Chapter 41 Grace
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Grace
“What are you supposed to be?”
Jayne looks down at her costume. The all-black attire with a long tail hanging from her lower back points toward some class of feline, including the whiskers painted on her cheeks with the black triangle drawn on the tip of her nose. “A cat.”
“That’s what I thought,” I say, appreciating the details including a yellow choker with a bell. “Where are your ears?”
She picks up a set of ears sewn onto a headband resting on her desk and wiggles it in the air. “They were giving me a headache.” After a pause, she takes in my attire and asks, “Where’s your costume?”
“In my car,” I tell her. “I’m changing into it when I go trick-or-treating.”
“You’re going trick-or-treating?”
“My niece is,” I answer. “It’s her first Halloween, and we’re all dressing up.”
“Aw, that’s cute.”
We’ve been seeing people in the ER and throughout the hospital celebrate all day. Passing out candy, dressed in their variety of costumes, setting out decorative pumpkins and friendly ghosts to set the mood.
“What about you? Are you taking the kids trick-or-treating?” I ask.
“Are you kidding?” She shoots me an eye roll, evidence she’s had her fill even though the festivities don’t start until the sun goes down. “It’s all they’ve been talking about. ‘Is it Halloween yet? How many days until Halloween? Can I wear my costume to bed?’ They’ve been driving me up the wall.”
I laugh at the image of Jayne wrangling her twin girls, seven and full of curiosity and sass, bombarding her with all the questions in the world. I’m sure the only break she’ll get is after the new year, once Santa has come and gone.
It’s almost quitting time, and I’m excited to see Avery in her costume.
I already told Andrew I’d be out with my sister, and a part of me wishes he could come too.
Partake in the Halloween fun and dress up in something to match my own witch costume.
Like a wizard or a warlock. Or maybe we could even go all out and put together a whole couple’s costume like Barbie and Ken or Fred and Wilma.
Even though Andrew said he’d be busy with a night of deliveries, I know if I invited him to come along, he’d drop all of that in a heartbeat.
But right now doesn’t feel like the right time to be introducing him to Jade and Trevor.
I follow Jayne out, walking past another wall of Halloween decorations reminding us of our impending plans.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Jayne calls out as she slips into her car.
“Bye!” I respond. She’s out of the parking lot at record speed. Meanwhile, I’m tapping out a quick message to Andrew to let him know I’m heading to Jade’s.
A response comes instantly with a picture of him and Buster.
He’d gotten Buster the cutest bumble bee costume, and he managed to slip it on him.
Buster has his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and the floppy antennae are hanging on for dear life over his head.
The little selfie with Andrew’s own smile makes my heart melt into a puddle.
Instead of texting him back with some cheesy emoji like a smiley face with heart eyes, I call him.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” he answers, sounding delighted at the sound of my voice. “I thought you were heading over to Jade’s.”
“I am,” I tell him. “I just wanted to tell you that the picture you just sent me is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”
A low chuckle rumbles through the line. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. In fact, I think I just found my new lock screen.”
“Really? That cute, huh? You aren’t worried people might see it? Ask you who that handsome man on your phone is?”
I gnaw on my lower lip, considering what sounds like a dare. A playful challenge I hope to win. “I know,” I finally say, still sounding a bit unsure.
“And…you’re okay with that?”
I shrug, pushing aside the fact that he can’t see me. “Maybe?” I tell him.
“Okay. I like ‘maybe.’ I can work with ‘maybe.’”
“I think so too,” I admit. It feels like a whoosh of air expelled from my lungs.
“I guess I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah,” I answer, excitement rattling my insides. “I won’t be too long.”
“Make sure to save me some candy.”
“I will.”
We hang up, and all the words, the boldly spoken ones and the nervously held back ones, swim in my head.
There might be a hundred things we need to hurdle over before our relationship looks anything like what a typical relationship should be, but we’re headed there.
And who’s to say what we have isn’t ideal?
Sure, it may be somewhat of the atypical variety with so much of it left in limbo, but I’ve never felt more secure than I do when I’m with Andrew.
It isn’t our fault the circumstances of everything are working against us.
I get into my car, excited to see my sister and Avery but also excited to hurry home to Andrew at the end of the night. I jam my key into the ignition to turn it, but instead of the sure sound of the engine being brought to life, I’m met with a listless chug as my car fails to start.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. I try again, only to be met with the same sound, confirming the sudden turn of events.
