Saving Gracie (6 page)

“Probably so.” Gloria nodded. “And now he’s looking across the parking lot at you.”

Gracie’s stomach flipped like a tortilla on a griddle. “Well, that’s all he’s going to be able to do. I am not prepared to talk to him tonight. I’m getting in my car and heading home. He can call me tomorrow if he wants to spread more doom and gloom about my future.”

“Okay. I’m going to have dinner in the Fellowship Hall. I’ll call you later tonight.” Gloria waved as she walked off with a group of other churchgoers.

Gracie unlocked the door to her little blue Ford and climbed in. When she slid the key in the ignition and turned it, the car rumbled, gave three chugs, then went silent. She tried it again. Same noises, same silence.

Then someone tapped the driver’s-side window.

Oh, no.
Her eyes began to roll back in her head and her lungs filled with an instinctive deep breath. Why did he always have to be around to witness her humiliating moments? First almost throwing up in the classroom, now car trouble. She could add impeccable timing to the growing list of reasons why she didn’t like the sandy blond businessman.

“Need some help?” Jake’s words sounded muffled through the glass.

No, she wanted to say. She’d invited him into her life once, to show him
El Centro por las Lenguas,
and that night became a total mess. She would not make the same mistake two days in a row.

Jake Peoples reminded her of an expression her parents used—
un viento malo.
A bad wind. Living on an island as long as she had, Gracie had seen plenty of squalls. One moment, everything seemed calm, but in the next minute, everything got blown every which way.

Jake’s very presence messed with her emotions. One minute she trusted that she could take on the establishment, the next minute, everything came crashing down. In just two days, this battle with Jake had already turned her into a person she didn’t care for.

But as much as she didn’t like fighting with Jake, fighting her car generally turned her into a dirty, greasy mess—something else she didn’t particularly like.

Opening the door with great reluctance, Gracie said, “The car’s been acting up lately. I think it might be the battery.”

“Pop the hood and let me take a look. If it’s the battery, I have some jumper cables in the back of my truck.” She pulled the black latch inside the car. Jake raised the heavy Detroit steel, then propped it up.

“Do you have a flashlight?” The sun started to slip lower in the sky, and while it wasn’t yet dark, the vertical hood blocked the remaining light from reaching the engine area.

“In my trunk. Hold on.” Gracie walked around and opened the back of the car, pausing briefly. She felt safe behind the trunk, shielded from Jake. Pulling the flashlight out of the canvas emergency bag she always carried, she steadied herself then carefully stepped back toward Jake.

Tinkering with the battery, the executive looked completely out of place, still dressed in his office attire. This neighborhood was known more for blue jeans and blue collars. Jake’s crested, collared knit shirt and starched trousers stood out.

Absently, he reached his hand down and wiped it on the twill. A greasy streak stood out clearly just above the knee. “Oh, no, Jake. Your pants.”

He looked down and shrugged. “Typical. I get so lost in a project that I forget to keep track of what’s going on around me. Don’t worry about it. That’s what dry cleaners are for.” Jake reached for the flashlight, then shone it around the top of the battery. “Yep, there’s your problem. See that ring?”

Gracie craned her neck around the edge of the hood and looked at the clamp on one pole of the battery. She nodded.

“It’s supposed to be on tight to give a good connection, but for some reason, your screw is rusted out and now it’s loose. All the salt air down here is hard on car parts. You’ll need a new screw.”

“Can I make it home?”

“Afraid not. Your battery isn’t making the connection. It’s a pretty easy fix, though. I’m sure I’ve got a part at my place that will work.”

“Oh, well...that’s okay. I’m sure someone will be out soon who can take me home.” Gracie did not want to owe Jake Peoples anything. Not even one measly piece of metal.

“Gracie, everyone just sat down to dinner. Port Provident isn’t that big—I live about ten minutes from here.” He pointed east, in the direction of the island’s largest collection of historic homes. “We can have your car fixed before everyone finishes eating. There’s no sense in interrupting everyone’s dinner or making you wait any longer.”

His tone didn’t surprise Gracie. She’d heard it before. The businessman with all the answers.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t argue with him. Unlike his insistence on closing her school, this time, his plan made sense. If he could fix the problem quickly, there wasn’t any need to disrupt her family and friends while they ate.

