Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) (9 page)

Everyone nodded, said their goodbyes, and headed in different directions. Gracie
moved closer to Sonny.

“How are you doing, Sonny? Feeling okay?” she asked with concern.

“I am. I’ve had an easy week. Do you still want to hang out for a while?”

“Sure.” She glanced over at his table, where some of his friends were still hanging out. “I see you brought friends.”

He laughed. “No. I was as surprised to see them as you were. I mean . . . I knew they’d come down to the fair, but I didn’t expect to see them here at the pavilion. Let me guess, Jenna spotted you.”

Gracie chuckled. “Uh uh. It was Drake—and he has a big mouth.”

“Don’t I know it,” he said. “The kids got restless, so Jenna and Val headed out. Come on over, though, and meet some of my other friends. I think you’ll like them.”

She sighed. “Okay.” As they walked over, she fidgeted with her
belt a little bit. He took her hand and squeezed it in support. She seemed so nervous, but when she looked into his comforting amber eyes, she seemed calmer.

“Hey, guys . . .” he addressed everyone at the table. “This is my friend, Gracie Laurent. Gracie . . . Meg, Tobi, Anthony, Kai, and Kelli,” he said as he pointed them all out.

“Hi! I’ve already met Kelli. It’s nice to meet you all.”

Everyone smiled and spoke to her. She and
Sonny sat down and the getting-to-know-you chat started. They all seemed easy to talk to and put her at ease. Sonny thought she seemed a little leery of Tobi, but didn’t know why. Tobi was on her best behavior. They all complimented her on the show, and she invited them down to Savannah’s to hear Sugar Creek again sometime. After they had chatted a little while longer, a deafening discordant crash came from the stage. Apparently, Siege of Asgard had their amps up and running and they were ready for their sound check. Without anyone saying a word, the group stood up to leave the pavilion. A totally new audience—looking nothing like the last one—started filtering into the pavilion.

Sonny and Gracie stopped to say goodbye to his friends. Meg asked if they wanted to join them for dinner, but Sonny declined. He sensed that Gracie still didn’t feel entirely comfortable being watched by his friends. Kelli decided to go along and left
with Meg’s crew. That left Sonny and Gracie alone.

“Do you want to hang out here
for a while? Or we could go find dinner ourselves.” Sonny watched her closely.

She glanced down at his knee. “Let’s go eat somewhere and get you off your feet. Or we could do carryout so you can go home and put your feet up.”

“I’ve been off my feet all day. I could use a change of scenery.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

About thirty minutes later, Gracie followed Sonny into the parking lot of Bebe Odelia’s, a popular Cajun and barbecue restaurant. The atmosphere was interesting, resembling a backwater cabin in a swamp. They settled into a quiet booth. It was late for dinner on a holiday Monday, so there wasn’t much business. After ordering iced tea and shrimp jambalaya, Gracie settled back and studied Sonny studying the stuffed animals on shelves along the top of the walls. He glanced over to catch her looking at him.

He smiled. “So, the band sounded great today.”

She smiled back. “Thanks.”

“I hope my friends didn’t put you off too much.”

“No. They seem really nice.”

“They are. How was the rest of your week?”

Gracie sighed. Small talk. “Good. I think I’m feeling more comfortable at the daycare center. School starts tomorrow, so that changes up the kids’ groups a little.” Her eyes lit up. “I got my budget for the musical instruments, so I’ll start ordering those soon. Nothing fancy . . . mostly percussion stuff—tambourines, small bongos, maracas, wood blocks—and some recorders. Some CDs and stuff too.”

“Sounds like fun. I’m glad they have a good project for you. Helps you find your place, huh?”

“Yeah. So what were you up to all week?” she asked.

“Not much. Painstakingly following doctors’ orders. It’s paying off, though. The swelling is way down and the pain has knocked off a little.”

“That’s good. I was really worried about you last Sunday.”

