Saving Grace (7 page)

“The divorce was worse. Coach managed to keep it quiet by giving her everything she wanted. He didn’t want it to blow up in the press. He paid her millions so he could get sole custody. As far as I know, the kids haven’t seen their mother since.” Sweet Louise nodded at Grace. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Life was funny.

Grace nodded. “Me too. If I hadn’t worked the right street corner last week, I would have never met them.”

Both ladies exchanged a look, and then stared at her expectantly.

“That came out wrong. I was playing my guitar on a street corner for South By and ran into CoCo.” Grace didn’t want to betray CoCo’s trust, so she skimmed over parts of the story. “She was there alone so I offered to take her home. When I got here, someone named Debra started yelling at her. I promptly threw Debra out and stayed until Chord got home.”

Summer picked up her bottled water and toasted Grace. “You’re a good woman. “ She guzzled some water, and then set the bottle down. “I try to see the good in people, but Debra makes that impossible. She tried to sleep with my husband
after
he was my husband. Clint, bless his heart, didn’t even notice she was hitting on him until I pointed it out. Now, he steers clear of her.”

Sweet Louise chuckled, and her large breasts shook. “Yeah, last year, my Devon chartered one of the Lone Stars’ buses in the off season for my father’s VFW buddies. They were going on a gambling trip to the boats in Louisiana. Debra thought it was just Devon and maybe some of his buddies. She paid the bus driver a hundred bucks to sneak her on the bus. She hid in one of the bathrooms and walked out naked thinking she’d be a nice gift for my son…only he wasn’t on the bus. To this day, my father’s friends talk about that trip.”

Grace’s shoulders shook she was laughing so hard. “I bet those men had one hell of a good time.”

“I can just see it.” Summer wiped the tears in her eyes. She was laughing so hard her face was red. “Now, I bet those men insist on hiring the Lone Stars’ bus every time they go out of town.”

“They were so disappointed the next week when Devon got the bus to take them to a basketball game.” Sweet Louise pounded the table and doubled over. “The only issue they had with Debra was her lack of…um hair down there. I had to explain a Brazilian wax to them. They still don’t get it.”

A whole five minutes later, after they’d regained their composure, Grace asked, “Why does she do it? Chase after the team?”

Summer shrugged. “She’s a groupie. I’ve heard from some of the other team wives that Debra has a team roster poster hanging on her bedroom wall, and her goal is to sleep with everyone in the picture. Sounds really stupid…and gross to me.”

“I don’t get it. Why would she want to sleep with the whole team?” Grace wasn’t the most ambitious person, but this just seemed useless.

“Don’t know.” Summer took another sip from her water bottle. “I guess she’s really into football. As far as I know, she doesn’t have any affiliation with the team other than her desire to sleep with all of them. I think she has her own money or something because if she works, I’ve never heard of it.”

They looked at Sweet Louise for confirmation of Debra’s monetary status. “Don’t look at me. All I know about her is that she tried to sleep with my son, and her lady parts are hairless. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for my son having a sex life, just not with that disease ridden skank.”

Grace had never known someone whose life goal was to sleep with an entire NFL team. Had Chord slept with her? It wasn’t any of Grace’s business, but she wanted to know…badly.

“Grace, we need your help!” HW ran into the kitchen. His eyes were huge and scared. Cart was right behind him, and he wouldn’t make eye contact.

“What happened?” Grace stood and took HW’s hand.

“Cart kinda took the washing machine apart. He put it back together, but there’s some extra pieces, and now it makes a grinding noise and water shoots out the bottom.”

“Oh crap.” Sweet Louise jumped up and headed for the garage door. “I’ll go home and get the wet-dry vac.”

Summer used the table to hoist herself up. “I’ll round up the guys to help with clean up.”

“Thanks.” Grace called over her shoulder as the boys led her out of the kitchen and down a hallway to the other side of the house.

“I don’t understand. The laundry room is right off the kitchen. I didn’t see you in there.” Grace looked at Cart. “Why are we going outside?”

“The pool house laundry machine.” HW opened the back door. “Promise not to be mad?”

Cart slipped his hand in hers. His blue eyes were bottomless pools of regret.

