State of Grace
Chapter
26
Luke did fix a
lot of the damage he caused the next day. He called John Holmes
and apologized personally for punching him, he thanked May and
her parents for all the help they gave, called Michael to thank
him for bringing him home, and gave Ashley a very long
apology.
Apparently it was all fine with her cause the next time Grace saw
Luke he was holding hands with his redheaded girlfriend. John
Holmes had called to apologize to Grace as well.
“I’m really sorry,” he said into the phone,
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I just got over a
break up and I wanted to forget about her. I’m so sorry,
Grace.”
She almost felt bad for John when he said good bye. He sounded
very upset even though Grace had assured him all was well between
the two of them. May called her seconds later to complain about
Luke and Ashley’s continuing relationship.
“Why are they still together?” she demanded of Grace.
Grace could only offer an, “I don’t know.” She
had no clue. She had spent most of the day trying to figure out
what would make Ashley forgive him or Luke stay with her.
“I honestly don’t know,” she repeated to May,
“He must really love her or something.”
“He doesn’t! He just can’t,” said
May.
“And why is that?”
“The whole ride home last night he talked to me. He kept
saying ‘May, Grace hates me. Why does she hate me? I like
her! May, do you know if she likes me? Grace? Wait May, where are
we going? Where did Grace go? Did that bas tard hurt her?
I’ll kill him’ and it went on and on, Grace! Maybe he
doesn’t like you like that but he sure does care about
you.”
Grace didn’t know what to think of that. May couldn’t
have made it up but it just didn’t seem plausible.
It would take three days after the party for Luke to talk to
Grace and only because it was July 31st, Grace’s
18th birthday. When Grace woke up that Sunday morning,
it didn’t feel as though it was her birthday. She still had
chores to do and mass to attend. She got ready for the usual nine
o’clock service before padding downstairs to the kitchen.
Her mother and Annie were already dressed and having coffee at
the counter.
“Happy birthday,” they said together.
“Thanks,” said Grace as her dad walked in. He gave a
brief hug and a rough “Happy Birthday” before heading
back outside. He had placed a small box wrapped in blue paper
with a green bow on the counter. Grace smiled and reached to pick
it up but her momma stopped her.
“Wait until after Church is over, okay?” she
said.
When Grace walked out of the chapel with her family, her dad had
disappeared. “He had to run home real quick,” said
Grace’s mother. The Fosters met the Taylors out on the
sidewalk and Grace got the best surprise someone could ask for.
Little Ella was holding her brother’s hand. She let go and
ran to hug Grace. Grace was surprised at how quickly it took for
her to recover.
“How do you feel?” she asked Ella.
“I feel great thanks to you! I heard it’s your
birthday! What did you get?” asked Ella.
“I haven’t got anything yet but I’m just
so happy to see you out and about,” Grace told her.
Ella smiled and ran back to her family. Grace noticed Ashley had
watched the whole exchange between her and Ella. Grace bit her
lip, knowing too well that she would come over to them. Luke
seemed to notice too. He looked terrible. His eye was swollen and
bruised and there were stitches down the side of his face. When
Ashley reached him he smiled and held out his arms for a hug. She
was paying attention to his arms, just looking at his
clothes.
“What are you wearing?” she asked. Luke had on dress
pants and shirt and tie like every Sunday. “That’s
hideous!” she shrieked. Luke lowered his arms and
shrugged.
“Come on Grace,” said Ryan, taking her arm,
“The Taylors and the Watsons are coming over for brunch
with Annie’s family.” This news didn’t make
Ashley happy at all.
