The Way of Grace (Miller's Creek Novels) (42 page)

The receptionist
snatched
the key
as though she feared making
contact
. “He’s already
left
to fly back to Florida to be with his family.” Her tone held condemnation, leaving no doubt as to how she felt about Grace
at the moment
.

She
made ready
to leave, but face
d
San
dra once more
. “I don’t expect you to understand,
but not all of this is my fault.”

Now her friend’s face flared red. “Why can’t you just take responsibility for your actions and admit when you’re wrong?”

“I do
, Sandra
. I shouldn’t have come here in the middle of the night
without permission
,
but I had my reasons.
My heart was in the right
pl
—
”

“Whatever.” Sandra
stood
and
storm
ed
from the receptionist’s office and
slammed the bathroom door behind her.

An invisible claw clutched
her
heart and
squeezed. How far would the repercussions of her actions r
each? Would anybody believe her—
that
in spite of doing the wrong thing—she’d done
it for a noble reason
?
The thought plagued her all the way home.

Grace awoke the next morning, more
lonely
than
ever
. Normally Thanksgiving was
a day
of
family, food
,
and fun, but not today.
She
padded to the
kitchen,
and in no time, had the house ensconced
in the smell of bacon and eggs, but in the end threw most of her breakfast in the trash.

As the morning wore on, she
entertained the idea o
f calling Matt, but
changed her mind
.
Af
ter her efforts to put distance between them
, it would only complicate matter
s.
But t
he silence finally got the best of her
,
and right before lunch,
sh
e plug
ged
in the
phone
in case
Papa
call
ed
.
S
he didn’t dare run up the phone bill
, especially since she migh
t have to borrow money
to
pay for
the things she’d
purchased
o
ver the past few weeks
.

To her great delight, the phone emitted a dial tone
as soon as she plugged it in, and only thirty minutes passed before t
he phone
rang
.
For a second she hesitated, fearful of
possible silence on the other end
. But finally
she answer
ed.

“
Buenos
dias
,
Graciela.”

Tears pooled
in her eye
s
.
“Papa!”
Had she ever been so glad and relieved to hear his voice?
“How are you?”

H
e
laughed,
the happiest sound she’d heard him mak
e in the past fifteen years. “I’
ve never been better,
la
hija
. How are you?”

The words froze in her throat. Telling him the tr
uth would
only destroy
t
his
newfound
joy
.
Best to wait until later.
“I’
m fine. I have something to tell you, but I’ll wait until you’re
home.”

“I have
things to
discuss with you too
, but they
’
ll wait. I mainly wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.”

The phone was passed
to h
er brothers, sister-in-laws,
nieces and nephews, so that by the time she’d spoken with everyone, a half hour had elapsed. She hung up
with mixed
fee
lings. It hurt to know
her family would have a great day of celebrating without her, but as least she’d had the chance to speak with them.

Grac
e grabbed a book and
headed to
the back door
.
Might as well read o
utdoors while the day was
warm.
The phone shrilled, and
sh
e stopped in her tracks
. It wouldn’t be like Papa to call again so soon, and
in her current state of mind,
she
dared not
answer. Instead
she unplugged the phone and moved outside
.

The weekend wore on
interminably. Grace thought about
look
ing
for a job on Black Friday, but with the throng of Christm
as shoppers it was unlikely
anyone would ha
ve time to discuss jobs. S
he busied herself around the house, cleaning out her closet and the pantr
y.

By
Sunday morning
Grace was more than r
eady for interaction. S
he
went through her normal routine on autopilot
. Though she dreaded facing people
at church,
she
also
needed them
like neve
r before, but would they be receptive in light of what she’d done?

She arrived a few minutes early, but e
ver
y attempt she made to
engage others
was met wit
h
uncomfortable silence.
By the time
the
service
started, her
pasted-on
veneer of a smile
wore
painfully
thin
, but she
forced herself to carry on as
best
she could
.