“Nope.” Grace followed him through the open door. “What are you not telling me?”

“Well, the water started gushing a while ago. We thought we could fix it.” HW sounded honestly scared. “It’s kind of a lot of water.”

Grace’s walk turned into a flat-out run. “How much water?”

The boys ran after her. “Some of the furniture is floating.”

“Oh my God.” Grace opened the door to the pool house and an inch of water rushed out covering her feet. Inside, the coffee table was floating. So much for her new home. Quickly, she rolled up the bottoms of her jeans. “We’ll discuss this later, but for now, go find Summer and see who she’s rounded up to help. We need to get the furniture out before it’s ruined.”

“We’re really sorry.” Huge tears rolled down HW’s face.

She ruffled his hair and then gave him a quick hug. “I know. It’s okay. I’m not mad, right now, we need to save what we can. So go.” She pointed to the house. “Round up as many people as you can, but don’t bother your father. He’s sleeping.”

“No, he’s not.” Chord’s voice boomed behind her. “I’m feeling better.”

He was. His color was back.

“Boys, go get us some help.” He turned back to Grace. “Let’s save what we can.”

Grace picked up a kitchen chair from the bistro set by the door. With one hand, Chord took the table, and with the other hand, he snatched up the chair.

“They didn’t do it on purpose.” Grace said as she set the chair down on the dry pool decking.

“I know, but it’s frustrating. I want to yell and punish them, but I suck at it.” He set down the table and chair. He pointed at her. “If you repeat that to another living soul, I’ll have your head.”

“Beheadings at the Robbins Manor. I bet the media would love that.” Grace made direct eye contact. “They were only trying to help, but you need to punish them. In a strange way, it will make them feel better. That’s the way of society, you make a mistake, make restitution, learn from it, and move on. If there’s no restitution, there’s no learning. No consequences equals spoiled brats.”

“Can we try to salvage the house, before you lecture me on parenting?” Chord sounded frustrated.

“Too late.” Grace headed back to the house for another load. “Just promise me we can talk about a punishment, and once it’s been given you’ll stick to it.”

Chord was close on her heels. “Done. Now can we get back to my pool house? It looks like the set of Titanic.” He stopped and surveyed the damage. “I guess you’ll be moving into the house. I’d thought you might like your own space out here, but unless you like living in mold, you’re moving in with us.” Was it a trick of the lighting or was there a twinkle in his eyes. “Right next to me.”

The thought of sharing a bed with him had blood rushing to her face. She was willing to acknowledge the spark of attraction between them. Just because she recognized it, didn’t mean she was going to act on it. “In the room next to yours.”

A slow, sexy smile worked its way across his face. “That’s what I meant.”

Devon, Clint, and a couple of the offensive line ran through the open door and grabbed the sofa, loveseat, and coffee table.

“Do you have a shop vac?” She avoided Chord’s eyes.

“In the garage.” He thumbed in the general direction of the garage.

“I’ll get it.” Grace was on fire. She had a feeling that sexual innuendo was Chord’s favorite method of conversation when it came to women. There’s wasn’t a chance in hell she was ending up as another notch on his bedpost. She liked life with the kids, she’d encourage Chord to choose his sexual partners from the Debras of the world. Grace bit the inside of her cheek. That thought made her want to hit something…or someone…with her car. She pictured Debra as a speed bump and shook her head. Her crappy Karmann Ghia wouldn’t do nearly enough damage.

That night after dinner, Chord called a family meeting. What he was going to do in that meeting, made the pot roast and mashed potatoes Grace had made for dinner almost come back up. As he sat at his desk in his study, mentally gearing up, he now understood why medieval executioners wore masks, so they could hide from what they were doing. If only he could hide from what he was about to do.

Punishing the boys…he felt the noose tightening around his own neck. While Grace cooked dinner, they had discussed a fair punishment. Chord agreed that it fit the crime, but still, his sweet boys were only eight. Then again, they’d flooded his pool house, but thanks to them, Grace was sleeping in the room right next door to his. He smiled, and some of the tension eased.

