A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4)

by Staci Stallings

  The future. Dani didn’t have the brain space to think farther than this contract. Christmas. The word went through her head like a shot, and she shook her head as it tipped to overload. Only little more than a week left. As it stood now, there would only be two presents under the tree. Distracted by the thought, she clicked over to run the search for the doll Jaden wanted. She hadn’t had five minutes to search for it since Ja had mentioned it two weeks before.

  Clicking into the search engine, Dani punched in the name of what she thought it was and hit search. The four seconds it took to bring up the results list nearly yanked her attention away from the task. However, at the last second the doll came up, and with no more than a thought, Dani clicked the ‘One Click to Purchase’ button. Done. Thank goodness.

  “Mrs. Richardson?” her secretary asked, beeping in on the phone from her desk.

  Dani hit the button. “Yeah, Elise?”

  “Your ten o’clock is here.”

  She hit the button again. “Did we get the eighth floor conference room?”

  “It’s waiting.”

  “Thanks.” Leaving the paperwork for another time, Dani stood and straightened her gray business suit jacket and herself. Time to make the world go ‘round.

  “The reroute has held up, so thankfully, we’re good on that count. It helps that we had two options to work with on that one,” Dan Rogers said, pointing at the maps spread out on the table as Eric nodded. “As of this morning we’ve completed the demo on the South Holden Bridge.”

  “Recon will start Monday morning if all goes well with the removal over the weekend,” Paul White said from the other end of the table. “I don’t foresee any problems.”

  “How are we looking weather-wise?” Eric asked.

  “Good,” Carl Whatson said. “If it wasn’t for Christmas and New Years and then January, we could easily have this thing rockin’ and rollin’ by early February.”

  “What’s the timeline on Project B?” Eric asked.

  “Soon as A is complete, we’re ready to go on B,” Paul said. “Wish we could do them all at the same time. Sure would tidy things up around here.”

  “You and me both,” Eric said. He looked at his watch. “Thank you, gentlemen. If there’s nothing else, I’ve got a construction meeting to get to.”

  And just like that, the team for the Greensboro Bridge Reconstruction Project broke up. It was only eleven a.m. If Eric played his cards right, he could be in the audience before Dani even got there.

  Headed to Greensboro. Dani read the text when she got back to her office, and she typed back simply. K.

  With only one small breath, she got back to work, foregoing lunch so she had a prayer of leaving early.

  “I know, Carly,” Dani said into the cell phone at five. She had meant to leave at four, but that hadn’t happened. Racing to her car, her gray heels clicking on the parking garage pavement, she fumbled with her briefcase to retrieve her keys from her handbag even as she talked to the babysitter who would now be tasked with getting Jaden ready. “I know. I’m really sorry, but I’ll be there. The dress is hanging in the closet. It’s the red one. Make sure she eats something first though. I don’t want her to get anything to get on that dress.”

  At the car, she unlocked it and slid inside. How she did so many things at once, Dani hardly knew though she hardly noticed either. “Mac and cheese is fine if that’s what she wants. Yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can. K. Bye.”

  Flipping the phone to the passenger’s seat, she backed out and gunned it for the exit. Out into the traffic she went with a squeal of her tires, and only there, she had to wind down her panic. Five o’clock traffic. How would they ever make it to the school on time?

  She yanked up the cell phone again and texted him. Where are you? Close to home?

  The bleep of the text coming in raked across Eric’s already frazzled nerves. For as easy as the second meeting should have been, the drive out and back in had eaten up far too much time. He swiped the thing on and shook his head. Eyes on both the road and the phone, he texted back. I’ll make it to the school, but barely. Save me a seat!!!

  A seat? This breath barely made it into her lungs. So much for him helping get Jaden ready. Dani shook her head hard and tossed the white-encased phone to the pile next to her. “Oh, Ja. I’m coming, baby. I promise. I’m coming.”

  “Do I have to wear the bow?” Jaden asked as Dani slipped it over the out-of-control curls to hold them back. “It itches.”

  “It doesn’t itch. It’s beautiful. Now I called Grandma on the way home. She’s coming tonight. You want to be pretty for Grandma, right?”

  Putting her gaze down, Jaden nodded.

  “Okay, then. Bow it is.” Shaking from the adrenaline, Dani went back to her room and reapplied her lipstick. No reason to look like a hobo. She straightened as she looked into the mirror. Tired was just going to have to wait. “Ja, honey. It’s time to go, or we’re going to be late!”

  They made it to the school at 6:20. Okay, so Jaden was supposed to be there by 6:00, but who would even notice? It wasn’t like everyone else was in place either.

  Dani found seats five rows from the front. She save a seat on each side of her and turned to watch the other families streaming in. The school district was the best in all of Raleigh. That’s why they had chosen it, so of course, the families now coming in looked picture perfect. It wasn’t lost on Dani just how perfect as her gaze snagged on the handbags the women carried. They were hardly knock-off quality.

  No. They screamed of being bought in places like Paris and Milan and Monte Carlo.

