Saving Grace

by J. M. Hill

  “Detrimental? Detrimental! You have no idea who you’re dealing with!” She continued to screech.

  “We know exactly who we’re dealing with,” Garrett said, an edge to his voice. “That’s why we’re not working with you anymore.”

  “Nina, your company hasn’t given us a penny,” Michael said. “You’ve lost nothing, except time.”

  Kate watched me worriedly as I pushed away from the table, and she followed me to the entryway. Nina stood in front of Michael, with Garrett and Miles behind him. Nina continued to rant, until she saw me. Her eyes widened, and she started towards me, but Michael stepped in front of her. Garrett was behind me quickly, placing his hands on my shoulders.

  Nina side-stepped Michael, and narrowed her eyes at me angrily.

  “You…” her voice was a snarl. “This is all because of you!”

  I had no idea what was going on, and my expression must have been proof.

  “Don’t pretend that you didn’t have anything to do with this!” She shouted. “You’ve been feeding him lies about me from the beginning!”

  “This has nothing to do with Grace,” Michael said angrily. “This has to do with you, and the way you do business.”

  She continued to glare as if Michael hadn’t spoken.

  “The hell it doesn’t!” She screeched. “This has everything to do with her!” As if a switch had been flipped, her expression changed to a smile, and she tossed her hair over her shoulders, looking at Kate and then back at me again. “Doesn’t it, Grace?”

  Her tone was acid and sugar at the same time, and it rolled my stomach.

  “Get out of my house,” I told her. “Get out. Now.”

  She laughed humorlessly and turned to leave. Michael opened the door and she glanced over her shoulder at me.

  “You’re a bitch,” she snarled. “And this isn’t over, Grace.”

  “Hey!” Garrett shouted making me flinch. “Watch yourself!”

  Nina didn’t even acknowledge him, as she stepped closer to Michael and stroked the side of his face with the back of her hand. He jerked away from her, but she just smiled at him.

  “Goodbye, Michael. When you’re done slumming,” she threw a smug glance over her shoulder at me, “give me a call.”

  Michael’s jaw clenched as she walked out the door, and he closed it behind her. I felt nauseous as I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and Garrett squeezed me to him.

  “Well, you’ve never seen that side of her, have you, little brother?” Garrett spoke tensely, but was trying to lighten the mood. “I’m pretty sure she’s all colors of crazy.”

  Michael ignored Garrett’s question, and looked at me apologetically.

  “I’m sorry, Grace,” he said. “She had no right to be here. I never thought she’d do something like this.”

  “What was that about anyway?” I asked. “Anderson Industries dropped her father’s company,” Miles explained. “As of today.”

  I swallowed hard. “Because of what happened today?” I asked, looking at Michael.

  “No,” he assured me. “Like I said, it’s because of how she does business.”

  I believed that partially, but I also felt like it was far too coincidental.

  “This is going to cost you a lot of money.” I shook my head, focusing on the floor. “You should have left it alone.”

  “Grace,” Miles said softly. “We won’t do business with Nina or her father.”

  I kept my eyes down, and Miles stepped in front of me, taking my hands in his.

  “Yes, they were a big client, but our dad taught all of us not to compromise our integrity for any reason. Especially money.” He smiled encouragingly, as he continued. “There’s no way we could do work for Nina’s family without compromising our integrity.”

  Michael nodded in agreement. “If I’d known how Nina was treating you, I would’ve quit a long time ago.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I didn’t tell you,” I said. “What she does to me has nothing to do with you or your business.”

  Michael’s expression became angry and Miles squeezed my hands.

  “It has everything to do with our business, Grace,” Miles said calmly. “We saw what she really is, and we won’t ignore that for money. It’s construction,” he said matter-of-factly. “We don’t have that job now, but another will come, and we didn’t compromise. That’s how we were taught.”

  He kissed the top of my head before going into the kitchen with Kate, Garrett following. Michael stepped toward me, anger etched in his features.

  “And for you to say that the way she’s treated you has nothing to do with me—” he took a deep breath and shook his head. “You should’ve told me.”

  He walked past me into the kitchen with the others and my heart sank.

  This was too hard. Why couldn’t I just be happy being his friend? I’d believed I could settle for friendship, but I was wrong. I wasn’t good at being his friend. I seemed to do everything wrong.

  It was too hard being Michael’s friend, because I loved him too much. I was making things difficult on myself by loving Michael. How was I supposed to stop loving him? I didn’t know the answer to that, and the thought just made my heart ache even more.

  For the first time in my life, I doubted the whole selling-out theory. How long was I supposed to wait for someone who’d made it completely clear he didn’t want anything more than friendship?

  I had nowhere to go with Michael because he didn’t want me.

  He doesn’t want me.

  Saying the words again, even in my head, caused the dreaded ache to return. With all the different feelings of love I’d experienced with Michael, what I felt now was different.

  Now, it was just hurt.

  I stood by the front door, wanting to leave. To go somewhere…anywhere.

  Just then the doorbell rang. The boys were back at the door in a heartbeat, and Kate held me close to her as Garrett opened the door. Apparently, we all thought the same thing; Nina was back.

