by Mandie Tepe
After a good long time, he drifted off to sleep. He dreamed he was in the woods behind his grandparents’ old house . . . running, playing, laughing. He could hear a little voice—Gracie’s—humming, as he played. But she never came out to join him. And he never saw her.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Gracie didn’t talk to Sonny for the rest of the week. She didn’t call and neither did he. She kind of expected him to show up at Savannah’s to see her, but he didn’t. What if he was just giving up on her? He had his own problems. He surely didn’t need to be hanging out with a downer like her. She wondered if he’d even bother to show up today.
Sugar Creek was setting up for their show at the benefit fair. Gracie looked across the pavilion where Maggie stood flirting with one of the benefit volunteers as she tuned up her fiddle. She made it look so easy. Why couldn’t Gracie just fall into it the way every other woman did? Luca was sweet, and not at all threatening. It should just come naturally. But then her mind went back to how sweet and non-threatening Rob had seemed—for years. Maybe you never really knew people after all. If you didn’t protect yourself, who would?
By quarter to five, they were set up and ready to go. The sound check was done and they were just killing time. Gracie walked from the pavilion to a booth selling cold drinks. The band would normally have brought their own cooler full, but since it was a fund-raiser to benefit military families going through difficult times, they were buying their drinks there to support the cause. She walked back toward the pavilion, her arms full of water bottles. As she stepped up into the pavilion and began weaving through the picnic tables, she heard a little familiar voice.
“Hey! Look, Mommy! It’s the friend lady! Mommy!”
Gracie glanced around and saw Drake with Jenna, a smaller boy and a baby in a stroller. She was busy tying a bib around the baby’s neck and chatting with some other women at the table with them.
Gracie grinned at Drake. His face was smeared with mustard from his corndog. He grabbed the sleeve of Jenna’s white t-shirt with a little fist coated in the mustard too. Gracie winced.
Jenna looked down at her sleeve, still caught in his mustardy grip. “Oh, Drake . . .” she huffed out little laugh as she pried his fingers loose and wiped them down with a baby wipe.
“But, Mommy . . . look . . .”
She started dabbing at the stain on her sleeve, but soon gave up. It was obviously a lost cause.
“Mommy! The friend lady!” Drake was nothing if not persistent.
“What, Drake?” Jenna finally gave him her full attention. “What’s wrong?”
“Look! It’s the friend lady!”
“What friend lady?”
“Sonny’s friend lady!” Drake pointed to where Gracie had stopped a few feet away.
At that statement, all conversation at the table stopped as all eyes swung toward Gracie. She wanted to sink into the concrete floor. Or run into the ocean behind the pavilion, which was located at the back side of the beach side park.
“Gracie!” Jenna stood up and walked over to her. She glanced around as if looking for someone. Sonny? “Are you here alone?” She glanced in confusion at Gracie’s armful of water bottles.
“Um . . . I’m here with the band. We’re playing in a few minutes.”
“Oh! You’re with the band?”
“Yeah. Sugar Creek.” Gracie didn’t really know what else to say, but it didn’t matter. Jenna took the situation out of her hands and gently, but firmly, guided her over to the table.
“Here, Gracie . . . I want you to meet some friends of mine . . . and of Sonny’s. This is Trish, Val and Kelli. Trish and Val are married to a couple of Sonny’s teammates. And Kelli is our good friend.” They were all studying her like she was under a microscope.
Gracie nodded at each one. She recognized their names as the women who had called and interrogated Sonny after she’d been seen in his apartment. “Um . . . nice to meet you all.”
Trish was very elegant in a cotton sundress that showed off her tall willowy figure, her ice blue eyes and corn silk hair. Val was cute and curvy in a denim mini-skirt and tank top. She held a gorgeous, curly-haired, black-eyed toddler, dressed in a hot pink sunsuit—who was solemnly chewing on a cracker. Kelli was a cute, wholesome girl with honey blonde hair and a shy smile. They were all three looking her over and she fought the urge to fidget with her hair.
