State Of Grace

Chapter 39 - Getaway Car

Gracie thought she'd be furious at Riley and start another argument, or start acting like a brat again just as a defense mechanism, but just like when Sarah let the secret out, she stiffened. Heat filled her face turning her skin a blotchy red and air was getting caught in her throat as she tried to choke out some sort of explanation, but all that came out were shaky breaths. Her eyes bore into Riley, silently asking how she could do this to her.

Danny, who was standing beside her, lifted his arm around her and pulled her close. He'd made it clear he was conflicted about the situation but when it came down to it, he was there for her, so she accepted his attempt at comfort. The room was still silent when Maia stepped over to Gracie and took her hand. Marco followed and stood behind Gracie with a hand on her shoulder.

Gracie was baffled when Riley joined them, looking at Gracie with a nervous but sad expression. Was it feigned? Did she care that Gracie was on the verge of another panic attack? Riley was the one who had dropped the bomb that was bound to blow up Gracie's life, but still, she acted like she felt sorry for her.

She didn't have room for that confusion while her her thoughts were occupied by the support that her family was showing her. She should have appreciated it, but instead, she was overwhelmed by a feeling of imposter syndrome.

Though she'd convinced herself that what she did was necessary to keep Rachel in her life, she also knew that she didn't deserve the support of her family after betraying them so greatly, and she knew that this would be too much for Stella and Lilah.

They stood completely still, looking at Gracie with expressions she couldn't make out. Were they angry? Disappointed? Sad? They weren't giving anything away.

She pulled her eyes away from them and looked down at the table where Greg had laid out a fanciful feast and set the places with all different-sized glasses and cutlery. In particular, a ridged steak knife stuck out to her, tempting her to her usual unhealthy coping mechanism.

She broke away from her siblings, "No," she mumbled and started backing out of the room, not allowing herself their support. She stood by the door and looked up at her siblings as speechless as she was. Besides Greg being amused at the misfortune of the Tuckers, everyone else was in shock at not only Greg's announcement but Riley's too.

She finally allowed herself a glance at her mothers, they were still unreadable, but Stella's mouth opened as she started to say something, "Gracie."

Gracie shook her head and pulled her eyes away again, "I'm sorry," she said before glancing at Jasper, the thought of leaving him with Greg felt like a punch in the gut, but her only option now was to run.

So she did just that. She bolted from Greg's house, not taking a second to look back, ignoring the calls from her mothers as they came to the doorstep and tried to wave her down. She was screaming inside her head, tormenting herself, blaming herself for the explosive events, but she did her best to push it all away because none of it mattered now that she'd made her decision. It wouldn't be easy, but she'd have to move on from the Tuckers. It was her own fault, for letting herself get attached to them, for letting herself believe she could ever get adopted.

From the moment that Riley started urging Gracie to tell the truth, she'd started to make her plan, and she was going to wait until tomorrow to set her plan in motion. All she needed was one last night with her family, to leave her mothers with the good memories they had instead of learning the truth about their deceptive daughter and kicking her to the curb anyway, but that wasn't an option anymore. She knew she'd have to leave, but she wanted to do it on her own terms instead of the mess she'd left them with, the mess she'd have to fight not to carry with her for the rest of her life.