Grace Under Pressure (Grace Walker Series Book 1)

Chapter 18:

I walked into Mom's office and she was sitting at her desk, rubbing her temples.

"Hey Mom." I said softly, not to startle her.

She looked up and said hi and asked what I was doing there.

"I did all the chores at the house and got bored so I decided to grab some food at Sherry's and wanted to come say hi. Are you doing okay?"

"Of course punkin, nothing for you to trouble yourself over. Mason James moved in today and he's not happy at all." I had to act like I didn't hear and already know what was going on. "His father insists he stay here, and yes we are a state of the art place, but I could come up with a few age-appropriate things for him to do here and now that he's here, I've got zero time to figure out any more. "

"Mom you are brilliant when it comes to this line of work. I think you will figure it out. In the meantime, have you even had a break or anything?" I asked.

"Come to think of it, no I haven't". She looked at her watch. It was going on 12:30. "You want to go to the dining room to see if I can't get some lunch. Do you want anything? She asked.

"No, Mom, I'm fine. I'm still full from Sherry's."

We walked down the hall to the dining room. A lot of residents were still eating what looked to be lasagna, a salad and some bread. Mom looked at me and make the gagging look and I laughed. We walked into the kitchen and asked Jacob, the cook, to fix her a cheeseburger and fries. He said give him a few and he'd have it ready. We walked to the front desk for a few minutes to talk to Debbie the receptionist. She was excited to see me and we talked about Christmas and how break was going for me. She was always super nice when I came in. Always talking about her grandkids and what sport they were playing in. They were apparently really good at them too. Jacob popped his head out the door and told Mom her food was ready. We walked back into the kitchen, where she grabbed her food and got her and me a Diet coke each. We went back to her office and I played a game on my phone until she was finished.

"So, you don't know what time you are getting off tonight?" I asked.

With a saddened look on her face, she said no.

"That's okay Mom, don't worry. I'm well aware of how much you are a super star around here and this place needs you. Do you need me to do anything?"

Her face lit up then and I knew no matter what, since I offered, she was going to make me stick to it.

"Actually punkin, can you go see Mason?  His parents left and his caregiver texted me and said he's refusing lunch. Maybe if you go talk to him, he might loosen up and eat. He has medicine he needs to take and I can't give it to him on an empty stomach."

Oh Lord, what did I get myself into? I was still a little mad at him for getting Reni in so much trouble, but I knew he was alone and upset and I would do anything for my mom. So I obliged.

"Oh thank you honey. By the way, you look really pretty today. Did you do something different with your hair?" Mom asked.

I choked back a laugh by acting like I was coughing and said no. I told her bye and that I would peek in after I visited with Mason.

Like I said before, Mason and I used to play together when he lived in our neighborhood. We would do everything together. We would spend all afternoon long riding bikes, climbing trees and playing in the woods. Summers were spent at the lake swimming or at the arcade, where we could stay out of the summer heat. We were in 8th grade when his dad made partner at his lawyer firm and by the end of the year, they had moved into one of the richer neighborhoods in town. So, we grew apart. We still spoke at school but I started hanging out more with Reni and he started playing football and hanging out with guys from the team and we basically went out separate ways.