  Some day, Dani breathed to herself just as she caught sight of her mother. Trying to be nonchalant about it, she waved to get her mother’s attention. It didn’t work as well as she would have liked, so she waved again. If she didn’t get her mother’s gaze soon, she might have to resort to standing on the chair. Thankfully, her mother saw her and raised her chin slightly to indicate she no longer needed to call attention to herself, and with a smile down at the people seated behind her, Dani readjusted her suit jacket and resumed her seat.

  As she waited for her mother’s arrival, she stole a glance at the screen of her cell phone. Nothing. Quickly she typed. It’s about to start. Where are you?

  “Oh, there you are. This place is positively a madhouse.” Her mother swept in and sat in the seat next to her just as Dani managed to rescue her handbag from it. “Where is my darling granddaughter?”

  “Second from the right, third row up, over on that side.” Dani finished the text, sent it, and put the phone away. If he was close, he probably wouldn’t text back anyway.

  Her mother nodded. “And Eric?”

  “He’s coming. I think traffic was crazy.”

  “Well, at least he bothers to show up for his child.”

  Dani exhaled. “Mom, do we have to do this here? Can’t we have one night without hearing how terrible Dad is?”

  Shaking her head and folding her hands, her mother lifted her chin. “It’s not my fault he couldn’t make time for his family.”

  This was truly going to be an exhausting evening, and Dani wasn’t at all sure inviting her mother had been the wisest move in the whole world. Although she understood, Dani knew as well as anyone that her mother could suck the life out of any event no matter how festive.

  “What’d I miss?” Eric asked, sliding into the seat next to Dani, and she was sure he’d just saved her from saying something she really shouldn’t have.

  “Nothing. I think the show’s just about to start.” Leaning over, Dani kissed him quickly. The last thing she needed was to hear her mother question the state of her marriage.

  “Where is she?” Eric asked, scanning the tiny faces of the children.

  “Second from the right…”

  “Oh. I see her.” And he waved. Their little princess waved back, and as much as Dani hated to admit it, her mother was right. Eric was a good father. Much better than her own had ever been.

&n
bsp; As the lights went down, she shook away from those depressing thoughts and clapped over them with others. Tonight was Jaden’s night to shine, and nothing was going to up-stage that.

  “You did so good,” Dani said, hugging Jaden to her when they made it through the throng to collect her.

  “You couldn’t even hear me.” Jaden’s little head hung low, the bow and hair about the only thing visible.

  “Well, you certainly could have fooled me.” Eric sat on his heel and put his hand on her back. “I thought you were the only one we could hear. Sounded like the angels singing.”

  The shy smile slipped onto Jaden’s face, and her gaze came up a fraction. “Did you really like it?”

  “Like it?” he asked in horror that she could think any less. “I thought we were listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir you were so good.”

  “Did you like it, Grandma?” Jaden asked, barely picking up her gaze.

  “I did. I’m sure glad your mama told me to come see you.”

  Dani tipped her head at her daughter who dutifully stepped over and put her arms around her grandmother.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said softly.

  Checking the night off as a success, Dani smiled. “Well, it’s about time for us to be getting on home. We’ve got another big day tomorrow.”

  And with that, they headed out.

  Back home, Jaden was in bed and asleep before either of her parents so much as changed out of their work clothes. In their own room, Dani set about taking off the day’s effects as the sound of the shower running poured through her. Hungry. She realized only then she was hungry. Pulling the soft white of her robe around her, she left the bedroom and tip-toed through the house bound for the kitchen. Cereal. Oatmeal. A Pop Tart and peanut butter.

  She was so hungry, she would eat whatever she could find.

  “Your mom seemed…” Eric came out, still drying off, but stopped when he realized he was talking to nobody. He looked first one way and then the other before arching his head to see if Dani was already in bed. “Dani?” Puzzled, he shook his head. “Where did she go?”

  In the dark quiet of the kitchen, Dani wondered if the email had come in while she was at the concert. They didn’t need to be waiting on her if it had. Quietly as she spooned the peanut butter from the jar into her mouth, she opened the laptop on the table. It wouldn’t take long to just check.

  Worried but trying not to be because he had learned this pattern, Eric slipped from the bedroom down the hall and then down the stairs. He saw the glow in the kitchen before he even got there, and he knew. With a shake of his head and a long sigh, he turned back for bed. If he interrupted her, that would only prolong her evening workload. Besides, if she wasn’t in bed, he could check his own phone feed before calling it a night. He needed to do that anyway.

  And so, true to their routine, he checked in with work and was asleep long before she got to the other side of the bed. It wasn’t romantic or wonderful, but it was how life had become, and neither one of them had any real desire to change it.

  Chapter 5

  Luke & Sage

  Patience was not among Sage Baker’s best attributes, but she had done her level best not to make the phone call that was burning holes in her willpower. Somehow she got herself to wait a full two hours after she finally managed to get the boys off to school, the girls fed, and Luke had gone out the door with one more long hug between them. Then came the interminable wait. The time difference was going to kill her. At eleven o’clock, she picked up the phone and dialed the number, tamping down the excitement that threatened to escape with each new idea that hopped into her mind. She had been up half the night before long after she should have been asleep thinking about everything. They couldn’t afford a lot of frills, but she was determined it would look like they had.

