Free Landry in Like by Krysten Lindsay Hager Page A

have showed up if it was her grandma.”
    â€œI don’t think people realize how hard it is. I was little when Grandpa Albright died and it scared me. I didn’t understand what was going on, and my mom didn’t bring me to the funeral home or the church because she said I was already a ‘nervous child,’ and she didn’t want to add to it. I guess it’s never easy to lose someone you care about no matter how old you are.”
    â€œWere you close to your grandpa?” she asked.
    â€œYeah, he was fun and played dolls with me. He was always buying me stuff for my Cadia doll and every time we had a family event where there was cake, he’d save me an end piece with a rose on it — even if he had to take the rose off another part of the cake,” I said.
    â€œAw, that’s sweet.”
    â€œI miss him, and I wish I lived closer to my other grandparents. We used to see them all the time when I lived in Chicago, and now it’s like there’s never enough time with them when we do go to visit.”
    â€œDoes your Mom ever invite them to come here?”
    â€œMom says Grandma Albright makes her nervous and criticizes everything, and she says Grandma Dombrowski tries to reorganize the whole house and it stresses her out,” I said. “This one time, Mom came home and Grandma D had changed the whole kitchen around, and I thought my mom was going to lose it. It was kind of funny in a way. And then Grandma lectured my mom on making healthy meals from scratch instead of getting takeout all the time.”
    Ashanti asked what Mom said about that.
    â€œShe tried to tell Grandma that she works all day, but of course that didn’t go over well. So now Mom gets a lot of those deli ready-made meals for us that are organic and stuff. I dunno. They’re pretty good, so I don’t see what the big deal is about who made them. Besides, she comes home tired all the time, so if she had to cook on top of it then she’d be super cranky and hard to live with.”
    â€œI hear ya. I prefer when my dad takes over dinner because if my mom makes the meal, she goes on and on about how hard she worked on it and how she multitasks and blah, blah, blah. It’s like you feel guilty while you eat,” she said.
    â€œExactly. And sometimes I want macaroni and cheese from a box, you know? Although that organic gluten-free kind from My Lil’ Foodie Mart is super good.”
    â€œGranny used to make mac ‘n cheese for me. She’d use real cheese and it was all stringy and gooey — kind of nasty looking, but it was the best stuff on earth. I’ll never have that again,” she said tearing up.
    â€œMaybe you could learn to make it so you’d remember her that way. Does anyone have a recipe or anything about how she made it?”
    Ashanti shook her head. “I dunno. I could ask my aunt. My grandma didn’t use recipes when she cooked. She just kind of knew what to add to stuff, but maybe someone knows how she did it.”
    Mom came in then and said they were getting ready to wrap up for the night and go home.
    â€œI wish the funeral wasn’t on a school day so you could come,” Ashanti said.
    â€œMe, too. I’ll call you as soon as I get home from school.”
    Ashanti touched my mom’s arm. “Everyone’s going to be at the house tomorrow afternoon to eat and stuff. Could Landry get off at my bus stop and come over after school?”
    â€œSure, hon. I’ll write her a note to clear it with the bus driver just in case,” Mom said. She gave Ashanti a hug. “Take care. Let us know if you need anything.”
    Mr. and Mrs. Russell came in and thanked me for coming.
    â€œI asked Landry to come over after school tomorrow. Is that okay?” Ashanti asked.
    â€œOf course, she’s welcome anytime,” her mom said. “Honey, go get your coat and we’ll head on out.”
    As soon as Ashanti left