Chapter Seven

Vince pulled up in front of the last house on Green road and wondered if maybe he'd misheard Grace's directions. Surely she couldn't live in a place like this. This house was barely more than a rundown shack and there was what appeared to be green army netting covering the walls as well as the jeep in the driveway. The windows were boarded up and the door was painted camouflage and covered in leaves.

"What the hell?" Vince whispered as he put his car in park and simply stared. He felt as if he'd just been dropped onto some kind of military base! He realized, with more than a little shock, that the thing covered with a tan tarp beside the house appeared to be a tank and there was also an old army truck and jeep near the woods.

Vince was suddenly quite sure he'd been had and surprisingly that filled him relief. He was happy to know that Grace wasn't the kind of woman he had worried she was. He certainly wasn't the kind of man he'd pretended to be earlier today and had already decided before coming out here that he wasn't going to try to have sex with Grace. One night stands just weren't something he was interested in.

While Vince was nearly certain that Grace didn't live here, there was still that small chance that she did and Vince didn't want to take a chance of standing her up. He tucked the wine under his arm, grabbed the flowers and got out of the car.

A chill ran down Vince's spine as he walked toward the house. He would swear that someone was watching him. He stepped up to the door and knocked several times before moving back and waiting for it to open. When it did open, Vince let out a cry of shock and jumped backward when a short, wiry man in desert camo with an automatic rifle in his hands came leaping from the house.

"Who the hell are you?!" the man demanded with a crazy glint in his black eyes. A giant scar marred one side of his face and he poked Vince in the chest with his big black gun. Vince felt panic fill him. Never in his entire life had he had a gun drawn on him.

He jumped backward again and tripped over a rock. The wine bottle and flowers went flying. Vince was faintly aware of the sound of crashing glass before he hit his head on something hard and everything went black.

***

"Wake up now," a gruff voice broke through Vince's foggy thoughts just before cold water was poured over his head.

Vince's eyes flew open as he sputtered and gasped for breath. He attempted to wipe his face only to realize that he was sitting in a wooden chair and his hands were tied behind him and his feet were tied to the chair legs. Vince glanced across the room and saw the soldier standing with an empty bucket and watching him closely.

"What are you doing here?" the soldier demanded.

Vince glanced around the room. The walls were covered in pictures of soldiers, battlefields and maps. Weapons seemed to take up every corner. Vince swallowed hard and turned his attention back to the crazy soldier. "I was supposed to be going to a woman's house for dinner. She gave me directions here." Vince hoped that honesty would get him out of this alive.. He had no idea what was going on but at least the crazy man no longer had that gun in his hands.

"A woman? There ain't never been no woman that's lived here. I built this place myself."

"It's charming," Vince muttered dryly. He was beginning to grow irritated. This man was either completely insane or just plain stupid. Either way Vince didn't appreciate being tied to a chair and having rancid smelling water poured over his head. "Obviously the woman lied to me about where she lived."

"Who is this woman?" the soldier asked.

Vince bit back his irritated retort about it not being the man's business and sighed. "Grace. I don't know her last name."

The soldier stared at him sharply for a moment before his black eyes lit up and he began to laugh so loudly that he was slapping his knees and bending low. He let out a loud hoot and wiped at his face. "You big city man! You probably thought you could ride right in here and take advantage of any mountain girl you wanted, didn't you? Well she sure showed you different. That's Grace. She's a tough cookie."

"Yes, I suppose," Vince mumbled with shame. "Can you untie me now?"

"No," the man sobered instantly. "My name's Sergeant Theodore Foster but most folks call me Old Man Foster. I need to know what business you have here in our town."

"I'm just on vacation," Vince replied, rolling his shoulders to attempt to clear some of the tension from them.

Old Man Foster shook his head. "Horseshit."

"Fine. There are some properties here that I'm looking into buying for vacation purposes. Can you untie me now?"

"I guess so," Old Man Foster replied after another moment of studying him closely. Vince swallowed hard at the sight of the long knife that Old Man Foster came toward him with but soon he found himself unbound from his chair and rubbing at his chaffed skin.

"Sorry about all of that," Old Man Foster stated. "You can't be too careful with all the enemies out there wanting to bring us down."

"Enemies?" Vince inquired as the old man grabbed a beer from a small refrigerator and popped it open.

"Charlie son. The Charlie are everywhere."

Vince nodded at the war veteran whose mind had clearly seen better days and took a step toward the door. "Right."

***

"Grandma, don't steal Cadence's crayons," Grace scolded gently as she swept passed the booth where both Cadence and Ester were sitting Saturday morning.

"She took mine first," Ester grumbled as she scribbled in one of the coloring books that Grace had brought to keep them both busy.

