Five Days Grace (The McRae Series, Book 4- Grace)

by Teresa Hill

  "I will."

  "Go," he said. "Before I drag you back inside and refuse to let you leave."

  * * *

  She cried some more on the way, feeling silly and playing the car stereo too loud, with the windows down, for the cool breeze and so Tink could stick his big head out. He seemed to like that. She talked to him and sang to him the whole way, but he obviously didn't understand, either her being so upset or maybe being driven away from the lake.

  "It'll be okay," she kept telling him, although it was probably hard to believe with her crying as she said it.

  She felt overwhelmed by all that had happened, all she felt, how much she truly hated being away from a man she'd just met five days ago.

  Getting home a few minutes after eight, she told herself to get it together and get on with things. She and Tink checked out the newly fenced back yard for a moment, and then she hurried into the shower, in case someone showed up for coffee this morning.

  They would be worried about her, since she had supposedly spent all this time with Luc's mother, because they knew she'd dreaded it. When she got out of the shower and opened the bathroom door, she found Tink, looking a little anxious, plopped down right outside the door.

  "Okay. We made it home" she said. "And don't worry. You're going to like it here, promise. We'll take good care of each other. And we'll go visit Maeve, I promise. Maybe we can get you certified as a service dog, so you can go inside and visit whatever kind of place she's in. Would you like that?"

  He whined, still looking uneasy. Poor baby.

  She pulled on jeans and a sweater, her normal work attire, and toweled the worst of the moisture from her hair. A little hair gel, finger-combing, and then a quick braid, and she headed for the kitchen, started some coffee and picked up the phone to call Aidan. He answered on the first ring.

  "Hi," she said. "We're here, and it looks like we slipped in before anyone caught onto the fact that we didn't get here until this morning."

  "Good."

  "Now I just need to try to look like a woman who had a terrible long weekend away instead of the best one ever and... you know... try not to have that great-sex glow."

  He laughed out loud at that. "Great-sex glow?"

  "Yes. Women get that. If you really know them, you can tell when they've been having a lot of great sex. My sister's looked like that talking about giving the dog a bath in her shower, and I always found that odd, but now I understand. They obviously get the dog clean, and then kick him out of the bathroom and get in the shower together."

  "Mmm. Yeah. I meant to get you in there and wash you all over with nothing but my hands and a bar of soap. How did I forget that?"

  "I don't know."

  "I need to start a list of everything I want to do with you," he said. "The one in my head obviously isn't doing it. I'll have to write it all down."

  She had just poured her first cup of coffee, was still laughing and talking to him, when someone knocked on her back door. "Uh-oh. Someone's here. I have to go. I'll call you tonight."

  Opening the door, she found her mother standing there and tried as best she could not to glow.

  * * *

  The dog helped deflect attention away from her.

  He stuck firmly by her side all day—even at work—and he was so big and silly-looking that everyone spent more time looking at him than her. If they thought she seemed unusually happy after spending a weekend with her dead husband's mother, she could say it was Tink. That he was sweet and funny and made her laugh, was good company, too.

  Both her mother and her sister asked if she wanted to come to dinner, thinking she probably wouldn't have anything in the house to cook, but she declined. She told them she was tired and just wanted to go to bed, saying truthfully that she hadn't slept much the night before, although of course she didn't say why.

  She was exhausted, ready to go to bed at seven o'clock. Tink, standing beside her, looked hopefully at a spot in the bed for himself, with no Aidan around.

  "You're good, but not quite as good as having him here," she told the dog, then called the man, on the off chance he was somewhere he could pick up a signal. He must have been, because he came on the line right away. She told him, "I was afraid I wouldn't get you at this hour."

  "I decided to walk now, thinking you might get tired and go to bed early," he said.

  "You think I'm lazy," she said.

  "No, honey, I don't. I just know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night and that we've been going to bed really early the past few nights."

  "I miss you already."

  "I miss you, too."

  "And I bet I'm going to miss you even more tonight."

  "Me, too, definitely. How did it go today?"

