Working It Out (21 page)

The spare key turned easily in Alec’s lock, and Grace
pushed the door open with her hip while carrying several grocery sacks. She
kicked the door shut and stumbled toward the kitchen. “Alec? You here? I
brought stuff for dinner.”

Alec appeared from his
bedroom at the end of the hall, wearing a green- and blue-striped button-down
shirt and dark slacks. He looked good, really good—too good for a casual
evening in.

Grace arched an eyebrow.
“Going somewhere?”

“Didn’t you get my text?”

Grace shook her head. “I
accidentally left my phone at the clinic today. Why?”

He chewed on his lower lip
for a moment, as if weighing his words. “Sorry to bail on you, but I’ve got
other plans tonight.”

Trying not to show her
surprise, Grace walked into the kitchen and set the bags on the counter. “What kind
of plans?”

“I’m just . . . going out
with a friend is all.”

Apparently whatever plans
Alec had weren’t ones he wanted to share with Grace, which made her all the
more curious. She began unloading the groceries. “
A
friend—as in just
one?”

“Just one,” was all he
said.

“Do I know this friend?”

Alec leveled her a look. “You’re
nosy.”

Grace shrugged. “Someone
has to answer all of Mom’s questions the next time she calls, and we both know
it won’t be you.”

“Which is exactly why I’m
not going to tell you.” Alec’s hands landed on the wheels of his chair as he
maneuvered his way toward his room once again.

Grace folded her arms and
leaned against the counter, raising her voice so he could hear her. “Maybe I’ll
just hang around until you leave then follow you the way I used to back in high-school.”

Alec glanced over his
shoulder and rolled his eyes. “You’re such a pain sometimes, you know that?”

“Look who’s talking.”
Grace pushed away from the counter and moved toward him. “Is it Lanna?” After
their conversation the other day, it was the only thing that made sense.

A look of surprise
registered on Alec’s face. “How did you know?”

Grace ignored the
question. “Did you ask her out, or did she ask you?”

“She did. Why?”

Grace smiled. Good for
Lanna. But at the same time, Grace experienced a pang of jealousy that Lanna
had been able to do what she couldn’t. Sure, Grace had asked Seth to go
jogging—as
friends
. How pathetic was that? For weeks, Seth had flirted,
asked her out, and found ways to get her to meet him outside the clinic. And
every time, Grace had shot him down. But now that the tables had turned, Grace
couldn’t bring herself to do the same.

If she had any guts, she’d
walk over to Seth’s place right now and kiss him the way he’d kissed her.

With a frown, Grace resumed
unpacking the groceries. When Alec made no move to go back to his room, Grace looked
up and caught him watching her with an expectant look on his face, as though
waiting for her to say something. What had he asked her again? She couldn’t
remember.

Alec leveled her a look.
“Are you going to tell me how you knew it was Lanna?”

Oh, right—
that
question.

“No,” Grace said, not
wanting to betray Lanna’s confidence—not that Alec couldn’t piece it together on
his own if he gave it much thought.

She put the last of the
groceries away, stuffed the plastic bags into a drawer, and picked up her keys.
“I hope you have a great time tonight.”

“Will do.”

As Grace walked out into
the fading afternoon light, she raised her face to the sun. Maybe it was time
to follow Lanna’s lead and let Seth know that she wanted more than just a
jogging friend. That she wanted to spend time with him, go out with him, coach
with him, hold his hand, snuggle, and definitely experience more of his kisses.

If Seth felt differently,
Grace would deal with it then. But come Monday morning, she would leave no
question in his mind that she wanted to be more than jogging friends.

T
he early
morning
air felt chilly and humid—the perfect temperature for a jog.
Seth breathed in the raw, earthy smell and took in the beautiful surroundings
before his gaze settled on Grace, who stood about 100 feet away with her back
facing him. Her arms swung forward and back as she warmed up her body with
fluid, graceful motions. In tight spandex pants and a matching jacket, with the
sunlight casting a halo around her trim and toned body, she looked beautiful. The
fact that Seth was here because she’d invited him made it even better.

Ever since he’d taken
Lanna’s advice and tried to be just like any other patient, Seth’s progress
with Grace had improved drastically. She’d flirted, looked at him differently,
smiled and teased more, and now they were about to jog together outside of work—something
he’d never expected to happen.

But at what point could
Seth start being himself again and not worry that he’d drive Grace away? Or was
acting disinterested the only way to pique her interest? Seth had no idea. But
he found himself really hating this game.

Seth slowed his steps,
wanting to admire Grace while she was still unaware of his presence. Every part
of his body longed to wrap his arms around her and experience the thrill of
kissing her again, but it was too soon. Even Seth knew that. Grace had invited
him here as a friend, and that was that.

 When Grace turned and
spotted him, Seth gave her a head nod, keeping his expression impassive. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she returned. “You
came.”

“I told you I would.” Seth
frowned. Since when had he not followed through with a promise? If Grace
invited him to go shopping for shoes and he said he’d be there, he would. Seth
was a man of his word.

Grace shook her head in a
flustered manner. “Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean to sound surprised. I’m just . .
. glad you’re here.”

Seth studied her, trying
to read her expression. Most of the time, Grace was always so calm and
collected—the type to never let anything ruffle her. But every now and then,
she acted as though she felt out of her element, as though Seth made her
nervous. Like now.

 “I’m glad I’m here too.”
Seth eyed the extensive path around the park that circled a pond and wove
through a forest of pines. “How many laps do you usually do?”

“How’s your knee feeling
today?” she asked, as if that would determine the number of laps they’d jog.

