Heart of Grace Page 3

  They can hear Janine groan. “This plate is my heart. I am this plate.”

  “Rough day?” Sarah asks when they exchange glances. Amber just nods.

  “For some.”

  ***

  Heather’s out back helping Dianne and Sarah fill up the delivery van. For being awake at such an early hour, she’s having a pretty good time sharing jokes with Sarah.

  “Ok, ok. I have one,” Sarah says as she hoists herself up the driver’s seat and shuts the door. Heather leans on the door facing Sarah. “What’s the best time to go to the dentist?”

  She and Sarah answer the joke in unison: “Tooth hurty!”

  “I didn’t know I hired a bunch of children,” Dianne states when she walks out to where they are.

  “Surprise! Except you’d get arrested for having child workers.”

  “Also, it’s illegal to let children under the age of 16 drive a vehicle.”

  Heather and Sarah share a fist bump when they see Dianne roll her eyes. “It’s too early in the morning for this. Heather, get back in the bakery. Sarah, start the van.”

  “Brace yourself, Sarah. We’ve hit the Mother Mode.”

  “I heard that, and you’re grounded!” Dianne shouts as she makes her way to the other side of the van but there’s laughter in her voice.

  She watches them drive out onto the road before rushing inside to keep warm as she waits for Amber to come by.

  ***

  “Why didn’t you tell me you ran into Lara McCall the other day?” Dianne asks when they get back from their deliveries to the school.

  Heather looks up from the outdated Time magazine she’s flipping through. “I didn’t think about it. Didn’t know you two knew each other.”

  “It’s cool that you two went to college together. What are the chances of you two ending up in Grace?”

  Heather’s wondered the same thing too and since she’s not all too big on the math, she just shrugs and keeps flipping pages. “Who knows. It’s a statistical impossibility.”

  “You should go visit her at the school.”

  “Uh, thanks, Mom. I’ll get to it.”

  Dianne rubs her on the back before kissing the crown of her head, much like a mother would. “Oh, Heather, if only I was your mother. You wouldn’t turn out as weird as you did.”

  Heather playfully shoves her friend and Dianne lets her as she laughs all the way back to the kitchen but not before turning and giving her a serious look that matches the exact same kind Heather’s own mother would have when making her do her chores.

  “Go visit her. Make yourself useful. She’ll love it.”

  She shakes her head but she doesn’t wipe the smile off of her face. She’s glad that she took the chance and stopped here because it’s good to be around someone like Dianne again. She feels like she’s at home away from home. And with how Heather’s been going around with no real certainty of her next destination, it’s a nice change of pace.

  ***

  She doesn’t really have a reason not to go. Her days consist of working at the bakery in the mornings and traveling around the city in that little moped in the afternoons.

  So after bypassing Dianne and going straight to Sarah for directions to the middle school, she sets off to the school. After asking for the room number at the front desk, Heather finds herself staring at a colorful door with cutouts of turtles and palm trees taped on the door.

  She peeks in and finds Lara off to a corner behind a computer probably e-mailing parents about how their kids think that the body of water the good state of Oregon touches is the Specific Ocean.

  She knocks twice and Lara rises to her feet with an excited smile on her face. They greet each other and catch up, Lara glad to see her so soon.

  “I’m glad you could make it.”

  “I shifted a lot of things around my schedule, but I made it work,” she says with a shrug. Lara chuckles.

  “Dianne made you, didn’t she?”

  “No, of course not,” Heather replies even as she exaggerates her nodding.

  “Come on, you wanna play some soccer?”

  Heather spends the next twenty minutes listening to Lara talk animatedly about teaching 6th grade Earth Science and being given the responsibility of coaching the Wellsley Hammerheads all while juggling a soccer ball between them like they did in college. She listens at Lara get riled up at how the last couple of coaches start out great but turn out to be giant duds and the girls on the team lose for it. She listens to Lara talk about life in Grace and it’s nice, just listening. All she’s done is talk about what she’s been up to that she welcomes the time to shut up and just hear about other people’s lives.