  "I think everybody's suspicious that something's going on, but I just keep saying I'm really happy about the dog. Other than that, things are okay. When am I going to come home and find you in my bed?"

  "Soon," he promised. "Very soon."

  * * *

  She missed him like crazy.

  Her family was still suspicious, but couldn't quite figure out what was going on, and she'd had a constant stream of visitors since she returned, the latest being her brother's wife, Julie. She had been Grace's best friend when they were children, and they'd become good friends again since Julie had moved back to town four years ago.

  "Something about you is different," Julie insisted that evening as they walked into Grace's house, the dog bounding ahead, even more excited than usual to be home. "And don't say it's the dog. No dog is that good."

  "Okay, who are you right now? Are you my sister-in-law? Or my best friend?"

  "Which one will get me an answer?" Julie asked.

  "How are the baby negotiations going?" Grace asked instead, because her brother wanted to start a family and Julie was still terrified of the idea, last Grace had heard. Julie's childhood had been chaotic, at best, and she kept insisting she had no idea how to be anyone's mother. Of course, she'd been scared to love and marry Grace's brother, and he'd talked her into that, so Grace suspected he'd do the same on the question of babies.

  "That is so unfair," Julie protested.

  "If the most private parts of my life are open for discussion, yours are, too."

  "So there is something going on. Something very private! Knew it! Nobody gets this happy over a dog."

  "He's a great dog." Grace said, which was true. It just wasn't the whole story. "Wait, where did he go? Tink? Come here, baby."

  "He went down the hall. Quit trying to change the subject—"

  "That's odd. He's usually right under my feet. Tink?" He showed up in the hallway, looking goofy as could be and excited as always. "What are you doing, baby?"

  He cocked his head to the side and gave one little, "Woof."

  "Grace!" Julie protested. "Okay. I'm still scared, still holding out. But you know Zach. He makes things that I find terrifying somehow sound reasonable. He got me to marry him, after all. Now, you tell me. What's going on?"

  "You told me one time, right after you moved back here, that he scared you to death, because you trusted him, really trusted him. I didn't really get it then. You meant you were safe with everyone else, because you didn't trust them, so there was no risk of falling in love. But you trusted Zach, which made him a very dangerous man."

  Julie nodded.

  "I realized the other day that I didn't really feel safe with Luc. I never trusted him the way I think you trust Zach.

  "Wait. You're saying, you never loved him?"

  "I don't know. I thought I did. I wouldn't have married him otherwise. But when it came right down to it, I didn't trust that he would take care of me, if I really needed him to, and I didn't feel safe with him. And now... I'm just... figuring some things out." Grace shook her head, wishing this was just her friend, and she could spill all her secrets. But she couldn't really wish that. She knew how much Julie and her brother loved each other, and was so happy that they had found each other. It was just d
ifficult in moments like this. "Did you know, when Zach showed up in Memphis, that he was it? Just know, right then?"

  "I knew he was probably the only man in the world I'd ever really trust, but I never thought I'd get to have him. Or keep him. I never thought he could really love me, that life would ever bring me a man like him."

  "That's how I felt with Luc. Except for the trust part. I didn't think I'd ever have him or he'd ever love me. I think now he may have loved the idea of me so much more than the reality, and I know it was like that for me."

  "Grace, what's happened?"

  "Just what I said. I'm trying to figure some things out."

  "How can I help?"

  "I need you to be my friend in this, not Zach's wife. And I know I'm not supposed to do that or that I can't do it often. Because he's your husband, and it's not right of me to ask you to keep secrets from him. But he owes me on this one, and I'm collecting."

  "What do you mean, he owes you?"

  "He didn't tell you?"

  "Tell me what?"

  Grace studied her friend for a moment. "Okay, I think I can read you pretty well. I don't think he did."

  Zach walked in the kitchen door right then. "All right, what did I do now?"

  "I don't know. What did you do?" Julie asked, looking from him to Grace and then back to him again.

  Grace glared at him, her full-blown, you-are-in-deep-shit glare, let herself remember how furious and betrayed she had felt when she found out the secret Zach had kept from her all this time.

