Friends and family only are allowed to call me Grace. Snake is accepted upon that list but like I said I still like to give the man some shit.
At least we both know at this point it’s all in good fun.
“Right,Grace,” he completely ignores me like a brother would. I then hear him give a rather saucy kiss to Alice over the phone before he lets her be.
Ah, young love.
Alice clears her throat before saying, “Reed makes me unbelievably happy, but you already know that.”
Reed Carter is Snake’s real name but she’s the only one allowed to call him by it.
“Hi, Alice!” Connor chirps excitedly. His chubby cheeks shades of red. Yeah, someone has a little crush.
“Hi, Connor!” She replies with just as much enthusiasm. “Ready for your test today?”
Did I also mention how Alice is such a great friend?Most people wouldn’t care to remember those tiny details, but she does.
“I’m going to ace it. I’m sort of a math genius you know,” he proudly tells her. Okay, more than a little of a crush. He never boasts.
“And your sister and I are so proud of you. When you get the test results back call me and tell me what you got.”
“I will!”
We pull up in front of his school and I put my car in park by the entrance. He clicks his seatbelt and before leaving the car he throws me a one arm hug.
Hugging him back I tell him, “Love you, champ.”
“Love you, sis.” He lets go and that means I have to, too. Grabbing his backpack off the car floor he swings it over his shoulder. As he shuts the car door, I roll down the window.
I shout at him, “Be good!”
He shouts back, “Always am!”
And then I don’t pull away until he safely makes it inside.
“Sorry about that. Was dropping Connor off at school,” I apologize to Alice.
She laughs it off. “He really is a sweet kid.”
A huge smile forms on my face. “Yeah, he is. Anyways what are you doing up this early?”
“Snake has physical therapy.” Snake has been in physical therapy for almost five months now due to almost dying. Again, long story but the man miraculously woke up from being on life support for three months after being brutally tortured. Like I said, long story.
“This early?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she begins softly, and I have no idea where she is going with this. “Later today Snake will be in Hollows Point.”
My brows raise in surprise. “Oh . . . okay. And I need to know this because?”
“Because Oak will be with him.”
Oh.
Oh.
Suddenly my heart starts beating like a hammer. Butterflies swarm chaotically in my stomach. And my tongue begins to feel too heavy in my mouth.
“Grace? Did I lose you?” Her concerned voice breaks through my mini heart attack.
