Grace Under Pressure (Grace Walker Series Book 1)

Chapter 36:

I woke up around 8:30 or so Sunday morning and the house was quiet. Mom must have left for work and let me sleep. I stretched around for a few minutes and sat up against my pillows so I could check my messages. I only had one from my mom and it said that she loved me and would call me later.

I scrolled through social media, not too much of anything there either. Right then my stomach started growling. I got up, put my robe on and walked downstairs to the kitchen. The coffee in the coffee pot was cold, so I decided to skip it. I poured myself a bowl of the fruity cereal I like and a glass of orange juice. I decided to eat in the living room since no one was home. Man, there is just nothing on television these days it seems. I flipped on the streaming service and found a movie to watch. It was a comedy adventure about some strange boardgame that sucked you in and you had to roll certain numbers to get out. It was pretty good. I gathered up my dishes, put them in the dishwasher and headed upstairs to shower.

It was still really cold outside, so the hot steamy shower felt really good on my cold feet. I got out, brushed my teeth and hair and went to try and find something to wear. I was going to be going to get Mason's Jeep today and in case I ran into Olivia, I didn't exactly want to just show up in something that screamed "hired help" as she put it.

I looked through my closet and found a blue flannel top that I decided to match with a white tank top on underneath, a pair of blue jeans and while looking through my closet the other day, I seen I had a pair of black ankle boots.

I put my usual makeup up and brushed my hair into a ponytail.

My phone chirped, so I grabbed it to see who it was.

Gracie, am I taking you to get Mason's Jeep today?

It was Reni. I texted her back really quick.

Yeah, I figured we will go get it maybe at 3? Does that sound good?

She took a few minutes back to text, so I walked downstairs to get a soda. While I was getting some ice, she texted back.

Yeah that's fine. I can only drop you off though because we are going to go out to dinner around 4:30. Mom and Dad's anniversary.

Ok, sounds good. I wrote.

It was 1:00, so I went ahead and called Mom.

"Hey punkin, how's your day going?" She sounded like she was in a good mood.

"It's alright. Missed you this morning. Reni is going to come get me around 3 to go get the Jeep. Are you still going to be at work?"

"Not sure." She said. "I didn't think I was going to be here this long, but that family that toured last week decided to have their mom move in. So I'm having to finalize paperwork with them later on." She said.

"Oh, well, should I find some dinner on my own, or do you want to me to fix us something?"

"You can decide honey. I really have to go though, I'm swamped." She said with remorse in her voice.

I said bye and hung up the phone. Since it was only about quarter to 2 I perused the freezer to see what would have to time to thaw out by the time I got home with the Jeep. Mom had gotten some really nice chicken breasts and steaks. There was also a pork roast and some other stuff. I decided on chicken breasts. So I took them out and set them on a plate on the counter and washed my hands. We always had potatoes and carrots so I think that may be what I fix.

I went ahead and texted Mason and Reni.

Hey Reni, you still gonna be here at 3?

She texted back and said she was actually already on her way.

Mason, Reni and I will be leaving soon after she gets here. Is the time still okay?

He wrote back, said it was fine.

Reni got here about 10 minutes later. Apparently she wanted to leave earlier since she could only drop me off at Mason's.

"Gracie, you look terrific!" She exclaimed as I opened the door.

"Thanks, it's not too much is it. I just didn't want to run into Olivia and look, well, like I always do."

"I don't get why you think she hates you." She said.

"Reni, if I tell you, you have to promise me you won't say anything to anyone and you won't overreact." The reason Mason didn't want to talk to me at LE when he was there was Olivia visited and gave him an ultimatum, either he quit talking to me or stay at LE instead of going home. The thing that made me mad the most was she called me "hired help", as if I was a maid or something."

"Holy crap! Why in the world would she say that! She doesn't even know you Gracie!" She was mad at this point.

"Reni, it's okay. It's been a week or so since it happened and I'm okay. So now you see why I wanted my appearance to look better when I walked out the door today."

"Listen, there is nothing wrong with what you normally wear or where you live or anything for that matter. Whatever is going on with Olivia is definitely nothing to do with you. I guarantee it. She just chose to use her as your target." She said. She handled it a lot better than I thought.

I asked her if she was ready. I was getting nervous and I just wanted to get this done so I could get back home.

We headed out and of course Reni knew a much easier way to get there , so we were there in less time than it took me the other night. That didn't help my nerves at all.

We pulled into the circular driveway and seen that Olivia's car and Mason dad's car was in the drive, along with the Jeep.

"Reni, I know you have to go, but please at least go to the door with me for a minute. If she's home, this could get ugly. Please."

Reni looked at me with pity and said yes. We walked up to the front door, and naturally when we knocked on it, Olivia answered. I didn't see Mark or Mason.

"Serenity, honey, how are you. You look beautiful today?"

Of course she's going to be nice to her, Reni's loaded.

"I'm doing fine Mrs. James. Can you get Mason for us please?"

When Olivia heard "us" she looked past Reni at me and then tight-lipped smile returned to her face. She rolled her eyes and hollered for Mason and she went into the other room as we waited.

"You going to be okay?" Reni asked.

"Yeah, go ahead. Call me later." I gave her a hug and told her thanks and she headed to her car and left.