The Way of Grace (Miller's Creek Novels) (3 page)

Gravel crunched beneath the pickup tires
as sh
e pulled
into the parking lot
of Tyler, Dent, and Snodgrass and turned off the
head
lights. She let herself in the
back
door and flipped the
switch
. As the fluorescent
fixture
flickered
on and hummed, her earlier joy dissipat
ed. This s
hould be a celebration—the day
for which
s
he’d toiled
to bri
ng
purpose from her pain—but somehow it felt common and ordinary. No balloons or flowers. No pa
rty. No pat on the back or word
of congratulations.

She shook of
f
the self-pity and moved to her cubicle
to make sure everything was in
its place
, then
i
nstinctively
pulled a
Bible from her bag
and ran her hand over the well-worn cover
.

Lord,
You
know how my heart hurts this morning. I miss Mama and I don’t know what to
say to Papa. H
elp me
be all
You
want me to be. Lead me
in Your
Way
. G
ive me an
o
pen heart and mind to receive
Your
truth
.

As s
he thumbed
through the
whispering onion-skin
pages, her
Bible
fell open to Romans.
A verse she’d underlined some time before caught her attention.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

Enough grace
to stand in.
Was it even humanly possible t
o be a person of grace? She slant
ed her lips
as she pondered the question, but finally gave her head
a
shake. True g
race was motivated by the purest love, and maybe it was just her, but she
doubted she could
ever love someone that much.

The
thought
troubled her
. God commanded her to love o
thers as she loved herself, but some people made that seem impossible.
Maybe something inside her was broken and malfunctioning.
Perhaps her childhood
left her incapable of l
oving like she was supposed to.

Thump!

Sh
e
jumped at the unexpected
noise
then
sat motionless, her ears tu
ned
to the tiniest noise
. More
thumps
sounded
from the basement
.

Her pulse raced at the possibility of an intruder.
In Miller’s Cr
eek at this hour of the morning?
Not likely
.
Maybe
Andy had spent the night in the basement apartment
because of working late. She
stood and tiptoed to the narrow stairs leading to the basement
. T
hat wasn’t likely either, especially with a newborn at home.

The noise continued. “Andy?”
Grace
made her way down the
darkened
steps. If it wasn’t him, at least maybe her voice would scare away a potential burglar.

Sh
e glided noiselessly across the
large
carpeted
room
.
“Andy? Is th
at you?” Grace jiggled the door knob
of the small studio apartment
.
Locked.
Now what
?

Perhaps she sh
ould call
the ranch to see what Andy wanted her to do.
She
started back across the open space towa
rd the staircase
to place the call
.
But before she’d made it even halfway, t
he overhead lights sputt
ered
on.

“Well,
well, if it isn’t Gracie Mae.”

She spun around
, one hand to her pounding heart
, a tinny taste in her mouth
.
Matt?

He leaned against a wall, one
stout
leg
crossed casuall
y over the other, his arms overlapp
ed. A
n enigmatic expression
rested in his sandy brown eyes
, and though his hair
was damp from a recent washing
, his
rumpled
T-shirt and jean
s looked
as if
he’d slept in them.
I
n the time since she’d seen him last
,
he’d
cut his hair so short there was no evidence of the curls she’d always admired
, and he’d buffed up, more muscular and lean
than before
.

Grace squashed the motherly instincts
that rose
within
her
at the sight of his wrinkled clothes
. That’s what
landed her in trouble
with him
the first time, and she wouldn’t fall for it again.
A man
like
Matt, one with wanderlust in his blood,
wasn’t the one for her.
“What are you doing here?”

He released a short laugh. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you tha
t question?
”

“I passed the bar and—”

“Yeah, Andy told me. Congrats.”
He made his way to where she stood
and came to a stop a few uncomfortable feet away
. “But that still doesn’t explain why you’re here
so
early.”

She shrugged and
turned
toward the stairs.
“Couldn’t sleep.
See you around.”

B
efore she
reach
ed
t
he first step, Matt blocked
her way
, the soft scent of shampoo clinging to his damp hair
.

