Imaginary Grace (18 page)

Chapter 24

Tanner

I
woke up early Thursday morning – alone. I had given up on the sleepovers—that time with Grace must have been a fluke. Since Amber I’d tried it with two different girls, and both times it had been a disaster.

Now there were three girls I’d have to avoid like the plague. Luckily they were all locals, so I didn’t have to worry about running into them at school.

Tomorrow was D-Day. I was going to have to lay it on thick with both Grace
and
with my parents from the get-go.
Everyone
had to believe that this was true love (whatever
that
was).

When I thought about Grace I felt something that might have slightly resembled guilt, but I dismissed the thought. I had to stay focused and remember that she had always been just a means to an end. Collateral damage in my quest to get what I wanted.

She’d get over it, I told myself. She’d meet someone else.
Someone else?
Maybe someone from one of her classes or at one the frat parties or maybe the gym.
The gym…Gary.
He’d be all over her as soon as he knew I’d cut her loose. The thought was unsettling, but I put it out of my head. Whatever she did and whomever she did it with would be none of my business.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

Chapter 25

Grace

B
eth didn’t get back to school until Thursday night, and as soon as she did she insisted I try on the dress and shoes for her.

“Don’t you want to unpack first?” I asked, afraid I’d been kidding myself about how good the dress looked.

“Nope.” She smiled and sat down on the edge of her bed, waiting. I changed in the bathroom, then made an entrance so she would get the full effect.

Beth whistled her approval. “You’re going to knock his socks off in that.” Then she added, “And your hair looks great.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I worked a lot with it over the last few weeks, and I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it, but I’ll still probably have it blown out for the wedding.”

“I agree,” she said. “Blow it out Friday, then put it in a loose ponytail so it doesn’t get messed up. That way on Saturday all you have to do is run the straightening iron over it and you’ll be good to go.”

We stayed up a while discussing what we did over the break while Beth unpacked her stuff, but I turned in soon afterward. I wanted to be well rested for my big weekend.

On Friday I arrived at the salon promptly at two and was out of there in less than an hour. Tanner wasn’t picking me up until six so I had plenty of time to shower and get ready. I had to admit that my hair looked awesome, and I felt even better when Beth confirmed it.

After packing a small bag with everything I needed for the weekend, I glanced at the clock. Four o’clock-- I still had two hours before Tanner picked me up. I decided to watch TV and try to relax as much as possible. At five I started getting dressed, and then the countdown was on. By five-thirty, I was completely dressed with my hair neatly pulled back in a loose ponytail, and sat waiting patiently for him to text me and tell me that he was downstairs.

At twelve minutes after six, my phone chirped, letting me know that he was waiting downstairs.

“Be careful, Grace,” Beth said, “and text me over the weekend to let me know how everything’s going.”

“Will do,” I said as I headed for the door.

Tanner was waiting at the door of my building. When I opened it and our eyes met, my whole body tingled in response. He immediately reached out and pulled me to him, grabbing both my hands in his as he kissed me.

“So, didja miss me?” he asked playfully.

Now, there’s an understatement.

“Yeah,” I answered, suddenly too shy to meet his eyes.

“Let’s go,” he said, reaching one hand out for me to take and grabbing my bag with the other. He was much more talkative than usual on the drive over, telling me all about his parents and how I would be meeting his brother.

“Oh, by the way,” he said. “I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but I have to work for a few hours tomorrow.”

Wha-wha-what!!

“Uh, no, I don’t think you mentioned that,” I said, thinking,
Could this get any weirder?

“Yeah, well, don’t worry. You can just hang out with my mom ‘till I get back.” He laughed. “She’ll talk your ear off.”

Holy crap! Is he kidding me?
He’s leaving me alone with his mom!

I was itching to text Beth with this latest development but I decided I’d wait until I was alone. “Oh, sure, I guess that’ll be fine.”

We pulled up to his parents’ house a little before seven. It was a neat-looking Cape Cod-style home with a nicely landscaped front lawn that probably looked beautiful in the springtime. I might have been impressed, had my stomach not been in knots. We got out of the car and made our way to the front door. The door was unlocked so he just walked in, with me following close behind.

“Ma,” he yelled, “are you guys home?”

At first there was silence, but then I heard a woman’s voice say, “I’ll be right down, honey.”

“Come in the kitchen a minute,” he said as he led the way and grabbed himself a soda, offering me one, too.

“No thanks,” I said, hating the nervous sound in my voice.

