Page 5 of Safe in Shadow
Chapter Three
Grace piled her fluffy (okay, unmanageable) tangle of hair into a massive poof on the top of her head. Her sneakers were on. Her favorite jeans were clinging to her hips. Her Antonia College tee clung to her back, damp with sweat, even though it was a chilly May morning in the mountains.
“Let’s do this!” She clapped her hands together, savoring the leather-on-leather sound of work gloves. That was the noise of kickass female entrepreneurs about to launch their dreams.
Beedle-boop-beedle-boop-beedle-beedle-beedle.
Grace groaned. That was the noise of her mother, calling to question her life decisions.
“Hi, Mom.”
As she often did, her mother began the conversation in full flow, as if Grace had been there from the beginning. “But what I don’t understand is where you got all the money. The lawyer said you only got thirty thousand, and Uncle Chuck says to get that house up to code would have taken at least a quarter of a million. He said only government contractors get grants.”
“Uncle Chuck is wrong, and I took an online course in grant writing last summer while I was home taking care of Nana. I already got three grants for her retirement community last year, Mom. Money is out there if you have the right reasons and documentation. Like, Hilltop House was built in the 1890s and was a home for wounded soldiers after World War I and World War II. That’s worth historical preservation, right? The library is going to be the jewel of this place. I can’t imagine why no one hastried to do anything with it before now. Okay, I’ve got a rental truck to unload.”
“By yourself?”
“I wasn’t going to ask you and Dad.”
“Well! I’m offended. Why not?”
“Because every time I talk to Dad, he has a fit about how Kimmy and Casey didn’t get more than five thousand dollars and their pick of Nana’s jewelry,” Grace grunted and flung up the metal door of the moving truck. It rolled with a clicking clack to the top and bounced up with a bang that made her jump—even though she was expecting it.
No need to be jumpy. This is good stress. New adventure. Yep.
“Your brother said he might help.”
“Casey? Casey will be glued to his gaming chair or his girlfriend on a Saturday morning at eight. I’m not counting on it, Mom.”
Even the slightest hint of a critique of Casey made her mother’s hackles rise. No one criticized her baby boy. “You and Nana were always hardest on him because he was the baby.”
“Mom... We were hard on him because he came to stay with us foroneweekend, made pot brownies, ate the whole pan, and then threw up on Mrs. Yerchenko’s cat.”
“He was only sixteen! That was three years ago!”
“Right. So if he shows up... Oh. He’s showing up. And he has Princess Moonflower with him.” Grace winced as her brother’s car peeled up the newly poured gravel driveway, the loud muffler backfiring as he gunned the engine.
“Grace! Her name is Daffodil, and she’s a very sweet girl.”
“I know, I know. Gotta go, Mom. Love you. Love Daddy.”
Despite her brother’s lazy streak and her mother’s attempts to spoil him, Casey wasn’t a bad guy, and he was the only one who didn’t seem to care how she spent her money. Of course,Casey was also going to college in Pittsburgh and rarely came home.
“Oh my God!” Daffodil stepped out of the car, phone already filming. “Grace, this place islit! It’s like a castle.”
“It’s Victorian architecture. The entire exterior will have to be redone, and it needs a new roof. But one thing at a time.”
“I got your text about moving in. Came to lend you my muscles.” Casey rose from the low seat of his sports car and flexed his biceps.
“You’ve abandoned pot and playing video games for bodybuilding?”
