Saving His Smile

chapter: v

The very next day, true to her word, Grace rode with Zachary to school in his truck. They didn't talk much, but the silence wasn't terribly uncomfortable. Country music drifted out of the vehicle's speakers, filling the quiet.

As a general rule, Grace didn't like country. The twang in the singers' voices struck her as unpleasant and the noise grated on her nerves awfully. That being said, with it as a backdrop to the quiet interior of Zach's truck it felt oddly... Right. She didn't mind it quite as much as she would have if the songs had been playing, say, in her own car. Something about a truck... in a farmer's field. Or at least that's what the song they were currently listening to was saying.

Nearly identical situations followed for the rest of the school week. Grace would come out of her house, and see Zach in his driveway, keys in hand. By Friday morning she had taken to only grabbing her house keys instead of her entire set of keys.

On a Friday, exactly two weeks into the school year, as the two of them sat in the trembling truck interior, Zach reached one hand out to the radio as switched it off entirely.

"Everything cool?" Grace asked, confused by his actions

Zach opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Paused, then spoke, "Would you be willing to help me with our Health homework?"

Grace gaped at him. He was the perfect, straight-A student. What could she, the girl who got As and Bs plus and a sprinkling of Cs, possibly be able to help him with?

"Uh, yeah, sure I guess."

Zach nodded and switched the radio back on but his shoulders remained tensed.

So, instead of idling briefly in Grace's driveway as he had several times before, Zach pulled into his own driveway and shut the truck off, pulling his keys swiftly from the ignition and basically throwing his door open.

Grace was a little more careful in her conduct and opened her door like a civilized human being. When her feet were securely on the pavement, she turned around and grabbed her backpack off the floor of the truck. She heard the back slam behind her and figured Zach had grabbed his backpack as well.

Hastily, she shut the door and turned to see that Zach was waiting for her near the front of the vehicle. Grace slung her backpack on and followed him into his house

"I'm home, Ma!" he called out to the interior of the house. He got a very loud, metallic clatter in response.

Zach's blond eyebrows furrowed and he quickly dropped his backpack and jogged in the direction of the kitchen. Grace felt awkward standing in the foyer alone so she slowly followed Zach's example.

"What are you doing, Matty?" Zach was demanding when Grace walked into the blue and yellow kitchen.

"Makin' Mac n' Cheese for Mommy," was the chubby child's simple reply. "She's got a momgraine again."

"Momgraine?" Grace questioned, strolling into the kitchen and leaning carefully back on one of the counters.

"A migraine," Zachary clarified, taking a very large pot of water away from his younger brother. "Matty, this pot's too big. If you're going to make Mom some Mac n' Cheese at least make sure you have the right sized pot."

Matthew pouted and widened his already huge brown eyes. "But Skoosh... now that you and Gracey are here, you can make the food for Mommy."

"Oh trust me Matty, I wasn't planning on letting you cook on your own." Zach waved his little brother and pointed to a pot on one of the shelves. "Grab that pot and fill it halfway with water."