The Color of Grace

by Linda Kage

  I laughed. “Is that so?”

  “My mom curses them all the time. Says she never can yell at me properly whenever I do something wrong, because I just look at her with my big green gaze and she melts every time. She claims that’s why I’m so spoiled.”

  “I believe her.”

  “So that’s why we’re stuck being in love with each other. I dragged you into it.”

  “With your big green eyes?”

  “Exactly.”

  Snorting out another laugh, I retorted, “Well, at least now I know how you did it.”

  “I figured you were curious.”

  My insides glowed. I was surprised the pleasure didn’t soak through my skin and light up the entire room. But seriously. Ryder Yates loved me and I loved him. It was one of the best moments of my life. I felt so alive and jittery, like I could throw off the covers, spring from the bed and simply start dancing.

  Ryder must’ve been equally alert, and in an especially chatty mood to boot, because he talked on, teasing and making jokes until I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing too loud. It was after eleven thirty when he groaned and muttered, “I think my painkillers are wearing off.”

  Remembering where his mom had set the medicine on his nightstand by the bed, I sat up. “Do you want more pills?”

  “Na.” His voice slurred. “I think I’ll just sleep it off.” A big yawn followed.

  “Good night,” I murmured, lying back down.

  “Night.” He shifted on the couch.

  I felt guilty for stealing his nice, comfortable bed, especially since he was in pain. But I knew he’d turn me down if I tried to trade him. With a sigh, I once again stared up at the ceiling, listening to his breathing change as he fell asleep. A while later, I followed him into oblivion, happier than I’d been in a long, long time.

  Chapter 24

  The ringing of a phone woke me. Stirring under the tangle of blankets on top of me, I shifted in the warm bed, irritated the annoying sound had roused me. The ring came again, and then finally, thankfully, stopped. I was almost out when I heard the voice.

  “Hello.” Pause. “Yes, Ryder lives here. I’m his mother.”

  The name Ryder didn’t reach me for another three seconds. When it did, my eyes flew open. I sat up in bed. Across the dark room I could hear even breathing as Ryder slept on. I hissed his name, but he didn’t respond.

  In the hall, the woman’s voice grew stronger as she came closer to Ryder’s room. “Ma’am, I assure you, my son is not dating a girl named Grace. I don’t even believe he knows a Gra—”

  The door came open and the light from the hallway spilled inside, falling on Ryder’s bed where I sat upright, clutching his blankets to my chest.

  The woman in the doorway gasped and jerked to a stop, pressing a phone to her ear. Her mouth fell open as her stunned gaze latched onto mine.

  A split second later, she composed herself, clearing her voice and saying, “Just a moment, please.” Covering the speaker end, she lowered the phone to her waist and stared hard at me. “Are you Grace?”

  I nodded, too afraid to talk.

  She let out a disappointed sigh and lifted the phone back to her ear. “I owe you an apology, Mrs. Struder. I guess your daughter is here after all. I’m so sorry. I had no idea—what’s that? Yes, yes, of course…” As she gave my mother directions to their house, Ryder finally began to stir on the couch.

  Lifting his head, he winced against the light from the hall and raised a hand to shade his eyes. After squinting around his fingers, he said, “Mom?” just as she disconnected. “What’s going on?”

  At the sound of his voice, Mrs. Yates let out a shriek of surprise and spun his way. “Ryder!” she accused. “What’re you doing on the couch? And why is there a girl in your bed?”

  “Huh?” he slurred, glancing down to find himself stretched lengthways under a throw blanket.

  As his eyes popped open, he zipped his attention to his bed and froze when he saw me gawking back. Jerking into a sitting position, he spun back to send his mom a guilty smile.

  “Busted.”

  Crossing her arms over her chest, Mrs. Yates arched a brow and tapped her foot, waiting for him to start talking.

  He didn’t disappoint. “Mom, I can explain.”

  She smiled stiffly. “Oh, good. I was hoping someone would.” Then the fake smile fell, and her eyes went cold and hard. “Get up. Both of you, please.”