Trish broke the silence. “It’s nice to meet you, Gracie. Is Sonny here with you?”
“No. He might show up later, though.” She mentally kicked herself for saying too much. Obviously these women were trying to figure out their relationship.
“So you guys have known each other for a long time, huh?” Val asked.
“Um . . . yeah. We knew each other as kids . . . until Luca and his grandparents moved away when I was about ten, I guess.”
Trish and Jenna raised their eyebrows at each other when they heard her call Sonny Luca. Gracie wondered, didn’t they know she could see them? Trish continued, “Oh. So it’s been kind of a reunion, then.”
“Yes. Luca and my brother have been lifelong friends and when Mathias told him I’d recently moved to town, he decided to check up on me. Make sure I was getting settled okay. He’s been a really good friend.” She was careful to stress the word “friend” hoping to shut down any more speculation. Of course, it didn’t work.
“Sonny is good to his friends. But they’re usually not as pretty as you are.” Jenna said with amusement.
Gracie blushed and almost kissed Colby when he walked up—just at that moment—and said, “Gracie, it’s time to start. Are you ready?”
With great relief, she quickly introduced the ladies to Colby and virtually ran, then jumped up onto the stage after she’d distributed the water bottles to her band mates.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
They were about fifteen minutes into the set, and Gracie had been successful at putting Luca’s friends out of her mind. She couldn’t let herself get psyched out with nerves by imagining them all sitting there judging her. Of course, they were too nice to do that. She hoped. They were just curious. It was easy for her to throw herself into the music, anyway. She’d always been able to get caught up in the performance and push everything else out of the way.
Suddenly, though, the air seemed to change and she could feel—before she saw—Sonny making his way into the pavilion. She glanced over toward his friends’ table and, sure enough, they were waving him over. He hobbled over and sat down on the side nearest the stage. He didn’t turn toward the table, but kept his back to it and was watching her. He gave her a little grin. By strength of will, she kept singing The Wreckers’, “There’s nothing you can do or say . . . you’re gonna break my heart anyway . . . so just leave the pieces when you go,” even as her heart skipped a beat. What was that about?
About halfway into the set, Gracie noticed two beautiful women enter the pavilion together—one, tiny and graceful with long auburn hair caught up in a tail down her back—and the other, taller and energetic with elfin-short blonde hair. They both moved through the crowd—you couldn’t even say they walked, because they were so graceful—followed by a couple of young men who moved in the same way. Gracie suddenly recognized the smaller woman as Sonny’s friend, Meg, from her wedding photo on his refrigerator.
They crowded around the table with Sonny’s group, and the cute blonde made herself comfortable on Luca’s good knee as he laughed. She spoke into his ear, and his reply caused her to kiss his cheek. Gracie had to look away. She was surprised it bothered her a little. Why should it? He was just her friend, right? She forced herself to concentrate as she began the next song—Taylor Swift’s Teardrops on My Guitar.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Sonny was disappointed he hadn’t arrived at the park before the band started. He would’ve liked to talk to Gracie befo
re the show started. He hadn’t seen or talked to her in days and was surprised at how much he missed her. What was that about? But, he’d wanted to give her space so she wouldn’t be so spooked the next time he saw her. He didn’t factor in the huge turnout and parking problems. On top of that, he wasn’t moving as quickly on his crutches as he’d like to. By the time he found a parking spot and wove in and out through the crowds to the pavilion at the back of the park, the band was well into their set.
He was a little surprised to see all the girls there. He figured they’d come to the fair, but didn’t expect to see them at one of the band concerts. He hadn’t told anyone Gracie’s band was appearing, or even that she was in one. He soon realized they’d stumbled on her and stayed to watch. The kids were getting a little fidgety, though, so he didn’t know if they’d make it through the whole two hours.
