Saving Grace

by J. M. Hill

  “Sit here by me,” he said.

  Michael rolled his eyes at his brother and pulled the chair out for me before sitting on my other side.

  “This looks amazing,” Miles said as we started passing the dishes of food around.

  There wasn’t a lot of talking at first, mostly just eating. Garrett hummed and moaned as he enjoyed the food, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He’d look down at me with his mouth full and give me a wink. I was very aware of Michael beside me, but I made a point not to make eye contact—my nerves tumbling somersaults in the pit of my belly.

  “So, who cooks at your house?” I asked Garrett. They all laughed at the same time, and Miles wiped his mouth with his napkin before he answered.

  “None of us really cook, unless you count Ramen noodles,” Miles said. “Garrett even manages to mess those up.”

  Garrett shrugged, unfazed by his brother’s jab at his lack of culinary skills.

  “I like Ramen noodles.” I patted his giant shoulder in consolation and he laughed.

  Dinner conversation flowed smoothly thanks to Kate and the more I learned about them, the more I really liked the Anderson brothers. All three of them smart, kind, and charming. They told us about their life in New York, a little about their business, and quite a bit about their parents, of whom they spoke very highly.

  Kate suggested we have dessert in the living room, and they helped clear the table while Kate made a pot of coffee. As we ate our dessert, the conversation turned to Kate and me.

  “So, where are your parents?” Garrett asked.

  “My parents and Kate’s mom were killed in a car accident when we were eight years old,” I told them. “Kate’s dad raised us. He passed away of cancer last year.”

  “Do you have any other family?” Miles asked with a furrowed brow, and we shook our heads in unison.

  The mood suddenly shifted, and I felt uncomfortable. Kate and I weren’t used to talking about our parents with others. Anyone who knew us knew about our situation, and we hadn’t talked about it in a long time.

  Garrett shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry. You were eight when you lost your parents?”

  I nodded, and glanced over at Michael who watched me with consternation, and we gazed at each other for a long moment before I looked down at the floor nervously.

  “So, what do think of our shop?” Kate attempted to lift the dark mood.

  “Best hot chocolate I’ve ever had,” Garrett said with a weak smile.

  “The bookstore is quite impressive,” Michael added.

  “Of course it’s impressive,” Kate said proudly. “That’s the part Gracie takes care of.”

  “Of course,” Michael agreed with a grin as his eyes found mine.

  “Kenny seems…nice.” Garrett chuckled.

  I rolled my eyes and the boys laughed.

  “Sorry about that,” I said. “We’ve known him since Kindergarten. Since Uncle David died, he tends to be a little protective which is sweet, in a very annoying, obnoxious sort of way.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Garrett said with a reassuring smile.

  When the conversation shifted to the recent remodeling of our home, I gathered the dessert plates from the coffee table and took them to the kitchen. I was rinsing the dishes when Michael came and stood beside me, pushing up the sleeves of his sweater. Can forearms be sexy?

  Yes. Forearms can be sexy.

  “You rinse, I’ll load?” he offered.

  “Sure.” I handed him a plate, and he placed it in the dishwasher.

  “I’m sorry about your parents.” He took another plate from my hand.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I don’t have very many memories of my parents. I’m thankful I have Kate.”

  He nodded. “I can see why.”

  “She’s the most wonderful person I know,” I added. “You’ll see, the more you get to know her, you’ll understand what I mean.”

  “I’m pretty sure I already understand.” There was a deep sincerity in his voice that caused me to look over at him. An unidentifiable emotion shadowed his face, the green depth of his eyes searched mine for seconds? Minutes? Then he looked away, breaking the spell, and we resumed the menial task at hand.

  Too soon we were saying goodnight. When I told Garrett they were welcome anytime, Miles cautioned me that Garrett would probably show up for breakfast in the morning which was fine with me. They could all show up for breakfast as far as I was concerned.

  FOUR

  Saturday. I love Saturdays.

