Saving Grace

I studied the pictures that Linnely had sent me as I sat back on the sofa of my home. Three weeks of staying cooped up, recovering slowly, was starting to slowly kill me. To say that finding a letter from Linnely in the mailbox was my most recent excitement would be an honest statement.

One photograph was of Jared and I talking. Another was of Garrett and Linnely on each side of me making silly faces at each other while I looked unsure of what to do. It wasn't until I came across a photo of John and I that the small smile on my face faded.

How in the hell she had taken our picture without our knowledge was beyond me. The two of us were standing in front of the pool talking with Kennedy. John's hand was on my lower back and the both of us were smiling.

She'd obviously taken the snapshot on the first day I had been in Tempe, probably just moments before Garrett and Jared had knocked me into the pool.

"Lia?" I froze at the sound of Nick's voice. I could hear his bare feet slap against the kitchen floor and without hesitation, tucked the photos into my handbag as if it were something terribly bad. "Oh, are you leaving?" he asked, a puzzled expression crossing his face as he took in the sight of me.

I rose from the sofa and nodded. "Uh, yeah. I have a few things to take care of," I said tugging my purse onto my shoulder. "If I'm not back by eight tonight, something happened to me and you should probably call someone for help."

He smiled as I walked forward, pressing a kiss on his cheek. "Okay. See you in a while."

"Y-Yup," I called over my shoulder as I made my way outside, a little surprised. He'd been treating me like an incompetent child since we'd returned from Tempe.

-----

I swallowed hard and wiped my hands on the thighs of my jeans as I stood on the porch of a slate gray beach house. I tugged on the sleeves of my knit sweater before hesitantly reaching up and knocking on the door.

I waited a few moments, looking down to my skinny jeans which had sand caught in folds of them. My feet were clad in gray flip-flops, my hair tied up in a long ponytail having no motivation to do anything else with it. Sighing inaudibly, I turned around and started walking down the steps to go back to my car.

Just as I reached the bottom, the door opened.

I turned to see my grandmother standing with a look of shock and confusion over her aged face. "Amelia?"

I smiled lightly. "Hi," I said, my hand lifting a little in a gesture that was suppose to be a wave.

"It's been such a long time since I've seen you..." she said, her tone awed as she stepped forward. "You've changed so much!"

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad but the woman wrapped her arms around me. I could smell the perfume that she always wore. She smelled sweet, not like the often cliche smell that came with older people.

She ushered me to the large wooden swing hanging from her porch and we sat side by side. "How are you? I know we talked not that long ago but something must have changed since then. You look sickly."

It was an insult that I took hard despite knowing her blunt personality. I knew she didn't mean it as one, it was simply the way my grandmother was; she was never willing to jump around the truth to spare someone's feelings.

It was a blessing and a curse wrapped up in one.

Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I explained what had happened back in Tempe: that I had miscarried.

Her pale blue eyes that matched my mother's once beautiful eyes showed both horror and sympathy. "And you didn't call to tell me!?"

"I needed a little time to accept it for myself."

"I understand..." she said after a moment. "You're okay though?"

I nodded. "Yeah, the doctors took good care of me-"

"No," she said a little more firmly. "Are you okay?"

I looked to my hands when I realized what she meant, fumbling with them in hopes of a distraction. "I'm good. Obviously, I've been better but I'll be fine. Nick has been really supportive." So far.

I wanted to slap myself. It was just a tad wrong to doubt my boyfriend's support.

"Where is he?"

"Back at the house. I wanted to talk with you and he can be overbearing at times, to be completely honest."

"Am I ever going to meet this boy!? You two bought a house together, dated on and off for two years-"

"Eventually, Gram. Eventually you'll get to meet him. I have a picture of him..." I trailed off as I dug through my purse. After finding my wallet, I opened it and held it out to her, showing her a photo of Nick and I.

She smiled, taking my wallet from me. "He looks like he makes you really happy."

I smiled lightly in return. "Yeah, he looks a little different now; this is kind of an old picture. I think you'd like him."

"I better!" she teased as she closed my wallet and tucked it back in my purse. She stopped when she caught sight of the small stack of pictures I had stowed away inside of my purse. I watched as my grandmother turned her eyes to mine with glints of curiosity held within them. "May I look at them?"

I nodded my head and glanced at the photos with her as she flipped through them. "These are from when I was in Arizona. I got to meet a bunch of really nice people there."

She nodded, acknowledging me as she studied the pictures. "Who's this?"

I froze at the sight of the familiar photo once again but easily shook it off. "Th-That's John, Nick's best friend. I stayed with him and his family while I was down there. And that's Kennedy; he's really nice, too."

The older woman eyed me suspiciously. "I'm not going to ask why you were across the country but something happened there, didn't it?"

"No."

"You are a terrible liar, Amelia Elizabeth McAllister. I am not going crazy in my old age either; something happened between you and this John."

"I love Nick, Grandma. Nothing happened between John and I." She just stared at me with one of those knowing looks that she was infamous for. "Why would you even say that?"

"Don't be upset when I say this-"

"I won't be."

"Well, it's just, between the two pictures, you and John look more... I don't know... relaxed, I suppose. Like you don't even need to try in the relationship. It just looks natural."

"John and I aren't in a relationship though."

She turned to me, her blue eyes serious. "I'm just saying hypothetically and it looks like it from this picture! Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded my head in response.

Nick and I had been dating for a year when that particular picture had been taken. We'd been out and about all day, doing stupid things that we had found to be hilarious. Somehow in the picture I had managed to come off as one of his band's fans, though. Our smiles looked fake though we'd had a really good day together.

"Linnely, John's cousin, had taken that picture without our knowledge, that's why it looks so natural," I said, pointing at the picture in her hand.

She rolled her eyes. "You are just like your mother when it comes to denial."

I scowled at the simile and snatched the picture from her to study it once again.

"Amelia, I don't care if something did happen, but if you do like John, please don't lead Nick on. And I'm not saying that you like John; this is just hypothetically."

I sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm s-sorry for getting all defensive..."

"It's okay, deary. Let's go inside."

I nodded in agreement before rising and following my grandmother into the beach house I had often spent my summers in. I closed the door behind me, leaving the sounds and view of the ocean outside after stepping foot into the foyer.