Page 89 of Fall From Grace

On the drive home, I managed to pull myself together within seconds as if I hadn’t just broken down over the guilt that had been haunting me for the last few years. What was even worse was Dad’s lack of words. He still had nothing to say. I scooted up in the seat as we pulled into the driveway and spotted an old truck, my eyes moved toward the porch where Noah sat on the steps. He lifted his head up from between his knees when he saw us pull in.

“Looks like Noah,” Dad said.

I felt nervous. I thought he had been upset with me? He had every right to be… yet he was here. “Yeah,” I mumbled as I unbuckled and let Gus out.

“Why do you look so scared?” Dad asked me with a hint of a smirk I couldn’t decipher. He was just as hot and cold as I was.

“I’m not,” I huffed, low enough so that I couldn’t be heard by Noah. “I just don’t understand why he’s here…”

“He’s damn frustrating, that’s for sure,” Dad said with a sigh as he climbed out of the truck. “Noah knows what he wants and he gets it, he isn’t swayed… Which makes one wonder why he let the one thing he claimed to care about so much go? I wonder… is he gonna let you get away so easily this time?”

“Dad…” I mumbled.

“Go see what he wants,” he told me as he shut the door. I climbed out and followed behind him. Gus was on Noah’s lap and he stood up with him when we approached him.

“Hey, Steven,” Noah began, “it’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has,” Dad agreed. “I heard you have your own garage now?”

Noah nodded, and my eyes widened as Dad’s words sunk in. “Garage?”

“Heard it had a real funny name, too,” Dad added with a smirk that I could have sworn looked like he was messing around with Noah.

“Ah, I don’t know about that,” Noah muttered quickly, eyeing me as he did.

“When were you going to tell me?” I asked to either of them.

“When you came home and saw it for yourself,” Noah retorted. I bit the inside of my cheek and sighed.

“Guess I’ll head inside and let you two talk,” Dad informed us.

“Wait,” Noah called out. “I was going to take Grace for food, how about you come with us?” Noah was so much braver than me to ask Dad out when it took me over five years just to ask him to go somewhere with me again. I also noticed how he said “take” instead of “ask” like I had no choice in the matter.

Dad smiled sadly and shook his head. “Y’all go on ahead,” and with those words, he walked inside hollering for Gus to come with him.

I crossed my arms when Dad left and even Noah dropped the good guy façade when it was safe. “What? I thought you were mad?” I couldn’t help but taunt him.

“Come on,” he muttered. “I’m starving.”

I turned and followed after him as he walked to his truck. “How is that my fault?” I studied the red Ford. “Where’s your Jeep?” I asked.

“Had to get a new one,” was his answer as he climbed inside.

I ran around to the other side and got in. “You mean, you had to trade it in for another beat up one?” I already liked his truck though, it only had one long seat… If we had been dating, if we were together, I could scoot over right now and link my arm with his as he drove. The idea was so tempting, I jerked the seatbelt over me and focused ahead.

“I don’t recall you ever having a problem with the Jeep,” he hummed.

“What are you over there thinking about?” I blushed.

He smirked. “You never made any comments about my Jeep before is what I mean. Why? What are you thinking about?”

“Where are we going?” I redirected the conversation to something safer.

“Ribs?” he offered and I simply nodded with a smile. As he pulled out of the driveway, he glanced over at me. “Grace.”

“Hmm?”

“Your cheeks are red,” he teased. “You’re still thinking about the Jeep?”