“All right. Here’s what I’ve been told. You’re a foster kid,” he said. “My sister met you at the music class my mom has been tutoring you at. I heard the reason you’re coming over here every day is so Grace won’t go over there. That’s about it.”
“And you don’t believe that?”
“Should I?”
I laughed, tossing his line back at him. “Good thinking. Get the lowdown before you answer.”
“Why are you in foster care?” he asked.
“Standard reason. I don’t have parents.”
“What happened to them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” he responded, skeptical. “I’m trying to trust that you are who you say you are, but here’s the problem. You appear out of nowhere, and suddenly you’re dating my sister and playing in a band with my brother… oh, and you just so happen to be a tour-quality drummer… who’s never toured. If you were trying to advance your career, this would be a fairly cushy way to do it.”
He had a point. I must look sketchy as hell to him.
“You think I’m using Grace?”
“I think you genuinely like her, and she likes you back. I’m just trying to figure out what came first, the chicken or the egg.”
“Well, which one is Grace?”
“Huh?”
“Is Grace the chicken or the egg?”
“I don’t know,” he chuckled, then took a random guess. “The egg?”
“Don’t look at me.” I joined in the laughter. “It’s your analogy.”
His lighthearted banter turned on a dime, and his eyes lasered into me. “Are you playing my sister?”
My nerves ticked up at his pinpoint bluntness. “No.”
“Why did you start blinking?”
“I do that when I get nervous.”
“Or when you’re lying?”
“Yes, that too. But I’m not lying right now. Grace is to me what Casey is to you.”
“And what is that?”
“Everything that makes you good.”
28
GRACE: TAKE ME HOME
The summer sailed by. Despite the bulk of it being spent inside our property line, it didn’t bother either one of us. Rory seemed happiest at my house anyway. He came every day after work, and we sunned and swam and went for walks, played and talked and napped. Family dinners or game nights were a near daily affair, where Rory hung with the rest like he’d always been around. He’d even managed to win Jake over in a late-play move that stunned us all.
All good things must come to an end, and so it did for the summer of Grace and Rory. I would go back to school, severely cutting into our time together. He’d still come over to train with my mom, pal around with my dad, and practice with the band—working name Grace Note. Quinn wasn’t so pleased with that, reminding me often not to get too attached to it because he planned to change it just as soon as a better name—literally any other name—came along. But it had been nearly three months, and it was still Grace Note.
We’d told ourselves our time together would continue uninterrupted, but of course, that was wishful thinking. School took up a huge chunk of my time, as did filling out and mailing in college applications. The plan had always been to move away to a four-year college. That was what I’d always said I wanted—someplace far away where I could forge my own path separate from my famous last name. But that was before Rory. Before I fell madly and wholeheartedly in love. I could no longer imagine my life without him.