  “They all have potential,” Lara says when she volleys the soccer ball to Heather. “I just need them to realize it and get them to harness that potential.”

  After pulling a beautiful bicycle kick she thinks she’s getting too old to do, she still loses by one point to Lara who takes a bow to an imaginary crowd applauding her. She congratulates her old friend on her victory.

  “Next time, rematch,” she announces.

  “You got it.”

  They’re just about ready to go back when a blonde woman with a perky smile approaches them.

  “Heather, this is Kaitlyn Michaels, the school's athletic director.” Heather offers up a hand the woman takes. “Heather’s one of my old college friends, she’s new in town.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Heather stands to the side and watch as the two women converse with each other. Her attention starts to drift until the athletic director turns to her. “Do you play soccer professionally? I saw that bicycle kick as I was walking.”

  She blushes but shakes her head. “No, no. I played all through school but only did club in college.”

  “How fun! I did too, but I liked cheerleading more so I pursued that instead. Well, if you’re at all interested, with a bicycle kick like yours, you’re more than welcome to assist with the soccer team. McCall can fill you in on it.”

  She’s ready to decline, but the woman has already bid her farewell to the two of them. Instead she focuses her attention on her friend. “Didn’t know you needed an assistant coach.”

  “Neither did I. She probably just said that because she was impressed with your moves. They were pretty good. I know at this age I couldn’t pull that off.”

  They break into laughter as they make the trek back to Lara’s classroom, the athletic director’s comments seemingly forgotten for now.

  ***

  A couple of days later, Heather opens her email and finds a new message in her inbox. From Lara.

  She reads through fairly quickly and stops in her tracks when she gets about halfway down.

  Apparently, Kaitlyn wasn’t joking about the assistant coach job. There was enough room in the budget for you if you wanted it. It’s no pressure since I don’t know how long you’ll be around, but here’s my pitch anyway:

  It’s good money for the job and you get to work with some pretty cool girls who want to play soccer. And me, of course. You’re not required to do anything but I hope you consider it. That’s all I ask. I attached some files to let you know more about it and the application.

  Tryouts start soon so if you can try to decide asap, that’d be great.

  Una to see you again soon, friend!

  Best regards,

  Lara

  She looks up when she hears Dianne come in the Sunnyside’s kitchen where she’s just been staring at the email.

  “Why the serious face?” Dianne asks from glancing up as she flips through the mail.

  Heather scratches her head. “I think I just got offered a job.”

  Chapter Two

  It surprises Amber just how much more tired she is from waking up so early. She hadn’t thought it’d be that much different, but by the time lunch hits, she’s ready to drop. So she’s cancelled on a few of her friends’ invites for a night out to get her to spend some time with them.


  “Come out tonight, Amber. It’ll be a couple of drinks and you can go home by curfew or whatever you do so you can go knit and crochet your blanket,” Janine teases before gulping down the rest of her latte.

  “I don’t know. I have to open tomorrow.”

  “You’ve said that every time!”

  “It’s my job, you know.”

  “Well it’s also not your job to be such a lame party pooper but you’re doing spectacularly in that field.”

  “I think what Happy Miss Sunshine over here is trying to say,” Charlene intervenes as she collects the empty saucer in front of Janine to take to the bussing counter, “is that we miss hanging out with you.”

  “That’s not it,” Janine interjects shaking her head.

  “First drink you have is on me. I’ll get Sarah to pay for the next one since I’m sure she’d love to see you, too. Come on. Tonight at Nina’s.”

  She chews at her lip and considers that staying out no later than 10 PM should be all right. “Fine. I guess if you and your girlfriend are buying me drinks, then who can resist?”

  “Can I get a free drink, too?” Janine asks. Charlene just walks away, ignoring Janine’s question and protests for wanting free drinks, but not before throwing Amber a small wink.

