Chapter Fourteen
Grace whipped off the blue silk camisole and hurled it onto her bed. No one wore silk to a lake party. She checked her phone: twelve thirty. Where had the morning gone? She shouldn’t have spent so much time on the boxes she and JJ had pulled from the attic. She rummaged through the clothes she’d hung in the closet and then through the clothes still in her suitcases.
But her mind wasn’t focused, either. She couldn’t get the images from yesterday out of her mind: Hannah in the stall; the kid—now named Kiddo—swaddled in a blanket in JJ’s arms; Noah on the porch. What should she make of their encounter on the porch? After the birth of Kiddo, she’d felt vulnerable and exposed. Lonely. Thank goodness Noah had walked away. If he hadn’t, she might’ve acted on her instincts, the ones that told her to stand up, walk over, and kiss him. The ones she’d squelched as soon as she could, just a few seconds too late.
While JJ watched new mama Hannah and Kiddo, Grace spent the rest of the day inventorying the equipment and anything else on the ranch that wasn’t permanently attached to the ground, with the intent of organizing a yard sale the following week. Noah had stayed away. All day. What did that mean?
And why did she care?
She grabbed a hanger from the closet, held up the teal-green shirt that complemented her eyes, and reviewed herself in the mirror. Why was she even bothering? The last thing she wanted to do was go to Nessie’s party.
No, the last thing she wanted was for Noah to go without her. Argh.
They piled into Noah’s truck at one fifteen, Grace in the teal-green shirt and the car packed down with coolers full of burgers and sausages.
“How’d you get roped into bringing all the burgers?”
“Vanessa orders the meat from my buddy Tim.”
“Timmy Manley?”
“Yeah. He’s a butcher now. I usually pick up Vanessa’s order for her.”
So Noah and Nessie had a regular thing they did every year. Blood churned through Grace’s ears. How many other “regular things” did they have? Her heart hollowed, remembering the inside jokes, the Oreo milkshakes at the Stop-n-Gas every Friday night…she and Noah used to share all kinds of we-always-do things.
“Just as long as the burgers are beef,” Grace muttered.
Noah laughed. “Some are lamb. I’ll pick yours.”
She looked up at the sky. It swirled angry shades of gray, like her stomach. “I hope the weather holds.” Or maybe it would start hailing now and they could turn around. “So who all’s going to be there?”
“The usual.” He gave her a sideways glance. “Everyone. Your dad and Sheila even came the last few years.”
“How about your dad, before he got sick?” Grace smiled. “Pastor Bob loved parties.”
“He sure did.” Noah’s tone was terse. He turned on the radio. Country music, of course. He was obviously done talking about his dad. She didn’t blame him. She knew how hard it was watching someone you love slowly deteriorate.
“I’d like to visit him,” she said just loud enough over the radio for him to hear. “It’d be nice to catch up on old times.”
His jaw muscle flexed, and his grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Sure. If there’s time.”
Forty-five minutes later, they climbed out of the car. Grace grudgingly had to admit, just to herself, that Nessie’s parents’ place was more stunning than she remembered. The house, situated in a private waterfront community in Tahoe Keys, wasn’t all that large. But it had a party-size deck overlooking the lake, and a long yard that stretched to the water, and a peninsula gazebo. Both deck and yard were filled with people and blaring music. “You meant it when you said everyone,” Grace said.
“Some years are more crowded than others. Vanessa’s tried to spruce it up, serves a full meal and all. But every year it turns into a potluck cause everybody brings something. There’s always tons of food left over.”
“And she always shares it with us!” JJ blurted out.
Nessie, Nessie, Nessie…
“Eeeek!” A long squeak from behind scared the bejesus out of Grace. So did the near-tackle, until she realized it was Noah’s sister, Starr. When Grace turned, she was squeezed like an empty tube of toothpaste.
“I’m so glad you made it! This oaf”—she nodded toward her brother—“refused to tell me if you were coming or not.”
Grace stepped back and grinned as Starr reached out and poked Noah in the ribs.
“Careful, pipsqueak.” Noah mussed Starr’s hair.
