State of
Grace
Chapter
14
The next time Luke saw Grace was the following
Monday night. She had been dropped off at his house to see Ella.
When she entered Ella’s room, her hood on her sweatshirt
was up and she held something in her hand. Grace slowly pulled
back her hood. Her long blonde hair that had fallen to her waist
was now cut short at her shoulder. In her hand was a beautiful
blonde wig fitted for Ella’s hair free head. Ella gathered
all of her energy to get up and hug her. Ella’s mother
placed it on her daughter’s head before hugging Grace as
well. They couldn’t thank her enough but she knew she had
to leave for them to truly enjoy it.
“Oh no!” said Luke’s mom, when Grace asked to
borrow the phone to call for a ride home, “Luke will bring
you home, won’t you Luke?”
He nodded. He hadn’t said anything since Grace arrived. He
grabbed his keys and headed out the door. His mom frowned but
Grace just smiled. She had half expected Luke to return being
rude as soon as the dance ended. The silence in the car ride
seemed well quieter than usual.
She tried to gather courage the whole ride home to speak to him.
He was parked in the drive way before she knew it.
“What?” he said, “Do you expect me to continue
opening the doors for you?”
“Uh…No…I had a question but never mind.
Thanks for the ride,” she said fighting back tears and
inwardly yelling at herself. How could she let Luke bother her
like that? She should be used to it. Pull it together, Grace, she
told herself. She was almost at the front door when he
called her name, “Wait. Grace, just wait.”
She turned and crossed her arms. He got out of his truck and
shook his head at her. He crossed the yard and stopped a foot in
front of her. He looked down at his feet before he took another
step toward her.
“Thank you,” he said, to the ground. Suddenly
thunder cracked above and Luke’s head snapped up. “I
better go!”
When Grace reached the safety of her porch she turned and watched
Luke until his headlights disappeared. Inside her home, she met
an interesting scene. Annie and Ryan were curled up on the couch
in Grace’s living room. They were looking through baby
names books and laughing at something when Grace spoke up,
“Don’t you two ever stay home?”
They both laughed and Annie took Ryan’s hand. He brushed
her hair out of her eyes as she placed his hand on her round
belly. Grace hadn’t seen them this in love or this happy
since high school. Ever since they got home, Annie looked upset
and Ryan looked tired and stressed.
“What do you think of Charles,” asked Annie. Grace
bit her lip.
“See?” Ryan said, “She doesn’t like it
either!” Annie just laughed. Grace rolled her eyes and went
to find her parents. They were talking on the deck.
“Hey Momma, Hey Dad,” she said as she joined them.
Her mother ran her hand down her daughter’s shortened
hair.
“How’d little Ella like it?” asked
Grace’s mother.
“She loved it. Her parents were so thankful,” said
Grace. Her father smiled and said a rare thing, “I’m
proud of you, honey.”
There is a great feeling about doing something good and Grace was
so overwhelmed that she couldn’t fall asleep at all that
night. It seemed everything was going
right.
