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Chapter Sixteen

C laire looked around. The cabinets had been removed; there were plates and cups in various spots all over the house.

She couldn’t give Josiah a hard time for taking such a long time to get things done, since he was trying to get the outside of the house finished on the nice days and working on the kitchen when it rained or was cold.

They had known that this was going to happen with Grandma. But beyond that, she was bone-tired. It had been quite a day, from the doctor’s appointment to the family phone calls she had had to make, where she’d given each person the news that Grandma was dying, and soon.

Everyone had been surprised, no one had expected it, but at the same time, there weren’t a whole lot of people who seemed like they were going to drop everything and come say goodbye.

Claire had been shocked. Until she had thought about it and realized that if she weren’t here, she might not come.

As much as she would want to see Grandma one more time, it was death.

She didn’t want to deal with death. She didn’t want to see it, didn’t want to be around it.

She wanted to remember Grandma as happy and energetic and fun, always with a cup of tea in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other.

Or her kitchen smelling of warm, fresh-baked bread.

She didn’t want to remember her as an old lady lying in bed, too tired to get up to even go to the bathroom.

She had talked to hospice—they were coming in the morning for a consultation. She didn’t even know whether Grandma would be able to get up or not. She supposed hospice had seen people go downhill that quickly.

When she’d talked to Grandma earlier, she was insistent that she would be able to attend the children’s end-of-year program.

But after Claire had struggled to get her awake enough to go to the bathroom and get her clothes changed, and had to help her with all of it, she could hardly see how Grandma could attend a program the next night.

It wasn’t like a good night’s sleep was going to make her better.

They had gotten her pills—the prescriptions that they’d picked up before they’d come home—and figured out when she should take what and what she might need if she were in pain during the day or during the night.

It all seemed overwhelming.

Her phone buzzed, and she thought about not even looking at it.

It was late enough that it was almost time for her to go to bed, and tomorrow was another day.

But it might be family members letting her know that they were going to come in, and she wanted everyone to have the opportunity to see Grandma and to feel welcome.

Grabbing her phone, she flipped it over and saw that it was Josiah.

I got Grace’s number for you.

He sent her a contact card.

Grace Honea

She sighed. He’d been a rock. She remembered what they’d said about depending on people instead of depending on the Lord, but at the same time, God gave her people to lean on, and Josiah had been one of those people that she needed.

And then she thought about the way their arms had brushed earlier and then their fingers.

It was almost like… She wasn’t quite sure.

It was weird. It wasn’t the way she normally felt when she rubbed arms with so meone.

It was…different. But right now, she had enough on her plate, and he didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in her, other than being a friend.

And she felt like that was probably mostly because he liked her grandma and wanted to give her a hand any way he could.

She appreciated it, for sure, and was going to take him up on as much as she needed to, because she felt like he was sincere and truly wanted to help.

But as for anything more, that was down the road.

This was not the time. Not for him, and definitely not for her.

Still, it really felt to her like there was something going on there.

On her end anyway. And the idea of stepping into his arms and having them come around her and being able to rest her head on his chest and relax into him was almost more tempting than she could bear.

She wanted to text him back and ask him if he could come over.

Where that thought came from, she had no idea, and she shoved it aside right away. She definitely was not doing that. Not only because her children were in the house, but her grandma was too, and it was almost bedtime. Not appropriate in any way.

Still, it was what she wanted to do.

Thanks. I’ll give her a call.

She sent the text back and then figured she would call Grace in the morning. And then she thought, why wait? She’d made so many phone calls and done so many things today, checking everything off her list, that she figured one more thing wouldn’t hurt, right?

But maybe she should wait until she had a little more energy. Maybe she wouldn’t be so emotional.

Then she thought she could just send her a text and ask her to meet somewhere. Not tomorrow, because her kids had their school program. Although she could meet earlier in the day. Josiah would be there to be with her grandma. She could do it after the meeting with hospice.

Taking a breath, she held her phone in her hand, trying to talk herself into doing it. Why was it so hard?

Finally, she punched the number in, thought for a minute, wrote out a short text, and before she could chicken out, she hit send.

Grace, this is Claire. I got your number from Josiah. Would you be able to meet tomorrow at 2 o’clock at the healing garden?

She looked around the kitchen, with the cabinets out and the countertops off and dust and dirt everywhere. It felt like a true mess.

Maybe she’d ask Josiah if he could just focus on getting the kitchen done. That way, at least they’d have a good place to cook food. And that went a long way toward making a person feel better. She had decided to go to bed when her phone beeped with a text.

She closed her eyes, trying to find strength in her soul before she opened them and looked down at her phone.

I’d love to. See you tomorrow at two at the healing garden.

It was that easy. She’d sent a message and had a positive response.

Grace didn’t just say yes she would—she said she’d love to.

That made her feel like Grace truly did want to renew their friendship, not demand apologies and rake her over the coals for her behavior years ago, even though it was terrible behavior that she was ashamed of now.

Before she went upstairs, she walked back to her grandma’s bedroom, where she’d left the door cracked. A nightlight burned beside the bed, and Claire stuck her head in. Grandma slept peacefully.

That was good. She smiled at Grandma’s even breathing, probably helped along by the pain pill she’d given her earlier. She was thankful for them, but they really had made Grandma loopy and out of it. And she hated that.

Still, the pain was the thing Grandma had been concerned about, and Claire was happy that they were able to ease it.

With a last look, as the sheet slowly rose and fell with her grandma’s breathing, she turned around and walked up the stairs to her bed.