Saving Grace #Wattys2016

Chapter Three

GRACE GIBSON AS LAINE HALE

"So, let me get this straight; you meet Hardy Hale on the street one day then later that night, he saves your life. Then the next day, you meet him again in Florence Park, flirts with you AND spend the day together?" I smiled. She almost had a baby on the floor. "I hate you!" She yelled. "If I wasn't gonna be married on Saturday.... How does he treat you?"

"The way I always wanted to be treated; with respect and that I really do have a brain. If I challenge him, he does the same to me."

"Wow." Ella said you really don't find that often. "So what are you gonna do?"

Her excited fingers played with the frayed edges of my comforter.

"I really don't know!" I paced around the room which wasn't much to work with since I was going crazy. "I really want to spend time with him by how often do I get to go out."

"Same with me," Ella sighed. "I barely see Carlos anymore. The other night he had to sneak through my room window while Mom was sleeping just to talk." Mama called us down for dinner so we left. She was laughing with Lucy, Ella's mother.

"Hi, Lucy." I gave her my cheek for her standard greeting, a kiss. "Are you sure you don't have a boyfriend around here? You get more beautiful every day.

You need to get a boyfriend."

"She already has one." Ella smiled and whispered in my ear. I kicked her in the back of the leg.

"I tell her that all the time. If she doesn't find one, I'm looking for one for her." Mama put the food down on the table and we all sat. "I just want her to be happy.

"I am happy, Mama. I mean, I'm finishing college soon." Right after high school, I started with college to become what I've always wanted: an interior designer. A little later on, sleep was sounding good when my phone rang.

"Okay, Ella, enough with it."

"Alright, I won't." A deep voice on the other line laughed, the Texas flowing through.

"Hardy!" I squeaked. Never before have I been so happy to hear a man's voice since Daddy. But the wave of pleasure I now felt was all for him. "I thought you would call me when you got home."

"Actually, I just walked into the house. My sister just flew in from New York.

She goes to college up there. She said she couldn't bear going to the same school as her brothers."

"Right, I read that you go to the university in Houston."

"So you did check up on me." I could hear the smile in his voice. Oops. Nice,

Grace. I gave myself a mental slap on the forehead.

"So, what's your major?" I tried to redeem myself causally. "Law, Business or maybe Engineering?"

"Architect. I've loved building things since I was a boy."

"Wow, what I would give to go to an actual college get out of this horrible town."

"I can't imagine not able to go off to college or move out of here. Why can't you move?"

"Since Daddy died, we don't have a lot of money left. And mom's afraid the outside would wouldn't accept us." I said, laying back into my bed. Our town was a tricky place to live. Not even posted on the map, Eren, Texas had a lot of dark secrets. Though, like the rest of the country, Eren was integrated on paper but in the town, people still weren't as kind to races roaming around.

Most of the town's leaders were raised with a strict hand that the country would be better if races were to be separated. No one would be around to check on their wrongdoings so little things happened like minority races were being majorly taxed since we lived on land owned by the town which took a lot out of paychecks and lead us to live in lower class houses. Those houses were clear across town from the schools with better education which was conveniently close to the whites in nice houses. Everything in Eren was cratered to whites but covered so deep, very few outsiders caught a glimpse. One freelance journalist went undercover here and was on the right track. She asked why did we let it happen and some replied it's the only way to stay alive here. Money was already an issue but if anyone talked, 'accidents' suddenly happened. Most of our families were here for generations and we couldn't turn our backs on that. I wondered if Hardy knew what was happening or was he completely obvious. We talked and talked and talked until Mama came in to say goodnight but stopped at the sight of me laughing.