When I Fall in Love (Christiansen Family) (24 page)

Here, on the beach, if she understood right, God was inviting her into the
more
, the abundance her heart longed for.

Grace wiped her cheek as she headed toward the edge of the water. The woman standing in the shallows took her hand.

“I am a follower of Jesus already,” Grace said, the words like a breath inside her soul. “But I want more. I want to let Him transform me. I want an amazing, abundant life with Jesus.”

“Then today you shall have it.”

Grace walked fully clothed into the water, the salty freshness cool against her ravaged, burned skin. She waded out to her waist before the woman stopped her.

“What do you want to say to God?”

Grace looked to the scrape of cirrus clouds white upon the blue canvas. “Lord, I confess that I have clung to my own fears and even recently harbored anger against You in my heart. I want to do more than follow You. I want to be transformed . . . I want the abundant life You promise.”

The woman nodded. “With the confession of your sins, you are forgiven and transformed.” She held out her hands.

Grace grasped them as the woman dunked her, quickly, into the ocean. She surfaced, blinking into the sunlight, water streaming down her cheeks. She took a breath of the warm, fragrant air, and it filled her lungs, overflowing.

“Do you love Him, sister?” the woman asked.

Grace nodded, her eyes hot despite the cool water. “I do.”

“Then feed His sheep.”

Grace closed her eyes, the salt sinking into her skin, ocean water dripping down her back.

My heart belongs to You, O God.

With the confession, she could almost taste the sweetness of His grace.

She stayed on the beach, singing with the congregation until her clothes dried. Then she changed, checked out, and caught the hotel shuttle to the airport.

She finished her book on the plane ride home, with not a hint of airsickness. Eden met her at baggage claim at a terribly early hour Monday morning and drove to her Minneapolis apartment.

When Eden mentioned Max, Grace told her simply that it hadn’t worked out.

Grace finally entered Eden’s apartment, the fuzzy fatigue of too much travel pressing into her bones. She curled up on her sister’s couch and prayed that the life she’d found in Hawaii had followed her home.

G
RACE COULD NOT IMAGINE
a more beautiful bride than Eden. Her sister stood on the bridal shop platform, holding up her arms as the gown attendant fitted her. The woman lifted the train. “We’ll gather it in a bustle for the dance, of course. But do you like how it flows?”

Eden skimmed her hands down the bodice and over the long layer of white, creamy satin. The dress accentuated all her curves, with an embroidered floral overlay that sculpted her body and dropped to just below her hips. Elegant and simple, with exquisitely lacy cap sleeves and a V-neck frame, the dress would take Jace’s breath away.

“What do you think, Grace? Do you like it?”

Grace could hardly speak. After all, her sister was a vision of
beauty, and she wanted to smile. In fact, she did smile. She did put warmth in her eyes. She did answer, “Yes, I love it. You’re so beautiful.” But it seemed that her heart had turned to ash with the question.

Five days since she’d last seen Max, and the pain of it had the power to sour her reawakened relationship with God. She wanted to hold on to the abundant life, the joy that the pastor had talked about, but it all seemed to be slipping like sand from her grip.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” Grace got up, walked over to her sister, and turned her around to face the three oversize mirrors. “Look at you. You’re absolutely a vision. Jace is going to flip.”

“I don’t know. I still can’t believe this is happening. And so soon.”

Grace frowned, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “What do you mean so soon? You have five months before your wedding.” She made a face. “On second thought, yeah. Five months and a to-do list as long as one of those novels you’re writing
 
—”

“Actually, no . . . I need to talk to you about that. I wanted to call you in Hawaii, but I thought it might be better to talk face-to-face.”

Eden handed the attendant the veil she’d tried on, shaking her head. “We moved up the wedding. The Blue Ox have offered Jace a coaching position, and he has to report early for practice. He wants to get married before the season starts.”

“That’s great . . . but oh, boy. When is practice?” Grace said, trying to buoy the sinking feeling in her chest.

“It starts in less than two months. So, leaving time for a honeymoon, we’ll have the wedding in . . . six weeks?”

“What?” Grace stepped back. “No. You can’t possibly pull a wedding together that fast.”

Eden looked at the attendant. “Well, actually, we’ve already talked about it. We have two more fittings, right?”

The woman nodded.