He’d sat back to watch Gracie, and was impressed all over again. She really was a wonderful performer. The whole band had good chemistry. They joked with one another and the crowd between songs, and made even the downtimes fun. Gracie took lead vocals for most of the songs, but Colby took over on a few. She melted away to back up status on those songs and was just as impressive in a support capacity as when she took the lead. They did a couple of great duets, as well. They both had a talent for harmonies, and their voices melded well together.
She looked bohemian and exotic in a flowy white, yet softly form-fitting ankle-length skirt, a plain coral-colored camisole, with a beaded belt slung low on her hips, which matched her beaded sandals. Her dark hair was loose and feathered around her face in that way that made her brown eyes look huge.
Pretty soon, Sonny’s prediction came true and the two mommies packed up their restless kids and left. He had a feeling they would have liked to stay to watch him interact with Gracie, but he was relieved his audience had just gotten smaller. He trusted that Kelli and Meg would be discreet and not spook Gracie too much. You never knew what was going to come out of Tobi’s mouth, but that was part of her charm. You certainly could never stay mad at her. Anthony and Kai—Meg and Tobi’s friends and colleagues at the SDDI—were probably not even aware of the drama at the table, being guys and all. After Val and Jenna left with the kids, there was much more room, so Tobi slid off his lap.
Sugar Creek finished up their set at seven o’clock on the dot. Most of the crowd slowly drifted away to other parts of the park, but Sonny and his friends stayed put. He, of course, was waiting for Gracie to join him. He hoped she wouldn’t try to come up with an excuse to cancel their plans to hang out for a while. He also hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to ditch the others when she did come over. He decided not to worry about it and just sat and caught up with Kelli, Meg, Tobi, and the guys. He thanked the SDDI crew for coming out to support the military families.
“Happy to, Sonny! The military is such a huge part of this community. It’s the least we can do to help support you guys by trying to make sure your families are taken care of,” Kai said earnestly.
“Well, it means a lot,” Sonny answered.
Anthony launched into some questions about Sonny’s injury and treatment. He’d undergone knee surgery a few years before for a dance injury. “Wow. My surgery was nothing compared to this, Sonny. Hang in there. I know it’s a long road back, but you’re in great shape and I know you’ll get it all back.”
“Hope so. The doctors are being very cautious about giving me my chances for a full recovery so that makes me really nervous.”
“They have to be that way—to protect themselves. Try not to worry and just do whatever they tell you,” Anthony said. “Hey! When they give you the all clear to work out, call me up and we can work out together. I know your workout partners are still out of the country. We have great equipment at the Institute. We can do it there.”
“That’d be great. There’re some guys on base who would work out with me, but they’re on active duty, so their time is limited. I’ll give you a call.”
“Good. We’ll get that knee back to full strength as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
Tobi bumped up against Sonny’s side. “So . . . this girl is really cute. And, boy can she sing. Like her, huh?” She grinned at him.
“Okay, Tobi . . . let’s not get weird. She’s a friend. She’s going through some things and she really needs a friend. Please don’t spook her.” He ruffled her spiky hair.
Meg added, “Yeah, Tobi. Let’s just be friendly. You know we can all be a little overwhelming.” She smiled over at Kelli, who blushed. “Except for Kelli. She’s very comforting.” Kelli had been the open arms and willing ears for all of the SEAL wives when they needed someone to talk to during their husbands’ deployment. They didn’t want to burden one another, because they were all going through the same thing. She, though, had always been available and had never let any of them down.
Sonny glanced back at the stage. The band was about finished tearing down their equipment, with the help of some of the benefit volunteers. The next band was just starting to unload their stuff and set up for their performance. By all appearances, the park was gearing up to rock out—heavy metal style—with lots of black leather, bare chests and long scraggly hair. A little out of fashion, but they were obviously embracing their heavy metalness. Good for them, Sonny thought with amusement.
The Sugar Creek guys had just rolled the last of the amplifiers up the ramp into Colby’s large paneled van. Sonny hobbled over to where the band had gathered behind the stage.
“Sounded great, guys!” Sonny said.
