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“Just go with it,” I told her. Knowing Sydney and her organization and need for proper things, I let go of Grace to move into the kitchen, searching for some sort of thermal type bag.
Finding the motherload of all thermals in the pantry, I grabbed a large one and a few smaller ones and moved to return to Grace. “You can even order hot food and it will keep.”
“You’re a nut,” Grace said, a smile wide over her face. She shook her head at me and led the way into the mudroom, where she grabbed her keys, and with me following, we made our way out to her car. She punched in the code to the garage when we were both out, allowing the door to close and lock up the house.
“I can drive.”
She looked at me. “But I know the area better. I live here.”
I wasn’t about to be driven around by Grace. No way, no how, not happening. Not that I didn’t think women could drive, they could. But I was playing the ‘impressing the girl’ field and that included driving her.
“Let me drive. Please?”
It had to be the puppy dog eyes I gave her because she sighed and handed me her keys. “Fine. But make sure you put the seat back when we’re done!”
“Deal.” I took the keys from her and walked her to the passenger side door, opening it for her. When she sat, I handed her the thermals which she placed at her feet, and I closed her in, rounding to the other side to get in myself.
Once we were settled and on the road, I played my luck again and reached over to put my hand on her knee. God, I loved having my hands on her.
Sure, I couldn’t feel skin, but I could feel heat and that was working for me. Grace turned her head toward the window, but not before I caught the upward swing of her cheek.
I may have gotten lost on the way to Panera.
I knew where one was, I’d been there before with Syd and Caleb, but the roads were tricky sometimes. Grace, sweet, sweet Grace, simply sat in her seat, tight-lipped smile as to not laugh at me, and let me do my thing.
After we grabbed food—and maybe swiped a set of regular utensils because plasticware was disgusting—putting it in the thermals, we continued on our way to Torrey Pines, a nature reserve just north of San Diego. I had been there once before with Sydney, during one of Caleb’s first major road trips after they married, and I’d enjoyed the serenity of the reserve. There was a beach but also a number of trails to hike around, as well as great views of the ocean.
Which I’m sure Grace could get anytime she wanted, she lived in San Diego after all, but I wanted to experience this with her.
As we drove into the reserve itself, Grace read the signs. “No food on the reserve.”
“But ok on the beach,” I finished for her. I rolled her car up to the gate to pay our parking admission, and drove us through the marked roads down to the beach. Being early December, it was nearly deserted by the shore but plenty of cars filled the lots. With a familiarity I missed, we talked about everything and nothing at all as we brought our thermals down to the beach to eat. I kept the topics off of Jeremy, as badly as I wanted to dive into that a little more. She would tell me if she felt something was off, wouldn’t she?
We joked as we ate, giving me a sense of peace that maybe things with Grace weren’t so far unattainable as I feared. It was easy to forget that, just two days ago, I was running around SLC, hoping and praying that the missing vic would turn up alive. It was easy to forget that I got home late, dead on my feet, and more than ready for a three-day weekend.
And now my three-day weekend was halfway over.
Getting “my” Gracie back was a bonus, but I was quickly realizing that what I had with her, this friendship, could be so much fucking better. Hell, I always knew it but it was something that was easy to deny.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I wanted to deny it though.
“Two meals in a row,” Grace commented when we were finished, bringing the thermals back to the car. “Surely that’s a record for you.”
“Back to back six-plus hour sessions with a single person. Now that’s a record,” I teased back, although it was likely extremely true. I dated, I wasn’t saying I didn’t, but dinner and a romp in the sheets was the extent of it. No sleepovers. No breakfast. Not even necessarily plans to see the woman again.
I unlocked her car and opened the passenger door for Grace to place the thermals inside.
“I must be special,” Grace said, her chin in her chest as she busied herself with putting the thermals on the floor of the car. She tried putting it out there in the same teasing tone but I could hear the question, the slight weariness, in her voice.
But God, was she ever special.
“Let’s walk?” I held out a hand to her when she stood, closing the car door. Her blue eyes took in my hand before shifting up to mine. Then, with her shy, pretty smile, she placed her tiny hand in mine and I tugged her close.
I hit the lock button on the fob and placed the keys in my pocket, keeping my other hand around Grace’s. When I angled my fingers to interlock with hers, I said a silent victory cheer in my head when she willingly locked hers around mine.
In comfortable silence, we walked toward the trails, following some other smaller groups of people and eventually peeling off from them, heading in another direction. This particular trail was empty but led to an overlook that could easily be crowded any other day of the week.
As we walked, the wind began to whip through the area, causing the trees to silently swish and the sand to stir. Grace reached up to pull her hair over her shoulder with her free hand, holding it against her collar bone. Still, she kept her hand in mine.