  I got up at my regular time for my run. As I sat on the porch to pull on my shoes, I heard the sound of gravel crunching, and my head snapped up. Michael stood in the middle of the drive wearing a black hoodie, hair in sexy-disarray, and a crooked smile. I strode down the porch steps quickly.

  “Do you mind if I join you this morning?”

  “Of course not.” I tried to hide my excitement as we started a slow paced jog down the private drive.

  “Don’t you usually run with music?” he asked.

  “Yes, don’t you?”

  He smiled wryly. “Yeah, but I like conversation more.”

  “Well, I’m not used to having conversation when I run. Kate refuses to run with me.” Michael chuckled as I continued. “Besides, I tend to fall into my own little world when I run with music, which causes people to look at me funny. So it’s probably better if I have conversation.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I could hear the amusement in his voice. “I found your concert the other morning very enjoyable.”

  And there it was. My jaw jutted to the side, and my face heated furiously as I looked at him. He kept his eyes forward, his lips in a tight line. I took a deep breath and decided to just let him get it out of his system.

  “Okay,” I relented. “I knew it was coming. Go ahead, bring it.”

  He laughed loudly. “Bring what?”

  I ignored the question as my face continued to redden with humiliation. Surprisingly, he changed the subject. “So, how far do you usually run?” He was attempting ‘serious’, but the amusement at my expense was still evident.

  “Um, I’ve clocked the distance to some trees up here, so there and back it’s somewhere around six miles. What about you?”

  “Not that far,” he murmured.

  “Oh.” I slowed to a walk. “We can turn back now if it’s too far for you.”

  He rolled his eyes, tugging at my sleeve so I’d pick up my pace again. “No way. I may need to strap an oxygen tank to my back next time, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Aren’t you used to the altitude yet?”

  “Not while running six miles.”

  We spent the rest of the run talking about music, and decided we would switch iPods with each other to determine who had better taste in music.

  “I have no doubt I will win that contest,” I said confidently.

  “Oh yeah? How do you figure?”

  “Because, Kate and I listen to just about every genre out there. Classical, opera, rock, alternative, eighties.”

  His nose wrinkled. “You like eighties music?”

  “Don’t you? And be careful how you answer, because this could be a very short friendship if you say no.”

  “Oh, well then, yes, by all means, I love eighties music,” he said with sarcasm.

  “C’mon!” I was enjoying the banter. “Journey? Prince? Bon Jovi? Def Leppard?”

  “Journey? I’m not sure I’ve ever paid attention to any of their songs.”

  I stopped running and put my hands on my hips, shaking my head in disappointment.

  “Okay, stop. You’re killing me,” I said dramatically. “Journey? Steve Perry? Possibly one of the greatest male vocalists in rock, ever? I mean he was kind of strange-looking, but still, the guy had some serious pipes!”

  Michael shook with laughter, and the sound of his laugh made my heart react in strange ways.

  He shrugged and tried to stop laughing. “Sorry.”

  “That’s it,”
I said, shaking my head as we started to run again. “I’m going to be educating you on some of the greats. We’re starting with Journey, and then we’ll move on to hair-bands.”

  “I look forward to it. Why do you love eighties music so much?”

  “Uncle David used to listen to it all the time,” I told him. “He was a huge Journey fan, but we’ve always listened to a little bit of everything.” I chuckled at the memory of my Uncle David singing along with Steve Perry whenever he drove Kate and me somewhere. Michael watched me for a moment and then turned away with a thoughtful expression on his face. When we got to the front of my house, he turned to face me and smiled.

  “Grace, that was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had on a run,” he said. “Thank you for allowing me to join you.”

  “Thanks for going with me. I had fun too.” I couldn’t help the achingly, wide smile on my face. “I’ll see you later.”

  He nodded and turned to go to his house.

  “I’m going to be working on a playlist for you,” I called to him, and he turned mid-stride to face me, walking backwards.

  “Can’t wait!” He called back with a wave.

  I skipped up the steps to the front door. Kate was at the table reading the paper and drinking coffee in her pajamas.

