I, Gracie - Sharon Sala Page 0,82

remembered the day he'd first seen her in the Hard Luck. How she'd picked up that burger with both hands and taken that big bite right down the middle.

"Awesome. So am I."

After that, whatever uneasiness Gracie had come in with was gone.

John kept up a running commentary as he first put steaks in to marinate and then potatoes in a convection oven to bake.

Gracie noticed he was favoring his finger, and when he began trying to cut up raw veggies for a salad, she gently took the knife from his hand.

"Let me," she said, then scooted him aside.

John stood there a moment, and then leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, Gracie."

She smiled. "Of course."

He sat down on a barstool, watching the intensity on her face. She was truly one of the most complicated women he'd ever met, and one of the most compelling ones, as well.

"So, tell me about work. Anything interesting happen on your first week?"

"I went to lunch with Reba the other day. She's one of the girls who works at the Majestic. We went to Subway, and while we were there, there was a big wreck on the street out front."

"I saw that!" John said. "It was a mess. If I'd known you were inside, we could have spent a little time together."

Gracie dumped a handful of bell pepper slices on top of the lettuce in the salad bowl and then reached for tomatoes.

"As it turns out, a diner began choking on a bite of food while everyone was standing at the windows checking out the wreck. I saw him choking, did the Heimlich, and out popped a piece of bread."

"Gracie! You saved his life?"

"Someone else probably would have seen it, too, but nearly everyone was watching the fire department trying to cut one of the victims out of the wreck. By the time he was breathing again, his blood pressure was too high, so they called an ambulance for him, too. After all that commotion, Reba and I wound up eating in the car at a nearby park."

"You're amazing, lady. Is there anything you can't do?"

A tomato squished beneath the knife as she was trying to quarter it.

"It appears I cannot cut up tomatoes without making a mess," she said, and grabbed a couple of paper towels. "Is this enough salad?"

"I'd say yes," John said. "You can put it in the fridge for now. I'm going to put the steaks on the grill. The potatoes have another fifteen minutes or so, and the steaks will have to rest after they're done. I think our timing is good. Grab your Coke and come outside with me."

Gracie followed, then sat in a nearby chair to watch him cook. The air was warm and sticky, but there was just enough of a faint breeze slipping through the trees to keep her hoping for more.

She held the can of Coke against her neck, savoring the cold against her skin, then took another drink.

The meat sizzled and smoked as John laid it on the grill. When the juices began dripping, flames flared upward.

Gracie inhaled, relishing the scents and the company, then looked off toward the lake just visible through the trees.

Back home, she would have been sitting out on the back porch in the wind and the heat, maybe throwing a rock at the curious coyote or dodging a rattler. There wouldn't have been steak. And she would have been alone.

The tragedy of being the one left behind was having to find a new life in which to live. Nothing worked like from before. The rules were new. And Gracie was still finding her way.

She was sitting now with her feet up on the railing, her long legs stretched out, watching the end to this day. Birds were coming into roost, while other night creatures began to prowl. It was a little piece of heaven.

"Oh look!" she said, as a huge owl took flight from a nearby tree. "We had an owl in our old barn. He roosted in there during the day and came out at night to hunt the prairie."

John caught a glimpse of it, and then turned, saw her legs stretched out and her feet propped up on the railing, thought about them locked around his waist, and him deep inside her. At that point, he took a deep breath and looked away.

"Do you miss it? Home, I mean?"

She shrugged. "I don't have a home anymore. James inherited the ranch. I don't belong anywhere yet... But Missouri