Page 39 of Eight Years Gone

Grace sat on her enormous blue-striped blanket, staring at her pink-painted toenails as she dipped them in and out of the warm sand.

She looked up, locking her arms tighter around her knees, smiling as Brennan used powerful kicks and his innertube to swim farther into the depths.

“That’s good, Brennan,” Christy hollered to her six-and-a-half-year-old. “I don’t want you going past your shoulders. The rocks are your stopping point.”

“Okay, Mom.” He waved, favoring his mother with his black hair, freckled nose, and hazel eyes. “Look at me, Aunt Grace.”

Grace lifted her arm high, giving him a thumbs-up. “Your swimming’s come a long way, buddy.”

“I’m going to make a cairn on the big rocks. That’s why I’m wearing my water shoes.”

“Be careful where you step so you don’t slip,” Christy yelled.

“I will.” Brennan swam under his tube to surface seconds later, closer to the grouping of rocks that kept boats away from this part of the lake. He waved to them again, then turned as he got busy with his project.

Christy sighed as she picked up her can of lemon seltzer water. “From dawn to dusk, that child keeps me busy.”

Grace chuckled, fixing the strap on her favorite black bikini as she settled back on her elbows while the sun peeked in and out of the increasingly cloudy skies.

Summer was back with high eighty-degree temperatures—a final blast of heat before autumn officially set in. “He’s a sweetie.”

Christy set her drink back down, watching her son like a hawk as he moved about in the waist-deep water. “So, how did things go with Ben when he walked you to your car last night?”

Grace groaned as she rolled her eyes under her sunglasses, thinking of their awkward goodbye.

Most of the night had been weird after Ben casually mentioned that he saw her talking to Jagger in the parking lot. “I thanked him for a nice evening. Then I kissed him on the cheek.”

Christy winced. “Ouch.”

Huffing out a breath, Grace sat up again. “I didn’t know what else to do. I like him. He’s a great guy, but I don’t want to lead him on when I’m completely confused.”

“What’s going on with you and Jagger?”

“Nothing.”

Christy took her eyes off the water long enough to tip down her sunglasses at Grace. “Give me a break. The chemistry oozes between you guys when you’re together.”

Grace exhaled a quiet breath because her friend spoke nothing but the truth. “That was a long time ago.”

“Chemistry like that doesn’t just vanish.” Christy focused on her son again. “What did you guys talk about in the parking lot?”

Grace shrugged. “Mostly that he’s leaving in a couple of weeks.”

“That’s it?”

She jerked her shoulders again as another dark cloud covered the sun. “He said he came to Preston Valley because he needed to know I was okay. He needed to know that I was happy.”

“That’s—”

“Mom. Aunt Grace, look at my cairn,” Brennan interrupted as he settled another rock on the stack he’d created.

“Super awesome!” Grace yelled.

“Nice job,” Christy hollered at the same time.

“I’m going to make another one.” Brennan got back to work, moving to a new grouping of rocks slightly deeper out.

“So, the guy you haven’t stopped thinking about for the last eight years has been thinking about you, too?”

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