Page 9 of Saving Grace
He pauses long enough to adjust his feet and reangle his body before returning to his left jab–right cross pattern, adding in the occasional left hook as his muscles loosen.
After a few minutes, he backs away, still bouncing on his toes. “Swap me.”
I start with the same pattern but with a fraction of his power. I’ve only been cleared for physical workouts for a month, and the muscles are slow to rebuild. I’m not anywhere close to peak fitness yet. I continue with the combination sequence, noting the stiffness throughout my core as I rotate through a punch.
“You’re tight today.”
My noncommittal grunt gives him the hint that I don’t want to talk. He knows it. It’s the same sound he’s heard for the nearly thirty years of our friendship. And yet, he still pushes.
“Not in the mood forthat’s what she saidcomebacks, I take it. Okay, how about this? The word on the street is the Barretts moved back yesterday. Did you know? Kelsey was ecstatic when Gavin called last night. How long you think until they finally tie the knot?”
I swing harder than intended on the added left hook and let out a curse as it sets fire to my shoulder. The broken bones may have healed thanks to hardware, but the tendons and ligaments haven’t been as kind. Jace immediately tunes in to my reaction, slipping into the caretaker role he’s been known for our entire lives.
Maybe he’s more Anatolian shepherd than retriever.
“You need to take a break, man?” he asks, already stepping toward the cooler in the corner.
Instead of answering, I ask another question. “What else did Kelsey say?”
He shrugs. “Not much. We may be twins, but she’s loyal to a fault and hasn’t shared any details of why they’re back.” Pulling an ice pack from the cooler, he tosses it to me before stepping back up to the bag. “Besides, figured you’d know more.”
I try to school my features even though shock courses through my body. He can’t know, can he? I made certain never to mention our time together, but there’s no telling what might have been said when I was recovering. Many of those days and weeks were a blur.
“What do you mean?”
“Dec is still friends with Gavin, yeah? I just assumed he’d have told you more. Besides”—he grins— “we all figured you and little Leila Barrett would end up married and raising the next generation of colt breakers and cowgirls taking over the ranch.”
I huff a laugh, even though this conversation is far from humorous.
His words? That was the plan.
I had it all worked out. Where we’d live. How I’d propose. What she’d look like in a simple white dress with our friends and family surrounding us.
Now, I’ll be lucky if Gavin Barrett doesn’t kill me on sight for what I did to his little sister.
I undo the Velcro of my brace then sling it over the stair railing before grabbing a towel and wiping my face and neck as I settle onto one of the benches. Luckily, no one else in town is stupid enough to hit the gym at this hour on the weekend.
I take a deep breath. “Remember those trips to Tennessee I was making with Declan?”
“Yeah, that last one is when shit hit the fan between you two.”
“I wasn’t going for ranch reasons. The guys up there can easily load horses for him. I was making up bullshit excuses to tag along because he always met up with Gavin at least once while we were there.”
I can almost hear the gears turning in Jace’s mind as he pieces it all together.
“Y’all went once a month for a while. You always came back lighter, except for that last time.” I swear I can actually see the light flip. “No! You and Leila? Little Leila who you had the biggest crush on when we were kids?”
I grimace at his excitement, knowing I’m about to douse it with my next words. “Nothing I say leaves this bench.”
And I tell him everything. The secret relationship, getting caught, finding out about the baby. All of it.
Chapter 5
Drew
By the time I finish filling Jace in on everything, the gym crowd is trickling in and I am running late.
I step through the doors of the physician’s building a few minutes past eight, the receptionist smiling and waving me through.
