Lucy waved Grace off. “You bought me a muffin!”
I smiled at my friend, having missed her the last few weeks. Lucy had been job hunting and had left before breakfast so we hadn’t had the chance to catch up in a while.
I gave her a sideways hug before stepping back and wrapping an arm around Grace’s shoulders.
“Can you believe I scored this beautiful woman?”
Lucy nodded and smiled. She and I had known each other for a long time. Unfortunately, even though Lucy was only twenty-five, she had been in and out of the shelter for years. She’d left an abusive relationship with a wealthy guy and began living in the shelter quite some time ago. It was rough for a while, and she started to lose faith that things would get better. Eventually, she began to feel like there weren’t any better options, so Lucy went back to the bastard, hoping that the time apart would have caused him to change.
It was months later that I saw her again, but this time, she was sporting bruises and a black eye.
Thankfully, she didn’t get back with her abuser after that. But now Lucy had been struggling to find a job. With no high school diploma, her options weren’t great. The few petty theft charges that popped up on her background check didn’t help matters either.
I offered her a job at the bar, but she was too proud and wanted to “make it” on her own.
“Nice to see you, Grace.” Lucy smirked. “Caleb here wouldn’t shut up about you when he was here last time. I can see why—you’re really pretty.” She was being sincere. Lucy had zero poker face. What you saw was how it was.
“Aw, that’s sweet. Thank you!” Grace chimed in. “But look at your cheekbones. People pay thousands for your facial structure. You don’t even need any contour or makeup.”
“Really?” Lucy appeared taken aback. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing because I don’t even know how to apply the stuff.”She shrugged. Her feet shuffled, probably uncomfortable about not being able to afford makeup.
“I could help you. I love makeup. I have a few free samples I could bring you,” Grace offered, her eyes glimmering excitedly.
Lucy waved her off. “No, you don’t have to do that. You need your stuff for yourself, and you can share it with Noelle. How’s the little monster, by the way?” She looked at me.
“She’s Noelle,” I deadpanned. The girls laughed, but I was being serious. “How did the job interview go?”
Lucy shook her head and muttered, “I have another in about a week.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
The morning had gone way better than planned. I just hoped the rest of the day followed suit.
CHAPTER 21
Caleb
Noelle was havinga sleepover with Jena and Ms. Kenzie, which let me have another sleepover with Grace. She rolled beside me, her blonde hair spread across the pillow. Not even a minute later, she moved again. Whether awake or asleep, she was always restless. But more than being unable to stay still, there was an uneasiness about her when she slept.
The first time Grace spent the night, she tossed and turned, whimpering a bit. I rubbed her back like I do to Noelle when she’s having a rough time, and it seemed to soothe her. But tonight was different. She started murmuring not long after she drifted off, and I clearly heard her cry out names in her sleep. Twice.
Julia and Grant.
It was only recently, on one of the nights that she had helped out at Bar, that she opened up a little about her family. It was nothing more than that she had an older sister, and that her parents weren’t big presences in her life, but even that little bit gave me hope that she’d eventually start to feel comfortable sharing more of herself with me. Because of that, I rememberedher telling me Julia was her sister’s name. I had no clue who the Grant guy was, though.
I hated to admit it, but it made me a little frustrated. There were all these bits of her life that I had no clue about.
I knew I couldn’t push Grace—she definitely spooked easily—so I couldn’t ask her directly who the guy was or why she was calling out his name in the middle of the night. He wasn’t anyone she was dating because unless she hadn’t been telling me the truth, she said I was the only one.
I tried to brush it off with reminders that we hadn’t made any long-term promises to one another, that she was young and maybe not ready to settle down. It didn’t make the green-eyed monster stay at bay when I watched her interact with the patrons at Bar. She would laugh at my older regulars’ jokes, offer a kind smile as she rang customers up, and exude joy.
I never felt this strongly about a woman I’d dated. Not even Roxy, and she was the mother of my child. It was a pleasant surprise when Grace took my mom’s outburst about me being a father in stride. Her easygoing acceptance of it made me fall all the more.
It might be foolish of me to be having these thoughts so soon because yes, Grace had secrets, and I was pretty sure she would lie to protect those secrets, but I knew she was not dangerous. Call it intuition. Call it wishful thinking. But it was something that deep down I sensed to be true.
Grace’s arm swung around, breaking me out of my thoughts, and I shuffled to not get hit by it.
I craned my neck to see the alarm clock on the nightstand.