“Not the hair, bro, not the hair.” She laughed and ran her fingers through her short blond locks.
Noah lifted one box of hamburger patties out of the trunk and passed it to JJ. “Run this up to the grill, kid.” JJ skipped up the hill, box in hand. Noah grabbed a second box and headed after him.
Grace’s eyes followed Noah before she turned her attention back to Starr. The girl was watching her, smirking.
Grace cleared her throat. “Starr, you look fabulous.” Her sun-kissed, athletic body was hard not to envy, and her dark blue eyes twinkled even more than her brother’s. Her ringlet curls bobbed haphazardly down to her chin. “My God, you’re all grown up. Noah’s told me how well you’re doing, honey. Skiing definitely agrees with you.”
“Thanks, Grace.” Starr smiled the grin of a girl in love with life. “You look fab yourself, just glowing. I hear you’ve had your own excitement.”
“Can you believe your brother delivered a goat?”
“Goat? What?” Starr’s forehead crinkled, then flattened, and her eyes grew wide. “I had no idea. I was talking about New York. How exciting living there must be.”
“Oh, yes, well…” Grace’s cheeks heated. “Of course. It’s wild.” Grace forced a grin and tried to ignore the twitch in Starr’s lip.
Starr threw her arms around Grace in another almost-tackle. “I’m so happy you’re back. We’ve got so much catching up to do. You’re going to stay for a while, right?”
“Unfortunately,” Nessie’s voice came from behind them, “our little Gracie wants to get back to her big-time life as soon as she can. Isn’t that right, Gracie?”
Grace’s body stiffened, and she was pretty sure Starr’s did, too. Starr took a half step back from Grace and turned to face Nessie, but not before giving Grace a quick wink. “Nice spread, Vanessa.” Starr nodded to the people milling around the large yard. “And another great turnout.”
“Glad you could make it, girlfriend.” Nessie air-kissed Starr’s left cheek, then her right.
“Hey, Vanessa.” Noah and JJ came back to the truck. “Where do you want the rest of the burgers? There’s one more box.”
“Could you be a doll and bring it into the kitchen for me? I’ll make room in the freezer. JJ, my cousin James is up here from Vegas. Remember him from last year, sweetie?”
Sweetie?
JJ nodded.
“I think he’s trying to catch some brown trout. Like we don’t have enough food today. Come on, I’ll reintroduce you.” She turned back to Grace. “Don’t worry,” she said with a fake smile. “We’ll take good care of him, like we always do.” She turned toward Noah, her face morphing into innocence and doe eyes. “Noah, could you be a dear and help me bring up some ice from the garage?”
“You didn’t ice up the beer yet?”
“I forgot until now.” Her lips formed an exaggerated pout.
“I texted this morning to remind you.”
How nice; Noah texted Nessie. Regularly?
“There’s just so much to do. I guess I’m used to relying on you these past few years.” She entwined her arm in his. “I’ll bring him back, Gracie, promise.”
She did, but twenty minutes later, she needed something else. Something only Noah, apparently, could do. By the third time, the game got old. Thankfully, there were former classmates and friends to catch up with. Grace didn’t have time to be irritated by Nessie’s games or Noah’s beck-and-call behavior. Not in the least. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.
By six o’clock, the weather had made a turn for the worse, and the sky darkened to almost night. Grace felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. A woman with long, straight brown hair stood there, smiling. “I thought that was you, Grace.” Thick-rimmed glasses tried, but couldn’t hide her large green eyes. Kind eyes. Trusting eyes. “You probably don’t remember me. Destiny—”
“Morson. Of course, I remember you.” Social worker extraordinaire. Grace leaned in for a hug.
“It’s really nice to see you,” Destiny said, “though I’m sorry about the circumstances that brought you here. Your father and Sheila were such wonderful people. And JJ. Where is that little guy?”
“He’s up at the house, playing Wii with Nessie’s cousin and a few other kids,” Grace said. As bad as everyone said video games were for kids, they seemed to bridge the gap nicely between JJ and the other kids.
“How’s he doing with everything?”
