Page 1 of Amazing Grace
Chapter 1
“Grace, are you coming for a beer with us after work?” Jack McDaniels, her foreman on the project, asked.
“Damn straight. Don’t we always go out to celebrate after we build the maze? Now, let’s get to work.” Grace Conroy answered with a smile. She picked up the silver whistle she wore on a chain around her neck and blew it, producing a high-pitched sound. She waved at the truck driver who then began backing his vehicle up.
Using her arms, she directed him to the right spot. The truck needed to get as close to the new drop-off point as possible. Those bales of hay he was carrying were heavy and seemed heavier the longer they unloaded them. They weighed about seventy pounds each. The weight was necessary so they wouldn’t blow around if the wind kicked up, but man, her arms ached at night after a day of unloading. It took two men to carry each bale, and no one wanted to have to carry them further than absolutely necessary. They used the forklift she’d rented whenever possible. She’s already had a man get a hernia once when she’d first started her company and wasn’t about to let that happen again.
Once the bales were unloaded into neat piles, she referred to the diagram she had on her clipboard. Tracing her finger around the complex design, she said, “Put those last ones over here in a straight line. Once the first layer is put in place, I can judge the corners and see the pattern.”
She helped lift the heavy bales, not being the type of boss to remain hands-off. She loved to get in and get her hands dirty,to be able to say she not only designed the maze but helped build it.
“Everything looks good so far. The metal infrastructure is all in place to support the weight and height of the bales. We can start stacking them today. I want the walls eight feet high, so even tall people won’t be able to look over the top. When it comes to stacking, I want us to use the forklift whenever possible — I don’t want any hernias this time around. We work from the inside out. Everybody got it?” She waited for the obligatory nods and exclamations of, “Yes, ma’am!”
Four years ago, she’d stumbled across a charming little town about four hours outside of Denver. She’d been meandering, on vacation but without a destination, just seeing where the road would take her. It took her to Summit Springs, and she fell in love with the town.
For the past three years she’d been creating and running the Amazing Halloween Hay Maze on a large, rented field just outside of Summit Springs, and she’d used the same company to supply both the bales and the workers. The same group of people set up the maze and tore it down after the season was over. They were practically family—or at least good friends. She looked forward to seeing and working with them every year.
“How about we get this done so we can go for that beer and a burger?” Grace asked. She arched her back, hands on the small of it, trying to work out the kinks.
“Yeah, my stomach agrees with you,” Jack said with a laugh. “You got to go back to Denver after the weekend?”
“Nope. I’m between big projects right now, and I’m telecommuting the rest of the week, but only when I have to. Otherwise, I’m phoning it in. October ismymonth to domyfavorite thing.” She grinned. Everyone who knew Grace knew her architect firm, Grace Conroy Designs, took a backseat to herhay maze come October. But when someone owned the firm, and it was the second largest in Denver, she had options.
“What’s the charity again this year?” Jack asked.
“Autism and Related Disorders. I got the idea from Alicia and Jenny Mae, the two women who ownWoodn’t Youin town. Alicia’s son is autistic.”
“It’s so cool that every year you donate the proceeds from the maze to charity.”
Grace waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s nothing, believe me. I’m a very lucky woman. I make plenty of money with my firm. I do this for fun, to relax, and because I love it. The money is secondary, and if it goes to a good cause, all the better.”
“You’re amazing Grace.” Jack paused, then smirked. “Get it? Amazing Grace?”
Grace dutifully chuckled. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard the pun, but Jack was a nice guy, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Very funny.”
She clapped her hands. “Okay, let’s wrap things up here and finish unloading the truck. The driver needs to take it back to the farm. Now that the pattern is sorted out and plotted, we can start stacking. By tomorrow morning, I want this maze ready to roll.”
They worked in companionable silence for the next couple of hours, moving the last of the bales and placing them in the exact order Grace needed under Grace’s supervision. Stacking took the longest amount of time — they tried to be as precise as possible when placing the bales.
Then they hauled out the decorations from the back of Grace’s Silverado: scarecrows, axe murderers and their victims, giant spiders and their cotton webs, skulls, witches, and oversized crows, and placed them throughout the maze. There was a giant pumpkin-headed horror in one corner and a nine-foot-tall werewolf dripping blood in another.
This maze is going to be even better than last year.She grinned to herself as she nudged a bale into place. It was an adult maze — no one under twelve years of age would be allowed in without an adult. It was too complicated for the little ones to navigate alone. For them, she had a smaller maze already set up nearby. It had simpler twists and turns and was impossible to get lost in. Plus, the walls weren’t nearly as high. Parents could look over and watch their kiddies navigate the maze.
Finally, the last bale was set in place. She clapped her hands together, ridding them of clinging bits of hay. “Okay, I’m calling it a day. Great job, as always! Have a good night, everyone.”
“I thought we were going for a beer and a burger?” Jack strode up, bits of straw sticking to his boots and jeans.
“We are, but I wasn’t sure if everyone was going. George has a wife and two little ones at home, and Pete has his husband waiting for him.” Grace nodded as both George and Pete waved goodbye to her and got into their vehicles. “See? Told ya.”
“Okay, okay. We can still go. Meet you at the Whitewater?”
“It’s a date. Well, not adate-date, but you know what I mean.” Grace laughed.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You play for the other team, damn it, or I would’ve asked you out years ago. That figure, those green eyes, all that blonde hair…going to waste, I tell you.” He laughed at the long-standing joke between them. “Anyway, Dave, Johnny, and Stew are coming, too.” Jack snorted and headed for his red Ram.
Grace hurried to her blue Silverado, climbed in, and turned over the engine. It practically purred. The truck was her favorite impulse buy — she didn’treallyneed a truck, but she’d wanted this one the moment she’d seen it on the lot. And it didcome in handy on the rare times she had to haul a lot of stuff — like Halloween decorations.
She drove the short distance to town, then navigated the crowded streets to the Whitewater Tavern. She was pleased to see the place hopping — Halloween was always one of the busiest times of year for the town, second only to the Christmas holidays.