Erin, Aaron, and Grace

Chapter 3: Grace 11/14/19

It was Grace's twenty-second birthday, and she was trying to celebrate in her own little way.

She had a couple hours to kill before her bus to Rochester left, so she wandered the streets of Ithaca, peering into shops, and sipping an earl grey latte from her favorite cafe.

Aaron had said he wanted to take her to dinner tonight for her birthday, but she didn't have anything to wear. She had so few clothes at her sister Leah's, she'd just been wearing the same four outfits over and over again, and they weren't particularly nice.

She made a decision right there, and walked into her favorite second hand clothing store.

She walked out twenty minutes later with a dress, and a pair of heeled ankle boots tucked into her backpack. Just in case, she told herself. So that she had the option of looking nice if she wanted to.

Grace stopped at a few more stores, buying herself little things of comfort, like earrings, and a few pairs of panties, just because right now, it was hard to like her life, and a little splurging felt good.

The bus ride to Rochester lasted two hours, so when she arrived, it was dark, and she was hungry. The grimy bus station always made her just a bit nervous, so it was a relief when her sister texted her to tell her she had arrived.

Grace ran out and jumped into the car she'd only seen pictures of.

"Hey!" Meghan said happily.

"Oh my god, your car!" Grace squealed, shutting the door.

"I know! It's my baby!"

"I could barely believe it was real!" Grace had been delighted when she saw the pictures online. Something good had happened to Meghan, and that was so rare.

"Me either!" Meghan grabbed a bouquet of flowers from the back seat and handed them to Grace.

"Happy birthday," She said with a big smile.

Grace looked at the pretty Wegmans bouquet and almost wanted to cry, it was one of the nicest things anyone had done for her in awhile. Lately it seemed as if Grace was ready to cry at the drop of a hat, but she supposed her body was still recovering.

They were in good spirits heading back to her sister's apartment, talking excitedly about the car, and laughing about silly things that Meghan's boyfriend had done recently. Happy to be together after so much time apart.

They found a parking spot close to Meghan's building and walked the snow covered sidewalk to her apartment, which was in a lovely Victorian style old house converted into several apartments.

They walked inside and Grace breathed a sigh of relief.

This was so much nicer than her last apartment, it was everything she'd wanted for Meghan.

The entryway was lit with a merry yellow light, and bookshelves full of books lined the walls. It was comfortable, not perfect, but it felt like a home.

Grace left her bags and bouquet at the little table that sat in the corner. Out ran one of Meghan's cats. Grace petted him and kissed his head.

"Tulio! Do you remember me, baby?" It had been years since Grace used to go to visitation at her dad's. Meghan had lived with him then, and their two fat cats were her pride and joy. She'd jumped through hoops to keep them when their father moved to Ohio.

"Well hello," Meghan's roommate Sarah called over, their friend Maddie was with her, they were sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"Hey, what's up?" Grace greeted them.