Hadley & Grace(84)
Everyone is silent, even Miles, as they creep along at the posted twenty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit.
The town is small and typical—fast-food restaurants, a few mom-and-pop stores, a gas station, and a Walmart—the stores mostly buttoned up for the night, though it’s just past nine.
“Turn here,” Grace says, directing Jimmy to pull into a motel called the Chief Inn. Her eyes slide to the motel across the street, then travel left and right, surveying again for trouble. “Park in the back.”
Jimmy does as she says, and Hadley steps from the car to check them in with Blaire Butz’s license. Grace watches as she works to control her limp, though the effort it takes is obvious.
A few minutes later, she returns, two keys in her hand, and Grace feels Jimmy’s concern over their dwindling funds. He would have preferred they frugally shared one room, though he says nothing.
He thinks the money from his Harley is all they have to start their new life. Grace knows it’s not. Mattie’s game console was in the diaper bag with the cash in the trunk of Blaire Butz’s car, which means Mattie has the cash. But the last thing she wants is for Jimmy to know that, so she keeps it to herself.
Hadley hands Jimmy a key, then takes the car seat with Miles from his hands. “You two need some time alone,” she says with a wink, then, not waiting for an answer, marches away.
Grace glares at her meddling, irritating back. Ever since they left the restaurant, she could practically hear Hadley’s thoughts: He’s a good man, Grace. Look what he’s doing for Mattie. For me. Not to mention good looking. Icing on the cake, but still, very nice icing, you have to admit. And he loves you. So much. And Miles. Look how he adores his son. Christ, Grace, what do you want? He screwed up, but he’s trying so hard to make it up. We all screw up. You need to forgive him. Damn it, get over yourself, and just forgive him already. The guy deserves a chance.
Skipper looks back and gives a crooked smile and a thumbs-up, and Jimmy gives a thumbs-up back.
Dang conspiracy, the two of them ganging up against her. Three of them, if you count Miles, who is as smitten with his dad as Skipper and Hadley are.
Jimmy smiles an infuriating I-had-nothing-to-do-with-it smirk, and she opens her mouth to tell him exactly what’s what, and that, despite him charming the pants off everyone around them, it doesn’t change things. But before she can get the words out, he has closed the distance between them and his lips are coming down on hers.
It is almost midnight when they return to the motel. They’ve been driving around McCook for hours, memorizing and rememorizing every street and every possible route. The town is laid out in a typical midwestern grid of letters and numbers. The streets travel in both directions, and alleys divide the lettered streets.
Grace rubs her tired eyes as Jimmy opens the door to their room. They stagger in, and she falls into his arms, hooking her thumbs in the back pockets of his fatigues and leaning her head against his chest. He leans down and kisses her hair, his strong arms wrapping around her. Under her ear, his heart keeps time, and she listens to its comforting thump.
The plan has changed, and the terror of what they are doing eliminates any concern she had about his gambling and has erased her anger over the past. All they have for certain is tonight, and she is not going to waste it. Jimmy is hers, flawed but perfect, and if they make it through this, she will never forget that again.
He leads her to the bed and lies down beside her, and when he opens his mouth, she puts her fingers to his lips to stop him.
All night, they cling to each other, their lovemaking frantic and desperate, then gentle and slow. She shushes him each time he apologizes, and he kisses away her tears when she breaks down and weeps. For hours, he lies with his head on her stomach, and they talk about the new life inside her and what they should name him or her. Jimmy doesn’t argue with Mark for a boy, but he has a real problem with Virginia if it’s a girl.
“Do you realize how much grief she’s going to get in middle school?”
She lifts her eyebrow as if to say, Really?
“Virginia the virgin. Virgin Virginia. We’re setting her up to be a slut, simply to disprove her name.”
Grace laughs. “Seriously, you think she’s going to get teased because the word virgin is in her name?”
“I guarantee it.”
“Fine. We’ll call her Ginny.”
“Great, she’ll end up a drunk.”
“I won’t let her become a drunk,” she answers, a hint of sadness in her voice.
62
HADLEY
It is the longest night of Hadley’s life. The minutes tick by like hours when she knows Mattie is so near and that she can’t go to her. Grace’s plan is dangerous and, if they pull it off, brilliant. But so many things can go wrong it terrifies her to think about it.
She sits on the edge of the bed, stroking the gentle slope of Skipper’s jaw. Miles sleeps beside him, swaddled tight, his arms over his head like a cactus. Her boys. Strange how quickly she has come to think of Miles and Grace as family, but unquestionably that is what they are—a part of her, people she would stake her life on and risk her life for.
An ache balloons in her chest as she thinks how she has endangered them and continues to do so, her debt so large she knows in a lifetime it will never be repaid. With a deep sigh, she stands and walks to the window. Parting the curtains, she stares across the parking lot at the bright marquee of the motel across the street, her vision blurring as she thinks about tomorrow and what they need to do.