Before us...

Chapter Seven

It was Halloween today and Lila could not understand how such a long month had passed by so quickly. The past few months had dragged on so long, she had begun to feel as if the year would never end and yet, here she was, sitting at home with her companion enjoying her first night off since she had begun working at Grace's, feeling perfectly happy for the first time.

She had been so pre-occupied and busy these past few weeks, so busy she had enjoyed dreamless nights which allowed her to wake up refreshed and clear headed, ready for the next day of working. Admittedly, Lila continued to struggle with the amount of conversation she was required to make with the customers on the odd occasion that she was on the shop floor when they were. She was not yet ready to step behind the register as of now. Her role continued to be in the store room or the office where she would help Grace in any way that she could. Lila had been placed in charge of finances at the store which helped in restoring Lila's need for purpose in her recently purposeless life.

However, Lila felt that the most interesting part of her day was getting to know more about Grace as she discovered just how loving and wonderful this kind-hearted woman was.

Grace was born in Saratoga Springs to an American mother and an English father who had been sent to New York for some sort of business trip. He met Grace's mother at a restaurant one night where she had been shopping with a few friends in the city and continued to see each other whenever he happened to be in the area. When Grace's mother had become pregnant with both Grace and her sister Adele, Grace's father had made the move to the small town to begin their family together.

"Didn't stay here long though, I think we lived here for about, oh six years before he moved us back to England." Grace had informed her.

They all continued to live in England, York I think she had said, until Adele decided that she wanted to move back to her home town and live a quiet life here, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and reconnect with an old friend whom she had remained in contact with over the years. That man would soon become Nathan's father. After Adele moved back, Grace met her husband Peter, who was a well-established lawyer and who was more than happy to move to Saratoga Springs with her when she learned that her sister had passed away, leaving a two-year-old Nathan alone. His father jumped ship soon after the funeral, which Grace had not been invited to.

"I'd never met Nathan's father before, but I have no sympathy for a man who could just abandon a little boy like that. I had to pick him up from their neighbour's house, bless him. He was a tiny thing too." She had smiled to herself, "I couldn't have kids of my own ya see. It was right for Peter and me to be the ones who took him in,"

Her and Peter had opened the store to ensure that they could provide for Nathan, despite having enough money to go without it. Lila thought that they had wanted to set a good example for Nathan and show him what hard work looked like. Grace had told her that Nathan often helped her and Peter in the store, helping with stocking the lower shelves as he couldn't reach the top ones, often choosing to sit with Grace behind the register helping her bag people's items and occasionally wander through to the back to check on his Uncle Peter who would be in the office dealing with the stores finances. Nathan helped even more so after Peter had passed away peacefully in his sleep when Nathan was sixteen. Lila almost sobbed as Grace stated that; "she wouldn't have survived without Peter if she didn't have Nathan."

Lila had been in awe of the women and felt a great respect growing for the selflessness that Grace possessed. It made her think of her mother and father, whom she had not seen in so long and who had similar qualities in them.

Standing up from the couch Lila walked outside with her phone in her hand and sat on the porch step preparing to call her mother. Her father could never find his phone and he would most likely be working. The man was a bit of a workaholic often spending his Saturday's at the office. She scrolled through her small list of contacts, most of them friends from college whom she had not spoken to in years, before reaching her mother's number and dialling. The rings coming through the speaker made her dizzy with excitement. Her mother's voice always relaxed her, made her feel calm and it had been far too long since she had heard it. The ringing stopped.