“Snap,” Grace said as she slapped her hand down on top of the pile of cards. “I win again.” While it wasn’t the most difficult of games, it had been her favorite as a kid, and she had woken in a nostalgic mood. They’d already made her favorite m&m waffles for breakfast, then Elijah and Ali had come over and now they were all hanging out, playing card games, talking, and laughing. It was almost like old times.
“You do know that we’re letting you win, right?” Elijah asked with an eye roll.
Grace just grinned. “I know, you guys always used to let me win.” It had been one of her favorite things about being the baby of the family. She knew she had been spoiled, so used to getting her own way that she’d come to expect it, at least with her family. When she was with her friends and boyfriends, she tried to never act entitled. It was one thing for her big brothers to spoil her, but another for others to do it, she would never expect that. Instead, she tried to do the opposite, look for little things to do to make others smile. Just like her family let her win at games, or choose what movie they went to because they wanted her to be happy, she wanted to share that joy.
Never once had she doubted she was extremely lucky to be born to parents who adored her even if she was an unplanned surprise. Her parents had both been cops, but they’d always made sure that she was well taken care of even with their crazy schedules. Her extended family of big brothers, and Laynie and Ali and their parents, had always been there to take care of her, and she’d always felt loved, respected, and supported. So many people didn't have what she’d been blessed with, and she’d wanted to do what she could to let others know they were cared about.
Now she wanted to help others realize their strength.
“Want to play again?” she asked.
The others groaned, making her laugh. “No. More. Snap.” Ali said, over enunciating each word and making them all laugh again.
This was so nice. Just hanging out together, she’d missed moments like this and thought she would never get to experience them again, but here she was. Was it possible to be any more grateful than she was in this moment?
“Fine,” she said dramatically as she got off the floor and flopped onto the sofa next to Laynie. “If you don’t want to play anymore you guys can help me choose a puppy.”
“A puppy?” Jem asked.
“Or maybe an older dog. If you guys don’t want one living here I understand, and I’ll wait until I get my own place.” She knew that Jem and Laynie loved dogs. They’d had one when she had been taken although it had passed away while she was gone. But she also wasn’t just going to assume that they’d be happy with her getting one while she was here.
“Gracie, you know we’re happy for you to stay here as long as you need,” Laynie said.
“I know, but I want my life back.” Grace was pretty sure that if they had their way Jem and Laynie would keep her here forever. They were struggling to heal too, and they wanted to keep her close. She couldn’t imagine how hard it had been for them knowing she was gone, knowing she was in trouble, but not being able to find her. It wasn’t that she wanted to hurt them, but at the same time she had to start living. She had to try to get back the years she had lost, she wanted her independence, and staying here too long would make it harder to leave. This place would become her safety blanket but that would also make it a different type of prison. A nicer one, one where she would be loved and looked after, but also one where she wouldn’t be free.
“All right,” Jem said. She could tell he was holding back, but she loved and respected that her family were trying to put her first. “What kind of dog are you thinking of getting?”
“Big,” she answered immediately. While Grace knew that she wanted to find a job and then get her own place, get her independence back, she also knew that living alone was going to be hard. It would take time for her not to be afraid in a house on her own, given she was abducted from her home that night. But she was determined to dissect every single one of her fears and overcome them.
And maybe she wouldn’t be living alone for long.
Maybe she’d be having a roommate in the not-too-distant future.
A two legged one, not the furry companion she was looking for now.
Last night, talking to Matthew she’d had so much fun. Knowing he was willing to wait for her made her even more determined to get herself together. Grace knew her family thought she was living in denial, that she wasn’t processing what had happened, that she was holding it together too well, but they were wrong. She was healing the best way she knew how and that was to focus on the future, to live for herself and the victims, to do the very thing that she’d fought for all these years.
She had to live.
“What about a protection dog?” Elijah suggested. “That could be the best of both worlds. You get a furry friend, and someone to help you feel safe, and maybe we won't worry about you as much if we know that you have a big, mean looking dog watching your back.”
“I like that idea,” she agreed. She’d been thinking of getting a puppy, but now that her brother suggested it, she liked the idea of getting a protection dog. It really would make her feel safer but still give her a warm, furry body to hold onto when she needed a reminder that she was safe and no longer alone. “How do I go about finding a protection dog?”
“I have a few contacts. Leave it with me and I’ll get back to you on it,” Laynie said.
Grace reached for a cookie from the plate on the coffee table and noticed the others were exchanging glances. “What’s up?”
“Tell her, Jem,” Laynie said, taking her husband’s hand.
“I found you a job,” Jem announced.
Her eyes lit up. “You did? Where?”
“It’s a clinic run by a friend. She specializes in victims of trauma and she’s looking for a new receptionist. She knows who you are, what you’ve been through, what you’ve studied, and what you want to study when you go back to school next semester. She’s happy for you to work with her so long as you keep up the office work as well,” Jem told her.
This was perfect. A dog, a job, and a chance to get meaningful experience in the field she wanted to work in. It was everything she wanted, a normal life. A job meant she could get her own place, and doing something that mattered might heal her heart. The constant companionship of a dog would help her when bad moments hit, and maybe a romantic relationship wasn’t as far away as she thought it was.
Grace threw her arms around both Jem and Laynie because she knew without his wife giving him a nudge, her brother would have given in to the need to keep her close, clip her wings without meaning to, but nonetheless it would hamper her ability to learn to fly again. “Thank you,” she whispered, “I know that was hard for you.”