  ***

  Lisa, Charlene’s Australian girlfriend of what seems like all of their lives, is the first one to spot her. Amber accepts the excited hug and lets herself get tugged towards their table.

  “Look who I found!” Lisa announces before pushing her forward to greet Charlene and Janine.

  “All right, first drinks are on me,” Charlene announces. “What do you want?”

  “Vodka soda. Double.” Charlene nods appreciatively before turning to her girlfriend. When Janine’s about to order vodka and Redbull, Charlene signals to her ear pretending not to hear before walking away. Janine stalks after her leaving Amber giggling alongside Lisa.

  “I barely recognized you,” Lisa comments as she takes a sip of her Lager. “I hear you got a promotion?”

  She smiles and spends the next few minutes catching the other woman up on what’s happened with her. By the time she finishes mentioning her interest in taking business courses at the community college, Charlene and Janine returns with drinks.

  The group starts approaching the bottom of their drinks as they get into a heated argument about the mid-season finale of Elementary. After they’re all about done with their second round, the group volunteers Amber to buy the final round she's having before she should get home.

  She doesn’t put up much of a fight and scurries to the bar with a twenty dollar bill in hand.

  Fiona, the bartender, greets her with delight before taking her order. Her skin is warm and buzzing and she’s having a good time, glad to have made the decision to go out.

  “Knock, knock.” She swivels in her spot to find Heather standing beside her with a grin on her face.

  “Heather! What are you doing here?”

  “Getting guzzled up like you, obviously.” Heather points at the four separate drinks in front of Amber. She laughs but shakes her head. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here, I would have done literally nothing different to prepare.”

  Amber playfully shoves her by the shoulder. “I wasn’t gonna be, but my Magic Mirror totally told me you were gonna show up, so.”

  “Really?”

  She snorts. “No, of course not. I had no idea. I’m only here because I felt bad I’d been abandoning some of my friends. But I don’t feel so bad now since I just got suckered into buying this round.”

  “So you’re a sucker.”

  “Guess I am. Did you come here alone?”

  “Oh, nah. Sarah’s with me. I’m her wingwoman tonight. There’s apparently some chick she saw at the eye doctor who she passed by and overheard talking about this place before she went home, but that’s all she remembers about her. Guess that eye doctor works miracles, though, since Sarah saw her one time and couldn’t stop talking about her.”

  “What are the chances Sarah will see her here tonight?” she asks. She rolls her eyes when Heather comes up with some insane probability ratio of 1 in 93,567.

  A few seconds later, Amber practically jumps out of her skin when Charlene touches her on the shoulder. “Come on, Ambs! My beer is getting warm!”

  “Yeah, Ambs! Her beer’s getting warm,” Heather echoes in front of her with a smirk.

  “Who’s your friend?” Amber sees Charlene’s attention shift from her and towards Heather. Charlene doesn’t say anything and just looks at Heather, sizing her up.

  “Heather. Nice to meet you.”

  “Charlene. Same.”

  Amber finally chimes in. “Heather works at the bakery. And Charlene works at the Bean with me. Anyway, I forgot I had these drinks so I should get back to them. I’ll see you at the bakery. Tell Sarah I said good luck on her search.”

  As they make the short trek back to their table, Charlene leans close to her.

  “She’s pretty cute.”

  Amber chuckles. “Sure. I’ll tell her you said that.”

  “Tell her she also has a strong jaw line.”

  “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

  “Dude, yeah. I know I do, but you don’t.”

  She slows her pace a bit letting Charlene walk ahead of her and chances a glance behind her but Heather’s no longer at the bar.

  ***

  For all of Dianne’s Mother Mode episodes that Heather is seeing in greater frequency the longer she stays around here, Heather’s glad Dianne hasn’t forced the issue. Because she could technically end the morning job at the bakery any day now since Dianne told her for as long as she wanted. But Lara’s job offer is a commitment, albeit a short one, to her and she’s not sure she can handle that. Or that she should.