The issue of being beholden to Jake, though, felt like an itch in an unreachable place. It bothered her. But there wasn’t really anything she could do about it right now.

“Okay. Thanks for the offer.” One little round half inch of metal couldn’t cost that much in obligation, anyway. She picked up her things off the front seat of the car and followed him down the sidewalk.

* * *

Jake jogged in front of Gracie, reaching out to open the passenger door. His small act of chivalry surprised her. Except for her father, she couldn’t remember a man opening a car door for her.

“Okay, we should have you fixed up in no time.” Jake angled the steering wheel ever so slightly to the left, pulling onto the street.

“Thanks again. You really didn’t have to do this.”

“Gracie, my nana would never forgive me if I’d left a lady stranded in a parking lot with a broken-down car.” He flashed a quick grin.

“Your nana?” She knew Jake led a family business, but for some silly reason never thought of him as having a family.

“My father’s mother. Her favorite author is Emily Post.”

Gracie laughed. “I love to read, but even I wouldn’t take an etiquette book down to the beach.”

“Nana would. And when she’d finished refreshing her memory on proper knife and fork placement, she’d take out monogrammed notecards and a fountain pen to catch up on correspondence.”

“She sounds very proper.”

“Oh, yes. Her family’s been a fixture here in Port Provident since before the Great Storm of 1910.” Jake guided the car onto Gulfview Boulevard. “But most people love her because she has a heart as vast as that water over there.”

“Sounds like she’d be a good grandmother. I miss my
abuela.
”

“That’s Spanish for ‘grandmother,’ right?”

Gracie nodded. “It is.”

“So, where is your grandmother?”

“In Mexico. She doesn’t like to travel, so we have to go see her. And it’s always been hard for my parents to get time off from running their restaurant.”

“I know how that feels. I didn’t see Nana much during my years in Austin.” His eyes fixed on the red light ahead. “Of course, most of that was my own doing.”

His last words trailed off and he changed the subject.

“Look at the clouds over the water. The sky looks like it’s on fire.” The setting sun turned the clouds a faint purple, set off by a backdrop of flaming orange.

“God paints a pretty picture, doesn’t He?” Gracie joined in the admiration.

Jake didn’t answer. Silence fell between them, like a thousand down feathers filling all the spaces in the small cabin of the car. First it tickled gently, fluffily, but then the sharper edges reached out and poked her, making the presence of the quiet too obvious for comfort.

Gracie rubbed the cotton folds of her skirt together, then hesitated, not wanting to squirm too obviously.

“Do you have to be anywhere right now?” Jake asked.

“Well, I thought we were going to your house to get the part.” Wasn’t he going to help her with the car repair?

“We still are.” His blade-sharp tone cut through her questioning mind. “Do you have time to take a walk on the beach?”

In the short time since Jake had walked into Gracie’s life, she’d seen many sides of him. Authoritative. Impatient. Driven.

Never impulsive.

Without waiting for her answer, he pulled the car into a parking spot close to the water’s edge, demonstrating a trait Gracie did recognize: decisiveness.

She couldn’t figure this out. “Why, Jake?”

He shut off the ignition, then rested his fingers on the door handle. “You said it yourself, Gracie. God painted a pretty picture tonight on the horizon. And Pastor Ruiz talked about walking earlier.”

“He used a metaphor. I don’t think he really meant for you to take up a new fitness routine.”

Jake opened the door and stepped out quickly to avoid the passing traffic on Gulfview Boulevard. He came around to Gracie’s door and reached his hand inside, beckoning her to join him. “I’m not, Gracie. Something the pastor said spoke to me tonight, and I wanted to take his advice.”

His hand lingered inside the car, waiting for Gracie’s action.

Just over Jake’s shoulder, she could see a seagull cruising effortlessly on the breeze. Did the seagulls question why they soared? Or did they just trust that the wind would carry them?

Could she trust Jake’s invitation? Or was it just another calculated move in their game of real estate chess?

