Smiling, I said, “That’s how Colt looks at me.”
Grace glanced over to me with a weak smile. “He does look at you like that. And my brother looks at Libby like that, and Will does the same with Alex.”
“And that scared you, Grace?”
Nodding her head, her face looked distraught. “Yeah, it scared the piss out of me, because I knew I was looking at him the same way. The last thing I wanted to do was open my heart up again. What if Noah ended up breaking it? I’m not sure I could have survived it.”
The wind was picking up and the temperature was dropping. Grace and I both picked up our speed. A cold front had been about to blow through. Glancing back over my shoulder to the north, I saw the storm clouds building. I swear the weather in Texas could change faster than Grace could get to a sale at Nordstroms.
“We better hustle and get home before we get drenched,” Grace said as she attempted to give me a reassuring smile.
It started sprinkling, so Grace and I started running. We were only two houses down from our place. As we ran up to the front porch, we both started laughing. “We made it!” Grace said just as it began pouring.
Before we walked into the house, I took Grace by the arm and asked, “Do you regret pushing him away, Grace?”
Tears formed in her eyes as she closed them. Opening her eyes, she slowly nodded her head. “Every single moment of every single day I regret not taking that last phone call from him. I’ll never know what he was going to say.” Letting out a fake laugh, Grace looked into my eyes. “I know I need to move on. My heart won’t let me though.”
Pulling Grace into my arms, I held her as she cried. It was the first time in my life I’d ever seen Grace Johnson cry.
LEANING MY HEAD back, I let the warm sun beat down on my face. A light breeze was blowing, giving just enough relief from the hot sun. We had been out of school for two weeks and summer was already heating up.
Taylor let out a frustrated moan. “Sometimes I swear, I want to move to Montana.”
Grace sat up and looked at Taylor. “Tay, that’s a great idea!”
Looking toward Grace, Taylor asked, “What’s a great idea?”
Grace jumped up. “Oh my gosh! A road trip! We should totally go on a road trip.”
Pulling my head back, I looked at Taylor and then Grace. “To where?”