Grace…he’d spent the better part of dinner staring at her breasts. Every time she’d caught him looking, her cheeks had turned pink. While sleeping with her might not be a good idea, it would be a lot of fun. He took a moment to imagine her long legs wrapped around him as he explored her body. His brows scrunched together. They couldn’t do it with the kids around because that wouldn’t be right. Even if the kids were out of the house, they couldn’t do it in his bedroom. Grace didn’t like all that pink, and neither did he. Tomorrow, he had a contractor coming to assess the damage to the pool house, why not have him bid out the master bedroom.

He stood and tunneled his fingers through his hair. He could do this. For the love of God, he commanded a Super Bowl winning football team, he damn sure could discipline a couple of eight-year olds.

Grace stepped in the doorway. “They’re in the brown living room.”

She stepped around him and massaged his shoulders. “You can do this, coach.”

Cart’s tiny little newborn face popped into his mind. The boys had been born a month early and both had to spend time in the hospital. Cart had been the smaller of the two boys. His tiny little fist had grabbed onto Chord’s pinky and wouldn’t let go. That was the moment he knew Cart was a fighter.

How could he walk into the kitchen and discipline that perfect little human?

“Oh God, you’re wavering.” Grace folded her arms. “Man up.”

“But Cart was premature…he was so little.” It’s not that Chord was passive, it’s just he didn’t want to deal with this.

“That was a long time ago. He’s fine now, in fact he’s so good he flooded the pool house.” Grace shook her head. “I’m not calling you a pussy, I’m just saying your vagina is bigger than mine.”

“Hey.” Chord shook off his nostalgia in favor of pissed off. “It is not.”

She did the one eyebrow up thing. “If the vagina fits…”

“Stop saying that word.” Chord put his hands over his ears. “I don’t like that word.”

“Don’t be such a baby.” She pushed him toward the door. “Now go out there, and give them hell.” She smacked him on the butt.

Chord turned back to stare at her.

“What? Don’t y’all smack each other on the butt on the football field right before you try to kill the other team?” Grace shrugged. “I’m being supportive.”

“Yes, we do, but it’s not like that.” He pulled her to him. “It’s more like a light whack for luck.” He tapped her lightly on the bottom. “See?”

“Why are you spanking me, when you should be in there laying down the law with them?” Graced smiled like she had a point and she knew it.

“Don’t get cocky.” Chord tapped her on the butt again. “No one likes a know-it-all.”

“Being right is such a precious gift.” Grace smile beatifically.

“How would you know?” He grinned back at her, and the last of the apprehension left his body. She was good for him, but he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. She was his employee, but becoming more…she was his friend.

He stepped through the doorway and took the shortest route to the brown living room. Now she had him color-coding the rooms in his house. He’d never had a female friend before…or even a close friend with whom he’d shared personal details. Grace was special, and she fit into his life so effortlessly, but he still wasn’t sure what to do with her.

Her hands came to his shoulders and she massaged again. “You can do this, Coach.”

Just because he could do it, didn’t mean he wanted to. They walked into the living room. Cart and HW were two somber sad-sacks waiting on the brown leather sofa.

“Okay boys, we need to discuss the pool house.” He took the chair across from them and told himself that they were a couple of players who hadn’t reported to training camp on time. He sat ramrod straight with his shoulders back. “While the damage to the washing machine was minimal, the damage to the pool house is extensive.”

Cart’s face screwed up, and he whispered something in HW’s ear.

HW listened and then said, “Extensive means a lot.”

Cart nodded and turned back to Chord. It occurred to him both boys were turning into young men and were losing all traces of little boy.

“Because the sheetrock is soaked through and water got under the wood flooring, we might have to gut everything and redo the interior.” Chord took a deep breath and blocked out the memories of their sweet baby faces. “You will need to help pay for the cleanup. In order to do this, you’ll take on extra chores to earn money. You will help Grace and me with household chores, and we’ll put the appropriate amount of money in a fund to work off your debt. Also, Grace has contacted the Austin Humane Heroes, and three days a week after school, plus four hours on Saturday, you’ll volunteer there doing whatever they need. I’ll pay you minimum wage for all of your volunteer hours.”

The last part was the kicker. “Only after you’ve paid off your debt, will you be allowed to play video games.”

The boys’ faces turned indignant.