Just then, an elderly woman slowly rounded the corner and made her way into the kitchen. She was followed by an even older-looking man who was walking with the assistance of a cane. My first thought was that these were his grandparents, here for the wedding.

“Mom, Dad, this is Grace. Grace, these are my parents.”

His parents!

“N-Nice to meet you,” I managed to choke out over the knot in my throat. At first they just stared at me as if I was some kind of strange creature they’d never before encountered. I thought to myself,
Is it possible that he’s never brought a girl home before?
That was the impression I was getting from the way they were staring at me.

They seemed to recover quickly, though. “Nice to meet you, dear,” his mom said kindly.

“Yes,” his dad added with a jovial smile, “Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you for having me,” I replied, then stood there as if frozen in place.

“Well, come in, dear, and have a seat.” Tanner’s mom waved us toward the living room. “How about I make us some tea? Grace, do you drink tea?”

“Sure,” I said, even though I rarely drank hot tea.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a jiffy. Peter, can you give me a hand,” she said, eyeing Tanner’s dad.

“Sure thing.” He smiled at me again, then hobbled off after her into the kitchen.

I stared after them for a moment, still digesting this latest development. They seemed very sweet, just not at all what I’d expected. I guess I’d assumed that since Tanner was so handsome and cool that he’d have young, hip parents, but that seemed silly now. When I thought about it, I was actually relieved; I’d feel more comfortable being alone with his mom while Tanner worked.

Tanner turned to me and said, “See, I told you, she’ll talk your ear off tomorrow while I’m at work.”

A few minutes later, his mom came in with three cups and saucers (apparently Tanner didn’t drink tea) and what looked like homemade banana bread, then hurried back to the kitchen for the whistling teapot. I noticed that she was moving faster now, with purpose, and figured she was someone who loved to entertain, or at least dote on Tanner.

After pouring our tea and doling out banana bread, she finally sat down and talk turned to the wedding. Tanner’s mom did most of the talking, with his dad interjecting a thought every now and again. I guess I should have been bored, listening to gossip about relatives I’d never met, but I wasn’t. After about an hour or so of non-stop chatter, Tanner’s mom abruptly announced that they’d be turning in.

Turning in? But it must only be…
my eyes went to the clock
—eight-thirty!

“I get tired so early these days,” she said as if reading my thoughts. “You kids stay up as late as you like.” She and Tanner’s dad rose at the same time, then she looked back at me and added, “Grace, the guest room is all ready for you. Tanner will show you where it is when you’re ready.”

The guest room – mystery solved!

“Good night,” they both said and disappeared down the hall. Tanner put the TV on, leaned back and started flipping through the stations. It was almost an afterthought when he pulled me back next to him and put his arm around my shoulder, but I didn’t care; it was the moment I’d been dreaming about for weeks. We finally settled on some 80s movie that we’d both seen before. I loved that we laughed in all the same places, then again they were probably the same places everyone laughed. When it went off it was still only ten o’clock, but Tanner said he wanted to get to bed because he had to work the next morning.

“Come on, I’ll show you where the guest room is,” he said as I followed him up the stairs. There were two nice-sized bedrooms separated by a short hallway with a bathroom in between. Tanner’s room was on the left and the guest room (which I assumed had belonged to his brother at one time) was on the right. Tanner put my bag in the guest room, showed me where everything was, and said, “Okay, I’m going to take a shower. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said, smiling up at him.

He smiled back. “See ya tomorrow.” Then he kissed me goodnight and headed to the bathroom.

I looked around the cozy room, taking in the double bed with a yellow-flowered bedspread, matching pillows, and a fluffy blue comforter similar to the one Tanner had in his bedroom at school. The curtains even matched the bedspread. There was a dresser in the far corner of the room with a mirror running the length of it and a rocking chair in the other corner. The floors were hardwood with a throw rug in the center. Everything was immaculate.

I placed my bag on the bed and unzipped it to grab my pajamas, and that’s when I remembered my dress. I’d meant to take it out earlier so it wouldn’t wrinkle, but in my nervous state I’d forgotten all about it. Now I took it from the bag and hung it up, relieved to see that it didn’t look all that bad. Hopefully, any wrinkles would fall out by tomorrow night.

Next door I could hear the shower running and tried not to picture Tanner’s naked body under the water. I changed into my pajamas, then sat on the bed, waiting for him to finish up so I could brush my teeth and wash my face.

