The Presence of Grace (Love and Loss #2) by Anie Michaels

I’ll be there soon. Tell Ruby to hang in there.” We said our good-byes and then I hung up, shoving my phone in my pocket as well.
    “Ruby’s sick?” Grace’s voice was soft and full of worry.
    “Yeah,” I said with a sigh, watching as she stood and draped the strap of her purse over one bare shoulder. Was it a bad time to notice the sexy dusting of freckles there? Like she’d spent a lot of summers in the sun as she grew up. “This is how Ruby’s body operates. She hardly ever gets sick, but when she does, her whole body shuts down and she goes from fine to really sick in just a few hours.”
    “Oh no,” she whispered as we walked out of the restaurant and toward my car.
    “I’m really sorry,” I said as I backed out of my spot. “I was having a really great time. I’ll drop you off really quick.”
    “You don’t have to drop me off,” she responded with quick words. “If Ruby is as sick as you say, you need to go get her.”
    “I’ll probably just be going straight to the ER. Trust me, with a vomiting child—the fewer stops the better.”
    “Devon, go get her. Getting her to the doctor is most important. We’ll figure everything else out later.”
    I stared at her. The rosiness was gone from her cheeks, worry now present in her eyes, and I couldn’t believe she was begging to help take my child to the emergency room.
    “Okay,” I said on a breath, then turned the car toward my parents’ house.
     
    I opened the door to my parents’ house and was greeted by the familiar sound of Ruby groaning in agony. Then came unmistakable sound of retching. I raced into the living room, trying to prepare myself for what was coming. Sick kids were the worst. Not only were they helpless, but they made you feel helpless too. As a rational adult, I knew sickness passed and eventually I’d start to feel better. Kids lacked that little nugget of common sense and all sicknesses were akin to dying slowly.
    “Daddy,” Ruby moaned as my mom wiped her mouth with a washcloth. “I don’t feel well.”
    “I see that, baby.” I knelt in front of her and put my hand to her forehead.
    “She doesn’t have a fever,” my mom supplied kindly, her voice full of worry and concern. “She just said her stomach hurt, wouldn’t eat dinner, and then….”
    “Okay,” I said, offering my mother a poor excuse for a smile.
    “Miss Richards,” Jax yelled, shooting off my father’s recliner and wrapping his arms around Grace’s thighs in an enthusiastic hug.
    “Hey, Jax. It’s good to see you.”
    “Are you coming to the hospital with us?”
    “That’s the plan,” Grace said with an exhale.
    “Hello, there,” my mom said, in a tone that let me know immediately that she knew Grace was my date and I was interested in her.
    “Mom,” I said coolly, “this is Grace. Grace, my mother, Carolyn.”
    “It’s nice to see you again,” Grace said, reaching her hand out to my mom, leaving her other hand on Jaxy’s back since he was still hugging her.  I gave her a puzzled look and she explained.  “We met at parent-teacher conferences a while ago.”
    “Oh, right,” I said, my brain to occupied by Ruby to put all the pieces together.”
    “You can leave Jaxy here, Devon. There’s no reason to take him to the emergency room.”  My mother’s words broke through my mental fog.
    “I want to go with Miss Richards,” Jaxy whined.
    “Why is Jaxy’s teacher here?” Ruby asked, sounding absolutely miserable.
    “She just came to help. She’s going to sit with Jaxy while we take you to see the doctor.” I could tell Ruby didn’t buy my story. She was eleven, not five. But before she could ask me anything else, another round of sickness overcame her.

Chapter Nine
    Grace
    Jax and I had managed to play at least thirty games of tic-tac-toe, made countless paper airplanes, and eventually I convinced him to stretch out on the little couch with a blanket I had asked a nurse to get for him. He begged me to sit with