“Better than expected. I think a lot of that’s due to Noah. Thank you for letting Noah watch him until I could get here.”
“There’s a lot of tough decisions in my job. That wasn’t one of them.”
Grace nodded. “Yeah, Noah thinks the world of JJ.”
A smug smile spread across Destiny’s face. “I know. Have you guys talked at all about plans, about options for JJ?”
“I’m taking him back to New York.”
“If that’s what you want, then we need to set up a meeting to talk things through and get the paperwork started.”
“It’s not a matter of want. I mean, of course I want what’s best for JJ. But short of me quitting my job and moving back here, which is not going to happen, there are no other options.”
Destiny took a breath as if to respond, then bit her lower lip instead and exhaled.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Destiny’s cheeks tinted pink.
Her school friend was, quite possibly, an even worse liar than Grace. “No, seriously, what?”
Destiny placed her hand on Grace’s arm and squeezed. “You really need to talk to Noah.”
Talk to Noah? First Nessie and now Destiny. Did every woman in this town think they knew Noah better than she did? A twang in her chest worried it might be true.
“Listen, I have to go.” She dug in her purse, pulled out a business card, and handed it to Grace. “Please call me in the next day or two, as soon as possible. You know I’ll help you in any way I can.” She gave Grace a quick hug.
“Any more of that to go around?” Sam Barker swaggered up behind Destiny and snorted, as if he truly thought he was funny.
“I’ve always got a handshake for my favorite banker.” Destiny held out her hand and waited for Sam to shake it. Then she winked at Grace and walked across the lawn toward the parked cars.
“My.” Grace watched Destiny leave, then raised a brow at Sam. “Do you always have such an effect on women?” He didn’t need to know Destiny had been on her way out.
“Darling, you’d be surprised at the effect I can have.” He wiggled his brows like an anxious middle-schooler.
Grace rolled her eyes. “Do those lines of yours ever work on anyone?”
Sam let out another nasally snort. “Still got that quick hit of humor, and now with a cute New Yawk accent.”
Did she have an accent? Noah hadn’t said anything about it.
“I expected to hear back from you.” Sam’s tone turned serious. “It’s been almost a week, Grace.”
“I know how long it’s been,” she snapped and turned to walk away.
He grabbed her arm, stopping her, and she tensed. His hold instantly slackened. “Look, I know it must be hard. And you’re doing an amazing job. It’s been a long time since you’ve been home. It’s a lot to absorb, everything that’s happened, everything that’s happening.”
Was this the same Sam Barker who’d stolen his grandmother’s dentures for the skeleton in the biology lab and thought it was funny? Maybe she’d misjudged him. In the time that she’d been gone, she’d changed. Why couldn’t he have, too?
“It is a lot,” she admitted, dropping her guard ever so slightly. “I need more time.”
“Let me help you.” Sam cleared his throat and patted the sides of his head as if making sure his slicked-back hair was still there. “Let’s grab dinner one night this week and talk things through. I’ll do whatever I can to help with this foreclosure situation. I promise, we’ll figure it out.”
Instead of dismal flirting with crude comments, she’d gotten what seemed like a genuine offer to help. Was this a new Sam, or a too-good-to-be-true Sam? She didn’t care as long as he didn’t turn all Mr. Hyde on her until after she got things settled. “I…I’d like that.”
The wind picked up, blowing red Solo cups across the yard. Suddenly the sky opened up, pouring buckets of rain on everyone. She and Sam, along with about twenty others, ran for the house. Lightning flashed, followed by a mad rumble of thunder. Once inside, Grace scanned the room for Noah.
“Missing someone?” Sam asked. His attempt at innocence failed miserably. Sam was a lot of things—innocent wasn’t one of them.
“Noah. It’s just really coming down out there.”
“Oh, he’s just fine. He’s out there. Look.” His tone made Grace’s shoulders stiffen. She wasn’t going to like what she saw. She turned and looked out the bay window toward the lake.
Another flash of lightning lit up the gazebo briefly. Just long enough for Grace to see Nessie and Noah huddled into each other, alone.