  “How was your run?”

  “It was great.” I don’t think I could’ve been smiling any wider. I pulled my favorite mug from the cupboard and fixed myself some coffee, sitting across from Kate at the table. She studied me for a moment, and her expression turned suspicious.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  I shrugged. “It’s Saturday.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Gracie-Beth Burke.”

  “It’s nothing. Michael went running with me this morning.” I took a sip of coffee, looking at her over the top of my cup, and her face lit up with her sparkly smile.

  “And?”

  “And, he’s very nice.”

  “Yeah. Very nice.” She snorted. “And very gorgeous.”

  “Yes.” I sighed. “Yes he is.”

  She giggled and looked back at the paper handing me the sports section.

  We decided to have lunch and do some outlet shopping in Castle Rock. By the time we got home and unloaded our purchases it was after four o’clock. I started a load of laundry, we stripped both beds and remade them with fresh sheets. Kate found the SC game on TV, which was in the second half, while I flipped through a magazine.

  The doorbell rang and Kate went to the door. “Hey, guys!”

  “Hi, Kate.”

  I recognized Miles’ voice and jumped from the couch to go to the door. All three of the Andersons stood on the front porch with sheepish expressions on their faces.

  “Is anything wrong?” Kate asked.

  Garrett snorted a laugh. “Well, we thought maybe, if you two didn’t have any plans tonight, that maybe you’d want to cook for us again.” Miles shoved Garrett in the arm. “What?” Garrett asked innocently. “Isn’t that what I was supposed to say?”

  Miles rolled his eyes and I bit my lip trying not to laugh.

  “What my brother meant to say,” Miles narrowed his eyes at Garrett, and then turned back to look at Kate, “is that we’d like to take the two of you to dinner, we just aren’t familiar enough with the area to suggest a place.”

  Kate laughed. “Come on in.”

  The three of them filed in, and Garrett walked over to me until we stood toe-to-toe. He looked down at me, and I had to tilt my head backwards to see his face—my chin at the level of his chest.

  “How’s it goin?” he asked with a serious expression and a bass voice.

  I mimicked his attempt at seriousness. “I’m fine. How are you?”

  He laughed and made his way to the sofa when he noticed the game. “Who’s winning?”

  “Trojans,” I answered, my eyes meeting Michael’s.

  “Hey, Grace, how’s your day been?”

  “Good. How about yours?”

  “Great,” he replied with a smile.

  “So anyway,” Miles said. “We’re sorry for just barging in like this, but we noticed you were home and we thought we could repay you for the delicious dinner you made last night. We’d like to take you out. Wherever you’d like.”

  “We could just make something here,” Kate suggested.

  “No, we don’t want you to have to cook,” Michael said.

  “I want them to cook!” Garrett called, completely at home on our sofa.

  Michael shook his head. “Really, Garrett? Why don’t you just make yourself comfortable?”

  Garrett laughed loudly, and then focused on the television.

  “Do you guys like Mexican food?” Kate asked Miles.

  “I love Mexican food!” Garrett hollered not looking away from the TV. I laughed, and Michael covered his eyes with his hand and shaking his head, embarrassed.

  Miles grimaced. “We love Mexican food.”

  “How about chicken enchiladas?” Kate asked.

  “Isn’t there some place you’d like to go out?” he asked.

  “There isn’t any place that has chicken enchiladas as great as ours.” Kate winked at him. “I would just need to run to the store for a couple of things.”

  “Well, then I insist on buying whatever you need.” Miles raised his eyebrows. “And we’ll help you with the cooking.”

  “Yeah,” Garrett called again. “My brothers will help you with the cooking!”

  I laughed loudly, and Garrett joined me.

  “Don’t encourage him,” Michael said with a grimace. “Are you sure we aren’t intruding?”

  “We weren’t doing anything, honestly, laundry and a movie. Exciting right?”

  “Okay, then it’s settled,” Kate said. “Miles, would you like to go to the store with me?” He nodded with a big smile. “Gracie, I’ll get everything we need,” Kate told me. “Dessert?”