“Learned my lesson. I did go see Drake play soccer yesterday, but those games don’t last too long.”

“How did he do?”

Sonny laughed. “He almost made
two
goals yesterday. He was thrilled. We celebrated with ice cream.”

Gracie laughed too. “Sounds like he’s getting better and better.”

“I did get to hang out with some buddies who live on base Friday night. They came over to watch some baseball. We ordered pizza in. It was nice to hang out with some guys for a change. The girls were over off and on all week, bringing more food and stuff. I appreciate it, but I was ready for a guys’ night.” He looked chagrined for a moment. “Please don’t tell them I called them ‘girls.’ Okay?”

She smiled. “Oh, good. Blackmail dirt.”

He shook his head. “So that’s how it is, huh?”

She sat for a few moments as if weighing her words. “So, Luca . . . you and Tobi, huh?”

“Me and Tobi what?” He tried to look innocent, but he was squirming a bit.

“I couldn’t help but notice how . . . close . . . you seemed.”

“Well . . . we dated for a while. Briefly. Nothing serious.”

“What happened?” Gracie asked.

“Nothing really. We had some fun together, but it never really clicked, so we phased into a friendship, I guess. She’s great.”

“It hasn’t been awkward?” she asked skeptically.

“Not at all. She’s one of those great girls . . . um, I mean women . . . who don’t haul a lot of drama around with them. What you see is what you get.”

Gracie nodded. “Well . . . in that case, it’s a shame it didn’t work out.”

“I think that too sometimes, but if the chemistry’s not there, it’s better to move on.”

“I suppose.”

He looked a little uncomfortable. “At the risk of ruining this good vibe . . . how ‘bout you? Did you leave someone behind back home?”

“No. I haven’t been involved with anyone in a couple of years.” She looked uncomfortable too.

“Was the last one serious?”

“Yeah. But it ended
suddenly. I really . . .”

“. . . don’t want to talk about it,” he finished for her. “I know.”

The waitress showed up with their food and Gracie sighed with relief. She knew he was getting frustrated with her unwillingness to talk about her past. The fact that he was so open with his, only underscored how closed off she was. Maybe she should just quit asking him about his life. But that was hard to do. He was so fascinating to her.

She looked down at her plate. “We probably shouldn’t have shared that funnel cake on our way out of the park. But I can never pass up funnel cake. It’s a weakness.”

He chuckled and they tucked into their food, quiet for a while. She finally broke the silence. “Hey Luca, what are you doing for dinner tomorrow?”

He looked surprised. “Leftovers or whatever the ladies send over, I guess. Why?”

“Matty’s flying in tomorrow morning. He’ll be here ‘til Saturday morning. Do you want to meet us for dinner? I know he’d like to see you.”

“Well, yeah. That’d be great. But don’t you want him to yourself his first night in?”

“Not really. I’ll have him to myself for most of the week,” she snorted. “You could be my buffer for the evening.”

“Buffer? What does that mean?”

“Well, Matty is really protective of me—overly protective really. So you can save me from a few hours of being lectured. What do you say?”

Sonny laughed. “Okay. But what makes you think I won’t just pile on with him?”

“I’m hoping you won’t, but I’ll risk it. If nothing else, it’ll be fun seeing the two of you together again.” She smiled. “I was never invited to play with you guys when we were kids.”

“Well . . . you
were
a girl . . . and a
little sister
. . . four whole years younger. We couldn’t be seen with you. It would have ruined our reputations.”

Gracie rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. Wonder what being seen with me now would do to your fragile reputations,” she laughed.

He just smiled. He knew his answer would bring her walls up again. Because he would’ve said he’d be the envy of every guy they came into contact with when they saw them together.

