State Of Grace

Chapter 32 - Untouchable

They spent the rest of the movie kissing, grateful for a few hours alone together. It had been difficult being apart for the past few weeks and they were both soaking up every last second with each other.

On Tuesday, Sarah picked Gracie up and drove to the marina where they'd be meeting her parents for a day on their yacht. They'd been meaning to go for a while now, but something always got in the way of their plans. On one of the hottest days of the year, their schedules finally lined up.

Gracie thought she'd gotten used to how wealthy her best friend was, but she was amazed when she saw the size of the boat, "Jesus Sarah, this is insane," she said as the girls settled into the sun loungers on the upper deck.

"I know right, it just sucks I won't get to use it when I go away to East Bridge in the fall, but you can't have it all."

She did, in fact, have it all. Or at least a lot more than most. Gracie laughed it off, knowing her best friend wasn't as shallow as she often sounded.

"So, how are you?" Sarah asked, taking her sunglasses off and sitting on the edge of her seat, "I mean, really?" They hadn't had a chance to properly catch up since Gracie got out of the hospital, so Sarah didn't know many of the details of what happened.

"I'm okay, I mean, I'm still scared," Gracie admitted, and a weight rose from her shoulders, she'd been keeping a brave face around her family. "Like all the time." Sarah hugged Gracie. "I've been writing about it in my journal, and going to therapy, but I don't know. I've been so jumpy; the other day, I was in my room and I didn't hear Danny come in, he tapped on my shoulder and freaked out so bad that I almost punched him. Everything makes me flinch. And I'm having more panic attacks than ever. I know these things take time, but I'm just starting to think I'll never get through this."

"You will," Sarah squeezed Gracie's hands, "You always do."

"But what if this time it's different? What if I can't?"

"Think about it G, every time life deals you a bad hand, you get through it and you come out the other side stronger. Strong enough to handle whatever the hell the next thing is, it's just gonna take some time. What does your therapist say?"

"She said that after getting... after everything, it's a normal reaction."

"But nothing feels normal?" Sarah said, somehow knowing what Gracie was thinking.

"Exactly," Gracie sighed, "Except for one thing," a smile crept up on her and She prepared to tell Sarah about her girlfriend, "Rachel called, after what happened. We're back together."

"Oh," she didn't seem as happy as Gracie hoped she would, "That's great," she went on saying all the right things, but Gracie knew she wasn't too excited about it.

"So, I thought the three of us could all hang out, maybe a day at the beach?"

"Yeah, sure, that'll be fun," Sarah did her best to act happy, but Gracie still didn't buy it.

Gracie woke up early on Wednesday morning for the meeting with Greg and the judge while her brothers and sisters got to sleep in again. It was the day that they'd get a date for the custody hearing. She'd barely slept, the nightmares kept waking her up.

"Is this okay?" She asked as she showed her outfit to her mothers, remembering what Marco said about having to look smart for his and Maia's adoption. He said they had to look like they were being well taken care of, and Gracie wanted to make sure both Greg and the judge could see that she was already exactly where she belonged.