Colby turned around to look at him, a bandana around his bald head instead of his usual beat up straw cowboy hat. “Thanks, dude.” They shook hands. Colby turned back to the band. “I guess we’re done here. Thanks, everybody. We’ll skip out of practice tomorrow, meet back up at seven on Wednesday. That okay?”
Everyone nodded, said their goodbyes, and headed in different directions. Gracie moved closer to Sonny.
“How are you doing, Sonny? Feeling okay?” she asked with concern.
“I am. I’ve had an easy week. Do you still want to hang out for a while?”
“Sure.” She glanced over at his table, where some of his friends were still hanging out. “I see you brought friends.”
He laughed. “No. I was as surprised to see them as you were. I mean . . . I knew they’d come down to the fair, but I didn’t expect to see them here at the pavilion. Let me guess, Jenna spotted you.”
Gracie chuckled. “Uh uh. It was Drake—and he has a big mouth.”
“Don’t I know it,” he said. “The kids got restless, so Jenna and Val headed out. Come on over, though, and meet some of my other friends. I think you’ll like them.”
She sighed. “Okay.” As they walked over, she fidgeted with her belt a little bit. He took her hand and squeezed it in support. She seemed so nervous, but when she looked into his comforting amber eyes, she seemed calmer.
“Hey, guys . . .” he addressed everyone at the table. “This is my friend, Gracie Laurent. Gracie . . . Meg, Tobi, Anthony, Kai, and Kelli,” he said as he pointed them all out.
“Hi! I’ve already met Kelli. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Everyone smiled and spoke to her. She and Sonny sat down and the getting-to-know-you chat started. They all seemed easy to talk to and put her at ease. Sonny thought she seemed a little leery of Tobi, but didn’t know why. Tobi was on her best behavior. They all complimented her on the show, and she invited them down to Savannah’s to hear Sugar Creek again sometime. After they had chatted a little while longer, a deafening discordant crash came from the stage. Apparently, Siege of Asgard had their amps up and running and they were ready for their sound check. Without anyone saying a word, the group stood up to leave the pavilion. A totally new audience—looking nothing like the last one—started filtering into the pavilion.
Sonny and Gracie stopped to say goodbye to his friends. Meg asked if they wanted to join them for dinner, but Sonny declined. He sensed that Gracie still didn
’t feel entirely comfortable being watched by his friends. Kelli decided to go along and left with Meg’s crew. That left Sonny and Gracie alone.
“Do you want to hang out here for a while? Or we could go find dinner ourselves.” Sonny watched her closely.
She glanced down at his knee. “Let’s go eat somewhere and get you off your feet. Or we could do carryout so you can go home and put your feet up.”
“I’ve been off my feet all day. I could use a change of scenery.”
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
About thirty minutes later, Gracie followed Sonny into the parking lot of Bebe Odelia’s, a popular Cajun and barbecue restaurant. The atmosphere was interesting, resembling a backwater cabin in a swamp. They settled into a quiet booth. It was late for dinner on a holiday Monday, so there wasn’t much business. After ordering iced tea and shrimp jambalaya, Gracie settled back and studied Sonny studying the stuffed animals on shelves along the top of the walls. He glanced over to catch her looking at him.
He smiled. “So, the band sounded great today.”
She smiled back. “Thanks.”
“I hope my friends didn’t put you off too much.”
“No. They seem really nice.”
“They are. How was the rest of your week?”
Gracie sighed. Small talk. “Good. I think I’m feeling more comfortable at the daycare center. School starts tomorrow, so that changes up the kids’ groups a little.” Her eyes lit up. “I got my budget for the musical instruments, so I’ll start ordering those soon. Nothing fancy . . . mostly percussion stuff—tambourines, small bongos, maracas, wood blocks—and some recorders. Some CDs and stuff too.”
“Sounds like fun. I’m glad they have a good project for you. Helps you find your place, huh?”
“Yeah. So what were you up to all week?” she asked.
“Not much. Painstakingly following doctors’ orders. It’s paying off, though. The swelling is way down and the pain has knocked off a little.”
