Just For A Moment by Kate Carley
Chapter 22
“Hurry, Dad. This is heavy.”
Aaron rolled his eyes at his daughter—the kid who insisted on carrying the giant bag containing two new pairs of shoes with her one good hand. He snatched a folded piece of paper off the door as he keyed the lock.
“I think we’ve proven that we know how to shop.” Aaron set everything on the kitchen table, including two additional shopping totes, and Piper started tugging things out and spreading them across the surface.
“Looks like a note from someone.”
“What?” Aaron asked.
“Here.” Piper handed him the paper he’d found wedged in the door frame.
“Thanks.” He took it from her hands and opened it. “What?” Aaron said to the world at large. “No, dammit! Why would you up and leave?”
“Daddy?” Piper stood balanced on the kitchen chair, holding her new pajamas in her hands.
“It’s okay, sweetie.”
“Why ya yelling?”
“I’m a bit angry. But not at you.” He looked at the way she held the price tag away from the fabric of her pjs. “Do you need some help clipping off the tags?” Without waiting for her answer, he moved to the drawer to grab a pair of scissors.
His heart hurt so badly that Grace might as well have jammed the scissors into it. And then twisted.
At the time of Grace’s phone call, he and Piper had been in the middle of a fun discussion over ice cream—a midafternoon break from shopping. Aaron had chosen to ignore the phone vibrating in his pocket.
Yes, the phone had beckoned, but his daughter was right there in front of him in need of attention, and his parenting goal was to be more purposeful and be in the moment. Now, he wished he would’ve answered the damn phone.
But then, what? Grace would’ve said goodbye to him over the phone rather than in a short note?
Yeah, like that would’ve been better.
Grace Holland had lucked out this way. If they had been face-to-face, Aaron would’ve asked the hard questions. He would’ve demanded to know why. What had caused her to make such a choice? Because it didn’t make any sense to him.
Last night, they’d texted, and Grace had called him. Hearing her voice over the phone had soothed his soul. God, he missed her.
Things had seemed to be moving toward reconciliation. They’d planned to get together tomorrow to discuss the situation and see if it could be resolved. Aaron had been looking forward to it. Obviously, Grace hadn’t been as eager as her texts had indicated.
Or something had happened to change her mind. But what?
She and Madalyn had planned to do brunch. Had something happened between the two of them? It seemed unlikely. And even if something had happened, Grace wouldn’t have left.
Aaron scrolled through his contacts. He knew Madalyn through her ex-boyfriend Cody. Maybe she knew what was going on. As a last-ditch effort, Aaron might consider reaching out to her. But for now, he dialed Grace’s number, grumbling as it rolled to voicemail.
* * *
For more than a week,Aaron reached out to Grace by way of text. Whenever he called, she didn’t answer, and she never called back. But she did reply to his texts—short, funny snippets that never gave away her true feelings. And whenever he asked, she always said she was working through things right now.
What the hell did that mean?
Finally, ten days after Grace walked away, he couldn’t wait a moment longer. He dialed the number he had for Madalyn. It might be a bit early to call, but since school started up in a couple weeks, as a teacher, Madalyn was likely up at the school getting her classroom ready for the kids.
The phone rang twice before she answered. “Hello.”
“Hi, Madalyn. This is Aaron Beckett. How are you?”
“Hi, Aaron,” she said hesitantly. “I didn’t recognize your number.”
Probably to his advantage. “I need your help.”
“What is it?”
“I need to understand why Grace left.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t she tell you?”
“No. She gave me some crap answer that she couldn’t make it work here.” Silence. He could hear the minutes tick by as he waited for Grace’s friend to say something in response. “Madalyn?”
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m just… thinking.” He could hear a loud sigh over the line.
“Please, Madalyn.”
“Meet me at Mickey’s at noon?”
Now, he was the one hesitating, but if that was what he needed to do, he would do it. “Okay. I’ll see you at noon.”
* * *
A couple hours later,Aaron yanked open the door to Mickey’s and hurried inside, glancing around the place in irritation. He wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to this meeting with Madalyn here during her lunch hour. It was crowded and noisy.
He waved at Wyatt Dawson who was enjoying a burger and fries with Felicity. There, over in the corner booth, Madalyn was hunched over her laptop. Her lunch—a salad of some sort—took second stage to whatever she was working on. He gave his to-go order to Madge and pointed to the booth.
“Hi, Madalyn.” Aaron touched her shoulder as he passed the table and then slid into the bench across from her. “You look busy, and school hasn’t even started.”
