Just For A Moment by Kate Carley

Chapter 7

Grace flippedthe visor down and peeked into the makeup mirror. Not to check her makeup, but to check out the wide, toothy grin that just wouldn’t leave her face.

Aaron had taken every opportunity to touch her, and she’d been fighting the silly, light-hearted grin ever since. She’d relished every moment, from the innocent way he’d helped her up onto the wing of the Tigercat to the way he’d covered her hand with his as he’d offered his thanks. Then, there was the way he’d helped her down from the plane. It wasn’t that high, but he’d grabbed her waist and lowered her to the ground while her stomach had floated right up to the clouds. She’d clung to his arms for perhaps a second too long, but good Lord, he had guns.

Shaking her head at the direction her thoughts were taking her, she climbed from her car, slammed the door, and hit the lock on the key fob. The beep-beep brought several heads up, tilting their inquisitive faces in her direction because no one locked their doors here. Not their cars or their houses. But Grace was a big city girl now, and locking doors was automatic.

With a quickened pace, she zipped across the ten-car parking lot and stepped inside the Harvest Market. It was only a little bit bigger than the average restaurant in the city, but one grocery store was pretty much like the next. So, with a miniature shopping cart, she made the rounds, spending the most time in the produce department and making a quick pass through the cold food section. Her grandfather had non-expired, non-perishable foods that could fill in the gaps. She picked up enough food to get her by for several days and the ingredients she needed to make triple chocolate fudge brownies for dessert tonight at Aaron and Piper’s house, including a quart of vanilla ice cream. Then, she headed to the single checkout lane.

“Gracie Jane Holland, is that you?” the cashier asked at the top of her lungs.

Immediately, Grace recognized Marianne, one of Oak Bend’s biggest busybodies. She loved to partake in spreading the news. When Grace had lived here before, Marianne had salt and pepper hair. But it must’ve all gone gray or white, because Marianne was now sporting an impossibly brilliant neon pink hairdo.

“Hi, Marianne. It’s been a long time. I’m surprised you recognize me,” Grace said. “By the way, I love your pink hair.”

“Thanks, Gracie Jane. It’s called Magenta Mania. Next time I’m gonna try Mermaid Blue. My colorist says it’ll nearly match my eyes.”

Rather than comment on Marianne’s very brown eyes, Grace smiled and unloaded her cart onto the mini conveyor belt that seemed wholly unnecessary.

“I was sorry to hear about Win’s passing.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, retrieving her wallet from her handbag.

“But even with his death, I’m surprised to see you.”

“Granddad left me his house, so I decided to move back to Oak Bend.”

Marianne gaped, mouth wide with her brown eyes blinking over the top edge of her cheaters. “Well, I just figured you’d never come back here. You know, with Caroline’s death and how everyone blamed her for the accident. I know how uncomfortable it was for your folks.”

Grace pinched her lips together rather than saying something she might regret later. After several long beats, she opted for the politest words she could muster. “It’s been such a very long time, Marianne; I’m sure everyone has forgotten and moved on years ago.”

“It might have been a long time, Grace, but no one has forgotten.”

The entire way back to her granddad’s house—she really needed to start thinking of his house as her own place—all she could think about was the interaction with Marianne. ‘No one has forgotten?’ What did that mean?

Was that like a kind and loving, ‘no one’s forgotten the three beautiful girls whose lives were cut short in a horrible accident?’ Or was that more along the lines of, ‘no one has forgotten that your sister was driving?’ That Caroline was obviously distracted when she drove across the railroad tracks, crashing through the extended warning arm and into harm’s way?

Or—maybe even worse—was Marianne’s comment the type that had driven her folks out of Oak Bend? Did people still believe that the Holland family was evil to the core? Would her mom’s prediction be correct that the folks of Oak Bend would never look kindly on Grace?

Grace set the two paper bags on the kitchen table and made quick work of unpacking everything before turning on the oven to preheat. She’d mixed this brownie recipe a thousand times before, and she loved it because it always turned out perfectly. Without consulting the recipe, she whipped the ingredients together and dumped them into a greased pan. As soon as she’d popped them into the oven, she picked up her phone and keyed in a text to Madalyn.

Grace: Do people blame Caroline?

She stared at the text for a moment with her thumb hovering over the send button. “Damn!” She deleted the question and dropped her phone to the sofa cushion. It didn’t seem fair. It had been sixteen years. Surely people would’ve forgiven a mostly well-behaved teenage girl who had lost her life after a momentary lapse of judgement.

Absolutely.

If she hadn’t taken two other precious lives along with her own.

* * *

“My new friend’sname is Sam,” Piper said as she took a bite of her apple.

“Samantha?” Aaron asked, leaning a hip against the counter and fulling engaging in the after-school talk with his daughter.

