Just For A Moment by Kate Carley

Chapter 19

Aaron slammedthe wrench back into the pile of hand tools, too angry to find the right one. Too angry to put them back into any sense of order. “Goddamn it, Grace. You’re making me crazy.”

He wiped his hand on the red rag that sat on top his toolbox and then marched to his office. He was in no state of mind to be working on an aircraft. His teachers back in school would’ve knocked him upside the head for behaving like this on the shop floor.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. How had he messed things up like this with Grace?

“You jackass. Doesn’t take rocket science to answer that.” He should’ve come straight out with the cold, hard facts. He should’ve told her that she was never going to find those parts—that original parts probably didn’t exist anywhere. She could find other parts, other manufacturers or other plane pieces that might indeed fit. She likely wasn’t a purist like Win had been.

But no. Aaron had opted to not tell her. To let some slob on the phone share the facts that her granddad had wistfully thought he might someday ride in that Tigercat.

Aaron jumped to his feet, shoving his office chair back with such force it hit the wall. “What the fuck were you thinking?” Sure, he was annoyed with Grace, but he was furious with himself. He’d known better. He should’ve been up front at the beginning. Brave enough to just tell her—her broken heart be damned.

Now, it was his heart that felt broken, cracked right down the center like some silly broken-heart graphic. How did she feel? Was she sad? Did she miss him? It had only been a couple hours since she’d marched out of here, asking him to give her space.

And damn it, he’d behaved like a jerk—calling her Gracie Jane—because she’d hurt him. And it had been a way to throw that hurt back in her face.

But his lack of honesty up front had already hurt her. He hadn’t meant to. He simply hadn’t wanted the knowledge of her grandfather’s hopeless quest to tarnish the image she had of him.

Now, all of it was ruined.

With an emptiness he hadn’t felt in years, Aaron went back to the Beechcraft and the task at hand.

* * *

Grace openedthe bottom shelf of the jam-packed china hutch in search of the blue serving piece her mom wanted. While she did have a vague memory of it, she had no idea if it was still in the house or where it was stored. But the china hutch seemed like the best place to start.

She pulled out the delicate pieces and carefully arranged them into stacks on the table. There were many more pieces beyond the eight-piece china set her grandmother had collected. Grace would absolutely keep that set and maybe one additional unique item, but the majority of the glassware and serving platters and bowls were nothing special. They’d just been allowed to accumulate over the course of years. This would be the next spot to thin out and prepare for donation.

The project required little effort and allowed her brain time to mull over Aaron Beckett and the disaster her life had become with just a short phone call.

Had she been wrong to ask Beck for a break?

She didn’t think so.

Could she forgive him?

Maybe. But it was going to take some time and some open communication. Something she wasn’t ready to do quite yet.

How could she just ignore the fact that he’d lied by omission? Beck had known the truth and not fully disclosed it. He knew that she had zero knowledge about aircraft and about warplanes. She’d heavily relied on him to be her source of expertise.

Her mistake.

She could understand Beck’s need to protect her from her grandfather’s unending search and the hope that had propelled him in the face of dwindling odds. But she needed to be with a man who trusted her enough to give her the facts and let her process them for what they were.

Coddling and protecting weren’t required or appreciated—not if those actions masked the truth.

Grace paused as realization clicked in her brain, the cogs of the past fitting together with the events of the present.

That was exactly what her family had done. They had left town. They’d told her that the people of Oak Bend were a terrible lot, that there was no way they could live there with the judgmental glances and horrible words.

And now, looking back on all of it, had that simply been a ruse? A lie meant to protect her and her parents? To save face when they were getting divorced? They weren’t the only people to divorce—it really wasn’t anything to hide—and yet they had. Because the stress of losing a child was more than they could take together, and doing it alone felt easier. Safer. Alone, they hadn’t been required to process each other’s pain. Just split and deal with their own shit on their own time.

Grace pulled the beautiful blue serving dish from the back of the hutch. Standing, she reached for a kitchen towel and wiped away the dust. “It’s gorgeous, Mom, I can see why you wanted to keep this one.” She said the words aloud and grabbed her phone to snap a picture. Then, she sent a text to her mom.

Grace: I found it!

Within a second, her mom sent her a string of emojis: hugs, kissy face, heart, heart, heart. Grace let her lips curve into a smile. She’d been annoyed with her mom, but whatever the reason her folks had left their hometown behind, it wasn’t Grace’s place to judge.

Now, she was an adult. Oak Bend had been nothing but welcoming. Yes, she’d had that little run-in with Shelby, but she was just one person. Of course, there’d been that passing incident with Marianne at the grocery store. Her comment about no one forgetting was far more likely meant to indicate that no one had forgotten the lives lost. Not something more nefarious.

Oak Bend would make a wonderful hometown. And in her heart of hearts, Grace wanted the situation with Beck to be straightened out, and she believed it could be. It had been a misunderstanding of expectations. She had expectations for their relationship, and no doubt, Beck did too.

If they couldn’t move past this, would it feel awkward if they ran into each other around town?

She wasn’t willing to sell the house and leave town just because the first guy she’d dated in a long time hadn’t worked out, and she wasn’t going to force the relationship if it wasn’t meant to be.