Saving Gracie (10 page)

“He thought about my father, Nana? That figures. Even in death, the old man is still at the forefront of everyone’s mind.” He ran a hand through his hair and sank back uneasily into the office sofa. Like this situation with the board of directors, the cushions didn’t have much give to them.

Jake looked at his surroundings, remembering how when he’d first returned to town, he’d redecorated this office, stripping the walls and the floors bare. Nothing remained of his father’s choices.

Nothing except a board of directors that, over the years, had seen Johnny Peoples turning his broad back on his only son.

“If I hear anything more, I’ll call you. Please keep your phone on, okay?” Her sigh was full of resignation. If Diana Powell Peoples couldn’t fix this mess with her connections and years as the matriarch of this family, Jake knew there wasn’t much hope.

“I will, Nana. Thanks for the heads-up.”

Disconnecting the call seemed like the perfect metaphor for his feelings. He now felt completely uncertain about tomorrow’s meeting. His heart pressed hard and heavy inside his chest.

A few months ago, Nana convinced him to leave Austin’s memories behind and come back to Port Provident. She’d convinced him he
could
make a fresh start in his childhood home. She’d always believed in him, just as his sister Jenna had always believed in him.

But apparently no one else in Port Provident did.

He didn’t know if he even could believe in himself anymore.

* * *

“I believe you’re ready to move on to the next level, Margarita,” Gracie said as she closed a workbook of basic English grammar lessons. “You’ve been a very quick study.”

“Thank you, Gracie. I’ve been practicing a lot with Manny after work. We are only speaking English at home now so we can get better.” The student, old enough to be Gracie’s grandmother, beamed with pride. Even the bun of steel-wool-colored hair atop her head shone.

Gracie pulled a red paperback from the corner bookshelf. “This is what you’ll need for the next class. We will use dialogues for most of the lessons.”

“So I can start coming to the Tuesday morning class now?”

Gracie nodded. Their tutoring sessions outside of
El Centro
’s Level One class had clearly paid off.

“What’s the matter, Gracie? You look worried. Do you think I won’t be able to keep up with the new group?” Margarita’s wrinkled forehead creased further with concern. “I saw you on the news the other night. Is that the problem?”

Gracie had tried to keep up a brave face these past few days with her students. And now that she’d found the new building downtown, she felt even more bothered that she couldn’t release the trepidation that clutched her mind and heart at the most unexpected times.

But a student like Margarita brought it all home—a grandmother who’d achieved her lifetime goal of getting a visa and reuniting with her precious children and grandchildren—only to find out she couldn’t really communicate with them. Gracie would never forget being new to America, without the skills to communicate. She’d never forget being at the bottom of her class until a teacher believed in her and helped her get the language skills she needed. There were so many stories like her own, and she’d grown up in a community of good people who wanted to better their lives, but just needed someone to believe in them—that’s why Gracie had opened the doors of
El Centro por las Lenguas.
Without her, they’d lose their momentum. But without students to help and teach, she’d lose a piece of who she was.

The Center for Languages existed for people like Margarita. What would become of the Margarita de Leons, the Pablo Moraleses and the Juan Calderons of Port Provident if Gracie couldn’t make the numbers add up, and instead had to close her doors in just a few days’ time?

A sinking feeling gripped Gracie’s stomach. Too many people needed her to find a way.

“I could use your prayers right now, Margarita. There’s a lot going on.”

“Sí. Yo sabe.”
Margarita lapsed into the familiar comfort of Spanish and patted the seat of the green plastic chair next to her. “I know, Gracie. I heard about what the City Council is trying to do to you. I saw you on TV with Angela Ruiz. Gracie,
maestra,
you must remember God has a special spot in His heart for teachers.
Jesucristo
himself answered to ‘Teacher’ from the disciples.”

When Margarita put her arm around Gracie’s shoulders and squeezed, gratitude flowed like a balm over Gracie’s raw nerves. It felt as if she was getting advice from her own
abuelita,
who lived so far away. “He has not forgotten what He has called you here to do. When one door closes, He always opens another.”