  Her brother was an excellent lawyer, with an excellent poker face. But the idea of her knowing this particular secret must have really freaked him out. He didn't look guilty at all, but he did look worried. Really worried. About Grace.

  "Okay, so you didn't tell her," Grace said.

  "What?" he asked carefully.

  "Did you tell Dad? Rye? Does Mom know? And Emma? Or was this just a guy thing?" Grace could see that. The three of them in it together. They had, after all, shown up at her door together that day, to tell her that her husband was dead. The three men in her life. The ones she could really count on, except for the fact that all three of them had their over-protective moments, even now that she was all grown up. "So, a guy thing? Okay. You can go now."

  "Wait, what did you do?" Julie demanded of him.

  Grace took a bit of satisfaction in him having to stand there, guilty as hell, while both of them gave him a hard time.

  "God, Grace. I couldn't." And he looked sick, just saying that much. "I just couldn't do that to you."

  She glared at him some more, not feeling the least bit guilty.

  "You can go now," she said again.

  "No, we're not going anywhere. What's going on?" Julie asked again.

  "Luc was cheating on me before he died, and Zach knew and never told me." Grace just said it, happy to finally have it out.

  Julie gasped.

  No, she hadn't known. Grace was sure now.

  "I mean it. Get out," Grace told her brother. He started to protest, but she cut him off before he could say another word. "Out!"

  He turned to go, but took a moment to look back at her and said quietly, "We already had to break your heart, Grace, by telling you he was dead. That was hard enough for you, don't you think?"

  "Out!" she said again.

  Julie looked horrified. "I can't believe any of this. Do you want me to go, too, and yell at my husband? Or stay here with you?"

  "Go on. Go with him. I'm too mad to talk now anyway."

  So Julie gave her a quick hug and then left.

  Grace realized she was shaking, now feeling a little guilty about how distressed her brother had looked, but satisfied, too, that she'd gotten that out. She'd been dreading it and ducking Zach's calls, which she knew she couldn't get away with for long.

  She walked into the living room and down the hall to find the dog, and then her bedroom door opened, and there was Aidan, giving her a sad, understanding look, then holding out his arms.

  Grace gave him a huge smile in return, would have run to him and jumped into his arms if she hadn't been worried about hurting his hip. As it was, she greeted him like she hadn't seen him in weeks, maybe months, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him hungrily, deeply.

  "You broke in," she said, still grinning hugely when she finally stopped kissing him.

  "I told you I would, although I thought the dog was going to give me away."

  "Oh, that's why he was back here. I couldn't figure that out."

  "I don't think he's too happy to see me. He probably likes having you all to himself."

  "He does." Grace just looked at the man for a moment, so strong, solid and gorgeous. "I don't like real life nearly as much as hiding with you."

  "Me, either, honey."

  "Oh, darn it! I just told Zach that I know what he did—"

  "Yeah. I heard that part. Remind me not to make you mad."

  "But now that I did, I'm going to be inundated with family wanting to talk about it and know if I'm okay. And I don't want to see any of them. I want you. You're staying, right?"

  "I was planning on it. Will I have to fight the dog for a spot in the bed next to you?"

  "Maybe," she admitted, because she'd been letting Tink sleep with her. "He's warm and cuddly, but I'd rather have you."

  "You like me that much, huh? Even more than the dog?"

  "I do." She kissed him again, then said, "Wait right here. I have to call my brother."

  "Really?"

  She nodded, grabbing her phone and dialing. Zach answered right away, started apologizing before he even said hello to her, and she cut him off. "Listen to me carefully. Unless you want to make me even madder, you will not say a word about this to Dad or Rye. I will yell at them when I'm ready."

  He was still trying to apologize when she hung up on him and turned back to Aidan.

  "Think that'll work?" he asked.

