The prizes had been awarded earlier that morning in the competition tent, and though Gram clapped loud when they announced our karaoke honorable mention, she clapped exponentially louder when they announced my third-place baking prize. Ever since then, she hasn’t stopped telling me how proud of me she is.

All of this feels pretty great, but there’s something that’s making me feel AMAZING and that’s the letters I’ve written to Gram, Mimi, Brandon, and Mom. I can’t wait to give them to them when we get back to Sunny Sandy Shores.

It will be the perfect way to end this road trip!

Before Brandon and I headed off toward the rides, Gram said she wished she could be young again.

“I’d give anything to take a turn on the Zipper. I used to love that one!”

“Don’t even think about, Madge!” Mimi said.

Then Mimi told us she’d keep an eye on Gram while we were gone, and Gram sort of huffed a little.

Ever since Gram had been released from the emergency room, all three of us had been hovering over her, probably a little too closely. I think it was starting to make her a little nuts.

Mimi told us that she and Gram had a couple of phone calls to make anyway, so between the food they planned to feast on and the people they needed to get in touch with, they had plenty to do.

“Madge needs to call Gert back,” Mimi said.

“Gert?!” I said. “Why would you call her?”

“Oh, I guess she’s changed her tune a little about my ‘quack’ of a dermatologist,’” Gram said. “She left me a message saying my doctor saved her life, because one of the skin samples he took at her appointment turned out to be cancer. She called me to thank me. Can you believe it?”

Gram said she was surprised that Gert had stayed in the doctor’s office long enough to even have a skin sample taken.

“Only reason she called me back is to alleviate her guilt for the way she acted. I should teach her a lesson by not calling her back.”

“Madge,” Mimi scolded. “Be the bigger person.”

Gram huffed some more, so Mimi changed the subject.

She told us she was going to give Harold a call, just to check in with him to see how his toe was doing as well as to let him know they’d be home later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

“I’m sure he’ll be waiting with bated breath,” Gram said smirking and raising her eyebrows. “Just tell him we don’t want any more of those darned directions.”

To which Mimi said, “Madge, really!”

And it occurred to me for the first time that Mimi and toe-fungus, driving-directions Harold might actually like each other.

I didn’t know whether that was cringey or cute.