  “Do you guys like banana pudding?” I asked Michael.

  “Love banana pudding!” Garrett bellowed before Michael could answer.

  Michael closed his eyes, a small smile touching the corner of his mouth in amusement. “Yes, that sounds great.”

  Miles and Kate left for the store while Michael and I joined Garrett on the sofa.

  “So what did you and Kate do on Saturday nights before you had intrusive, rude neighbors?” Michael asked.

  “Well, we’re party animals,” I dead-panned, and they laughed. “It’s true. I just started a load of laundry, and if you guys hadn’t come, it may have gotten really crazy, like maybe a load of darks, or even underwear.”

  “Wow, you two are wild,” Michael said.

  “Yeah, we’re thinking of joining a support group.”

  They laughed, and I stood from the sofa to grab my iPod from the stereo and handed it to Michael.

  “Here,” I said. “Let the education begin.”

  Garrett raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Your brother needs help with music,” I explained, shaking my head. “He doesn’t even know who Steve Perry is.” I picked a playlist while Michael put the earbuds in his ears, and laid his head back against the sofa.

  “This is Journey?” He seemed pleasantly surprised.

  “Yes, and the Steve Perry. Good, right?”

  He smiled and shuffled through songs, every now and then nodding his approval. Soon, Miles and Kate showed up with several bags of groceries, and we got busy cooking right away. We boiled chicken breasts in broth, and chopped onions and for the sauce. Kate took over the enchiladas while I mixed the pudding for dessert, putting Garrett in charge of layering vanilla wafers in the dish. Kate was prepared buying extra cookies, because Garrett definitely ate more than he ‘layered’. Michael and Miles were in charge of shredding the chicken, while Kate made the sauce.

  In less than two hours we were sitting around the table enjoying enchiladas that the boys agreed were ‘better than any restaurant’s’, and having a wonderful time. Like the night before, we
had great conversation, but mostly we laughed. Garrett had me in stitches most of the night, and the way Miles and Michael got embarrassed over things he said made me laugh even more.

  After dinner we talked them into watching a movie with us. Much to Garrett’s chagrin, we decided it was ‘musical night’ so they got to watch “Fiddler On The Roof”, one of our favorites. They laughed as Kate and I sang along with all of the songs, and pretended not to notice when we both sniffled at the end.

  When the credits started, I looked up at Garrett. “You liked it, right?”

  “Yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “It was great.”

  I nudged him with my elbow. “C’mon. You liked it.”

  He chuckled, and they stood to leave. I went into the kitchen to get the extra pan of enchiladas we made for them to take home.

  “Now, put these in the oven at three-fifty for about forty minutes,” I instructed, handing the pan to Garrett. “The oven is the big silver box in the kitchen that gets very, very hot.”

  “Oh, you’re hilarious.” He patted the top of my head.

  “Thanks, girls. It was great,” Miles said. “We’ll see you later.”

  “Good night,” Michael said. “It was a lot of fun, and I happen to love that movie.”

  I nodded my approval and he waved with a smile as he turned to go. I couldn’t help but be hopeful about tomorrow, and another opportunity to spend time with the Andersons. Especially Michael.

  FIVE

  I hopped out of bed rushing through my morning ritual and grabbing my running shoes. Michael was already standing in the middle of the drive when I came out the front door. I waved, and he smiled as I sat down to quickly pull on my shoes, and then walked over to where he stood.

  “Morning.” My cheeks ached from the grin on my face.

  “Good morning.”

  We began our slow jog to the main road.

  “No oxygen tank?” I asked without looking at him.

  He chuckled. “Nope, no oxygen tank.” We ran in silence for a long while, when he finally looked over at me. “We had a good time last night.”

  “So did we, it was a lot of fun,” I told him. “I’m glad you guys came over.”

  “Where did you two learn to cook?” “My uncle was a pretty amazing cook, but Kate and I also took a few classes together. We love it.”