  I flew out of the bed, noticing Ryder was just as quick to scramble off the couch. As we both straightened our spines with our hands held stiffly down at our sides, ready to take our punishment, Mrs. Yates sighed as she shook her head, glancing from me and then back to Ryder.

  Then she focused on me, or rather on my clothes. “Do you have something else to change into?”

  I nodded, glad she wasn’t going to make me face my mom in a pair of pajamas.

  “All right then. You change. And you—” she narrowed her eyes on Ryder “—will come into the hallway and explain this mess to me. Right now.”

  Ryder lowered his head and began to follow her without resistance until he glanced my way. He paused abruptly, his gaze growing untrusting.

  “Make her change in the guest bathroom down the hall,” he said suddenly, shocking both his mother and me. He glanced toward Mrs. Yates. “If she’s left in here alone, she might climb out the window and escape.”

  I gasped, hurt and betrayed he would throw me under the bus like that. The thought of climbing out the window hadn’t even crossed my mind. Though after he mentioned the idea, it would’ve been a good plan.

  “Smart thinking.” His mom motioned me forward. “Grace, there’s another bathroom this way.”

  Grinding my teeth, I gathered my bag and shoes and reluctantly started toward the doorway leading into the rest of the house.

  When I met Ryder’s eyes, he winced as a way to apologize. “You gotta settle this,” was all he said.

  I straightened my chin and stepped into the hallway. Mrs. Yates showed me to the guest bathroom, and I moved inside, shutting the door, before I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead against the wall.

  Mom was going to be here in a matter of minutes, and she’d probably bring that creepy husband of hers. I had no idea what I was going to say, how I was going to explain. I wanted to linger in that bathroom for the rest of my life, but I ended up hurrying as I yanked on my street clothes and stuffed my pajamas into my book bag. Then I opened the door and followed the sound of two adults ripping into Ryder.

  When I entered the living room, I found him staring at the floor as a man and woman demanded to know what he’d been thinking, why a girl was in his room, and how they were going to explain this to my mother.

  He looked a lot like his dad, I decided as I set my book bag on the floor. Mr. Yates had a couple distinguished gray streaks in his hair, but their build and facial features were nearly identical.

  No one noticed me; Ryder’s parents were too busy demanding an explanation and he was trying to calm them both down.

  “First a fight, then suspension, and now a girl’s sleeping in your bed. What in the world, Ryder? Forget tomorrow, you’re telling us everything. Right now.”

  Ryder sighed and pressed his thumbs against his temples. “The fight and suspension have nothing to do with the girl.”

  Folding her arms, his mother arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really? So Kiera knows all about this…this Grace girl sleeping over with you then?”

  “Kiera,” Ryder growled with a bitter curl to his upper lip, “is the reason for my fight and suspension. She cheated on me with Todd. And I caught her…in the act.”

  The announcement stunned his parents speechless long enough for Ryder to continue. “And Grace has nothing to do with any of that. She came here because she needed help. So, I’m helping her.”

  “Helping her with what?” his father recovered from his surprise quickly enough to ask.

  Ryder clamped his lips tightly together.

/>   “Well?” his mom demanded.

  Scowling, he shifted an uncomfortable step backward and ducked his head. “I can’t say.”

  “Oh, yes, you can. You’ll tell us everything. Right now.”

  “I think it’s about time you pull out those big green eyes of yours,” I suggested dryly from behind him.

  I thought Ryder would throw me a dirty look or tell me this was not the time to make jokes, but instead, he threw back his head and laughed, the same melodic laugh that had hooked me the first moment I’d met him. From that point on, I knew I could deal with whatever happened when my mom arrived—that was, until my mom actually did arrive.

  The Yates’s doorbell rang, and my mood dropped flat. My hands went clammy and my throat bone dry as my breathing grew choppy.

  Mom did not look happy when Mrs. Yates swept open the door. Not that I expected her to be all sunshine and roses with a big encompassing hug and exclamation of, “I’m just happy you’re okay; that’s all that matters.”