When I heard the water go off I gave it a few more minutes, then slipped into the bathroom. Like the bedroom, it was immaculately kept and looked fairly new, like it had recently been remodeled. The tile was a light beige color, and the towels were a deep plum. The curtains that hung from the small window were a cocoa brown with a matching rug on the floor.

I quickly ran through my bedtime ritual, then slipped out into the hallway. The door to Tanner’s room was closed, but I could see the glow from the TV at the bottom.
What would happen if I knocked,
I wondered, then dismissed the thought and walked back into the guest room. There was no TV in there, so I just climbed into bed and shut off the light.

It took a while for me to fall asleep, and when I did, it was in fits and starts. I woke up feeling more tired than I had when I went to bed. It often happened when I slept in a new place.
Except when you slept next to Tanner.
I pushed the thought from my head and looked at the clock on the nightstand. 8:35.
What now?
I got dressed and ready for the day, again pulling my hair back into a long loose ponytail so that it wouldn’t get messed for tonight. Then I slowly slinked down the stairs.
This is so weird.

When I got to the kitchen, Tanner’s mom was there. She turned when she heard me come in. “Good morning, Grace. Have a seat, and I’ll get you some breakfast.” She smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Good morning. Yes, I slept fine,” I lied as I slid into a seat at the table. I felt extremely awkward. She offered to make me just about anything, but I said I would just have one of the bagels that were sitting on the table.

“Well, at least let me toast it for you,” she said and then, “I have some iced tea in the fridge. Tanner said you liked iced tea. I have Snapple and Arizona. Which would you prefer?”

“Snapple would be great,” I said, my face splitting into a grin. How sweet of Tanner to remember what I liked to drink!

As I sat eating my bagel, she asked me if I wanted to come with her to run some errands. “Don’t feel pressured, dear. It’s fine if you want to stay here, but I just thought you might be bored sitting in the house waiting for Tanner to get home.”

I quickly weighed my options and decided she was right. “Sure, I’d love to go with you.”

“Okay, great,” she said. “We’ll leave around ten. Why don’t you watch TV in Tanner’s room until I’m ready? I’m sorry there’s no TV in the guest room for you to watch.”

“Oh, no problem,” I said, secretly thrilled that I’d have access to Tanner’s room. I chatted with his mom for a few more minutes, then excused myself to go get ready. But instead of going to the guest room, I went to Tanner’s door and gently pushed it open.

The first thing I noticed was that the bed wasn’t made. I walked over and stood at the edge. Would it be weird if I climbed in? His mother had said I could watch TV in there, and there were no chairs. I climbed onto his bed and slipped underneath the sheets, burying my face in the pillows. The scent was intoxicating; it was like being right next to him.

Imagine he walked in and I was lying here, wrapped in his sheets with my face buried in his pillow!
I laughed to myself at the thought of it. I tucked the pillows underneath my head and lay there, looking around the sparsely decorated room. It was similar in size to the guest room, and had a double bed and a dresser in the corner with a mirror that ran the length of it. There was also another set of drawers on the far wall across from the foot of the bed with a TV on top. There were no curtains on the windows, just blinds.

Then something caught my eye. Stuck in the sides of the dresser mirror were several photos. I got out of the bed, walked over to the dresser, and started looking at the pictures. There was a one of a little league team, each boy holding a trophy. They looked about eight or nine, but I couldn’t tell which one was Tanner because they all looked the same in their uniforms and baseball caps. There was a picture of Tanner and another boy that I assumed was his brother. He looked like a slightly older version of Tanner with shorter hair. They were standing by a lake and both of them were laughing. Below that was a picture of Tanner with two little boys—his nephews, probably—in front of what looked to be the same lake. He was kneeling on the ground and had his arms around each of the little boy’s shoulders. Both boys had big smiles on their faces. Then there was the traditional photo taken on high school graduation day of Tanner and his parents. He was wearing his cap and gown. There were no pictures of him with any girl.

I thought again about how his parents looked at me when I first came in – almost like it was awkward for them to see him with a girl. It couldn’t be possible that he’d never brought a girl home, could it?

I moved to the other side of the mirror and continued looking at the pictures. There was one of a yellow lab, and I wondered if it was Tanner’s. If so, it had probably passed away, as I hadn’t seen any sign of a dog in the house. Under that was a postcard from Disney World addressed to him from his nephews. The last picture was of what looked like four high school boys. They all looked similar, but I could tell right away which one was Tanner. Like the other three, he had very long hair, but his was a bit darker than theirs. He wore it hanging loose, as did two of the other boy, while the fourth boy had his pulled back in a ponytail.