“And we’re doing just fine. Look, the dress is perfect, and we have the venue, even the band
 
—the Blue Monkeys are playing. They can’t wait.”

“Yes . . . ,” Grace said, her voice low. She felt as if she were speaking through molasses.

“Well, this is what I need to talk to you about.” Eden came off the podium and tugged on Grace’s hand to make her follow her back to the dressing room. Eden disappeared behind the curtain with the attendant while Grace stayed on the other side. Probably a ploy to soften the blow because Grace knew what was coming next.

“I’m serious about you catering the wedding.”

“No
 
—Eden, I know you said that, but you can’t expect me to be the maid of honor and cater your wedding
 
—that’s crazy. It was a nice idea, and yeah, I’m glad I went to Hawaii, but if you remember, I missed Darek and Ivy’s wedding, and . . . this could very well be a disaster.”

“It won’t be a disaster. You’ll just plan everything and get Raina and Ty to do it.”

“Eden, really. Let’s just whiz past the absurdity of catering a wedding that
I am in
and think. Six weeks. That’s so soon. I can’t possibly pull it together by then.”

The attendant emerged from behind the curtain, carrying the dress. The curtain fell back. Eden’s voice came through again. “What do you mean? Of course you can. Just a week ago you pulled together an entire course in thirty minutes using crazy ingredients
 
—and nearly won! If anyone could pull this off, it’s you!”

“Oh, Eden.” Grace looked at her own visage in the mirror. Tan, lean, looking healthy. Why, then, did she feel so dead inside? “This is way over my head.”

“You only think it is.” She poked her head around the curtain. “Listen, the venue has a serving staff, and I know you could get people to help you in the kitchen. What about students from the local school? All you have to do is plan and prep. Raina can do the rest.”

“Of course Raina could help. Ty too, and yes, that’s a great idea about the cooking school, even if they did reject my application, but the real problem is . . . I don’t know Hawaiian cooking that well.” She sank onto a tufted stool. “I can’t put this together on my own.”

“Don’t be silly. You just spent three weeks learning how. Use the recipes you learned.” Eden smiled. “I trust you.” She disappeared again behind the curtain.

Eden shouldn’t trust her
 
—not after the salt fiasco. In fact, this plan had the makings of a disaster. “How many people are coming?”

“About a hundred of our closest friends?”

Grace had no words.

“How about if I shorten the list to seventy-five. Keep it intimate.”

Seventy-five was intimate?

“C’mon. You just pulled it off for Ivy and Darek.”

“Are you kidding me? Seventy-five guests for a sit-down Hawaiian-theme dinner is a far cry from Ivy’s and Darek’s forty friends and some chicken on the grill.”

Eden came out a moment later, back in her jeans, flip-flops, and a T-shirt. She took Grace by the shoulders. Met her eyes. “You
can do this. And you will do this because I’m desperate, Grace. I need you.”

Grace felt as if she were Owen on the receiving end of one of Eden’s legendary pep talks. No wonder Owen turned out to be a star
 
—Eden talked him into it.

She sighed. “I don’t know.”

Eden looped her arm through Grace’s. “Fine. I’ll sic Jace on you.”

“That’s just playing dirty.”

Eden grinned. “I knew it. You are a sucker for hockey players.”

Grace started to smile, especially since she knew it was so true. She’d do just about anything for Jace
 
—even more for Eden, of course, but yeah, something about hockey players turned her weak.

Even if she hadn’t realized it until three weeks ago.

They walked out the door of the bridal salon into the hot summer. Eden clicked the locks on her car
 
—Owen’s old car, his Dodge Charger. He’d left Eden the wheels when he ditched Minneapolis.

They pulled out and got on 94, headed east.

“Where are we going?”

“Jace wanted to take us out for dinner tonight. Have a little welcome-home celebration. I hope that’s all right.”

“That sounds great.” Her body buzzed, still set on aloha time. Right now she’d be finishing class, and Max would be getting ready to surprise her with their afternoon activities. Hiking, parasailing, surfing, or maybe just a walk along the beach.

Something fun, even romantic. Something that would change her life.

Something that she should forget.

“You’re awfully quiet over there.” Eden veered toward St. Paul.

“I’m just tired.”

“You haven’t said anything about Max.”

Grace lifted a shoulder. “Nothing to say. He was my cooking partner.”

“What are you talking about, nothing to say? You two stole the show!”

