"That's right, run you fucking coward!" Grenner's voice echoed in the darkness. "You know I'll kick your ass if I catch you."
Shutting off the flashlight, Grace stood still and listened for any sound of pursuit. You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to get into a fight with you tonight. Carey has enough on her mind. Confident she was alone, she turned the light back on and made her way to the cabin.
When she entered the cabin Grace was surprised not to see Carey in either the living room or kitchen. "Carey?"
"Be out in a minute," the older woman said from the bedroom. "Okay." Grace took off her sneakers and set them by the door, then went to her footlocker and pulled out her sleeping shorts and shirt. Tossing the clothes on the couch, she unbuttoned her shirt and was just removing it when the bedroom door opened and Carey stepped out.
"Did you have fun?"
Grace held her hand out and wiggled it. "Ah, I beat Latisha in ping pong but other than that it was pretty boring."
"What happened to your shirt?"
"Huh?"
Carey took the shirt from Grace's hand and showed her the stain near the left shoulder, brushing off some of the loose dirt. "What happened?"
"I tripped?"
Sighing, Carey pointed at the floor. "Drop."
Damn. Walking over to the empty space between the living room and kitchen, Grace lowered herself to the floor and began doing pushups. As she did, she watched Carey take the soiled shirt into the kitchen. "How many?"
"Ten, then you can come here and tell me the truth," her mentor said. "You know you're very hard on your clothes?"
"I don't mean to be." Doing the last two pushups, she stood up. "Oh, I can take care of it," she said when she saw Carey pre-treating the dirt stain.
"You can finish getting changed," Carey said. "Right after you tell me what really happened."
"I was coming back from the rec room and Grenner jumped me," she said. "I tripped her and ran away. That's all."
"That's all? Did you two exchange blows?"
"No. She tried to get me from behind and I tripped her. Once she was on the ground I took off." Seeing that Carey had her back to her. Grace quickly peeled off her undershirt and bra, replacing them with the white tee shirt used for sleeping. "Please don't say anything."
"She attacked you and you don't want me to do anything about it?" Carey asked as she put the shirt in the washer.
"If you do then she'll know I told you," Grace said.
"And you don't want to be a snitch, right?" Carey shook her head.
"You sure you're not hurt?"
"I'm fine," she said as she unbuckled her belt and reached for the zipper. "Can I put the rest of these in too since you're doing that one?"
Carey turned around, realized what Grace was doing, and turned away again. "I wish you'd change in the bathroom or at least warn me."
"You told me to get changed," Grace said. "Besides, you were doing that."
"Just hurry up and get finished," Carey said, keeping her back to the teen while retrieving a soda from the refrigerator. Grace quickly stripped and put on her shorts, then brought her dirty clothes into the kitchen.
"So is it okay to put these in too?" she asked.
"Of course," Carey said, settling down at the kitchen table. "So if it wasn't your fault, why did you try to hide what happened?"
Grace shrugged and put the clothes in the washer. "I didn't want to upset you. You had enough on your mind."
Carey took a sip of soda, then nodded. "I appreciate that, but you still should have just come out and told me."
"Sorry."
"You're the one that had to the do the pushups," Carey said.
"It's okay, I haven't had to do them in a while." Grace flexed her arms. "I can handle ten easy now." She started the washer, then joined Carey at the table. "Please don't do anything about it."
"I hate the idea of her getting away with it," Carey said. "You promise me you won't do anything to try and get revenge on her. You want me to let it go, you have to let it go as well."
"I promise," Grace said.
Carey rubbed her face. "What a day."
"Is there anything I can do?" Grace asked.
"You already did," Carey said. "My mother says I don't call her often enough." She had some more of her soda, then wiggled the can. "You may have one."
"Thanks," Grace said.
Carey rose from her seat. "Relax, I'll get it." As she passed, she reached out and patted Grace's shoulder. "Thank you, by the way, for earlier. I really needed that time. Cola or orange?"
"Orange. So your mom knows about you and she's okay with it'?"
Carey removed the can from the refrigerator and handed it to Grace. "Yes. She's always been supportive of me, no matter what I did."
"Must be nice," Grace said as she opened the can. "I wish I had a mom like that."
"My mother's not perfect," Carey said as she sat down. "No mother is. We just have to make the best with what we have."
"Easy for you to say."
"Your mother really does love you, Grace. It's just that some people have a hard time showing it."
"She wants me to be perfect and I've disappointed her. I think if I told her about this it would be the last straw."
Carey reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "She might surprise you if you give her a chance."
"You don't understand. I gave her a chance. I told her something really important and she didn't believe me. I love her, but when I needed her..." Grace shook her head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter anyway."
"I think it matters more than you want to let on."
Grace shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just not ready to forgive her yet, and I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Carey gave her shoulder a final squeeze. "Just remember I'm here if you ever want to talk."
"Hey," Grace said when she felt Jan bump casually against her. "Feel like cards?"
"No," Grace said, her eyes still on the entrance to Sapling Hill. "I bet he gets here early."
"Your dad?"
Grace nodded. "I'm gonna show him the A I got on that English paper and my SAT scores." Her eyes lit up at the sight of the red rental car. "There he is. See ya later." She ran out of the rec room and raced for the administration building, determined to be waiting at the door for him. When the car stopped, however, Grace could no longer contain herself and ran across the parking lot, meeting him just as he was stepping from the car. "I knew you'd come," she said as she hugged him.
"I told you I would," he said. "I brought the photos like you asked."
"That's great," she said as they started to head toward the administration building. "I can't wait to..." She left her sentence unfinished as a familiar figure walked through the front gate. "I didn't think she'd come."
"Your mother's changed a bit, hasn't she?" he said, seeing his ex-wife for the first time in over a decade.
"Yeah," Grace said. "In the ass."
"Graceful, that's not nice," he admonished. "I've put on a few pounds over the years too."
"I don't want to see her."
"Then tell her that," he said. "You can't just not see her."
"Promise you'll wait?" Grace asked.
"Of course, pumpkin," he said. "Spend some time with your mother if you want or if she wants the three of us to talk, we can do that too."
"Be right back," Grace said, running across the parking lot to where her mother had walked in from the road. "I didn't think you were coming," she said.
Her mother stared in the direction Grace had come from. "Is that...?"
Grace nodded happily. "He came last month too."
"So you've decided to go with your father instead of me?"
Grace crossed her arms. "If that asshole's going to be living with you, yes."
"Have you forgotten that he left us? I'm the one with custody and you'll be coming home to me, not him. And don't talk about Bob that way. He loves us. He wants to make a home for us. Both of us. When you come home, you'll see."