CHAPTER 6

Sonny
knocked on Gracie’s door the next evening at six o’clock. When Mathias answered they both laughed and threw their arms around each other, the best they could around Sonny’s crutches. They were quite a mismatched pair, Sonny with his shaggy hair and wiry, yet muscular build, and Mathias with his tall, lean sophisticated look, black hair styled with a pricey haircut. Sonny looked a little like the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, and Mathias the rich boy from Nob Hill. But they knew each other inside out, and fell right back into their old friendship.

“Wow, Luca. You look a little rough around the edges,” Mathias joked. “Kinda scary.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sonny looked him up and down. “You look a little too pretty. Don’t you work at all?”

“Hah! Workaholic . . . ask any of my last three girlfriends. They’ll be happy to list all of my faults—but not working isn’t one of them. Working too much is, though,” he snickered.

“Well, you’re not working this week. Right?”

“That depends on Gracie. She can be a lot of work. Gotta make sure she’s really okay.” He looked concerned. “Is she really okay, Luca?” They both sat
down on Gracie’s pretty little sofa.

Sonny felt a little uncomfortable. “I think so. I don’t know anything about what brought her to this point, though, so I really don’t think I’m the best judge.”
He cleared his throat. “All I can say is she seems to be adjusting to everything here okay.”

He glanced around her apartment. He’d never been her
e before, so he was interested to see how she lived. It was very small and cute—a corner apartment on the bottom floor of an old house of Spanish architecture. The living room contained an overstuffed small couch and club chair, perpendicular to each other, with a lamp table between them and a coffee table in front of them. She used a matching lamp table in a corner across from them as a TV stand. The upholstery of the furniture was brown with small ivory flowers. The back cushions were covered in solid celery green fabric. There were a few small salmon-colored pillows scattered around. Her tables were painted the same ivory as the tiny flowers on the bottom and sides of the couch and chair. There were shelves above the couch and television with colorful votive candles—browns, greens, salmons and gold—and funky black and beige picture frames with family photos tucked inside.

She had a small black dining table
with two chairs, on the far right side of the room in front of a tiny galley kitchen. On the other side of the wall behind the sofa was a space—almost a cubbyhole—just big enough for a double bed, bedside table, dresser and chest to be crammed inside. There was no door, but she had hung a beaded curtain, with coral and tortoise shell beads, across the opening to give an illusion of privacy. There was a bathroom with a tiny claw foot bathtub and a showerhead, a pedestal sink and a commode. All the walls in the apartment were left a natural stucco color to match the exterior of the traditional Spanish house. She had several beaded lamps of different heights scattered around the living area.

Mathias interrupted
Sonny’s study of the apartment. “So she hasn’t told you anything?”

“No. She won’t talk about anything that happened before she came here. Except for when we were kids.”

Mathias nodded, worry lines creasing his brow. “I’d fill you in, Luca, but I don’t want her thinking we’re plotting . . .”

Just then the door opened and Gracie came bustling in. “Hey, guys! Sorry I’m running a little late. First day of school and some of the
new parents were late picking up their kids.” She dropped her stuff on the dining table and flung herself into Mathias’ arms. He’d stood to greet her as she came in.

He squeezed her and lifted her off the floor. “Hey, Gracie,” he said tenderly. He set her down and leaned back to look into her face. “How’s it goin’?”

She patted his cheek. “It’s goin’ good. Don’t worry! I’m getting settled in. And I’m
happy
.” She stressed the word, trying to make him believe it. She let go of him and went over to brush her lips over Sonny’s cheek—which stunned him. “And I have your watch dog here to guard me,” she laughed as she patted Sonny’s shoulder.

Mathias leaned back against the dining table. “Well? Are you hungry? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, but nowhere fancy. Okay? I’m going to change, but I don’t want to dress up.”

“Okay.”

Sonny heard the beaded curtain rustle as she went into her bedroom. He enjoyed watching the two of them together. He could tell they were very close. He’d always wished he’d had siblings, but he’d been able to find substitutes wherever he landed. He had Mathias when he was young. Now he had a whole team of them, even if they were halfway across the globe.