She glanced at her sister. “Don’t tell me you saw the videos too.”

“I was a fan! I tweeted about you, cheered you on. I was glued to every episode.”

Grace sighed.

“Grace . . . last time we talked, you were going to wear a hot dress and get the guy to notice you. Then you land on the show. And now you’re all . . . ‘nothing to say’?” She put her hand on Grace’s. “What happened?”

She didn’t know where to begin.

“Did you tell him you had feelings for him?”

“No.” Not really.

“Oh. Did he tell you?”

“No.” Not really.

“Did . . . did you ride home together on the plane?”

“No.”

“Give me something here. Please tell me that at least you’re going to see him in Minneapolis.”

“Nope.”

Eden said nothing else as they drove.

Jace lived in a beautiful high-rise apartment complex in the heart of St. Paul, just blocks from the arena where he used to play his heart out and now would help coach the Blue Ox.

The doorman sent them up, and Jace met them at the door of his apartment, wearing jeans and a Nike T-shirt. “Grace.” He swept her up in a hug.

She couldn’t help noticing how much it felt, for a second, like being in Max’s embrace. Big. Strong. Breathtaking.

Except he wasn’t Max. Didn’t make her heart race. Didn’t make her want to pound her fists on his chest and demand answers.

Eden closed the door behind her and gave Jace a kiss. Grace walked to the tall glass windows that overlooked the skyline. The sun had already begun its descent behind the gleaming buildings to the west.

“I hope you don’t mind
 
—I invited Max,” Jace said. “I thought we could have a little celebration for your almost win.”

Grace whirled around, her mouth open, but didn’t have to say anything because Eden had Jace’s arm and was shaking her head.

Jace’s eyes widened. “What?” He looked at Eden, back to Grace. “What don’t I know?”

Eden sighed. “I don’t know why, but Max and Grace didn’t hit it off like it seemed they did on national television.”

“It wasn’t national television. It was local cable, and I had no idea the world was watching.” Grace moved into the kitchen, leaned against the black granite countertop. Sighed. “Okay, the truth is
 
—you saw the fiasco. The moment when we realized we’d ruined our dessert.”

“Yeah. That was . . . wow,” Jace said, his expression betraying the horror of the moment.

“Max didn’t take it well. He totally freaked out and . . . and then he just left.”

“He left you at the competition?”

“No.” She took a breath, searing her lungs. Blinked her tears away. “No. He left . . . Hawaii.”

Silence thrummed in the room as the couple stared at her. So
apparently his behavior was exactly as horrible as she thought. “He hates me.”

“Oh, Grace, he doesn’t hate you.”

“No, you don’t understand. He loves cooking. And he hates mistakes. I blew it big. I handed him the salt, and . . . I embarrassed him.”

Eden took her hand.

Jace shook his head, a grim look on his face. “I’m going to have to hurt him. I have no choice.” He didn’t seem like he was kidding.

“No, Jace. It’s fine. It’s no big deal.”

“It is a big deal. Especially after the Owen thing.”

Now Eden turned to him, and she nearly chorused with Grace. “What Owen thing?”

Jace stared at them, the blood draining from his face. “Uh . . .” He ran his hand behind his neck. “Oops.”

“Jace Jacobsen, tell me what you’re talking about.”

Oh no, Eden used her scary voice.

He winced, clearly drawn in by her power. “It was an accident, no doubt, but Max came to me shortly after Owen’s injury and confessed that he believed he was the one who hit Owen. It was his stick, his movement. His fault.”

The room went silent. Grace’s heart hammered in her chest.

And then, like a wave crashing in and wiping clean the past, she got it.

Max didn’t blame her
 
—he blamed himself. Maybe that was why he’d apologized at the competition. But she hadn’t listened, and . . . it was too much for him. Not only had he hurt Owen, but he’d hurt her too. Accidentally, both times.

Max didn’t do accidents.

She used the counter to balance herself, to keep herself upright as the phone rang. Oh, Max.

Jace answered the phone. He spoke quietly, then hung up. “He’s here.”

Trust Me.
The words tucked into Grace, and she took a breath.
Trust Me and expect more.

“Okay. Let him in.”

The last place Max wanted to be was riding in Jace’s penthouse elevator, about to face his old captain with the news that he’d let him down. Apparently he’d perfected that MO. First Brendon, then Grace, of course, and finally Jace.