  “This is Jaycee. What’s up?”

  “Hey, little sis. So you are still on the planet? You didn’t call me.”

  “Yes. I’m still here.” But the happiness came through the words with no filter. “We’re back in California for a couple days, trying to sort everything out before we head out there this weekend.”

  “Oh. So, you’re coming in on…?”

  “Friday. Late afternoon I think. I can check if you need me to.”

  “No, no, that’s okay. That’s not why I’m calling anyway.”

  “Oh?” Jaycee asked. “What’s up?”

  “Well,” Sage hedged, wondering how much she should ask of her sister, after all she was still in honeymoon-mode herself, “I got to talking to Rachel the other day, and they haven’t done like anything on the wedding at all. They’ve been so busy working and trying to get that house ready for his family to stay in when they come.”

  “But the wedding’s in less than two weeks.”

  “That’s what I said. So I’ve been talking to Luke, and we want to help them out a little.”

  Jaycee went quiet for a full three seconds. “And by help them out, you mean…”

  “Throw them a wedding! Eep!”

  Her sister laughed at Sage’s theatrics. She never had been good at keeping her excitement under wraps.

  “And just how are we going to accomplish that?” Jaycee asked, and Sage knew by the tone in her voice that her sister was already spinning her own ideas on the subject.

  “Well, I know that Caleb asked Derek to stand up for them, so I figured, it wouldn’t be that far out of the question for Derek to get the tux thing taken care of. They can get them over the holidays when y’all get here.”

  “And decorations?”

  “I have some of the white from yours left over and some navy too, and there’s Christmas stuff everywhere right now. I’m sure Jane has some extras we could use at the church if we needed it—bows and stuff like that. I could do finger food and punch for the reception. It’s not like we’re trying to feed a hundred people or anything. Fifty tops.”

  “Does she have her dress?”

  That jerked Sage’s heart up and held it. “That’s where it gets a little tricky.”

  “Tricky? Either she has a dress or she doesn’t.”

  “Well, she told me she was thinking about wearing that cute little flowery thing she has but…”

  “For her wedding?”

  “That’s what I said, although I tried to be a little nicer about it than that,” Sage said with a giggle. “But I got to thinking about it last night. I know Mom still has my homecoming dress out there at the farm.”

  “She has all of our dresses.”

  “Right. Mine was that creamy-white one with the big Cinderella skirt…”

  “I remember it.” Jaycee’s voice spiraled down into thought.

  “I’m thinking I could go get it, see if I needed to add anything to it to make it more wedding-y. It really was a pretty dress.”

  “And what are you going to do, wave a magic wand to get her into the thing?”

  Sage scoffed. “Now you sound like Luke.” She shook her head as the idea dragged up her enthusiasm. “No. I was thinking we could give it to her for Christmas at the party on Monday.”

  “What if she gets something before that?”

  “Well, first of all, I really don’t think she’s going to, and second, if she does, Livvie can always wear it to her prom or her wedding.”

  “Livvie?” Jaycee asked in shock as Sage’s daughter was barely five.

  “We’ll call that Plan B.”

  Chapter 6

  Eric & Dani

  “Mom called today,” Eric said as day wound into night on the 22nd of December. To say he was exhausted would have been putting it mildly. “She decided to go to Yvonne’s for Christmas. I think Xander and Cale are going there too.”

  Dani exhaled as she swiped off her make-up. “It’s too bad we’re having my family. We could’ve just pulled up stakes and joined yours this year.”

  Laughing, he slipped down the feed on his phone. “I thought they stressed you out. All the kids and everything. Not to men
tion we’d have had to book the rooms six months ago to get anything decent.”

  “Yeah, well, they’re better than all the drama. I talked to Dad today. He said he thinks him and Celeste will at least make an appearance though they’ll probably not come for the meal.” Slowly she put everything back in its spot and stood, her flowing blue satin gown skimming her not-quite-as-trim-as-it-used-to-be body. She ran her hand down over herself once as she gazed in the mirror. Thirty years old. How did the time go that fast?

  She should start going to the gym after all she was still paying the monthly dues from last year. There just never seemed to be enough time.

  “Your mom’s still coming though, right?” Eric asked.

  “And Kim and Mitchell, I think. I need to call him tomorrow and make sure before we buy all of this food.” Turning off the vanity light, she came over to the bed and flipped the covers back. “I guess I’ll go try to get that done tomorrow after work. Mrs. McGuire’s going to watch Ja tomorrow, so I can just tell her I’ll be a little late picking her up.” She slid her gaze over to him. Him. Eric Michael Richardson. The guy who had stolen her heart twelve years before and never bothered to give it back.

  She half-smiled at the thought even as the trek their lives had taken since then twined around her. He was a good man. Solid. Secure. And he loved them, both of them. She knew that to the depths of her being. Still, it was sad to see how the spark between them was only a dying ember of what it had once been. Time. Jobs. Family. Drama. Jaden. They had all conspired to snuff out the spark just a little more and a little more until there wasn’t much of one left.