I reach for my phone and consider calling Andrew back.
But I stop myself, knowing he has a busy night ahead of him.
I try Jade but am met with an unanswered string of ringing.
Defeated, I step out of my car after pulling the latch for the trunk.
Though it could be anything, with the pathetic, rhythmic clacks it made with an unsuccessful attempt to start, I’m assuming it’s a dead battery.
I push aside a few random things in my trunk, hoping to find some jumper cables, only to come up empty handed.
I slam the trunk shut, and head back for the driver’s seat for my phone, hoping Jade will answer this time.
“Hi, Grace.” I look up to find Noah. He has his backpack hooked over his shoulder, his AirPods wedged into his ears, and the beginning of a smile starts to edge its way to his lips. But as soon as he sees the distracted state of my worried face, his smile falls. “Is everything okay?”
“Um, yeah,” I start to say, only to catch myself in the lie. “Actually, not really. You wouldn’t happen to have jumper cables, would you?”
He shakes his head apologetically. “No, I don’t.” He takes a few steps closer to me, examining my car like he would when treating a patient.
I sigh, my hand on my hip while a string of remedies go through my head. I guess I might have to call Andrew.
“But,” Noah says, interrupting the problem-solving mode my brain is in. “I have a friend who lives about five minutes from here who I’m sure has some in his garage. I can call him to see if he can bring them over.”
“Really?” I perk up, hopeful that my night hasn’t been ruined. “You don’t mind?”
He whips his phone out of his pocket. “Not at all.”
It’s quiet between us as he taps through his phone. I wait patiently while he talks, giving him some privacy by sitting in my car with the door left ajar.
“So, I have some good news and some bad news,” he says once he’s done on the phone.
“Oh?”
“He can bring us the cables.”
“Great!”
“But it’s going to be about half an hour until he can make it home,” he adds, delivering the bad news portion of his call. “Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” I tell him, my tone defeated. I leave out the part where I have to be somewhere, not wanting to sound ungrateful. I mean, thirty minutes isn’t too bad. I guess I can just catch up with Jade. I smile at Noah and add, “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
We sit in a pause of uncomfortable silence. Me with one foot hanging out the car and him standing with his hand on his hip and an air of uncertainty.
“Did you want to go grab a coffee?” Noah suddenly asks.
“Oh.”
“I mean, if you know—you don’t want to, it’s okay. It’s fine,” he stammers.
“No, it’s not that,” I assure. “I just can’t drink coffee this late. I’ll be running laps around my living room.”
He huffs a nervous laugh. “I see.”
“But, maybe something else? There’s a smoothie shop nearby. My treat,” I say, reaching for my purse.
“No,” he protests. “I can’t—”
“Please,” I interrupt. “To say thank you for saving me.”
He answers with a nod, ducking his head shyly. “Lead the way.”
I shut my car door, making sure it’s locked on the inside with the alarm system out of commission.
I wonder if I need to replace the whole battery while trying to remember the last time it was done.
Just as I’m scrolling through my mental catalog of recent auto repairs, Noah asks, “Did you have plans for Halloween?”
“I’m going to go trick-or-treating with my sister and my niece.”
“That sounds like fun,” he comments. “How old is she?”
“She’ll be one in a few months.”
“That’s a cute age.” When I look at him, wondering why he would know the six-to-twelve-month age of an infant would be the cutest stage. “I have a nephew.”
I nod, unsure how to fill the somewhat awkward silence. We reach the smoothie shop, and when we enter, I’m fully aware I’m spending an unusual period of time with someone I work with outside of work.
We order our smoothies, Noah fights me on the tab even though I preemptively said it was my treat, and before I know it, we’re sitting off to a corner in the quaint shop.
“So, I have a confession to make.”
I look at Noah, the magenta pink straw of my strawberry-banana smoothie hanging off the corner of my mouth. “A confession?”
“I may have asked about you.”
I maintain a quiet poker face and duck my head to conceal the smile creeping its way to my lips. “Did you?” I ask, omitting the fact that I already knew he did. “What did you ask?”
“Just…what your story is. Nothing specific.”
“My story? That sounds pretty specific.” I see a flush spread across his neck, not quite making it to his face where the outline of a five o’clock shadow is forming, making him look a little rugged against the crisp edges of his navy-blue scrub top. “So, what did you find out?”