Page 116 of Perfect Harmony

“Hey, sweetie. How are you? Have you founda new place to live yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ve been looking at a few places,”she lied. “How are you?”

“I’m doing well. Hey, did you get my emailyesterday? Rayna and Arianna booked the Harmony Falls Community Hall for thedinner and silent auction, and I was hoping that you and Gideon could collectsome of the silent auction items this week and bring them to the hall? Raynasaid there’s a back room that locks and Melissa, she runs the hall, said we’remore than welcome to store the items there until the dinner. She’s alreadygiven Rayna the key for the room. It’ll be a lot easier to categorize the auctionitems and organize them if they’re all in one space.”

“Oh, um, sure, that shouldn’t be aproblem. I’ll talk to Gideon about what night works best for him and coordinatewith Rayna about bringing them to the community hall.”

“Perfect, thanks, honey. Oh, and I’msending out another email tomorrow but just a heads up that I’ll be canceling themeeting this week. Murray’s doctor appointment got moved up to Wednesday and Ithink we’re going to spend the night in New Cassel rather than drive back after.”

“Sure, okay. Hey, is Gideon there? He wassupposed to meet me after his baseball game, but he hasn’t shown up and he’snot answering his phone. I thought maybe there was a work emergency.”

“Hmm, Gideon isn’t here, but… oh, hold on.Ian just walked through the door and I know he was playing ball with him this afternoon.Ian – do you know where Gideon is?”

There was a muffled reply and then Wandasaid, “Ian said Gideon went for drinks with Preacher after the game.”

“Oh,” Grace said.

“He must have forgot. It’s been a busyweek and with the anniversary of his parents’ deaths just a few days ago, hehasn’t really been himself. You want me to see if I can get a hold of him onthe radio? If he’s still in his car, he’ll hear it.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Grace said. “Thanks,Wanda, I’ll talk to you later.”

She stuck her phone into her back pocket andstared at the mess of tubs and boxes in the storage unit. She’d rented thestorage unit and she and Gideon had cleaned out her townhouse of all of herpersonal stuff that might be salvageable. She’d been putting off going througheverything to decide what could be saved and what couldn’t ever since.

She couldn’t put it off forever though andmade the commitment to start going through it today. She was going to ask Kirato come with her, but Gideon had volunteered to help her after his game wasover. She’d been stupidly grateful. It would be a painful and heartbreakingprocess and having Gideon’s quiet, calm energy while she potentially threw outa large portion of her life was something she desperately wanted.

Yeah, too bad he completely forgot aboutyou.

She took a deep breath and forced herselfto open another box of stuff. So far, she’d gone through almost six boxes and tubsand filled five large garbage bags. Her hope that she might have a few thingsworth saving had died a box and a half ago.

The strong smell of smoke wafted out of thebox and she coughed, her throat already burning, before beginning to pick throughthe box. It was mementos from high school… her signed yearbooks, the corsageher prom date had given her, a few photos of her and Kira standing in front oftheir lockers, the very first A she’d gotten on an essay from her favouriteteacher, Mrs. Beringer. All of it smelled strongly of smoke and everything waswater damaged.

Fighting back tears, she dumped the entirebox into the garbage bag and opened up the next box. God, this was awful. So manymemories just gone.

You know he didn’t actually forget, right?You just aren’t as important to Gideon as you think you are. Why would yoube? Of course he’d rather have drinks with his best friend than help you go throughyour pathetic life. You don’t matter, Grace. You don’t matter to your parentsand you don’t matter to Gideon. You never will. You’re just not worth it.You spend all this time trying to make the people around you happy because youhate being alone, because you need to feel valued and for what? You’re never goingto get what you truly want. You will never be a priority to Gideon or to anyoneelse. Hell, even your best friend dropped you the minute she got a boyfriend.

She rubbed at her temples. That wasn’ttrue. Kira loved her and she was still there for her. She was just in a new relationshipand she wanted to spend her time with Connor. Gracie understood that, she did.

As for Gideon… she knew where she stood withhim. She always had. She could pretend all she wanted that things were changingbetween them, but this proved they weren’t. She would always be an afterthoughtto him, just like she was an afterthought to her parents.

* * *

Gideon dropped his equipment bag in the hallwayand slipped out of his shoes. Tank jumped around him, whining happily, and hepetted him before heading to the kitchen. “Grace? I’m home.”

He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen.Grace was washing her hands at the sink and he wrinkled his nose at the smokysmell emanating from her. “Hey? Why do you smell like… fuck.”

Guilt flooded through him as Grace said, “Hi.How was the game?”

“Gracie, baby, I’m sorry.” He walked toher and tried to pull her into his embrace, but she backed away.

“I smell like smoke. You don’t want to touchme right now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I completely forgotabout helping you go through your stuff and went for drinks with Preacher. Butthat’s a terrible excuse and I apologize.”

“It’s okay.” She dried her hands on thedishtowel. “Are you ready for supper? I’m gonna have a quick shower and thenI thought we could grill some chicken and -”

“Gracie.” He reached out and caught her hand,pulling her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“I know you are.” She stared at his chest.“It’s no big deal, Gideon.”

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