“I’ve heard that so many times in my life, Margarita. And even though I know I should trust in His plans, I am filled with fear over money and the possibility of moving, and...”

And Jake. Gracie knew it didn’t take much for her thoughts to turn to the island native with the eyes like a Caribbean surf. But she didn’t dare admit that to her student. She could barely admit it to herself.

“Well,
maestra,
it sounds like you need to remember the story of Queen Esther. Becoming part of the royal household wasn’t in her plans. But she helped save her people because she had been chosen, as she said, ‘for such a time as this.’” Margarita picked up her black patent-leather purse as she rose out of the seat. “Maybe it’s your time, Gracie.”

The older woman leaned over Gracie and hugged her tightly. “
Su tiempo es ahora,
Graciela. Be bold.” And with that definitive proclamation, Margarita walked out of the classroom.

Sunshine broke through the clouds in her heart. Her time
was
now.

She panned her gaze over to the door of her small office. Inside were the calculators and spreadsheets she would use to craft a budget for a time like this.

She
would
save her school and the dreams that depended on it.

* * *

The rest of Jake’s afternoon passed with a slow sense of desperation. He couldn’t focus on the work scattered across his desk.

What did it matter, anyway? Sam Pennington was determined to see the rectangle of varnished oak become someone else’s desk, effective tomorrow.

Jake couldn’t sit around just thinking about the upcoming showdown. He needed to do something. He needed to feel as if control of his life wasn’t slipping through his fingers like the sand on the beach where he’d always gone to think.

Jake turned his gaze to the left, then swept it slowly right. This had been his father’s office. Even though Jake had moved his father’s decor out—except the couch—and his own few furnishings in, the room still felt foreign. As if it wasn’t his own.

As if it would never be his own.

A familiar memory came flooding back in Jake’s mind with a strength that hadn’t hit him since high school varsity football. He’d needed something to call his own back in those days, too. And to achieve it, he’d left town for Austin.

Looks as though he’d be heading back tomorrow, once Sam Pennington got his way. He couldn’t stay in Port Provident—not without a job. He had creditors to pay as part of his recent settlement. He would have to make good on those obligations somehow. And he couldn’t do it here, surrounded by the gossip and speculation that seemed to go hand in hand with life in a small town.

Jake yanked open the drawer to his desk. He stuck his hand inside without looking and closed his fist around a set of keys. Before Nana’s call, he’d planned to go home and practice his presentation for the board. But maybe he needed to face the truth and spend his time working on other details. Like packing a suitcase, putting some gas in the tank of the truck and getting ready to once again be forced out of this too-small town and its too many memories.

* * *

Jenna’s white Toyota blocked Jake from parking in his usual spot next to the carriage house. He looked up and saw his sister bouncing his oversized black suitcase down the front stairs.

“Hey there, big brother!” Jenna waved her free arm in an enthusiastic greeting. “I got Nana to let me in.”

“What are you doing?” Jake shook his head as he called out to her. “I’m going to need that.”

“I’m giving it back, silly. You told me the other day I could borrow it for the cruise. Mitch and I leave a week from Saturday. I’m going to start packing now so I’m not rushing at the last minute, as I always do. I’m tired of throwing everything together like a tornado and then realizing I forgot my toothbrush. In the middle of the ocean, I can’t just run down to the store and pick up what I need.”

Jake stopped at the bottom of the stairs, blocking Jenna’s path to her car. “Well, you’ll need to pick up a new suitcase first. I’m taking that one with me.”

His sister quirked one eyebrow high. “Taking it where?”

“To Austin.” Jake reached for the black rectangle.

The usually chatty Jenna spluttered, trying to find her words. “But...why?”

“Just because.” The words tasted bitter, like bad medicine. He wanted to say more, to confide in the sister who’d always loved him even when his parents hadn’t, but he couldn’t let Jenna know what was about to happen. Not after he’d promised to take care of the company—and her—earlier this very week.

Knowing he would not be able to keep his word to his sister shamed him.

Jenna sat the suitcase on the stair behind her and looked straight at Jake. “Not good enough. You went to college and then you never came back. I’m just getting to know you all over again. I like having you around. I need my big brother. And a certain little person will need his or her uncle.”

