His Saving Grace
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Janice Carter
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16.5K
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23
PROLOGUE
“IT’S ONLY A JOKE. No one’s gonna die or anything.”
Fifteen-year-old Gracie Winters clutched on to Cassie’s reassurance as tightly as the folded paper in her hand. She’d already delivered the first note to her cousin, Brandon. That part had been easy because her mother had asked her to return two eggs she’d borrowed the day before. Gracie made small talk with her aunt in the kitchen but kept an eye on her cousin, playing his new Nintendo game in the den. She made an excuse to go to the bathroom before leaving and on the way, darted into Brandon’s bedroom to set the note on his desk next to his iPod so he wouldn’t miss it.
Getting the other note to Ella Jacobs was trickier. She and Ella had fallen out halfway through the summer when Gracie began to think Cassie was right and Ella was just being friends with her because she had a crush on Gracie’s older brother, Ben. And it was true that Ella wasn’t as much fun anymore. She spent more time reading in the lounge chair on her cottage deck or tanning on the beach across the road. When the three of them were together, Ella was often quiet. Except when she came over to Gracie’s house. At first, Gracie had thought the old Ella was back. Then partway through the summer Cassie made a comment that ruined everything for Gracie.
“Haven’t you noticed that she only acts like this when Ben is around?”
Other summers Ben never spoke a word to them unless he had to, going in and out of the house without a glance their way. Suddenly he was around more, sticking his head into Gracie’s bedroom to ask if they wanted anything from town or if they wanted to use his iPod.
The day Gracie happened to look through the big window of Pete’s Grill to see Ben and Ella sitting together in a booth confirmed all that Cassie had been whispering in her ear for weeks. She’s using you to be near your brother.
The idea for the prank didn’t come up until the last week of August, before the end-of-summer beach party. Cassie predicted Ella wouldn’t go unless Ben did. Two days before the party Gracie mentioned that Ben wasn’t going because he and their father were driving to Augusta early the next morning to take a load of stuff to the college dorm where Ben was registered for his freshman year. Ella’s disappointment was painfully obvious and when she phoned later to say she wasn’t going to the party Gracie ran to Cassie. They gossiped about Ella and when Gracie blurted that Brandon thought he was in love with Ella, Cassie was silent for a long moment before saying, “I have an idea.”
The notes were basically identical, except one was signed “Ella” and the other “B.” Cassie wrote them and Gracie’s job was the delivery because she could get into Brandon’s house, and Ella’s cottage was closer to the Winterses’ place. Besides, Gracie was the one who was more often alone with Ella than Cassie.
Meet me at the path to the lighthouse about 8 tonight. I want to say goodbye—in private!
Making sure that Ella got her note was more of a challenge. It had to be done in a place where Ben would logically be, so Gracie called Ella to invite her for their annual end-of-summer book exchange. Every year they traded books for the long winter months ahead and returned their favorites each July. Ben would be home packing.
The way Ella’s face lit up when she saw Ben ticked Gracie off. After the book exchange, Ben stuck his head in Gracie’s bedroom doorway to ask if anyone wanted a cold drink. Ella leaped off the bed to follow him into the kitchen and Gracie tucked the note into Ella’s book bag. Then she carried it with her to the kitchen and set it on the table.
Gracie and Cassie arrived early, excited to attend their first end-of-summer beach party. Gracie guessed there were about twenty kids clustered around the bonfire, sitting on blankets and sharing snacks and drinks. Someone brought the fixings to make s’mores and Gracie was toasting her marshmallows on the end of a metal skewer when Ella arrived. Cassie gave Gracie a “what did I tell you?” nudge as they shifted to make room for Ella on their blanket.
“How come you changed your mind about coming?” Cassie asked.
Ella just shrugged, silently scanning the group. Looking for Ben, Gracie figured. Brandon arrived a few minutes later and sat across from them on the other side of the fire. He kept staring at Ella, which made Gracie nervous. A few minutes before eight o’clock, Brandon got up and walked pointedly toward them, veering off at the last second to head for the dark sand dunes behind them. Someone shouted a comment about using the facilities at home first and the gang tittered.
When Ella checked her watch and whispered, “I think I’ll go home. This is boring,” Cassie caught Gracie’s eye and winked. As soon as she disappeared in the same direction Brandon had gone, the two girls scrambled to their feet. Someone called out, “Hey! What’s going on?” as the girls dashed down the path leading to the lighthouse and the meeting place.
The line of dunes several yards back from the water formed a natural shelter, protecting the bonfire and the revelers from the coastal winds. Cassie and Gracie hid behind thick scrub edging the junction between the dunes and the grassy trail leading to the long rocky point where the lighthouse perched. The waxing moon and the glow of the bonfire from the other side of the dunes gave Cassie and Gracie enough light, but Ella had thought to bring a pocket flashlight, which she was aiming at Brandon just as the two girls dropped behind the bushes.
“Brandon! What’re you doing here?” Ella cried.
Brandon’s wide smile, spotlighted by the light’s beam, faltered. “You asked me to meet you here.”
Ella snorted. “I did not.”
Confusion spread across his face. “Yes, you did. I got your note. You asked to meet me to say goodbye.”
“Why would I want to say goodbye to you?”
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m meeting Ben. I’m here to say goodbye to Ben. Not you!”
That was the moment when Ella’s expression said she was putting it together. She and Brandon had both been tricked. Of course, the giggle that erupted from Cassie at the same time was a big clue, too. The two girls ran back to the party and had barely sat down before Ella appeared. Cassie and Gracie pretended to be chatting, stifling their laughter as she stood, staring defiantly at them from the other side of the fire. Then she tossed the piece of paper in her hand into the flames and strode off into the darkness beyond.
Long after Gracie had gone to bed, still smiling at the expressions on Ella’s and Brandon’s faces, a loud banging awoke the Winterses’ household. Gracie navigated the stairs down to where her parents and Ben were huddled at the opened front door, talking to some men. She reached it in time to hear one of the uniformed men saying, “Brandon never came home from the beach party. Would any of you happen to know where he might be?”