  “Hey, everyone.” Evan was on the front porch with a big smile, until he noticed the obvious tension, and his smile disappeared quickly. “Is everything okay?”

  There was an awkward moment of silence, but I was relieved to see him.

  “We’re still going to the movies right?” Evan asked me skeptically.

  I tried to smile. “Absolutely. Come on in.”

  Evan came in closing the door behind him, looking at all of us nervously.

  “Are you sure everything’s okay?” He asked again. “Is this a bad time?”

  “Hey, Evan,” Garrett said quietly. “How’s it goin’, man?”

  They shook hands, and Evan greeted the others.

  “Evan,” I said. “Can I have just a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  Kate followed me to my bedroom, and I closed the door behind me. I told her what happened with Nina that morning, and how I saw Evan at the shop.

  “I completely forgot,” I said. “I feel terrible.”

  Rushing to the bathroom, I ran a brush through my hair, and brushed my teeth and applied a bare minimum of makeup. Kate watched as I put on my shoes and jacket.

  “I’m not sure you should go,” she said. “Nina just threatened you.”

  “It’ll be fine,” I said, not sure it was going to be fine at all. “Nina’s crazy, but she doesn’t scare me.”

  “What about Michael?”

  “Evan’s just a friend, but it wouldn’t matter anyway,” I told her. “I mean, I keep loving Michael and hoping, and he—”

  “Oh, Gracie,” Kate whispered as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

  She held onto me tightly and I swallowed hard to keep from crying. There was a knock at the door, and Garrett stepped inside, closing the door behind him. His face was crumpled with worry, and I stood on my toes so I could kiss his cheek.

  “You have your cell phone?” he asked.

  I pulled my phone from my purse and showed it to him.

  �
��I’m going to be calling you,” he cautioned me. “And you’d better answer, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “I mean it, Gracie-Beth,” his expression was serious. “Evan told me where you two are going. I’ll come and drag your butt out of that theater if you don’t answer, got it?”

  “Garrett, Evan wouldn’t—”

  “This isn’t because of Evan,” he interrupted. “This is because of Nina. Were you not in the room just a few minutes ago when she threatened you?”

  He was watching out for me, and I loved him for it.

  “I’m not afraid of Nina,” I told him.

  He grimaced. “I know,” he said. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Be careful, Gracie,” Kate said.

  I kissed her cheek as I started to drop my phone back into my purse, but he stopped me.

  “No.” He shook his head. “Keep it on you—in your pocket.”

  I tucked the phone into the front pocket of my jeans, and walked out to the living room. I noticed Michael watching me indignantly, leaning against the wall as Miles and Evan talked with each other.

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  “Great.” Evan smiled. “We’ll see you guys later.”

  Evan opened the front door, and I followed him to his car. I looked over my shoulder as Garrett waved half-heartedly. I climbed into the passenger seat of Evan’s Land Rover, he closed the door and walked around to his side. The engine revved, and I buckled my seatbelt as Evan drove down the private drive toward the main road.

  “So,” Evan said hesitantly. “You could actually cut the tension in there with a knife. Are you all right?”

  “It’s just been a weird day, that’s all.”

  “We have a bit of a drive if you want to talk.” He raised his eyebrows with a smirk. “I am a doctor you know.”

  I laughed. “You say that a lot.” “Well, tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”

  I knew he couldn’t help, but I didn’t see any harm in telling him what was going on. I started by telling him about Nina. How she stopped me on my run that morning, and about her appearance at the house this afternoon. I didn’t go into details about Michael, he already knew how I felt.

  We pulled into the parking lot at the theater, and he turned off the engine with a troubled expression on his face.

  “Well,” he said. “No wonder the Andersons were so uncomfortable with you going out. I can’t say I blame them.”

  “They told you that?”

  “Not really.” He shrugged. “But I kind of picked up on the tension.”

  “I suppose it was easy to pick up on.”

  He smiled in response.

  “That’s why Garrett will probably be calling every half hour.”

  Just then, “I’m Sexy And I Know It” hummed in my pocket, and Evan laughed.

  “Garrett picked that ringtone,” I explained with a laugh as I pulled the phone from my pocket. “Hey, Garrett.”

  “You okay, Gracie?”

  “Yes, we just got to the theater.”

  “Okay, just put the phone on vibrate when the movie starts. I just want you to say hello and then you can hang up.”

  I chuckled. “Okay.”

  “Well, I don’t want you to miss the movie or anything, but I want to make sure you’re alright.”

  Evan was sniggering, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Is the doc laughing at me?” Garrett asked, and Evan waved his hands in front of him, shaking his head back and forth.

  “Um,” I giggled. “No.”

  “Yeah, right.” Garrett snorted. “Have fun.”

  I snapped the phone shut, and Evan smiled at me.

  “He looks after you,” he said.

  I felt the love in my heart for the Andersons when he said that, and I nodded with a smile, but then I thought of Michael and the ache returned.

  “I couldn’t help but notice tonight,” Evan said. “Michael didn’t seem too happy about you going out with me.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I don’t think he has a problem with me,” he said. “But I’m not sure you’re right about how he feels about you.”