  But honestly, from the look on her face, I could see she was going to skip the whole “why” portion of our conversation and dive right to the outraged tirade.

  Thank goodness, Ryder’s mom waylaid the tirade, probably diffusing it altogether. Even as she ushered both Mom and Barry inside, she was already apologizing.

  “Mrs. Struder, I am so very sorry about this. I had no idea your daughter was here. I hope you believe me when I say I never, never would’ve allowed such a thing to happen under my roof if I’d known what was going on. And Ryder is usually such a good boy. He’s never done anything like this.”

  My mom looked skeptical as she sent a pointed scowl toward Ryder’s swollen and bruised face. Mrs. Yates paused, glancing toward him as well. She flushed lightly when she took in his injuries.

  “Well, okay, he got into his first fight at school this week,” she allowed with a guilty cringe. “But we grounded him and—”

  Letting out a gasp of outrage, she rounded fully toward her son and set her hands on her hips. “Oh, my God. You broke your grounding.”

  Ryder rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like I would’ve been allowed to have a girl stay the night if I wasn’t grounded. Seriously, Mom. That’s why you’re mad?”

  Beginning to tap her foot against the floor with a growing fury, Ryder’s mom frowned like a pro. Heck, I even found myself slinking a step away from her.

  “This is not the time to make smart aleck comments, young man. What has gotten into you lately? First we receive a call from the school, telling us you’ve gotten into a fight…with your best friend.”

  “Ex-best friend,” Ryder muttered.

  Mrs. Yates narrowed her eyes. “Then you get out-of-school suspension. And now, now we find some girl in your bed! A girl we’ve never even met.”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t in bed with her.” Turning to my mom, Ryder seemed to want to make it perfectly clear that, “I was sleeping clear across the room…on the couch. You can ask my mom; that’s how she found us.”

  “That doesn’t excuse the fact you had a guest in your room, of the opposite gender, without our permission while you were grounded,” his dad growled, entering the conversation.

  Ryder glanced from one parent to the other, looking more irritated than he did rueful. “You know, I’m not really the issue here. We’ll all here because Grace is here. This is about her.”

  My mouth fell open as I gasped. But what a traitor, shoving all the attention toward me.

  It worked too.

  Both his parents and my mom jerked their gazes away from him and turned in unison to send me probing stares. I glowered at Ryder, condemning him with a vile scowl.

  He winced, at least looking apologetic. “You can’t keep running anymore.”

  The crushing weight of doom pressed against my chest.

  “What is he talking about?” Mom demanded, pinning me with a pointed look. “Running from what, Grace?”

  Five pair of eyes zoomed in on me, and I got stage fright. My mouth opened, but no words came out. My face heated with humiliation because I just couldn’t admit the truth with Barry standing right there, practically hanging from my mother’s side pocket.

  Clearing his throat, he took Mom’s hand to gain her attention. “Honey, I think I know what’s wrong.”

  Mom blinked, crinkling her face into confusion. “You do? How can you know what’s wrong with my daughter, when I clearly don’t?”

  He sighed sadly as if he were ready to confess all the sins of the world. Thinking he really was going to admit to what he’d done, I let my shoulders relax until he glanced my way and quietly reported, “The other night, when we were watching that movie, Grace…well, she kissed me.”

  “What?” Three of us—me, Mom, and Ryder—shouted out the question, each carrying our own variety of shock.

  Barry nodded sadly. “I stopped her immediately, of course. And I tried to let her down easily, but she only got upset, ran to her room, and refused to talk to me for the rest of the night. I think she might be…embarrassed because…well, I don’t know. She’s only a girl, and was probably just experimenting.”

  “Oh, my God,” Mom said, covering her mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

  My lips fell apart as I gaped at her. She believed him. She truly believed him. I couldn’t—well, I couldn’t understand. Why would my own mother think I’d kiss her husband? Eww.

  I swallowed convulsively as I tried to keep the tears from falling. What was I supposed to do now?

