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An hour later, Tracy was walking out the door with a full belly and a bunch of leftovers from what they’d cooked and a promise that Grace would get back to her in a few days. That she had to make some calls.
Time she didn’t have either, so she called the one person that she knew could help her.
“Hello, Grace,” her mother said. “What can I do for you since you don’t normally call me during the day.”
She filled her mother in on the situation. “What are my options if any? I don’t know if it’s possible to get her on the island, then find housing. I’m thinking more along the lines of a foster home and if the county won’t pay the monthly fee maybe there are funds available for that with your organization?”
Grace would pay it herself if she had to but didn’t want to go that route right yet. Sometimes it was neater to keep things official through an organization.
“There are,” her mother said. “That isn’t an issue. You’re talking three maybe four months while she finishes school and gets on her feet?”
“I was hoping more along the lines of to the end of the year. If we could find a family to take her in, one that has been vetted obviously. She’d be living there free from her end. She’d be working part time with me, finish her schooling, then move to full time if it works out. By the end of the year I will know if it’s going to work and that will give her time to figure things out. Or us to reassess the situation.”
“I’ll make some calls,” her mother said. “She’s still a minor.”
“For two more weeks. I can’t imagine her being on her own.”
“It happens more than we know,” her mother said. “It’s sad but a fact of life. I don’t have as many contacts in Plymouth as I do in Boston.”
“They will hear your name and talk to you,” Grace said.
Her mother laughed. “Most definitely. Does Tracy have the ability to work there or did she just touch a soft squishy part of you?”
“Both. I’ve got a meeting with Hunter in twenty minutes to let him know.”
“You run the kitchen,” her mother said. “Do you think Hunter is going to tell you no? It’s just a part-time employee who is of age.”
She sighed. “I know. I just feel as if I should inform him.”
“Because Kayla was in foster care and you know he’s going to want to help too,” her mother said.
Hunter’s wife, Kayla, had been in foster care most of her life. The two of them met when Kayla applied for a job in the lobby, then caught Hunter’s eye.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think Tracy reminds me of Kayla or how she’d be at that age.”
She loved her cousin’s wife. Visited with her when Kayla came down with the kids or wanted some food. Oftentimes Grace would deliver it to Hunter’s penthouse and visit with Kayla on her break.
She’d have to say she didn’t have a lot of friends in life. Not ones she would consider close friends and it was nice to have that with Kayla.
It’s not like she had much of a dating life.
She’d even put herself out there with Lincoln weeks ago and he didn’t seem to be biting what she’d been throwing out.
Maybe if it was food he’d bite more.
Which got her thinking, but that had to be put on the back burner right now.
“Then you’re probably making the right decision,” her mother said. “Email me the information you’ve got and I’ll make some calls.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she said and hung up.
She typed up what she had plus her thoughts for her mother and sent that email off, then went to see her cousin in his office on the floor below his penthouse.
“He’s waiting for you,” Hunter’s secretary said to her.
She walked in like she always did. “Did you bring me food?” Hunter asked.
“Sorry,” she said. “You should have said something.”
