The Color Of Grace (35 page)

The three of us stood there longer than necessary, simply
studying my work. After a while, my mom excused herself, moving off toward the
restrooms as she sniffed and dug a tissue from her purse.

Ryder stepped closer and kissed my hair. “Want to look at
anyone else’s art projects?”

I rested my head on his shoulder. “Sure.”

We cruised the marble floors, staring at different projects:
paintings, sketches, sculptures. We’d just stopped in front of a watercolor of
birds when a familiar male voice greeted us from behind.

“Mr. Yates. Miss Indigo.”

Ryder and I turned to find the school counselor and his
daughter approaching.

“Laina!” I exclaimed. “What’re
you
doing here?”

She pointed at the tag below the bird picture, which proclaimed
her the artist. “My dad wanted to see my art project,” she said before rolling
her eyes. “Though I’m not sure why. He saw it at school, like, every day.”

“It wasn’t
every
day,” Mr. Howard grumbled, pausing beside her. “I only
stopped in once or twice to take a peek.”

I grinned. “I had no idea you took an art class too.”

Laina nodded. “Art 3. I’ve been in it since I was a freshman.”

“Well, I love your birds.”

“I can’t believe anyone can manage so much detail with
watercolor,” Ryder added. “How the heck do you keep the colors from running
together?”

Laina blushed at his praise and ducked her head but answered,
“With a really small brush.”

As Ryder asked more questions about mixing colors, I glanced
at Laina’s father and bit my lip.

“Can I talk to you a moment?” I rushed out the question
before I could change my mind.

He’d been standing quietly beside his daughter, his coat
hanging from his clasped hands he’d folded together in front of him. But he
gave a quick nod and answered, “Of course.”

I didn’t feel like I needed any kind of counseling. Mom,
however, thought I was all kinds of traumatized. She had been ready to pay some
professional to talk to me when I stopped her, saying I’d try the school
counselor first. So I’d spoken briefly to Mr. Howard about the whole Barry
incident. He’d been very helpful, which surprised me because I hadn’t even
thought I’d need to talk to anyone.

Now I hoped he could help me with one more thing.

After waving Laina and Ryder off, we stepped to the side,
our heads bent together.

“Let me guess. You don’t want to leave Southeast at all and
would like to transfer back to us?”

He hadn’t wanted to see me return to Hillsburg, pleading I
was good for his daughter.

I smiled and shook my head. “It’s my mom.”

His teasing grin dropped flat, reminding me how he’d
confessed to having a crush on her years ago.

“I’m worried about her.”

He stepped closer. “How so?”

“I don’t think she wanted to move on with her life after my
dad died. But these past couple of years, I started pressuring her about going
out more and meeting new men. I just didn’t want her to be alone after I
started college.”

“Well, that’s understandable.”

“But what if she hurried to find someone to marry because of
me, just to make me happy? And now that he turned out to be totally evil, what
if she’s all man-shy now, and it’s my fault?”

“No, Grace. Nothing is your fault.”

I pressed my fingers to my temples. “I just think…if I could
only get Mom through this hard time, then everything will be okay again. But I
know it’s going to bother her forever and she’ll refuse to get herself help
and—” Sighing, I stared up at him, my eyes pleading. “Do you think you could
talk to her? Like you talked to me?”

Her jerked back, horror filling his gaze. “Me?”

I nodded, puckering my bottom lip just a bit to add to my
begging gaze. “My mom is suffering through some major guilt issues. She’s all
worried she has destroyed my entire life by bringing him into it, as if I’ll
never be able to trust another man again. But there were signs, a certain
intuition that he wasn’t as good as he made himself out to be. And I just ignored
them. So now I’m convinced that if I only pay attention and listen to my gut,
I’ll be able to judge people better. I’m not so sure my mom has the same confidence
though. Barry’s pretty much the first guy she brought home since my dad died.”

He shook his head, backing a step away from me. “Grace, I
don’t think I’m the person you need. I mean, I…I…I’m awful with adults. That’s
why I work with teens. I don’t—”

“Grace?”

At Mom’s voice, both Mr. Howard and I leapt guiltily apart
and turned to face her as she approached us with a leery scowl directed the
counselor’s way. He and I exchanged glances, mine saying,
See what I mean? She doesn’t trust any adult male anymore.

He gave a regretful sigh, which told me he was going to give
in to my request, but didn’t want to. At all.

He forced a tense-looking smile. “Hello again, Mrs. Indigo.”
Then his eyes flared. “I mean—” He choked, looking stuck as he realized her
name was still Struder until the divorce was finalized.

“Indigo’s fine,” both Mom and I answered together.

Shoulders settling, he gave a relieved smile and nodded.

When Mom didn’t answer his greeting but hovered even closer
to me as if she wanted to snatch me away from a potential threat, I cleared my
throat. “Mom, did you meet Mr. Howard when you enrolled me into Southeast? He’s
the school counselor.”

“Oh.” Mom visibly relaxed and even offered a fake smile.
“That’s right. I’m sorry. I don’t know where my brain is.”

“Quite all right,” Mr. Howard murmured, though he glanced
down at his shoe as if he didn’t want anyone to see how her forgetfulness hurt
him in any way.

“Actually,” I jumped in, wanting to make the poor man feel
better in some way, “Mr. Howard told me he went to high school with you and
Dad.”

Eyes widening, the school counselor speared me a look that
told me he’d like to strangle me. But Mom perked to attention, squinting, as
she inspected him closer.

“Howard.” She repeated the name until finally her face lit
with recognition. “Matthew Howard,” she finally exclaimed. “You’re Matthew
Howard.”

His chest expanded as he smiled and nodded.