Like a small child turned loose on a pile of wrapping paper, Jenna’s words ripped apart the numbness fogging up Jake’s brain.

“Wait a minute. You don’t mean...”

Jenna’s shy smile broke into a shining grin. She nodded her head. “Your little sister is going to be a mommy.”

Jake stared at her as though he was seeing her for the first time. She wasn’t just making those words up to get him to stay. The rosy glow to her cheeks looked too fresh to have been created by makeup.

He raked a hand through his hair. Jake tried to balance his desire to run far from his problems with the rising need to know the next generation of Peoples.

But no matter how badly he wanted to support Jenna at this time of her life, and no matter how much he wanted to be this baby’s uncle, it was out of his hands. Johnny Peoples had poisoned the cup years before.

Jake looked at his feet and sighed. He couldn’t be there for Jenna’s baby because the only lessons he could teach were ones of failure and regret. A certain little person didn’t need that.

Jake wouldn’t stack the deck against the newest and most innocent branch on the Peoples family tree.

“Congratulations, Jenna.” He reached out. Jenna leaned over to return what she interpreted as the beginning of a brotherly hug.

Jake ducked her embrace and kept his head low. Maybe if Jenna couldn’t see his eyes, she wouldn’t know how much it hurt to know what would happen to him tomorrow.

His hand slipped past his sister and rested on the handle of the suitcase, tugging it out of the grip of the mother-to-be. “But I’m still going to need this.”

* * *

Jake pulled into
El Centro
’s parking lot and tried to adjust his attitude. The afternoon’s phone call from Nana had started his emotional slide. After running into Jenna and realizing that his father’s disapproval—brought back to life by Sam Pennington—was going to keep him from knowing his first niece or nephew, he’d fallen into a funk he just couldn’t pull himself out of.

Gracie appeared at the truck’s passenger door and gave a quick knock on the glass. He hadn’t even realized she stood there. The fog that had settled into his brain a few hours ago seemed too thick to clear.

“You don’t look like yourself at all.”

“What do you mean?” He didn’t want to worry her with his problems. He’d caused enough stress for everyone around him—especially Gracie. He’d decided to leave after this evening with her so he wouldn’t add more stress by standing her up. She deserved better than he could ever give.

Gracie, the woman he’d just pledged his friendship to this very afternoon, would be another person disappointed by him tomorrow once Sam Pennington finished resurrecting decades of gossip.

“You don’t seem like yourself. Something’s wrong.” She settled herself into the seat, and Jake pulled out of the parking lot.

“Not really.” Pride rose to the top of his throat, blocking the exit for any words to escape. “Now, how do we get to Huarache’s?”

“It’s not far from the church. Forty-Seventh and Gulfview.”

“It’s on Gulfview?” He couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice.

“Mmm-hmm. Why do you ask?” Gracie’s eyebrows drew together as she studied him.

“Well, I...” He stopped speaking abruptly, embarrassed. “I’ve never noticed it. Has it been there long?”

Gracie’s eyebrows changed position from confusion to amusement. “Only about twenty years. It’s pink-and-orange stucco on the main beachfront street in town. How could you possibly miss it?”

“Good question. I seem to have missed a lot. I missed the signs that trusting a lying client would lead me into bankruptcy. And today it seems I missed the fact that my father’s legacy will keep me from running my family’s company.” He pulled into the parking lot behind Huarache’s.

He realized that he did know this building—he’d just never taken the time to care about it. “I guess it’s no surprise I missed a pink-and-orange restaurant every time I drove down this street for my entire life.”

Jake kicked at a small pile of rocks in the parking lot as he got out of the truck. They scattered in a dozen different directions.

Just like every dream he’d ever had.

He walked over to open Gracie’s door, but she exited on her own before he could plod over there. She stopped his slow progress with a light palm on his chest.

“Jake. Something
is
wrong. I can see it. Please don’t close yourself off like this.” She gently tapped his shoulder. The soft touch reached through muscle and skin, around to his heart and pride. The stone inside began to waver like a palm tree facing the winds of a hurricane.