Page 75 of His Saving Grace

But Mason and his family had shown her freedom. They’d taken her in, made her feel special and safe. Something she hadn’t felt since before her mom died. She was free, truly alive, for the first time in her life. Was she going to let David ruin this for her, too?

Hell no.

She wiped the tears away. She needed to win back Mason’s trust, and running wasn’t going to accomplish anything. It wasn’t going to be easy, but if she didn’t try, she’d regret it forever.

The first step was to be honest with him. No more hiding or omitting the truth.

Do you think he’s going to speak to you after all of this?

Of course. And if he pulled out that infamous Callahan stubbornness, she’d push and push and push. She’d be relentless, make him listen, understand her side of things. They needed to talk this out, see what happened, hopefully move forward. If—and she really hoped they would—they decided to go their separate ways, at least she could say she tried.

Determination flooded through her, pushing all of her doubts and insecurities aside. It felt like the large beast that had been sitting on her chest all these years suddenly moved, and she inhaled a deep, cleansing breath.

First things first. She needed to talk to Eloise. Although the thought of confessing to the woman chipped away at her good mood, it had to be done. She bent down and grabbed the key from under the mat.

Guilt and fear wiggled their way back inside her, but she propelled them right back out. She refused to let them pull her under. Eloise was going to understand. That was all there was to it. She refused to believe anything else.

She opened the door to the guest house and tossed her bag inside. Eloise would be getting ready to make breakfast right about now. Too bad the boys were going to have to make do with cereal this morning. Once Grace and Eloise were done talking, they’d be heading into town to start phase two of her plan.

What if Eloise isn’t on board?

Only one way to find out.

Mason glanced at the darkening sky. The storm clouds had moved in quickly, blanketing the pristine blue with ominous gray. They mirrored his sour mood.

“You okay?” Jake sat next to him in the truck. They’d just finished delivering the supplemental feed to the summer pasture and were headed back to the house. Because the cattle on the ranch were pasture-raised, the majority of their diet consisted of what they could graze. The ranch supplemented with vitamins and minerals to make sure the cows got all their required nutrients.

“Yeah,” Mason said, not wanting to get into everything that had transpired last night with Grace. He was still trying to figure it all out. He’d wanted to go and talk with her after he got back from the cemetery, but decided it was best to give her some space. It had nothing to do with him being scared shitless.

And then Jake had asked Mason to help him today, and he’d jumped at the chance. A chance to no longer feel useless. To be treated the same as everyone else.

“Girl trouble then.” Jake laughed. “So, what happened?”

Mason frowned. “Nothing.”

“I know this has to do with the missing person flyer Dec discovered yesterday. What asinine thing did you do?”

Jake might as well have leaned over and punched him in the nuts. It would have hurt less than the reminder of what Grace had been through, and his fucked-up reaction to her finally telling him the truth. And why was he surprised that they all knew? His brothers were like blabby old biddies. He should have known news this immense and intriguing would havebarreled through the house like a rogue missile. “What makes you think I did something?”

“Because you’re an ass-hat with a stubborn streak a mile wide.” Jake tossed his hat on the seat between them and raked his fingers through his hair. “And you usually let your pride get in the way of stuff.”

A weird sensation stabbed him in the chest. “Dude?”

“Don’t look so offended.” Jake gave a dismissive wave. “You know it’s true.”

He refused to get worked up by whatever the idiot said. Just because it was true didn’t mean he had to like it. Or how he’d reacted to the situation with Grace. He gripped the wheel tighter. Didn’t particularly like the little bastard scraping at his scabs, either.

“So, I’ll ask again,” Jake said, tossing a smirk in his direction. “What did you do?”

“I asked her about the flyer.”

“And?”

“And, it’s none of your business.”

Jake had the audacity to laugh. “It went that well, huh?”

The sky opened up, big fat raindrops pelting the windshield. The rain pounding off the truck was almost deafening. Mason used the noise as an excuse to pretend not to hear the question. Until he and Grace had an opportunity to sit down and talk, their relationship was off-limits. To everyone.