Since t
ears
hovered jus
t beneath the surfa
ce
,
she opted to sit in the congregation
r
ather than
th
e choir
.
During
the welcome
—what Mama Beth
laughingly
called ‘hug and howdy’ time—Grac
e turned to greet
those behind her
. To her surprise
,
Andy
and Trish and their two boys had slipped in during the
opening
song
.

Grac
e held out a hand to Little Bo, who
’d grown at least two feet since
her high school days when she
babysat for him. D
iscomfort
covered
his face, and
Trish
quickly
stepped in
.
She wore a
tight
smile, and her
eyes held
uncustomary hardness. “
H
ow are you?
”
Trish asked the question as she shook her hand, then w
ithout waiting for a response, turned to hug the neck of the person behind her.

Her
heart fell to the floor.
So this was how it was going to be.

Andy, his face still as grim as it had been last Wednesday,
stepped forward and offered a hand
.
“Hey, Gracie.”

“Hi
.” She managed a slight
smile
, in spite of
her shredded heart
. “Is Matt here by any chance?”

A
small frown created vertical rippl
es between his eyebrows. “I
thought you knew.
He decided to go on the road wi
th a band
.”

The news slammed
into her with unexpected force, and she
grip
ped the pew. He’
d left without saying
good-bye
?

Grace turned to the front, her mind
and heart
reeling as she blinked back tears. Though
the
blow hurt worse than
any other
, i
t was for the best. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about
him getting caught in the cross
fire while she tried to uncover the truth.

Throughout the service,
an ever-grow
ing realization
invad
ed her thoughts
. L
ife
in Miller’s Creek
would never again be the same.

17

“M
att!” Derek barked out his name, effectively bringing Matt’s focus back to the
Sunday evening
rehearsal.

“Sorry
. Can we try it again?” He sen
t an apologetic grin
.

Derek sighed. “Actually, let’s take five.”

The guys in the band jumped on the break, quickly exit
ing the basement in favor of Derek’s
loaded fridge upstairs. A
ll it took was one
look from his
host
for Matt to stay in place.

His friend pulled up a chair and straddled it backwards, elbows at rest on the back of the chair. “What’s going on, bud? This isn’
t like you.
”

Matt feigned an innocent expression. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re here, but your head’s not.”

His eyebrows rose
.
Derek had always been
blunt and to the point, one of the things that drew Matt to him
during their college years.
“Sorry, man
.
I’ll try to keep my head in the game.”

“It’s a chick, isn’t it?”

A wry grin crept onto Matt’
s face.
“
T
hat obvious
, huh
?”

“Seen it a hundred times before,” said Derek, breaking into a smile. “
Afraid she’ll forget you while you’re on the road?”

Though there was a smidgeon of truth to his friend’s comment, that wasn’t the true source of his fear. Matt shook his head. “Afraid she’s in danger.”

“Then why’
d you agree to come on the road with us?”

Matt shrugged. “I don’t think I fully realized how much danger until right before I left. Now it’s all I can think about.” The bags under his eyes should bear testimony to his words. Though he’d managed to doze off a few times
during the past couple of
night
s
, his sleep had not been sound.

“
N
eed to leave?”

“No
, I won’t do that to you guys. I’ll get my brother to keep an eye out for her.”
That is w
hen he
wasn’t running around like a crazy man trying to keep all the balls
he juggled
in the air.

Derek knocked knuckles with him. “Sounds like a plan, man. Keep me updated.”

“Will do.”

The rest of the rehea
rsal went smoother, but
took more effort on Matt’s part than he ever dreamed possible. Not only did his worries of Grac
ie constantly threaten, but
fatigue from the d
rive to Austin coupled with
two restless nights made it a struggle to keep his eyes open.

As soon as Derek released them
for dinner
, Matt
grabbed a sandwich, bag of chips
,
and a Dr. Pepper, then
made a beeline to his room to make a couple of calls. First up was
Justin Combs,
a college professor who’d
also
b
een
a friend and advisor.