  I shrugged, still not sure what to say. He smiled, and pulled the keys from the ignition.

  “You ready to see a movie?”

  I nodded and we both got out of the car and walked into the theater.

  “So what’s it going to be?” He asked as we studied our film choices. “Blood and guts, romantic comedy, scary?”

  “What do you like?” I asked.

  “Well, I kind of get my fill of blood and guts working at the hospital.”

  “Because you’re a doctor,” I said dryly.

  “That’s exactly what I was going to say.” He grinned. “How about scary?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I can always watch a masochistic killer chase a college co-ed in her underwear through the woods.”

  He busted up laughing, and shook his head.

  “I thought we were going to see the Meryl Streep movie?” I said.

  “Oh, that’s right. Meryl it is.”

  He bought the tickets, and when we got inside, I stepped up to the concession counter.

  I smiled at the young guy working. “Hi. How are you?”

  “I’m good. What can I get for you?”

  Evan leaned against the counter resting his chin on his hand, and watched me with half a smile.

  “Well,” I glanced at the guy’s nametag, “Josh, I’ll take a large popcorn with extra butter. Two large drinks, one diet, and,” I looked over at Evan questioningly and he held up two fingers. “Make that two diets, a pack of plain M&M’s,” I paused again, and Evan pointed out his candy selection. “A pack of chocolate covered raisins.” I wrinkled my nose at the raisins, making Josh laugh as he started getting our snacks.

  “I like a woman who takes charge.” Evan grinned. “Not to mention a woman who knows how to eat junk food at a movie.”

  I snorted a laugh, and he pulled out his wallet, but I stopped him with a raised eyebrow.

  “The deal was I buy the popcorn remember?”

  “Right,” he said. “What was I thinking?”

  Josh lined up our snacks on the counter, as I opened my wallet. “So how much are we looking at here, Josh? Fifty bucks?” I smirked. “First born child? What’s the damage?”

  He grinned and rang up the total.

  “That will be sixteen seventy-five.” “Are you allowed to accept tips?”

  He turned to the girl working next to him, and she nodded.

  “Keep the change then, Josh.” I smiled, and handed him a twenty. “Thanks.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Josh said appreciatively.

  I handed the drinks to Evan, and dropped the candy in my purse, grabbing the popcorn. We managed to find good seats even though the theater was crowded, and got settled.

  “Do you always talk to strangers like that?” Evan asked as I handed him his box of candy.

  I wasn’t sure what he meant.

  “You talked to that kid at the concession counter like you know him,” he said. “I think he’s smitten. He’s probably working up the courage to ask for your phone number.”

  “I doubt that,” I said. “But if he asks for my number, I’ll just give him Garrett’s.”

  We both laughed as my phone rang.

  “Okay.” Evan shook his head. “That’s just eerie.”

  I chuckled as I pulled the phone from my pocket.

  “Hey, Garrett.”

  “It’s Michael.”

  I swallowed hard.

  “Grace?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  The phone went silent, and I turned it to vibrate before putting it back into my pocket. Evan munched on popcorn and watched advertisements flash on the screen. I wondered if Michael was hurting, too. That wasn’t what I wanted.

  “That was Michael, huh?” Evan asked without
looking at me.

  “How’d you know?”

  He grinned as he chewed, but didn’t answer. I glowered at him and he chuckled as the lights dimmed and the previews started. I found myself enjoying the movie and Evan’s company, both a welcome distraction from the drama of Nina and Michael.

  When the movie was over, Evan and I both applauded. and he grinned at me.

  “What’d you think?” he asked.

  “I loved it.”

  “Me too,” he said. “But I’m wondering, was this considered a chick-flick?”

  I pursed my lips together. “Um, probably.”

  “Okay.” He nodded. “Then you have to tell everyone we saw the blood and guts. You know, because—”

  “You’re a doctor?”

  He laughed. “I was going to say because I’m a guy.”

  We left the theater, and Evan walked extra slow as we passed the concession counter, trying to see if Josh was going to ask me for my number. I finally pulled him out the doors by his arm.

  “Come on, Grace,” he teased. “I had to give the poor kid his chance. He’s going to be heartbroken.”

  I rolled my eyes at him as he opened the car door for me and I climbed inside. The phone vibrated, and I answered it quickly.

  “I’m out of the movie now.” “Okay.” It was Michael. “Are you on your way home?”

  “Um, I think so.”

  “Well, if you go somewhere else, make sure you call.”

  The phone went silent before I could say anything else, and I shook my head. Evan started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Are you hungry?” He asked. “It’s still early. We could get a bite to eat.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I’m too full from the popcorn and M&M’s.”

  “I can’t believe you still mix your M&M’s and popcorn,” he said. “Reminded me of when you were just a kid with braces, sitting with Kate and my sister on the ugly plaid couch in the basement.”

  We both laughed.

  “Yeah,” I said. “And you enjoyed putting on your hockey mask and scaring the crap out of us if I remember correctly.”

  “Yes. Yes I did.” He nodded. “I enjoyed that a great deal.”

  When we pulled in front of my house, Evan made no move to exit the car, and I was glad.

  “I had a great time,” he said. “I hope we can have another non-date sometime soon.”