  “I can understand you’re probably confused.” Barry turned to me, his eyes filled with so much fake sympathy, I wanted to gag. “But running out and sleeping with some other boy isn’t going to fix anything, sweetheart.”

  “We didn’t—” Ryder instantly said, his teeth clenched as he stepped to my side in angry support.

  But his dad reached out and grabbed his arm. “Not right now, son.”

  “No,” Ryder growled, ignoring his father. Pointing a deadly finger Barry’s way, he charged, “He’s lying. She did not kiss him.”

  His unquestioning belief in me is probably what helped hold me together throughout the rest of the conversation. If Ryder hadn’t been there, I probably would’ve shaken myself right into a nervous breakdown.

  He was so intent to defend me, he whirled toward my mother and demanded, “How can you just stand there and believe that jerk over your own daughter?”

  Mom gave Ryder a surprised look. “Believe her? She hasn’t told me anything contrary to what he’s said.”

  “She hasn’t said anything to me either,” Ryder snapped. “But she doesn’t have to either. I already know she would never do what he said.”

  That’s when I started to bawl, the tears pouring down my cheeks in a gush from the first drop. My fingers, my hands, my arms and legs shook so hard, my bones actually hurt.

  When kind hands slipped around my shoulders, I jolted away until I realized it was Ryder’s mother, giving me a supportive hug.

  It made me cry even harder. Once again, a complete stranger was showing me more kindness and concern than my own mother. With the slightest of prodding, Mrs. Yates turned me until I was facing her and could bury my face in her shoulder as her hug encompassed me. She smelled like vanilla and aloe, so soothing and comfortable.

  “What exactly am I supposed to disbelieve here?” I heard Mom ask in a hesitant voice.

  “Just look at her,” Ryder charged. “She’s scared to death. And I seriously doubt she would’ve run away from him if she was trying to hit on him—which is what she did. She ran here. Wouldn’t she want to stick around him while you were at work? Just think about that. She came to me, crying and too upset to tell me what was going on. That makes me think she doesn’t want anything to do with your husband, not that she’s upset because he turned her down. She’s scared. And why in God’s name would she suddenly stop wearing his necklace if she was trying to come onto him? The only reason she came over here tonight was because she was too afraid
to stay at home alone with him.”

  I lifted my face from Mrs. Yates’s shoulder to find Mom glancing at me with questioning eyes. Tears burned my cheeks like hot talons clawing out my very soul.

  When my mother’s gaze fell on my bare neck, she stared a moment, her face crinkling with uncertainty. Then she turned toward her husband. “Barry?”

  He took her arm. “Don’t listen to him, Kate. I don’t even know who this kid is. Grace kissed me, and that’s the truth.”

  I shook my head, buried my face into my hands, and sobbed. Mrs. Yates hugged me harder. “If you don’t believe her, then she’s not going anywhere with you,” she told my mom.

  “That’s for sure,” his dad agreed.

  Mom pulled herself upright with indignation. But she never told the Yates to mind their own business. Instead, she set her jaw and finally turned to me, looking me straight in the eye. “Grace?”

  It hurt that she even had to ask me.

  “What happened between you and Barry?”

  “Just tell her,” Ryder encouraged, his gaze silently saying, ‘Don’t be the glove in the snow. Fight for what you know is right. Be the coat.’ “You’re not lost and alone on this.” He motioned to his parents physically standing behind us, backing us up.

  No one had ever asked me to be brave and defiant and stand up to an adult before.

  But the thought of having to live in the same house with him until I could legally escape spurred me to wipe at my wet face and stare my mom straight in the eye.

  “He kissed me.”

  “What! That lying little—”

  “Don’t even finish that thought,” Ryder’s dad warned as he stepped in front of me to face off with Barry.

  Barry shied away from the other man, but he still turned to my mom with a pleading look. “Kate, don’t believe her. For God’s sake, she’s been with two different boys in the past week. It’s like she’s in heat or something.”

  “Oh, that’s it,” Ryder exploded, charging toward Barry, and right into his father’s restraining arm. “Don’t you dare talk about Grace like that.”