  "I don't know. Maybe. I wanted it out. I want... everything in the past out. Figured out. Talked out. Done. Because the future looks much more interesting to me now." Her face was starting to hurt, she was grinning so big, constantly. It was just so good to see him. "How are you? You look... so good. Perfect, actually. Did you see my bed? I've been thinking about you in that bed. About coming home and finding you there."

  He laughed. "I was waiting for you in your bed, until the argument with your brother started, and then I thought I should probably be on my feet, at least. He is not going to be happy about us, Grace. You don't mess with a guy's sister."

  "He'll just have to get over it. Plus, he owes me. Now, what am I going to do with you? Show you the house? Feed you? I can't take you anywhere if I want to keep you a secret, so I hope I can find something to feed you—"

  "I brought take-out for dinner. Chinese. It's in your refrigerator," he said.

  "You broke in with take-out?"

  He nodded.

  And she laughed again, happy as could be. "A full-service break-in. I like that. See, when I did that, you held a gun on me."

  "Yeah. You're going to tell that story forever, aren't you? Fifty years from now, people will ask how we met, and you'll say I pulled a gun on you."

  "Fifty years from now?" She liked the sound of that.

  "Will that be enough? I'm not sure."

  * * *

  She showed him her house first. She wanted him to see the artwork in various places, hoping he liked the things she'd done, that it was a place where he could feel at home. She liked colors, bright colors, and lots of them.

  He studied her work slowly, seriously, admired the pretty, whimsical, blown-glass bubbles hanging in the kitchen window, saying they looked fun and quirky and reminded him of her, as did the big piece in the dining room, which was just tons of metal squares of color. All of which pleased her.

  The house had been a wreck when her father had first showed it to her. He'd bought it cheap, planning to fix it up one day, maybe for her, and when she and Luc were ready to mo
ve back to Baxter, her whole family had gone to work on it. Growing up the way she had, with a father and a brother-in-law in the restoration business, she and her brother and sister had all helped out at job sites from time to time. So Grace's house became a family project.

  She had eclectic tastes, and liked shabby-chic, bohemian, old, repurposed things rather than traditional antiques. She wanted old furniture she could strip down and paint, even glaze and rough up, if she wanted to, and actually use, not older pieces that should only be admired carefully, preferably from a distance.

  She knew it wasn't the kind of place Luc was accustomed to. It wasn't big or expensive or fancy, but it was a home, provided lovingly through the efforts of her family, and she was thrilled with it. She really wanted Aidan to like it.

  "I can see you in it. It is all you, isn't it? Except for that?" He pointed to a sculpture on the end table in the living room, a twisted piece of metal.

  "You're right. That's Luc's work."

  "And that?" He nodded toward a painting in the hall near the front door, an impressionistic piece, moody and full of muted colors.

  "His, too. Good eye."

  "No, I just can't see you doing anything so... dull."

  "There are people who would argue my use of color is amateurish."

  "Screw them." He turned back to the wall she'd covered with mirrors rimmed in stained glass, during her mirror phase. "You look at these and you're happy. You think, 'The woman who did this is a happy woman. She loves her work. She thinks it's fun.' Don't let anyone dismiss your work because it's happy or fun. The world's tough enough without gloomy art hanging on the walls."

  "Thank you. I really wanted you to like my work."

  "I knew I would. I like you, and I knew I'd see you in your work."

  Oh, she adored this man! The truth was Luc, while he'd never said it, had thought his work was so much more important and serious than hers.

  She and Aidan worked companionably in the kitchen, warming up the food he'd brought, and then sat at the little table in the kitchen alcove to eat.

  "I can't believe this is the first meal we've shared that wasn't like camp food eaten in a camp-like setting," she said, happy as could be.

  "It's been an unusual courtship," he admitted. "Although, now that I think about it, it doesn't have to be. We could meet anywhere, Grace. Cincinnati's a good-sized city. We'd be safe there, even though your brother lives there, right? We could get dressed up. Okay, I could buy something to wear other than sweats and T-shirts, and then we could get dressed up and actually go to a restaurant. I could buy you a nice dinner. If we wanted some real privacy, we could check into a hotel for the weekend. You know, like a date."