Comfort food

Luckily, I had no soup in my mouth when my grandma asked this question, or I'd choke on it from shock.

After I finished gaping at her, I had to shut my eyes to avoid groaning out loud. It was one thing to share the perils of my life with a girlfriend, and quite another to do so with my grandparents. This was just awkward. Especially when we were talking about JJ.

I shifted in my seat. "What are you talking about, grandma? JJ is a cool guy, but not that cool. And you know what I think about all of that now."

My grandpa put the biscuits on the table and added an empty glass to it. "Do you want something to drink with them, Diana? How about tea? Or milk?"

"Milk, thank you, grandpa."

I kept eating my soup, but my eyes were mostly on my grandma, who had a forlorn expression on her face. It made me it harder for me to swallow, and the borscht didn't taste as delicious as it did a moment earlier.

"I know, I know, Diana, but you can't live on your own forever. Everyone needs a companion in their lives. Not all men are like Andrey. Now, look at you… I wish you didn't have to spread your wings so soon, but you could at least have someone at your side as you do."

I put my spoon down. My grandpa sat down next to my grandma and put a hand over hers, his expression comforting. Their fingers intertwined, and I had to look away to not drown in the conflicting emotions.

They mourned my father's death, too. How couldn't they? He was their son. Not the only one, but the closest one, emotionally and physically—both his siblings had long since moved away from here and barely kept in contact.

As awkward as the questions about my love life were, I felt guilty for avoiding them so harshly, and at all. My grandparents just needed a distraction.

So I took a deep sigh and poured my honest feelings out.

"You know, JJ had actually been flirting with me." I sighed. "He is everything a boyfriend should be, handsome, funny, a gentleman… If only he wasn't such a womaniser too, I'd probably be dating him already!" I flailed my hands in frustration.

My grandma smiled again, her eyes sparkling with liveliness again. "Ah, I knew no man in their right mind will pass by my beautiful granddaughter just like that."

My grandpa, though, frowned in displeasure. "Womaniser? It might be unsafe for a good-looking girl like you to hang out with these types…"

Today he was in the role of the protective father, I imagined, because normally he wouldn't be so judgemental, but… but my dad would.

I shook my head at them. "No, he isn't a bad kind of womaniser… I meant to say that he isn't into long, committed relationships. I'd say that we are friends now, but if we started dating, I'm afraid that he would just… leave, eventually."

"But you like him," my grandma said. The statement was said with some doubt.

I dropped my chin on my chest in a deep, miserable, and embarrassed nod of agreement. My next words came out as a quiet mumbling. "I think he is impossible not to. He can charm anyone, even the nastiest clients, and without a word of a lie."

"That doesn't sound very reliable," my grandpa said, still in his protective mode. It didn't come to him naturally, I could tell. There was a softness to his words that no amount of frowning could eliminate.

I had to smile at him, grateful for his attempt to take on that role. "Don't worry, grandpa. JJ was nothing but great to me, I said that already. And he did nothing inappropriate, really, either. It's not like he even needs to…"

My grandma hummed under her breath. "It sounds like you are entirely smitten with him, Diana. But is Jean-Jacques smitten with you? Listen to my advice, granddaughter—with his type, you must always have the high ground if you want them to stick around."

What a great question, and one that made my shoulders fall. "I'm pretty sure he isn't. Not like that, at least."

It was hard to say with JJ how much of his friendliness was personal and how much wasn't. He wasn't just as chatty with Panda as he was with me. But then first, he didn't try to get into her pants, and second, she often preferred silence to talking, and JJ seemed to respect that.

In other words, I didn't even really have much room for comparison. The only other woman I saw in JJ's company was Avarice, and that was an entirely different story.

With a sigh, I continued to eat. Nothing was more comforting than some good food and a good story. Which reminded me of the time when JJ came to comfort me after Andrey's first reappearance in my life… Did he care then?

"Oh, Diana. If he isn't, then he really doesn't know what he is missing," my grandma said with an expression of sympathy. She turned towards grandpa. "Let's pack our granddaughter something tasty to bring with her, old man."

My grandpa accepted the idea with great enthusiasm, and the discussion turned towards food again, to my relief. It's not like my problem had any solutions. I could only bear and suffer and revel in my family's comfort. 

An hour later, when the sun was already lowering towards the horizon, I exited their apartment. My backpack was heavy with food packages in place of the antiquities that I gave my grandma for restoration.

The pre-cooked food took a big part of the space in the fridge, but promised to save me unwanted cooking for at least a couple of days, which was a good thing because I could be lazy about it at times.

Since by now JJ had closed the store already, I had little to do. Following the habit, though, I used my smartphone to check on my post on the vampire forum.

One unread private message. That looked promising.