Seth raised an eyebrow. “Don’t
forget I’m here as your friend, not your patient.”

“I’m asking as a friend.”

Yeah right. A smile tugged
at the corners of Seth’s mouth. “My knee’s fine, thanks.” He gestured to the
trail. “Ready?”

She hesitated and bit down
on her lower lip. After a moment of awkward silence, she blurted, “Aren’t you
going to warm up?”

“No.” Normally, Seth would
take the time to warm up, but after all of the times she’d played the
therapist/patient card, Seth felt the need to put Grace firmly in her position
as
not
his therapist. Not today, anyway.

Her jaw clenched, working
back and forth as she studied him. Finally she looked away and shrugged. “Fine,
whatever.” But her stiff body language said something completely different.

Seth held back a smile and
started forward. “Coming?” he called over his shoulder.

“You really aren’t going
to warm up?” she yelled back.

“Nope,” he said again.

She caught up to him. “You
really should warm up.”

“That’s what I’m doing
now.”

“Seth, c’mon.”

He shot her a sideways
look. “Get over it, Grace. You’re going to have to stop being my therapist at
some point. Think of this as practice.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “If
you want to risk re-injuring your knee, that’s your call.”

“My point exactly.”

She huffed again, making
Seth bite back another smile. He didn’t know why he found it so fun to tease
her, but he did. The way she always rose to the bait made it so easy and, well,
funny. It was just one more thing he found endearing about her.

Thinking it best to change
the subject, Seth said, “I hear you’ve been helping out Lanna at the after-school
program.”

“Yeah,” Grace said. “Whenever
I can sneak out of work early, I try to go over. I really like working with
those kids, and I love what you’ve done with that space. It’s got a great vibe
now, and I like being a part of it, you know?”

Seth nodded. He knew
exactly what she meant—something he owed to Grace for pushing him to go that
first time. “It’s actually been really fun for me as well. The fact that
Lanna’s letting me do more without putting up a fight makes it even better.”

“How’s the coaching coming
along?”

“Great. The girls are
really starting to catch on, and we’ve even won a couple of games.”

“I’ll have to come
sometime,” said Grace. “To, you know, see you in action.”

First jogging outside of
work and now she wanted to come to one of his soccer games? Yes, this was
definite progress. Seth shot her a sideways smile. “Sure, you can be the water
girl.”

“Oh, I see. First I’m the
ball girl at your basketball game and now the water girl? What’s next? Laundry
duty?”

Seth chuckled. “Hey, I offered
you a job as assistant coach, and you turned me down flat. It’s your own fault.”

“Can I take it back?” she
asked.

He shot her a sideways
look and smiled. “Sure, you can be in charge of warm-ups since you like doing
them so much.”

“Very funny.”

They rounded a bend in the
trail, and Grace moved smoothly beside him with seemingly little effort. Seth,
on the other hand, was beginning to feel a little winded. He blamed it on not
being able to jog for three months.

“Alec said you outfitted
all the girls with new cleats and new pairs of tennis shoes,” Grace said. “That
was really great of you.”

She made it sound as
though Seth had done something praiseworthy, but Seth didn’t feel comfortable
being praised for something that needed to be done—especially when he could
easily afford to do it. He only wished he would have gotten involved sooner.

He shrugged. “They needed
it, and I could afford it. No big deal,” he said.

They rounded the far end
of the lake, and Grace placed a hand on Seth’s arm, slowing him down to a walk.
“But it is a big deal—to those kids and to me.” She pulled him to a stop and
turned to face him. “You’re a good man, Seth Tuttle.”

Seth’s arm burned where
she touched him, and the way she looked up at him made him want to lean down
and kiss her right then. Would she let him? Would she respond? Or would that
only set him back again?

Seth muttered a quick
thanks then started forward once again, needing some time to sort through his
feelings. He didn’t understand Grace. From the beginning, she’d made a point to
keep her distance—to be his therapist and only his therapist. But now things
were changing, and Seth didn’t know what to make of them. Had she changed her
mind? Was she finally coming around? Or was this simply a game of tag, and she
was currently it?

A sort of nervous tension
latched on to Seth, making him feel anxious. As nice as it was to be chased
rather than do the chasing, he was sick of both roles. Did Grace care about him
as more than a patient or not?

Up ahead, a few steps led
to a bridge that crossed over a small stream. As soon as Seth hit the first
step, he purposefully let his knee buckle and fell to the ground, wincing and
hugging a knee that felt perfectly fine. Seth wasn’t sure what prompted him to
pull such a stunt—possibly the need to find out how much Grace really cared—but
here he was, on the ground, faking an injury.

“What happened? Are you
okay?” Grace dropped beside him. Her hands deftly pushed his aside as she
straightened his leg and moved her fingers over his skin. “Did you tear
something? This is all my fault. I should have made you warm up. Why didn’t you
warm up? You should have listened to me!”

Her touch felt so good
that Seth couldn’t resist laying back in the grass and closing his eyes. He
even went so far as to grimace.

“It’s not swelling
anywhere that I can tell,” Grace said. “If you lean on me, can you walk?
There’s an ER not far from here. We can get it x-rayed.”

The worry in her voice had
Seth grimacing for real this time. What had he been thinking? It was as if he were
ten again, tugging on the pigtail of the cute girl in class in an attempt to
get her attention. That had never ended well, and neither would this.

“Maybe you should try
kissing it better,” Seth said.

“What?” Her fingers stilled
on his leg. She sounded half worried, half confused, as if she had no idea whether
he was talking rationally.

Seth squinted up at her
and issued a smile, praying she’d respond with one in return. “My knee’s fine,
Grace. I was just messing with you.”