33. Grace
Chapter 33
Grace
A few days later, I’m sitting out on the front porch, enjoying the last of the lemonade that I made yesterday, watching the sun start to set. Dinner is in the oven, and it’ll be ready in a little bit. The afternoon chores are finished, so it’s just a nice moment of peace.
The men are upstairs showering. I’m sure I’ll hear them come down any moment. I could do with a nice hot bath myself after dinner to ease the aches of the day, but I appreciate those aches. I feel really satisfied. Accomplished.
A sudden thought pops into my mind. How did I get through all those long days where I just sat in an office?
I can remember going home at the end of the work day feeling weirdly achy, and how much I hated it, and how I just sat all day but still felt uncomfortable. Now, honestly, at the end of the day even though I’m exhausted my body feels better than it did in the office.
I’m sure there’s some article or other that I read that said something about how bodies are made to move, so that people who just sit or stand in one position all day are doing more to wear their bodies out than people who go on long hikes every day or do a lot of other physical labor. It sounds crazy, but that’s sure what I’m feeling now.
A bit of fear seizes my heart—fear that I don’t want to go back to the office.
I look down at my hands. There are some things I miss about New York. Like having my lovely nails done. I’m terrible at painting my nails myself, and I know having manicured nails will be more work to maintain around the farm, but I’m sure I could manage.
You don’t know until you try, I tell myself.
I have some nail polish in my bag, it was originally supposed to be a gift for Mom and I forgot all about it, but I think it was a silly gift to try to give her now. She never cared about having paint on her nails. It’s a nice pink color, though, so I think it’ll look good on me.
I sit back down on the porch, spread my fingers out on my left hand, then start trying to paint the nails with my right.
Hmm. It’s… not looking great.
“Enjoying the sunset?” Easton says, emerging onto the porch.
I jolt in surprise and nearly spill the polish. “Ah!”
“Sorry, princess, didn’t mean to startle you.” Easton grins and sits down next to me on the porch swing. “Painting your nails?”
“Trying to. I’m not very good at it.”
Easton takes my hand in his, then plucks the brush out of my other hand, and starts quietly doing my nails.
I watch him for a moment, touched. “It’s sweet of you to offer. It’s okay if you’re not good at it, um, I’m not very good at it either, and you can’t possibly be worse than I am…”
My voice trails off as I peer at him and see that he’s actually doing really well. He’s got that one-stroke thing down pat that I can’t seem to manage where he gets the whole nail covered but doesn’t smear it on the skin.
“When did you learn to do this?” I ask, baffled. Easton doesn’t have any sisters that he’d learn for, and I don’t think he’s the type to wear nail polish himself. In fact the image makes me snort with laughter.
Easton’s face flushes a little. “Recently.”
Huh. “You’re really good at it.”
“Thanks. I looked up some tutorials—you can really learn anything on YouTube, huh?”
“Why were you looking up tutorials?”
Easton shrugs, aiming for nonchalant, but that blush is still there. “You like having your nails done. I thought maybe it would be good to know. It’s always harder to do on yourself than someone else, I knew that much, so I thought I could be your someone else. ‘Course, I didn’t think it would take this long. Didn’t know you’d help out with the chores and all so much.”
“I’m happy to help out.” Of course I couldn’t do anything else.
“No, I know that.” Easton gives me a quick, warm smile before focusing back on my nails. “I just meant that we didn’t know how long you’d be stayin’ or anything like that. I figured you’d want to focus on getting out of here, not helping with chores. But we love that you’re helping out around the place.”
“You really care about this ranch.”
“Well, of course I do.” Easton chuckles. “It’s been in my family just about as long as it’s been in Jesse’s family.”
“How did your grandparents feel about combining your ranch with Jesse’s?”
“They were happy about it. My grandparents were more than ready to retire, and they’ve been loving their retirement.” He chuckles. “Just you wait for Christmas, they’ll be spoiling all four of us as if the other three Alphas are their grandsons too.”
Just you wait for Christmas. That makes it sound like…
But of course he doesn’t mean it that way. It’s just an expression.
“If I’m remembering right, though, they raised you?” I pause. “Sorry, that’s prying.”
“No, I don’t mind telling you. It was all so long ago. Yeah, sort of. It was just my mom and me for a bit. She made a lot of mistakes and we moved around a lot. It wasn’t really stable. She loved me, she just couldn’t seem to get her life together.”
“That must’ve been painful.” I pause. “The idea that… I don’t know. Maybe it would almost be better if she was a terrible person.”
Easton nods. “Yeah. In some ways it made it hurt more. Knowing that she loved me, that she wasn’t horrible, she just… was a mess. But I’m also grateful for it. Even after she died, I knew she loved me. You know? I never had to doubt that. Even if she couldn’t quite figure herself out.”
“I’m glad you had her love. You deserved it.” I think Easton also deserved a stable home life, but I suppose, having your parent’s love still matters.
Easton nods. “I try to have sympathy—I didn’t always, as a kid.”
“Kids don’t always understand everything that’s going on.”
“Yeah. But it was when she died I really understood. I was just a young teen and honestly? I probably would’ve ended up just like her, if my grandparents hadn’t been there. They took me in and took care of me, then I found Jesse, Cade, and Hendrix, and they basically became my pack instantly. Even your brother. It was really good for me to be there with them, in high school.”
I vaguely remember Easton arriving in our small town. I remember mostly because it was such a stir—someone new arriving!—but I don’t remember actual details. Honestly it had felt in a few weeks like he’d always been here, and I’m sure that’s thanks to Aiden, and Jesse and the others folding him into their friend group so quickly and deeply.
“I’m so glad they were there for you. Your pack and your grandparents. And Aiden,” I add belatedly, laughing.
Easton grins. “Yeah. They’ve all been great. I’m really glad it worked out with the ranches too.”
“I’m happy that your grandparents were able to come to the barbecue,” I say softly.
“It was nice to get to know them better.”
“They really liked you.” Easton smiles at me, eyes warm. “They were happy for me.”
My heart thumps loudly in my chest. I can’t help it—I lean in and kiss him.
“You’re going to mess up your nails,” Easton murmurs against my mouth.
“I don’t care,” I murmur back, then I kiss him again.
I don’t know how to articulate what I’m feeling, but I think, somehow, through the kiss, Easton gets it.