"If you can't share the crayons then I will take them all away," Grace warned, refilling empty coffee cups as she made her rounds.

"We can share, mommy. I promise," Cadence assured her, throwing a pointed look at her grandmother.

Grace blew out a tired breath but smiled as she made her way back toward the kitchen. She was exhausted. Her grandmother had kept her up late last night, fighting over whether or not it was time to go to bed or make breakfast. Once Grace had finally convinced her to go sleep, Cadence had awaken with a nightmare that had kept her up for most of the remaining nighttime hours. It had been three o'clock before Grace had fallen, exhausted into her own broken down mattress and she'd been right back up at five to start her day.

"Honey, you are dead on your feet and those bags under your eyes have carry-ons," Meg stated as she came into the kitchen and stuck an order on the stove for the cook.

"Gee thanks, Meg. You look beautiful this morning as well," Grace muttered dryly.

"You know you're beautiful," Meg assured her. "But you do look tired. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Meg suggested, patting her on the back.

Grace shook her head. "I would just have to clean that mess of a place I call a house and chase after both of them at home. Either way I'm going to be exhausted. I might as well be getting paid."

"I'm gonna head out and get those supplies you needed," Meg's husband Ben stated as he swooped into the kitchen and pulled Meg into his arms.

"Okay, honey, be careful," Meg replied as she stood on her toes to give him a kiss. "And make sure you get some extra potatoes if they have some. Most of the ones in the shipment were no good."

"You got it, boss," he replied with a wink. Then he turned to Grace. "You might want to get back out there. Cadence is throwing crayons and Ester is stuffing them in her shirt."

Grace sighed, adjusted her apron and stepped back into the diner. "Cadence Elizabeth Collins, you get up out of that seat right now and pick up those crayons," she scolded sternly as she came to a stop beside their table. Cadence bit her lip guiltily and slid from the booth to do as her mother commanded. "And grandmother you get those crayons out of your shirt."

"I don't know who you are but you have no business telling me what to do," Ester snapped, squaring her shoulders and raising her thin gray brow defiantly. "I'm saving these crayons because that little monster over there keeps attempting to steal them all. I'd like to see her get them now."

Several diners chuckled but Grace found this situation anything but funny. Her grandmother, who she loved, respected and worshipped, had just said she didn't know who Grace was. While the doctor had warned her that these days were coming, it didn't help to lessen the pain of the blow.

Never had her grandmother not recognized her. She had forgotten everyone else from time to time but never Grace. Grace knew that the form of dementia Ester had was fickle. Grace could leave the room, come back and her grandmother would greet her by name, but the doctor had told her that things would be getting steadily worse. Grace wasn't sure how she would handle the worse since she could barely handle the now but she knew she had to. As always she would have to square her shoulders and find a way to carry on and keep things moving.

"I picked them all up, mommy," Cadence said as she came to stand before Grace with a fistful of colorful crayons.

"Thank you, gremlin," Grace replied, taking the crayons and dropping them back into the box.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ester snapped. "I want to color!"

Grace took a deep breath and counted to three but before she could speak, Ben appeared. "I'm getting read to go to Hagner and get supplies. I could use two incredibly beautiful ladies to come along and help me so do any of you know here I could find a couple at?" he asked with a smile.

Cadence jumped forward. "I'm a beautiful lady!" she stated as she batted her lashes. Grace smiled. Cadence had always loved Ben and Grace knew he was an all around great man.

"I'm prettier than her," Ester argued, shoving herself from the booth and causing the crayons that had been stuffed inside her shirt, to clatter to the floor. More laughter filled the diner but this time Grace was laughing along.

"Would you two ladies like to come with me?" Ben asked.

"Ben..." Grace countered worriedly.

Ben just smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. "My beautiful wife insists," he assured her. "And so do I since I always do what my beautiful wife insists."

"Are you sure?" Grace whispered. "They can be a handful."

"Of course I'm sure." He gave her a squeeze and then clapped his hands together. "Well let's get going then ladies. The road is waiting!"

Grace felt nervous as she watched her daughter and grandmother walk out of the diner with Ben. She wasn't used to sending them off with anyone and she wasn't at all sure how she felt or what to do with herself.

"Relax, Grace. They'll be fine with Grace," Meg vowed, walking over to her.

"Yeah, but will he be okay with them? Grace countered.

Meg laughed. "Of course. You have friends, Grace, so let us help you. Now I'm insisting that you take a few hours to yourself. Go home, relax, take a nap, read a book. Anything for yourself."

"But I can't take a day off!" Grace exclaimed. "I need the money."

