided to ask for help. School has been out for a little over a month, he had nothing else to lose at this point and he could feel his time running out with Grace.

"Grandpa, have you ever hurt Grandma unintentionally?"

David quickly glanced at Henry with concern before he carefully thought about his answer.

"I have a few times, but I've always apologized right after and learned from my mistakes. Why do you ask?"

Henry looks down at his hands in his lap. "I think I might have messed up and I'm not sure how I can fix it."

"Well tell me what happened." Henry begins to talk about the school year he had, talking about Peter, the ending of their friendship, the fight, and everything with Grace. He felt like he could have watered down the story a bit, but he's been holding everything in for so long, everything just came spilling out, although he left out the part about his parents. Henry wasn't sure just how much they knew, but he was not ready to talk about that just yet, if at all this summer.

When Henry was finishing the details of all that's happened, they had made it back to the house. David turned off the engine of the truck, sat silently as he went over everything that he was just told, once he thought everything through, he turned to face Henry.

"Well, it seems to me that Grace really cares about you. She understands what you're going through and is being patient about it. Good friends are easy to come by, especially in our little town, but great friends are rare anywhere you go. I know apologizing isn't easy, but as soon as you start, the words will just come out. You don't have to try and come up with the right way to do it or figure out the right time to say it because it will never come if you do. Just say whatever comes to mind first." David gives Henry a warm smile as Henry reaches over the console of his truck and gives him a hug.

"Thanks, Grandpa."

Henry gets out of his Grandpa's rusty old truck and heads in the house. Once inside he goes straight to the phone. He hesitates for a moment before he finally starts to dial the number but stops halfway through before hanging up the phone. Henry took what David said to heart, but that didn't stop his nerves. What if he was too late, what if she didn't want to talk to him. Henry didn't know what he would do if he lost his only real friend.

Henry abruptly shook his head and picked up the phone again. It was now or never.

Mister Jefferson picked up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mr. J… Is Grace home?"

Without saying another word Jefferson passes the phone.

"Hello?"

Henry swallows the lump in his throat and just says whatever comes to mind as his Grandpa said. "Grace, I'm sorry." There was silence on both ends of the phone, so Henry continues. "I'm sorry we haven't been talking lately or hanging out much since everything that's happened with Peter."

Grace quietly listens as Henry continues to apologize for everything: the distance, the lying, his overall recent behavior. He apologized for everything and Grace happily listened, when he was done, they both noted how Henry might have apologized for things that weren't even his fault. They both laughed about it, signaling to Henry that things were getting better between them.

The next couple of weeks go by smoothly. Henry and Grace talk nearly every day, it had gotten to the point where Mary had to start negotiating with Henry in order to keep him off the phone throughout the night, one can only imagine how Jefferson feels. Henry's mood perked up as well, which means that the amount of operations he has cooking up are going on the rise as well. Despite Henry preferring to have stayed home over the summer, there was at least one benefit to staying with his grandparents: they were clueless… well actually, they just never take Henry and his operations seriously. As a kid, Henry would always come up with some plan to try and convince his parents to allow him to do something they had already said no to. Of course, by the age of 5 they began to see right through his presentations, but they still sat through it, even making sure to read the pamphlets. It was "to encourage his marketing skills" his Mom would say, but his grandparents would just see the whole ordeal as being "cute" and "creative", they would even help from time to time when they knew about the latest plan. Despite all the help they would give, Henry knew he couldn't go to them for this plan in particular, but he knew that they wouldn't try to discourage him from it. So, they would leave Henry be when they saw him hard at work, only going to talk to him when it was time to eat, or when they thought it was a good idea for him to see the outside again.

It was another week before Henry called his plan complete. Given the nature of the results he was hoping to get, he knew this was going to take more than just a few slides and pamphlets, it was going to take everything he had to try and steer his family back together.

The last four weeks at his grandparents' house could have been described as normal, something Henry hadn't felt in quite a while. He found his new love for pistachio ice cream, something that's definitely going on the list of things to get for his birthday, as well as silent films. He knew it was going to take some convincing to get Grace to agree to see literal moving pictures, but he's confident that she would enjoy them. Speaking of, Grace and Henry's relationship has been getting better, they act like actual friends again, something else Henry has been missing dearly.

As it got closer to the time for his grandparents to take Henry to the airport, Henry noticed himself feeling sad. He was going to miss his grandparents, yes, but he was also going to miss how easygoing everything felt. Since his Ma moving out, Peter, and him finding out the truth about his parent's relationship, Henry has been feeling on edge. It was a feeling he was going to miss, but he pushed it down as he continued to think about the work he was going to need to do in order to get that feeling back at home.

The 6-hour non-stop plane ride wasn't as bad the first time, but still, a long journey and the car ride back to the house was pretty typical. Henry didn't expect much when he got in the house, maybe a conversation on when he would start staying with his Ma again, but the conversation his parents wanted to have took things in a completely different direction.

By a force of habit, everyone gathered in the kitchen to grab something to drink, as Emma is looking through the refrigerator to grab everyone a water bottle, she pops a question to Henry. "So, have you thought about what you want to do for your birthday?"

The question took Henry for a slight surprise; he had completely forgotten about his birthday. Henry never asked for much, each year he usually asks for the same thing: spending time with his parents at Granny's, getting whatever he wanted, and every year they still ask him. Henry thought this to be a good time to start getting his parents back together, but with his birthday in only a week, he knew he would be too tired to attempt anything, not to mention his parents would be too suspicious. Henry decided to take some time to think about what he wanted, but he ended up deciding rather quickly.