Page 70 of Fall From Grace

He smiled and threw his hand up. “Aw, now, come on. Don’t treat me like that. You’re dating John’s boy now.”

“And?”

“And, that makes us cool.”

“Let me make this clear, we are not cool. I only ever came over there to get John to straighten up and get Noah back, which NEVER happened. I’m done trying, so leave.”

“Think you could give me Noah’s number?” he asked me.

“Do you even know him?”

“I’m just trying to help John out. He has a son that can help him. That’s what family does.”

Now I was getting pissed. “Maybe—sometimes I might have thought I saw a flicker of a father in John when I was younger, a glimpse here and there that he cared for Noah but I was wrong.”

He smiled, completely blowing my words aside as he said, “Think you could give us a twenty? John can pay you back on the first when he gets his check.”

“Hello, I don’t have a job!” I hissed at him.

“Then, can you call up Noah and see—”

“I’m not calling up Noah so you guys can have money for your pills or whatever,” I muttered as I turned around and stormed inside.

What was even more chilling was when Dad came home and said, “There’s a man that was hanging around the house, but he walked off when he saw me pull up.” He asked me if I had known him and even told me to be careful because of it.

The next day, they must have been waiting for me to get home from school because the moment Mom took off to the grocery store there was a knock on the door. I mean, not minutes, it only took seconds. I had stayed home to catch up on a show I watched while I waited for Noah to get home from the garage to call.

I’d never been afraid of John until I peeked out and saw him and that guy at my door. I waited several seconds actually considering the idea of just not answering. “Grace, we see you at the door,” said the other guy.

I calmed myself and opened the door. “What are you two doing here?” I asked.

“I really need Noah’s number,” John stated.

“I wouldn’t have let him pay your bill if I had known you’d keep this up. He’s only in high school and if you haven’t forgotten, he’s in foster care. He’ll be on his own in a few months.” I didn’t tell them that they had already offered to let him stay longer because it was Noah’s choice to leave.

“He’s my boy. He can come home. Hell, that is his home.”

That rage I felt just listening to this man… I squeezed my fists and took a deep breath. “Just go.”

“I have nothing to eat, I just need a little to go out and get something,” he told me.

“You don’t even have a ride,” I muttered. John hasn’t had a vehicle in over a year or longer.

“I do,” the other guy said with a smile.

“If you don’t want to bother Noah, could you give me about twenty dollars? I’ll pay you back on the first.”

I rubbed my head and sighed. “I swear this is the last time, don’t come back or I’ll get my dad involved.”

He shook his head. “No need to be like that. You’re my family while you’re dating my son.”

I didn’t even know what to say. I just slammed the door in their faces and went into the kitchen to grab my wallet from my purse. Mom and Dad both gave me money through the week... I sighed and walked back and opened the door.

“Here,” I muttered, handing him a twenty.

“Thank ya, you’re a lifesaver.” I nodded and shut the door. I found my way back to the couch where I no longer felt like watching TV, instead, I placed my head in my hands and took a deep, shaky breath. I knew it wasn’t going to stop. I already knew John was taking advantage of the situation and it was all my fault for telling him I had gotten in touch with Noah again. If I told Noah about it, I knew he would keep helping his Dad so that he’d leave me alone or worse, he’d tellmydad and that’d be one more thing he’d hound Noah about.

My phone started ringing. I felt relieved just seeing his name pop up on the screen. “Hey,” I chirped as I answered.

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