“No. Samantha is a girl’s name. Sam is a boy’s name.” Piper’s brows waggled in a way that indicated she liked this Sam character. Where had she learned that? “Sam and I will get married someday. When we’re old like you.”

He nodded. “Good plan to wait.” Aaron wasn’t sure why he was having this particular conversation with his daughter, but she had brought it up.

“Not too long.” She pointed her finger at him as if he deserved correcting. “That’s what Sam told me.”

“He did, did he?”

“Yup. And I’m going to have two baby girls. I’m not having any boys cuz I don’t like boys that much. ‘Cept Sam.”

Aaron bobbed his head again but didn’t say a word. Really, what could he say to that?

“If Sam wants boy babies, he can have them himself.”

Aaron laughed out loud at that. Not that the topic was funny in the least. But in that moment, little Miss Piper Beckett sounded a lot like her mother.

“I wanted to let you know that I invited a friend to join us for dinner. So, I need to get started on it.”

“Who?”

Aaron pulled a dish of cooked chicken breasts from the refrigerator and reached for a cutting board. “Grace. She’s Win’s granddaughter.” As he cubed the chicken, he tossed it into a small pan.

“I miss Win.”

Aaron stopped his work, set down the knife, and reached for his daughter, giving her a gentle hug. When he released her, he said, “So does Grace, and she doesn’t have many friends around here. I thought this would make her feel more welcome.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be on my best behavior,” Piper said, taking another nibble from her apple.

Aaron laughed. “Aren’t you always on your best behavior?”

She shook her head, picking at the skin of the apple. “No. Not always”

“Well, we all have our moments, kiddo.”

“This is our best meal, Dad. It’s my favorite, and I’m a girl, and Grace is a girl, so she’s gonna like it as much as I do.” More insight into the way Piper’s brain worked or just babble to fill the quiet space? Aaron wasn’t quite sure.

While Piper crunched her apple in silence, he finished with the chicken, adding some Mexican style seasoning into the pan along with a small amount of water. It would simmer on low while he prepared some of the other food. Then, he reached for an onion.

“I don’t like onions. Why do you make them, Dad?”

“I like onions.” As he diced it, he thought twice. What if Grace hated onions? He would have onion breath, and she wouldn’t. And if the moment was right, he thought he just might like to kiss her. He grunted a laugh. That was not what tonight was about.

“Whatcha laughing at?”

“Sometimes I think silly things.” He reached for a red bell pepper and started working on that. “Can you go to the bottom cabinet over there and get the cans out?” He pointed with the knife at the cabinet on the end where they kept many of the shelf-stable food items.

Piper sat on her knees on the floor and pulled out boxes and cans. At one point, he’d tried to have an organization system of some sort in there, but even when the exact item was at the front, Piper unloaded the entire cabinet.

“Beans?” she asked, looking at each label.

“Yes. Black beans. I know there’s a can in there, because I bought one last week when we were at the store.”

“Do you want tomatoes?”

“No. I have some fresh ones here to chop.” He held up two Roma tomatoes.

“When Grace gets here, you should offer her a beer,” Piper instructed.

Now, his dear daughter was giving him directions on hospitality. “Okay.” He opted for simple agreement rather than pointing out the fact that he could manage all by himself.

Piper repacked the cabinet and closed the door. Then with a series of jumps, she delivered him a can of seasoned black beans and a can of roasted corn. Chicken burrito bowls served with cilantro lime rice was one of their favorite meals. Aaron had developed a Piper-friendly meal rotation, and this one made it into the rotation at least a couple times each month.

“Perfect. Thank you.”

Piper skipped out of the kitchen, around the living room, and down the hallway to her bedroom. Then, she reversed her path and stopped in front of him. “You’re happy. I can tell by your eyes. Did you see Grace today?”

“Yes.”

“Does she make you happy?”

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe my happiness is just because I’m here with you.”

Piper snorted. “This is the only meal you can make that might impress her.”

He laughed but didn’t comment to his all-too-wise young daughter. Instead, he rinsed the tomatoes at the sink and dried his hands. Ever since Grace had laughed and taken his hand earlier in the day, he had indeed wanted to impress her.

And he wanted to get close enough to touch her hair, to feel the strands waterfall through his fingertips. He loved the way it curled on the ends and brushed along her shoulder blades. That was the first thing he noticed every time he saw her. Would she wear it down tonight?

Good Lord, he was obsessed with her. So inappropriately, given that Grace was Win’s granddaughter. And as a friend, Win had enlisted Aaron to help guide her through the process of completing the planes and selling them to a collector.

Touching Grace’s hair and taking that sweet mouth of hers in a searing kiss while he dragged her body up against his? Yeah, that probably hadn’t been what Win had in mind.