“Yes, I remember you, Matthew. I’m so sorry.” Relaxing even
more, Mom ventured from my side to take his hands. “You came to Daniel’s
funeral. With your wife and daughter, right?”

Mr. Howard’s smile faltered a hitch before he answered,
“Yes. That’s right. And I still have the daughter.” He motioned behind us.

Mom and I turned together to spot Ryder
still chatting with Laina. Ryder glanced my way as if to check and make sure he
still needed to distract her while I spoke to the counselor. But when he saw us
staring, he led Laina our way.

“Laina’s in the same grade as Grace,” Mr. Howard explained,
his face glowing with pride as his daughter approached.

Mom nodded. “She looks a lot like you.”

Beaming again, Mr. Howard glanced at me before he sobered.
After clearing his throat, he said, “I don’t know if Grace told you, but she
talked to me about…about…”

“That jerk I married?” Mom muttered.

The counselor winced. “Yeah. Him. And I was…well, I was
wondering if I could, uh, speak to you for a quick minute.”

“Yes, of course.” Mom jumped forward, eager to help
me
any way she could.

As Mr. Howard led her off to another corner, Ryder and Laina
finally reached me.

“Everything all right?” Ryder asked.

Grasping his hand and needing his support, I chewed on my
lip as I watched Mr. Howard talk and my mom repeatedly nod. After a second,
they both paused and glanced at me before he began talking again.

Then Mom nodded and actually hugged him. For a moment, he
looked stunned but finally hugged her back. As she pulled away and started toward
me, she smiled even as she wiped at her eyes. Behind her back, Mr. Howard met
my gaze, gave an iffy grin and then flashed me a thumbs up.

I breathed out a breath and finally looked up at Ryder.
“Yeah. I think everything’s going to be just fine.”

His green eyes sparkled as he smiled. “Good, because I just
found out some great news.” Motioning toward Laina, he said, “I showed Alaina
your photographs, and guess what?”

I crinkled my brow, curious about the grin he flashed.
“What?”

“It’s her glove.”

Pulling back, I dropped my mouth open. “Huh?”

After digging into her pocket, Laina tugged out the lost
glove’s mysterious mate. “I lost it a few weeks ago. My hands have been
freezing ever since.”

“Oh, my God.” After digging into my own coat pocket, I
pulled out my half of the glove set I’d been carrying around with me.

After slowly handing it over, I watched Laina’s face light
with pleasure while she tugged both gloves onto her hands as if she needed to
try them on just then to reassure herself they had been reunited.

Glancing toward Ryder, I felt tears gather in my throat. I
had no idea why I wanted to cry. I was so happy that stupid glove had finally
found its owner, and even happier its owner was Laina. The moment simply felt
too heavy and emotional for me not to cry.

As if reading every funky feeling I possessed, Ryder opened
his arms. I flew toward him and hugged him hard. His warmth enveloped me until
I empathized with the glove, knowing I had also just found my way home again
after being lost in a cold, miserable winter.

Epilogue

I’m never one, distinct color but a dichotomy of dark and
bright. The hues follow me, reflecting my mood, displaying every tone and shade
I feel. I can breathe in red and exhale blue, or swim in green and dry as a
rainbow. It all depends on how I choose to react to every shadow and light beam
headed my way.

* * * *

My two best friends were holding hands. I could not take my
eyes off the finger-lock Bridget and Adam had going on. As they sat across the
table from me at the Hillsburg bowling alley, their shoulders pressed together
while they smiled and murmured quiet words to each other. And I just gawked, unable
to look away.

“Strange isn’t it?” Schy said, sliding into the chair next
to mine and plopping down a tray full of drinks and cheesy nachos. “I still
can’t stop staring at them together either.”

“Are you guys talking about us?” Bridget demanded, trying to
hide her blush as she leaned forward to steal two cups—one for her, one for her
boyfriend. “It’s
not
that strange.”

“It’s very strange,” I said. When both Adam and Bridget
lifted their faces as if they were about to argue with me, I held up a hand.
“But totally cool.”

The couple relaxed and settled back against each other, both
lifting their Styrofoam cups and sucking soda from their straws in unison.

“Aww, how cute,” Schy cooed, pressing her cheek to mine as
we watched them. “They’re synchronized drinking. Pretty soon they’ll be wearing
matching sweaters with little hearts on them and necklaces with each other’s
names.”

“Will you shut up?” Adam scowled at his twin.

Together, he and Bridget slammed their cups back on the
tabletop in coordinated indignation they couldn’t possibly have practiced.

Schy and I threw back our heads and laughed.

“What is so funny?” Bridget demanded.

Barely managing to talk between my giggles, I asked, “Do you
guys sneeze at the same time too?”

“That’s it,” Adam growled, surging to his feet, Bridget
rising with him in perfect harmony. “We’re bowling by ourselves.”

“Oh, stop,” I said as Schy and I waved them back. “We’re
just teasing. We love seeing you two together. Honest.”

But what I loved even more was being around my friends
again. My people.

Once I’d returned to Hillsburg and I’d invited them all
over, I’d sat them in my room and spilled everything about my time in Osage,
every little detail down to the glove in the snow. And after they told me what
I should’ve done differently—like kept them in the loop the entire time—we
mended fences and things had been normal ever since.

Schy and I were still trying to convince Bridget and Adam to
sit back down when I felt a presence to my left a split second before someone
tapped me on the shoulder.

“Is this seat taken?” the voice that never failed to send
happy shivers up my spine asked.

I sucked in a breath and lifted my face.

Ryder grinned down, his face
practically glowing he looked so happy. The bruise around his eye hadn’t
completely healed yet. I could see the hint of greenish-yellow ringing his
lashes.