“A couple weeks to go. I want lesson plans in place for the first several months. It’ll make my life a lot easier. This is a treat for me.” She pointed at her salad and gave him a grin.
He merely nodded, because he had no idea what to say to that. He knew Madalyn. It was a small town, and they ran in a similar circle. Not exactly friends, but close enough that he’d decided to risk this.
“What really happened?”
“What do ya mean?” She forked a chunk of romaine, barely dipping it into the small ramekin filled with ranch dressing, and popped it into her mouth.
“Grace? Why did she leave?”
“I don’t understand. Didn’t she tell you?”
God, was it really going to be like this? Pulling teeth? Why had he bothered to connect with Grace’s girlfriend? “As I said over the phone, all she gave me was some shit answer. She said, ‘But me living in Oak Bend isn’t going to work.’” He had the damned goodbye note memorized. “She said she couldn’t explain.”
“That’s what she told you?” Madalyn’s brow rose in disbelief.
“Yeah. That’s it.” He scraped his fingers through his hair. “I miss her. And I don’t fucking understand why she left. Help me out here.”
“I think you should ask her.”
“Think I haven’t? I’ve called her every night she’s been gone. I’ve texted. She texts back but avoids the subject. Won’t even answer my calls.”
“That doesn’t sound like Grace. She told me she was in love with you.”
“What? Love? Then give me a reason why she just up and left. I’m ready to put my house on the market and move Piper anywhere Grace wants to call home.” He stared out the window. “That fact makes me a sorry excuse for a father.”
“Don’t even say that, Beck.” Madalyn reached out and touched the back of his hand in a friendly gesture. “When you care about someone, you’re willing to give up a lot for them.”
“Then why? If Grace loved me, as you say, why did she leave?”
“At brunch on Saturday, the place was packed. Kind of like today.” Madalyn gestured with her fork. “Grace was gushing about her feelings for you. For Piper. How she really felt. About how her move back to Oak Bend was a move of a lifetime for her. She’d talked about it before. About the determination it had taken to drive across the railroad tracks and into the city limits. Especially after the way her folks had left after Caroline’s death.”
Madalyn glanced over her shoulder, seemingly studying the diner, and then she turned to face Aaron again. She leaned in. “Karen Jansson came over to our table. She’d been sitting right behind me and overheard every word Grace had shared with me. Karen was furious. She berated Grace, screaming that her presence in Oak Bend was a disgrace. A hurtful reminder of Reagan and Raquel’s death. Karen blamed Caroline for the accident, as well as Grace’s parents and Grace, by default.”
“Karen Jansson said that?” Aaron asked, staring at Madalyn as she nodded. “What’s wrong with her? Why do people feel the need to spew such venom?”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Madalyn paused when Madge approached their table, setting down the white Styrofoam to-go box in front of Aaron along with the bill. When she walked away, Madalyn continued. “I think Karen had been keeping herself in check, assuming that Grace wasn’t going to stick around for long. But she overheard us talking about her living in Oak Bend permanently, and she just blew a gasket.
“She carried on, screeching the words—everyone in the diner was silent, listening to the woman rage and throw accusations at Grace. When Karen started sobbing in between her words, Grace put money on the table and rushed out the door.” Madalyn poked at her salad.
“Beck, if she would’ve stuck around for just one moment, she would’ve heard the people of town condemn Karen’s outburst. You know CJ Everhart?” When he nodded—her family owned an electrician business—Madalyn continued. “Well, she stood up and gently maneuvered Karen back to her own table. I don’t know what CJ said to her, because I chased after Grace. I caught up with her by her car. That’s when she told me she was leaving.”
Madalyn took a sip of water, seemingly needing a moment to regroup. “I urged her to stay. I told her that people in town didn’t agree with Karen. But Grace was crushed and embarrassed. She was crying, Beck. It was horrible. The things Karen said. I mean, yes, her twin girls were in the car that night. But no one, other than those who died in that car, knows exactly what happened.”
“You’re right.”
“But Grace wouldn’t listen. “
Okay. Aaron’s head was spinning. He missed Grace so damn much and being run out of town didn’t seem fair on any level. She’d made a choice, but he would’ve liked to be part of the decision. “Can you give me her address in the city?”
With a nod, Madalyn pulled out her phone to share Grace’s address while Aaron took out his wallet and threw several bills on the table including enough to cover the cost of Madalyn’s salad.
“Thanks, Madalyn.”
“Make this right, Beck. I love her like a sister, and I want her to have a happy ending.”
“I love her, and I don’t intend to live without her. So, I’m going to do my damnedest to get my woman back.”