The words in her mind muddled together instead of forming a quick prayer as she’d wanted. She could only hope God knew what lay in her heart at this moment. And then, as she felt the breeze dance through her hair, an answer came in the form of another carefree bird riding above the waves in front of her.

Like the seagull, she needed to trust.

She lifted her hand and laid it cautiously in Jake’s palm.

He squeezed and tugged back, helping pull her out of the car. His fingertips felt warm as they brushed the center of her wrist, causing the blood in her veins to tingle with awareness. Tonight, she and Jake weren’t at her school or her church. She couldn’t bolster her confidence with familiar surroundings or faces.

A hermit crab without a shell could not have felt any more defenseless.

They walked down a few concrete stairs, then stepped onto the unstable surface of the beach. Her feet pushed small dents in the sand.

“You said you liked something Pastor Ruiz talked about?” She needed to know why Jake had changed their plans. She needed to wrap reason and order around her shoulders. Standing without her light sweater made Gracie cold in spite of the early summer evening.

“He made me realize I didn’t handle myself professionally last night.” They walked along the edge of the shoreline, where the waves languidly pulled to a stop just inches from their toes. “I won’t lie, Gracie. This condo project has to get done. A lot rides on it. But I came to your school last night with no intention of getting anywhere near your shoes, much less walking in them.”

“But if you still say the condo project has to get done your way, why do you care about my shoes tonight? Nothing’s changed, Jake.”

“I don’t know, Gracie. I do know you care about your students. I know they care about you.” He stopped and faced her. “But I run a company whose board of directors will not confirm me as CEO if I can’t pull this deal off. I suppose I just want you to know it’s not personal.”

She’d never looked squarely into his eyes before. They were a shade of green she hadn’t seen since leaving Mexico’s Yucatán coast as a child. “Maybe it’s not personal to you, but it is to me. You want to demolish my home and my business for a swimming pool. You’re trying to sink my life’s mission.”

The salt in the air smelled like tears. Even the sky reflected how hopeless Gracie felt about the situation.

“Surely you can move the business somewhere else, Gracie.”

“Jake, I can’t. The economy might be tough in other places, but this is a resort town. The price of real estate hasn’t declined. I can’t afford to rent another building and an apartment on top of that. I’m a one-woman show. The connection fees and deposits alone for a new location would wipe out what little savings I have.” Admitting her precarious financial situation cost her a big chunk of pride. “You come from a wealthy family. You’ve never struggled to pay the bills.”

He gave a short laugh. Gracie felt more pride tear away, like a bandage ripping off delicate skin. She hadn’t expected to hear him dismiss her in return for her honesty. She turned her head toward the surf. If a tear slipped out, she couldn’t let Jake see.

“Gracie, look here.” He placed a gentle finger on her chin and pressed her to look at him straight on. The touch sent her blood rushing through her veins again.

“I’m laughing at the irony. You and I have more in common than you realize. I told you the board of directors doesn’t want me in charge of my own family’s company, but I didn’t tell you why. My whole life, my father told anyone who would listen that I wasn’t living up to the family name. I spent the last five years in Austin as an attorney with my own firm. I misjudged a client. I put everything I had into her case. In the end, the only courtroom I saw was personal bankruptcy court, where I confirmed every ugly word my father ever used against me.”

His hands brushed the top of her arms, reminding her of earlier in the school parking lot when he’d rejected her mentorship idea. “Gracie, I’ve missed paying so many bills, there are judgments against me. And no company wants a bankrupt dreamer as a CEO. I have to prove to the board that there’s more to me than the rumors they’ve heard.”

Surely the roaring of the waves had distorted Jake’s words. He had to be the spoiled rich kid she’d assumed he was. She couldn’t fathom a member of the Peoples family in a situation as desperate as her own.

The color in Jake’s eyes deepened. Simultaneously, with a single step, he closed the distance between them.

As the wind kicked a small gust up around them, Gracie didn’t take a step back. She could feel something inside her being carried like foam rising at the top of a wave.

One arm rose tentatively on a crest of emotion to gently rest on Jake’s shoulder. Her fingers fluttered through the soft strands of hair covering the upper part of his neck. She knew what shouldn’t happen next but, like the waves behind her, didn’t know how to stop it.