  She tries not to think about it and for now relaxes in the kitchen sitting with Winston and sharing an entire basket of chocolate croissants between them as they watch Sports Center.

  The pair of them barely glance away from the t.v. when Dianne walks in the kitchen and pours herself a tall glass of milk.

  “Maybe you should take that assistant coaching job,” Dianne starts to say, plucking the croissant out of Heather’s hand, and biting into it. “So you can have an excuse to eat this much bread in one sitting. It gives you something physical to do or else you might turn into my husband over here.”

  Winston snaps his attention towards his wife and abandoning his half-bitten croissant. “Babe, are you calling me fat?”

  Dianne smiles sweetly and leans over to kiss him on the cheek. “Of course not, sweetheart. I’m trying to get Heather to take the hint.”

  Heather stares at the two of them in front of her as she chews her bread. “Fine. I’ll decide tomorrow.”

  “Good. It’s your turn to wash the dishes, Heather.” Dianne takes the rest of her chocolate croissant and glass of milk with her to the living room but not until giving Heather a look that more or less implies that she ought to choose wisely.

  Well, Heather thinks, it was only a matter of time until Dianne brought it up and she’s surprised Dianne lasted as long as she did.

  ***

  Today is the last day of the fundraiser at the middle school. It’s also the last day Amber has to pick up the Bean’s deliveries. After hanging out with Sarah over the weekend and seeing how disappointed her friend is for not finding the woman she’d seen at the eye doctor, she considers her situation and heed Sarah’s semi-drunken advice (“If you see a girl you like, even a little bit, and she likes you back, even a little bit, you go for it. You ask her out.”). And as far as Heather’s concerned, she’s pretty certain she likes Amber, even a little bit.

  “Got a joke for me?” Amber asks after stepping in the bakery and pulling her beanie and gloves off.

  “Yep. This one’s special. Ready?” Amber nods before leaning on the counter. “When does a baker get tired of making donuts?”

  Amber tilts her head and scrunches
her face. “When?”

  “After he gets tired of the whole thing!”

  Amber covers her eyes and shakes her head but Heather can hear a definite chuckle. She’s grinning when Amber looks back up at her.

  “That was so bad, it was pretty good.”

  “Sweet, sweet victory. Come on, let me help you with your order.”

  They spend the next few minutes doing what they’ve done for the last few weeks, back and forth shuffling to her Jeep. It’s not until she’s made her third trip hauling the multigrain bagels that she notices Amber lagging behind her.

  She bites her lip when it clicks in her mind that Amber is taking her time. Sarah’s words of wisdom ring in her mind and she thinks that her chance is now.

  “You get to sleep in starting tomorrow,” Heather comments when they shut the hatchback and Amber is putting her gloves back on.

  “Barely. But it’ll be nice. Thirty minutes makes a difference.”

  “Definitely.”

  “I hate to say it, but I think I’m gonna miss your really lame jokes.”

  “You don’t have to,” she replies. Her heart is now beating faster and even though she usually can’t wait to go back inside, the adrenaline in her system is warming her up just fine.

  “I’m sorry?”

  Heather clears her throat. “Do you wanna grab something to eat that isn’t, you know, bread? Like maybe some pasta or something."

  “I-are you...are you asking me out on a date?"

  “Nah,” she says shrugging but looking just left of where Amber is. “Just wanted to know if you were gonna be hungry later this week, like Friday night, and if you wanted to happen to be at Mangi’s the same time I was, say, like 7:30."

  Amber’s hand lingers on the door handle, her eyes seemingly scrutinizing Heather for any signs of possible punchlines like this is just another joke. But Heather doesn’t have any, just hopes she doesn’t fall flat on her face. She tries not to move around until she hears a response except that she’s now shivering and she’s not sure if it’s because of the cold or because of her nerves.

  “Friday. 7:30. Mangi’s. I’ll see you there,” Amber says finally, a bright smile on her face, one Heather mirrors.