The Way of Grace (Miller's Creek Novels) (46 page)

Her thoughts flew to
the
brief moment they’d
seen
the fiery prosecutor
. Jason
had
seemed uninterested and nonplussed by her shiny dress and scornful
comments.

Grace gave her head a shake and headed to the back to get ready for bed. No need to worry. It was obvious Jason had no relationship at all with Elena.

Matt
attempted
a smile for his friends
as t
hey left the
concert on the first Friday in December, but
just couldn’t make it happen
.
T
he only thing on his mind was making with
contact Gracie,
but
it was too late
in the evening
.

“Wasn’t that just the coolest concert ever?” Derek’s eyes flashed wit
h an energy and excitement
Matt envied. “I mea
n, the way the crowd responded, and we got an invite for next year!” The guy was obviously stoked.

O
ther band members added their comments, but Matt
had no words
. This was so not what he expected. Was it just because he was so worried about Gracie, or was
there more
? He
tried to wrap his head around
the question, but
finally gave up, his brain
too exhausted to
form a coherent thought
.

Derek
moved into place
beside him. “You did an awesome job tonight, Matt. I
gotta
say I was a little concerned about bringing you on after our first few rehearsals, but you really stepped up to the plate. Glad to have you on board.”

“Thanks.”

“We’re headed to a
place
on the other side of town.
Might be able to drum up a future gig.
Wanna
come?”

Matt eyed his watch.
At midnight
?
“No, thanks, man.
I’m exhausted.”

His friend nodded agreeably. “Totally understand. We’re scheduled to leave
in the
morning at ten to g
et to our next venue. Get some rest
,
and
I’ll
s
ee you on the van
.”
After a friendly slap on the
shoulder, Derek hurried to join the rest of the guys as they crossed the street
and
headed the other direction.

Matt
made his way through the
semi-
empty streets to
the
downtown Dallas
apartment
to crash
, his mind still on Gracie. If it were
n’t already so late, he’d call
Andy to check on her
, but it would have to wait until morning
. He’d tried her phone
again earlier in the day, but
still
only heard
the same old busy signal.
Was she okay?
She’d been so down when he’d seen her last
—over a week ago now--
and it hurt to think of her on her own, without a job, and totally stressed over the whole situation.

In a few short minutes, he reached the old
brick
building. The sign
above the door
read Dallas View Lofts, but the cramped apartment
provided by their host
bore no resemblance to a
loft
,
and the only view was the
ramshackle
building next door. At least it was better than sleeping on the van.

He used the
spare key
Derek had given him to let himself in and checked behind
as he entered to make sure
he was
alone and
safe. After
he locked the door, Matt
snatched his overnight bag from the pile of lugg
age and
headed
to the
bathroom.

I
n spite of
low
pressure
and sparse hot water
, the shower did wonders at washing away his worries
.
Afterwards, Matt
locate
d a quiet corner where he wouldn’t be disturbed when the guys
came in
and unrolled his sleeping bag
. T
hough
it was stifling-hot
close to the furnace, he opted to
sleep inside the
bag
just
in case any
critter
s
tried to get cozy during the night.

S
leep
came
quicker than
expected, but
Matt
was awakened two hours later when the guys finally made it in, loud and
boisterous
.
There was n
o going back to sleep
,
and as the long night wore on he found himself
once more
praying
for Gracie
.

When the first cracks of light filter
ed
through the mini-blinds, Matt
crept
quietly
to the kitchen to make a pot of brew
to
get rid of his nappy morning breath
.
He searched the dingy
and
worn cabinets, but
found nothing—n
o filters, no coffee, not even a coffee m
aker. He gazed around the
space and rubbed his
grain
y eyes.
It figured.

Careful not to trip
over the sleeping bodies of his
snoring
friends
, he
tiptoed
to the
bathroom,
dressed
,
and eased his way out the door
to find
some
breakfast—
and
at least a potful of coffee
. His nose
soon located a mom-and-
pop joint
right down the street
, and h
e inhaled
a full breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns
,
and biscuits with gravy,
then
downed another
cup of coffee before he
called Andy.

“Yeah,
b
ro
.
What time is it
?” His bro
ther’s words were
a drowsy whisper.

Matt cringed. “Sorry, man.
T
hought you’d already be up.”

“Not a problem. You okay?”

“Guess so.
” He opted not to paint a picture of life on the road.
“
Just wanted to see if you’ve seen
Gracie.”

“Saw her
Monday night.
She’s
doing just fine.”

Matt’
s brows ro
se.
“How so
?”

“Let’s just say you wou
ldn’t have recognized her in the
evening gown and jewels.”

H
is brows crinkled so much they hurt. “Huh?”

Andy let out an
exasperate
d sigh, and
Matt could a
lmost picture him
a hand through his bed hair. “Don’t mean to bring you down,
Matt
, but Graci
e was
with Jason Dent
at a high-priced
political fundraiser
in Morganville
dressed in a very expensive dress and
even more expensive
jewelry,
rubbing elbows
with some very
important people
.”

Hi
s chest deflated
and his shoulders slumped
forward
. Well, it certainly hadn’t taken her long to get over her jail trauma. And he’d been worrying and losing sleep for not
hing!
No wonder her phone was always busy.
He
imagined her chatting happily
on the phone with Jason
, and then
inhaled a deep breath, forci
ng himself to cool down. “
I’m glad she’s okay.”

“Well, you’ve sure changed your tune. What happe
ned to keeping her away from Jason
?”

“Did she seem happy?”

Andy’s brief silence came through loud and clear. “Yeah, come to think of it, she did.”

The words stabbed his heart, and h
e closed his eyes against the pain.
“I
n the long run I
just want her to be happy and safe. If Jason is as good as everyone in Mil
ler’s Creek seems to think,
she’ll be fine.”

The other end grew
quiet
once more
. Finally,
his brother
spoke. “Sounds like you’ve given up on her.”

“Not at all.”
Matt
blinked against the pinpricks
in his eyes.
He could never give up on her
, no more than he could ever stop loving her.
“But I am giving up on
the two of
us
ever being together
.”

19

“C
oming!”
G
race sped down the
narrow
h
allway to the front door and
yanked
it
open
.

With
one hand in his pocket,
Jason
clutched
a bouquet of
fragrant lavender
roses. D
ressed in an off-white
cable sweater, blue jeans, and
black leather jacket
, he looked like an ad for the latest men’s fragrance
. Had she ever seen him dressed so casually? Or looking so good?

His handsome face broke i
nto an even smile, revealing
his
perfect white teeth. “There you are. I’ve been trying to call you all day, but your line was busy.” He leane
d forward
to kiss
her
cheek and handed
her the bouquet at the same time. “Beautiful flowers for a
beautiful lady
.”

Her heart pitter-pattered. “They’re gorgeous. Come in.” She stepped
aside to let him
enter.
So many things wer
e going right in her life. I
f
only
she could find a job to pay the bills beginning to pile up. And Christmas was just around the corner.

He
gave the room a cursory glance
and moved to the sagging sofa beside the scrawny Christmas tree
she’d put up yesterday
.

“
H
ave a sea
t while I put these in water.” As she
hurried
to the kitchen sink
she sent up a quick prayer
.
Lord, help him not to think less of me because of where I live.
A
not
her reason to find a job—to
live in a nicer place
.
She
took
a vase from beneath the counter,
fill
ed
it
with water
, and placed the long stems inside, fluffing out the leaves. “These are so pretty, but you shouldn’t have gone to the exp
en
se.
”