Chapter Fourteen
When Grace was a child, she would escape the world of her chaotic house by riding her bicycle to the library. She often found her mother sitting at the kitchen table, staring off into space, the sink filled with dirty dishes, a trail of shoes and coats discarded on their way from the door to the closet. Corners of rooms were filled with objects her mother collected in hopes of using some day. Rebecca Somerall scavenged broken sewing machines, weave-back chairs minus the weave, and plenty of lost and forgotten items from garbage bins or curbsides.
Beds were never made, and sheets never changed unless Grace pulled and yanked her own and dragged them to the basement of their tiny bungalow to wash. By the age of ten, she had learned to operate the lawn mower because her mother was either too tired or too excited about a new adventure to be bothered.
The library was a place that made sense to Grace. The books arranged by classifications, arranged by numbers. Something she could always count on to be there. Something she could trust. She loved her mother up until the day she died, but trusting her was something altogether different. She hadn’t seen her father since she was too little to remember him. She hadn’t had a parent to lean on—ever. It was probably why Larry had been so attractive to her. He was older, stable, and reliable. Until the end.
She pushed open the door to the Heritage River library, and the familiar smell of old books and new paper greeted her. The tension eased from her neck as she stepped into the cool surroundings, leaving the heat at the door. She could take in most of the library in one swoop. It was much smaller than her library back home, but that wasn’t surprising. The place was empty except for a mother and her child sitting on the floor in the children’s section. They were hunched over a board book, pointing at pages. Her library had an entire room in the back for children to sit and read or participate in activities, many of which Grace had planned.
Like most libraries, the circulation desk was right in front, ready for someone to slip up to and ask for help or check out their books, and for a moment Grace longed for her volunteer job back in Silverside. She pushed the thought away. No time for self-pity. She took on this adventure. She would see it to the end.
A tall woman with long, wavy dark hair stared into a computer monitor. The woman furrowed her brows and leaned in to get a better look.
Grace wanted to offer this woman her glasses. “Excuse me,” she said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” The woman turned. The lines around her gray eyes crinkled when she smiled. She seemed familiar, but that was impossible. “I was so caught up in what I was doing.” Her voice held a hint of a southern accent, but not as much as Grace would’ve expected. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to apply for a library card, please.”
“Of course. Are you new in town? Well, you must be. I’ve harassed everyone in town to have a library card by now. Let me find the papers.” She shuffled things around on the desk, then squatted down to look beneath it. When she straightened, she yelled over her shoulder, “Has anyone seen the paperwork for library cards?”
The outburst startled Grace, but then the gesture seemed more like something done in a home when a mother wanted her child for dinner and didn’t want to climb the steps to say so.
“I tell them to keep things in the same place so we can always find them, but no one listens to me. We don’t have much of a staff, just Arlene and Robert and me and a few volunteers, mostly kids.” She continued to push and shove things around the desk.
“Maybe now isn’t a good time?” Her heart sank a little at not being able to take a book from the library. Her library was more organized, but she did have a bigger staff and probably more volunteers.
“No, no. We’ll find what we need. I’ll be right back. Don’t go away.”
“Is this what you’re looking for, Aunt Savannah?” Cash rounded the corner, a pile of paper in his hand.
Aunt Savannah. Of course. She should have seen the resemblance.
“Hey, Grace.” He punctuated his words with a nod.
Savannah’s eyebrows squished together. She looked between her nephew and Grace. “You know her?”
“She moved in next to Dad.” Cash handed over the papers. “I’m going to work with Mr. Carroll fixing up her house. Can I take a lunch break?”
“Which house? The dilapidated one?” Savannah pulled her shirt up over her nose, as if she smelled something rotting, and shook her head.
“That’s the one.” Grace straightened her shoulders. The house might be in bad shape, but it was hers and she was starting to take a liking to it. Well, a liking to the way it would look when she could sell it.
“I’m sorry. Where are my manners? Savannah Montgomery.” She stuck out her hand. “Please forgive my obvious disdain for that house. It’s been neglected for decades and become such an eyesore it’s bringing the property values down. I’m glad someone finally saw fit to purchase it and fix it up. You’re going to love living in Heritage River.”
“Aunt Savannah, can I take that break now?” Cash glanced at his phone.
“You’re only here for four hours. Can’t it wait?”
“Not today. Today I’m here for eight. Remember?”
“Well, no, but I’ve had a lot on my mind with this fundraiser.” She checked her empty wrist. “What’s today’s date?”
“You always have a lot on your mind. You’re like Grandpa was.”
“You were too little to remember Grandpa.” Savannah reached up to ruffle his hair, but he ducked away. “Okay, go have lunch. Wait. Did you bring something healthy to eat, or is it those sponge cakes with the oozing cream filling?” she shouted after him.
“Aunt Savannah, no one my age eats that junk. Dad gave me some money to walk down to Jake’s.” He tossed his words back over his shoulder. “But I can bring you a sponge cake back if you’d like.”
“Get out of my library.” She shook her head but smiled again. “All Savage men are jokers. Lucky me.”
Grace liked the banter between the two. She didn’t have this ease with Chloe at the moment and had no siblings, so she didn’t know what it was like to have a nephew to joke around with.
Savannah handed her the forms for the library card. “I don’t know why I bothered to ask if Cash brought lunch,” she said in a conspiratorial tone. “I can’t remember the last time my brother actually made a meal.”
Grace thought of Blaise’s offer for breakfast earlier. Her insides warmed, but she reminded herself not to take that offer seriously. It was just his way with women, and Grace wasn’t anything special. Especially not to him.
She filled out the forms and handed them back. “What fundraiser are you planning?”
Savannah twisted her hair in a knot and secured it with a pencil. “This hair is driving me crazy. The library needs money. What library doesn’t, right? I wanted to make this one a big deal, though. A big summer barbeque complete with entertainment.”
“How are the plans coming?”
Savannah punched some things into the computer. “Like you’d expect. A million things need to be done, and I have to do most of it myself. My husband will tell you I don’t know how to delegate, but I would if there was someone around I could trust.” She handed Grace her new blue-and-gold library card. “I love Arlene and Robert, but sometimes it’s just easier to do the task myself. But don’t tell anyone I said that.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Grace tried to shove the next thoughts right out her head. She didn’t know this town. She wasn’t going to stay in this town longer than she had to. The Disaster House would take up most of her time. But somehow she couldn’t keep her lips together. “I volunteer at a library back home.”
Savannah held her gaze. “Please don’t tell me you’re joking.”
Heat filled her cheeks. “I do. Or I did. But if you need the help—”
Before she could even finish, Savannah jumped from her seat and ran around the counter. She gripped Grace’s hand in her own. “I need help.”
Grace laughed. “Do you want to see a resume or get references or anything?”
“Nope. I like you. I know people. You’ll be a great fit here. How soon can you start?”
She didn’t have much on her agenda today, only a stop at the hardware store and maybe buying a few more home magazines. Beau wasn’t due back for another day. And there was no point hanging around the house, staring at those walls. Helping at the library would distract her from thinking about the arguments with Chloe.
She looked at Savannah and decided to take a chance. “How about I grab us a couple of snack cakes with oozing cream and we have lunch first?”
Savannah’s face crunched up in confusion. The heat burned in Grace’s cheeks. She’d made a mistake. She should have just said what she always would have said, a simple I can start now or whenever you want. It wasn’t like her to be so forward without a plan.
But then Savannah’s eyes opened wide, and she threw her head back and laughed. “I knew I liked you. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
And without realizing what she’d done, Grace made her first friend in Heritage River.