"And this job now offers paid vacations and you are going to take one. Grace, you haven't taken a single day off work or spent any time on yourself since Cadence was born! You're working too hard." Meg added at the sight of Grace's argumentative look.

Grace had to admit that the urge to simply go home and kick her feet up was strong--stronger even then her work ethic it would seem. She pulled off her apron and handed it to Meg. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Meg beamed with happiness. "You have the rest of the day off."

"Good. I was hoping to speak to her."

Grace stiffened instantly when she recognized that smooth, slick city voice behind her. Memories of the garage yesterday morning came flooding back to her. Memories of the way he had made her blood pump a little hotter, hear heart beat a little faster and her head feel a little flustered. Then she remembered how she had sent him off to spend the evening with Old Man Foster and she suddenly felt a little nervous.

Grace turned slowly, rolling her eyes at the love-sick expression on her best friend's face. Grace found herself gazing at the way his dark blue t-shirt stretched across his broad chest. She lifted her gaze to that sculpted face she remembered all too well. Strong jaw, firm lips, long nose, (a bit crooked as if it had been broken once), sharp, dark green eyes and a creased brow leading up to that thick head of black hair. It was the kind of hair that appeared made for a woman to run her hands through.

Grace shook her head. She had never been the type of woman to think such thoughts... well she may have once been but that had been before Tyler, before Cadence, before Ester had gotten sick. The new Grace didn't have time to worry to about such foolish things as running her fingers through a man's hair--no matter how luxurious that hair may be.

"Good morning, Grace," Vince said quietly.

Grace did a quick scan of his body to check for any bullet holes after his visit to Old Man Foster's. She forced a smile when she realized he seemed unscathed. "Good morning, Vince. You seem to have a knack for interrupting me while I'm at work." Grace winced at her own tone. What was it about this man that put her so on edge.

"Yes, but from what I heard, you are no longer working so I'm not really interrupting anything," Vince countered, and while he didn't smile, Grace was certain she saw amusement in his green eyes. "Also, I believe I owe you a sincere apology for the way I talked to you the last time we spoke and I would like very much to take a walk with you."

Grace was speechless. To say she was shocked would have been an understatement. Since when did men do things like apologize and sound sincere when they did so? And surely the man must know that she had lied to him and he had no doubt met Old Man Foster. He should be furious with her and maybe he was behind that calm façade.

"Of course, she'd be more than happy to go for a walk with you," Meg quickly answered for her.

Grace turned and gaped at her. "I would?" she hissed in a hushed whisper.

Meg nodded and grabbed her arm gently. "Yes you would. Why wouldn't you? He is sexy as hell, tall, legs for days, good shoulders, amazing hair and he's obviously kind. Did you hear that apology? You deserve to take an hour and spend a little time with the man. You would be a fool if you turn him down."

"You're a horrible friend. He's a complete stranger!" Grace countered as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"Ben used to be a complete stranger to me too," Meg reminded her.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Yeah, when you were ten."

"Since when have you been so jaded and bitter?" Meg scolded. "Not all men are Tyler's. You've shut yourself off from dating and blamed it on not having time but I think you're just afraid. There are good men out there, sweetheart, but you'll never find one if you don't open yourself up."

Grace was caught off guard because Meg was right. Grace was afraid. She did use not having time to turn down every single date offer she received. Not that mister tall, dark and handsome was offering her a date because he wasn't. He was offering to take her for a walk and talk to her.

"What if he's a serial killer?" Grace offered up, desperately searching for any reason to turn down Vince's offer.

Meg glanced at Vince over her shoulder. "Are you a serial killer?" she asked as Grace covered her face with her hand.

Vince's eyes widened a bit as he shook his head slowly. "I haven't been one lately, ma'am." Grace fought back the urge to laugh. So it would seem that Mr. tall, dark and handsome had a dry sense of humor beneath that cool façade.

"See he's not a serial killer," Meg stated haughtily as she turned back to Grace. "Any other ridiculous excuses you'd like to toss up?"

Grace stuck her tongue out at her best friend but knew that she'd been beaten. She had no good excuse to offer and clearly Meg wasn't going to take no for an answer. She let out a tired sigh and turned to Vince. "Just let me get my purse," she mumbled.

Vince nodded. "I'll wait outside."

Grace and Meg watched him walk outside and slide his sunglasses up over his eyes. "I don't know, Meg. It's been a long time since I've spent time alone with a man," Grace admitted, feeling butterflies swarming in her stomach.

"You're just going for a walk around town, Grace. Heck, you'll be within shouting distance of the diner the whole time. Now go and have fun." Meg winked. "And don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Grace rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't tell me that. I still remember high school."

Meg blushed and swatted Grace's arm. "Go get your purse and get out of here. I have coffee cups to refill."