Rumor (Renegades #4)(25)
Author: Skye Jordan

He pulled a chair up to the table and clasped his hand over hers again. “I appreciated every letter, every package you sent. You know that, don’t you?”

“Of course. Thank you, sweetheart.”

“One of my favorites was the one you sent right before my accident. Which is why I chose this project for tonight.”

“I’m sorry, son.” She looked a little worried. “I don’t remember what package you’re talking about.”

“How could you?” he said, making light of her memory lapse. “You sent so many, there’s no way you could keep track. It was a box of different suncatchers you’d made with your second graders, who donated them to our team.”

She raised her brows, and Josh could see her searching her memory with no luck. As he set up the craft, spreading out newspaper and lining up all the supplies, he said, “Each kid made a different design. So I hung the turtle in Dunlap’s room, because he’s always late.”

That made Carolyn laugh, and the distress in her eyes eased.

“And I gave the elephant to Ghost, because he’s got that damned photographic memory. The rooster went to Decker, because he’s just a…”

Ooops.

“Prick?” she supplied with a sly little grin.

Humor tickled his insides, and he burst out laughing. Carolyn joined in. Josh hadn’t felt this good in so long. “And I gave the octopus to Joey, because he’s such a—”

“Pussy,” she finished.

“And the peacock to—”

“Had to have been Bobby,” she said. “He liked to strut his stuff for the ladies.”

“How’d you know that? He was always on his best behavior unless he was alone with the guys.”

“Not always.” She smiled down at the colorful paper. “I heard about his antics at the diner where Grace used to work.”

Josh chuckled, remembering how Bobby’s crude pickup line had backfired on him. “She told you about the pickle?”

Carolyn’s brow creased, and she gave Josh a curious grin. “Remind me.”

“So, Bobby ordered a burger. Grace told him the restaurant makes the best pickles in the county and asked if he’d like one on the side. Bobby comes back with ‘I’ve already got a great pickle, honey, but I’d be willing to share it with you.’

“Without a second’s pause, Grace wrinkles her nose but keeps her voice sugary sweet and says, ‘No, thanks. All those pickles get canned around here.’ ”

Carolyn’s laugh was rich and flowing, and the sound seemed to sparkle through Josh’s chest. “That’s my girl.”

Josh squeezed Carolyn’s hand. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, but Grace has missed you most.”

Guilt bubbled up again, and after everything he’d discovered over the last two days, he wondered if it would ever clear. He’d been wrong to leave her last year. Wrong to stay away. When it came to Grace, he’d been just as selfish as Beck. Doing it for the right reasons didn’t make the hurt feel any different.

“She hasn’t been the same since you left,” Carolyn continued. “Oh, she’s good at pretending. Everything’s fine, Mom. I love my job, Mom. I don’t need a man in my life, Mom. But I know my girl. Just because my memory slips now and then doesn’t mean I can’t still read her—or you—when all my marbles are clanking around this old jar.”

She knocked her fist against her skull, making Josh smile.

“Well, I’m hoping to convince her to let me stay around now.”

Carolyn searched his eyes for what felt like an eternity. “Do you love her, Josh? I mean really love her, not the way Isaac loved her.”

His stomach clenched. “How did Isaac love her?”

“As an afterthought.” Her steady, open gaze speared Josh’s heart. “Grace is a beautiful soul. She deserves to be treasured, not abandoned.”

“I agree,” he said. “And, yes, Carolyn, I really love her.”

Grace pulled up to Safe Haven, and her headlights shone on the trunk of Josh’s white Lexus sedan. She sat there, car running, frown deepening, unable to wrap her mind around his presence here. Her thoughts immediately darted to the negative—that there must have been a problem with her mother and Tammy hadn’t been able to get hold of her, so they’d called Josh.

She was out of the car and halfway to the door before common sense returned, and she realized that didn’t make any sense.

On the way up the walk, she glanced into the great room, the lights inside creating a fish bowl effect in the dark night. She saw Josh’s blond head first, then pushed up on her tiptoes and found her mother sitting at a table with him. And she was smiling.

Smiling.

Grace hadn’t seen her mother smile in months.

With her heart tripping over itself, she hurried to the door, gave a cursory knock, and walked in. Tammy met her in the foyer.

“Is everything okay?” Grace asked.

“It’s great. I’m so glad you could come. She’s having a wonderful day. Just like her old self. And she’s really enjoying Josh’s company.”

Grace’s gaze snapped back to Tammy from the direction of the great room. “She knows him?”

“Recognized him the minute he walked in,” Tammy said, beaming.

Grace pulled in a sharp breath and tented her fingers over her nose and mouth. Hope and happiness over the small change made her chest feel full and tight.

“He’s a positive trigger,” Tammy said. “Maybe that’s what she needed to get out of the funk she went through after Betty died.”

Josh had been a positive trigger in Grace’s life too.

“How long has he been here?” she asked.

Tammy glanced at her watch. “About an hour.”

“And she’s been lucid this whole time?”

“The whole time. They’ve been chattering like little girls,” she teased. “But I can tell she’s getting tired. Don’t be surprised if she slips a little.”

Grace nodded, squeezed Tammy’s arm in gratitude, and walked into the great room, her chest fizzing with anticipation. Josh sat with his back toward the doorway, but her mother looked over as she came in. Grace stopped in her tracks, shoulders tight, breath suspended.

Recognition sparked in her mother’s eyes, and her face brightened into a smile. “Gracie, you made it.”