“
Still
run
ning away from me?
”
Though he spoke the words softly, his
tawny
eyes held a challenge.

Her hands balled into fists. A million retorts built up behind her clenched lips, but she held them at bay. She wouldn’t give him the
satisfaction
of seeing that his words affected her
in the least
. With great effort, she uncurled her fingers.
“
No
pe.
J
ust going back to my
desk to get started on some work
.”

His posture
went slack
,
and he
sent an apologetic grin.
“
Sorry. Let me start over.
H
ad breakfast
yet
?”

A rumble sounded from her stomach.
“If that’s an invitation, I accept
.” The
reckless
words were out before she had time to reconsider. What was she thinking? She’d shut thi
s door
over
two years ago,
a door that needed to stay shut.
Nonetheless, she’d
agreed
to breakfast, and she’
d fol
low through to prove
she wasn’t running away.

They crossed the room together, and Grace threw out a
question
to fill the silence. “Have you been working out?”

“Yep.
Even joined the wrestling team at school.
It’s been good for me.”

Grace followed Matt in
to the apartment and glanced around.
In characteristic messy
-
Matt style, a spread-out newspaper
, microwave popcorn bag,
and an almost-empty glass sat on the coffee table, while a pillow and blanket hung off the couch.
A duffel bag
on the f
loor spewed its contents
, bringing a
n
odd
rush
of disappointment
.
“Just in town for one night?”
Typical.

“
Don’t really know at this point
.” He offered no further explanation, but moved to the kitchenette fridge and
removed
the m
akings for an omelet
.
“So what’s next for you?
”
With deft movements, he prepared the meal, the chopped onions burning her eyes. “
Last I heard you were going to get your career going before looking for your soul mate. Still searching for Mr. Perfect?” His voice held a hint of bitterness.

She lowered
her gaze
. “Look, Matt, about our conversation two years ago. It wasn’t personal. I just needed to focus on one thing at a time. My law school had to come first.”

“Agreed.
As I recall, I never tried to suggest otherwise.”

“No, but I sensed you wanted more from me than I was prepared to give at the time.”

He seemed to accept the answer. “But you have to admit, I don’t exactly fit the image in your head.”

Grace froze. How was she supposed to answer that? “And what image is that?”

“
Smart
, well-groomed, wealthy, professional, handsome.”

Her eyebrows rose. He’d pretty much nailed her must-have list on the head.
In fact, he’d perfectly described on
e
of
Andy’s
new partners, Jason Dent. The only problem was that guys like Jason didn’t give girls like her a second glance.

A knowing smile touched the corners of Matt’s mouth, but to his credit, he dropped the subject. “
So you
still
haven’t told me why you’re here at such an early hour.”

“That’s because you didn’t ask nicely.”

His boyish chortle took her by surprise and set off unexplainab
le emotions
.
He glanc
ed up from the cutting board.
“True. How’s this? Nice to see you
again
, Grac
i
e. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this so early?”

To her chagrin, a traitorous
laugh
bubbled out
.
She cut it short
and shrugged
.
“I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so
I decided to come to work
.”

A frown wrinkled his brow
. “How come you couldn’t sleep?”

She hesitated, considering how best to answer his question.
Might a
s well tell him the truth.
He’
d always been good at dragging it out of
her anyway.
“N
ightmare.”

The lines on
his forehead grew deeper.
“S
ame one?”

She averted her gaze and nodded
.

“H
ave it often?”

“Not as often as I used to, but for some reason it’s woken me up several times this week.”

He whisked the eggs into a frothy mixture and poured it into the
sizzling
skillet, but didn’t sp
eak for a moment, as if think
ing
through
he
r comment.
“
Might be
the stress of starting a new job.”

“
But it’s not really
a new job.
I’ve worked for Andy
of
f
and on
since I graduated from high school.
You, of all people, should know that.
”

A wry grin curled one corner of his mouth.
“Yeah
, but now you’re an
at
torney.
T
hat worrying you any?”

She deliberat
ed
on
the question. Drat! He’
d done it again. How
could
he
always discern what was bothering he
r
?