𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 - JJ Maybank

Chapter 68: Never

By the time Grace had gotten to the Chateau the sun had set. To her relief Sarah was the only one home. It wasn't that she was upset with JJ, she just didn't have the energy to talk to him after the chaos of the day. She and Sarah cooked dinner together and made small talk. It felt like when they were kids playing pretend with Sarah's little kitchen set.

"Rafe's back," Sarah said while stirring the pasta around.

Grace had to stop herself from dropping her knife in shock. "What? Why?"

"He was on the phone with Ward. I think he was talking about the cross."

Grace nodded, slipping past her sister to forage through the very limited spice drawer. "Do the others know? Does Pope know?"

Sarah snatched the salt from her sister's hands. "I told Pope and Kie told JJ. We wanted to tell you but you were kind of MIA. Where did you run off to anyway?"

Flashes of the jet ski, the boat, and Big John's face flew through her head. "With John B and Big John."

That got Sarah's attention. "Where are they? What are they doing?"

"Treasure hunting as usual," Grace shrugged, ignoring what had happened to the best of her ability. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Sarah, it was that she didn't know how. She was still processing the event and speaking the words into existence would only cement the horrors into her head. "I figured they needed some father-son bonding time so I let them be. Pass me the tomato sauce."

Sarah handed over the can and Grace poured it into the pasta, stirring it around. "What are you thinking of your in-laws, Sare? Regretting marrying JB yet?"

Sarah shrugged. "Even if Big John was a psycho murderer I'd never regret marrying him."

Grace bit her lip, suppressing a humourless laugh at the truth of that statement. Thankfully Sarah was too busy setting the table to notice her sister's reaction.

"What about you, regretting the whole marriage thing yet?"

Grace thought back on her day. JJ storming into and subsequently out of her house seemed like forever ago. She hadn't really had time to think about it with the whole my-sorta-adoptive-father-murdered-two-people-in-front-of-me-and-his-son thing going on. What she did know was that she was worried about JJ. She was never even scared of him. She was scared for him. She cared about him too much to be upset and trusted him too much to be afraid.

"Never," Grace smiled slightly while carrying their meal over to the table.

Sarah raised a chipped wine glass filled with cheap wine to the air. "Here's to never."

Grace clinked hers against her sister's then took a sip. "To never."

___________

"When I went back to Tannyhill, Rafe was on the phone with Ward, and he just kept saying, 'My thing, this is my thing.'" Sarah explained.

"He had to be talking about the cross," Kie suggested.

Pope nodded. "Absolutely."

Grace was sitting next to Sarah and had her eyes locked on the side of JJ's head while he refused to look at her. She wanted to smile at him, nod at him, signal to him in anyway that they were okay and that she forgave him. She wanted to be sure that they were okay. She needed him especially after what had happened the previous day but he wouldn't return her stare.

JJ's eyes remained dutifully locked on the water ahead of him. He didn't want to look down at Grace even though he could feel her intense stare. He didn't want to look down at her and see a look of worry or worse, one of hatred. He kept telling himself that if he didn't look at her, if he didn't speak to her, then she would be better off. She'd be safer and happier and she'd get over him. The selfish part of him didn't want to interact with her in fear of her ending things but then he reminded himself that she deserved better and that shred of self preservation flew away.