CHARACTER
The Do-Overby Lynn Painter

Grandma Max

Grandma Max

Quick Facts

  • Role: Paternal grandmother; Emilie’s fiercest advocate and emotional home base
  • First notable appearance: Racing over in her ’69 Mustang to pick up Emilie after she catches Josh Sutton with Macy Goldman on Valentine’s Day
  • Key relationships: Granddaughter Emilie Hornby; son Dad (Thomas); tentative ally Nick Stark
  • Defining details: Drives a “murdered-out” ’69 Mustang that “rumbled like a motor beast”; wields blunt, mischievous wisdom; keeps Emilie’s most impossible secret

Who They Are

Bold, loyal, and gloriously herself, Grandma Max is the steady center of Emilie’s spinning world. Where Emilie is tightly planned and conflict-averse, Max barrels in with warmth, sharp humor, and zero tolerance for anyone who undervalues her granddaughter. She anchors the story’s exploration of Authenticity and Identity, modeling a life lived on one’s own terms—muscle car, secret bakery fling, and all—so Emilie can learn to stop contorting herself for others and claim her voice.

Personality & Traits

Grandma Max’s force of personality is the point: she doesn’t just support Emilie; she shows her the shape of a braver life. Her independence is not performative but practiced, and her love is protective without being indulgent—she tells hard truths because she believes Emilie can handle them.

  • Fiercely independent: She tears around town in a ’69 Mustang, once taught a fourteen-year-old Emilie how to do burnouts, and casually maintains a quiet fling with the local baker—proof that her identity is vibrant and self-authored.
  • Unconditionally supportive: When Emilie calls in tears after spotting Josh with Macy, Max snaps, “That little prick. I’m on my way,” then provides soup, a couch, and the unquestioning presence Emilie can’t get from her parents.
  • Blunt and outspoken: She refuses to coddle Emilie’s people-pleasing tendencies, urging her to stop being a “people-pleasing mouse” and to “Burn some cities down with your rage!” Her porch is a boundary line—she pointedly tells Nick to get off it when needed.
  • Wise and perceptive: Max sees the coping strategy beneath Emilie’s hyper-planning. She centers Emilie’s worth—“greater than what Josh or any other boy thinks”—and is the one person Emilie trusts with the time loop, which Max believes without flinching.

Character Journey

Max is intentionally static—the rock against which Emilie tests and finally reshapes herself. Across each reset Valentine’s Day, Max’s constancy becomes transformative: because she remains steady, Emilie can experiment, fail, and try again. Late in the story, the revelation that Max plans to move to Texas with Thomas’s new family jolts Emilie; the possible loss of her sanctuary raises the stakes, underscoring how much Emilie has relied on Max’s presence. Yet even this move reflects Max’s ethos: change can be chosen boldly, without betraying who you are or whom you love.

Key Relationships

  • Emilie Hornby: Max is more mother than grandmother here—provider of soup, afghans, and sanctuary, but also the only person who insists Emilie’s life belong to Emilie. By believing the time loop and pushing Emilie to speak up, Max becomes both refuge and catalyst, allowing Emilie to redefine herself not around boys or parents but around her own wants.
  • Dad (Thomas): Their bond is affectionate and uncomplicated; Thomas’s plan to bring Max to Houston shows both his love for her and his optimism about what she’ll enjoy (warm weather, cowboys). Through them, we glimpse the family logic Emilie grew up inside—Max’s fearlessness skipped a generation and lands squarely, aspirationally, on Emilie.
  • Nick Stark: Max is initially curt—testing whether Nick is worthy of Emilie’s time. Her about-face, helping him pull off the purple unicorn birthday cake, signals her true allegiance: not to her own judgments, but to whatever genuinely makes Emilie happy.

Defining Moments

Even in brief scenes, Max shifts Emilie’s trajectory. Her actions are small in scale—drives, soups, sharp one-liners—but they catalyze big internal change.

  • The rescue mission: After the Valentine’s Day betrayal, Max floors the Mustang to retrieve Emilie. Why it matters: It establishes Max as the first call in crisis and proves that Emilie’s needs can be met quickly and unequivocally.
  • The ancient pepper shaker: Emilie eats pepper from a 50-year-old shaker and wonders if it triggered the loop. Why it matters: The comic strangeness breaks Emilie’s isolation and opens the door to confiding in Max about the impossible.
  • Believing the impossible: Shown proof on Emilie’s phone, Max believes the time loop and jokes, “we’d better go get a lottery ticket.” Why it matters: Her pragmatic acceptance validates Emilie’s reality and frees her to experiment inside the loop rather than doubt herself.
  • Teaming up with Nick: Max helps orchestrate the purple unicorn cake surprise. Why it matters: She is gatekeeper and greenlight—once she sees Nick adds joy rather than chaos, she uses her power to amplify Emilie’s happiness.
  • The Texas decision: News of Max’s impending move reframes Emilie’s stakes. Why it matters: It forces Emilie to imagine a future where Max isn’t next door, accelerating Emilie’s growth toward self-reliance.

Essential Quotes

“That little prick. I’m on my way.” Max’s protective fury is immediate and kinetic—no hedging, no lectures, just action. The line captures her priorities: defend first, process later, because Emilie’s safety and dignity come before decorum.

“You do know, darling,” my grandmother said, carrying an afghan across the room and laying it over my legs, “that your worth is greater than what Josh or any other boy thinks.” Tenderness and truth arrive together—afghan and ethos in one gesture. Max reorients Emilie away from external validation toward intrinsic worth, a value that undercuts the entire Josh-centered spiral.

“Sometimes I don’t understand why you don’t open your mouth and say the words that are on your tongue... You are not the people-pleasing mouse you purport yourself to be. Burn some cities down with your rage!” Max names Emilie’s self-silencing and dares her to flip the script. The hyperbolic “burn some cities” shocks Emilie out of politeness and into agency, reframing anger as fuel for authentic change.

“Dear Lord, Emilie, we’d better go get a lottery ticket, don’t you think?” Faced with the supernatural, Max responds with humor and practicality. The joke diffuses fear, normalizes the bizarre, and signals that belief in Emilie matters more than understanding the mechanics of time.