Free Saving Gracie by Terry Lee Page B

out of her face.
    Adam walked in from the study and stopped.
    Grace shot a warning finger his way. “Don’t. I’ll hurt you.”
    Adam held up both hands, did a 180 and headed back to the safety of his man cave.
    “ What happened? ” Hannah asked, a smile lurking around her mouth.
    “ Be glad you don’t have my hair .” Grace marched to her bedroom and slammed the door.
    A quick glance at her reflection in the bathroom caused her to cringe. She squeezed her eyes tight and braced her arms on the edge of the sink. She raised one eyelid.
    “Good God, I am a Chia Pet,” she said.
    “Told ya,” #2 remarked.

CHAPTER 12
    GRACE
     
    Chaos owned the summer program’s first day. Grace blew out a breath of relief when she spotted Jill. Her new best friend stood among staff members, anxious parents and rowdy kids; her saving grace.
    Jill spent the morning on introductions and rules. Six of the seventeen Bluebirds were auditory-impaired. As a result Jill, not yet proficient in sign language, depended on Grace to interpret.
    Hannah plopped down next to her mom during lunch. “ What’s up? ” she signed with an ear-to-ear grin.
    Grace shrugged, forcing a smile that felt more like a grimace. “ Time to go home, maybe? ”
    “ Only two weeks, four days left .” Hannah wiggled her eyebrows. “ Not bad .”
    Grace rolled her eyes. “ Wonderful .” Blowing out dread, she signed, “ How’s your morning? ”
    “ Good, ” Hannah signed. “ Guess what’s up this afternoon? ”
    “ Helping Bluebirds, maybe? ” Grace seriously needed a nap.
    “ Swimming, ” Hannah signed in a rapid spurt, ignoring her mother’s cynicism. Her eyes glittered with inner light. “ And guess who’s here? ”
    “ Brad Pitt? ” Grace fingerspelled.
    Hannah smirked. “ Serious .”
    “ Who? ” Grace dug her nails into the skin of a large navel orange.
    “ Daniel .” Hannah fingerspelled, seeming to actually rise off her seat. “ Last year English class, remember? ”
    Grace’s heart sped up, a glint of protective instinct kicking in. Hannah’s first crush…her only crush. And now they’d spend the next three weeks together? Great.
    ~~~
    By the end of the day the auditory-impaired kids had given all the hearing Bluebirds sign names, an icebreaker exercise Grace had suggested. Luckily, the project worked. Jill’s “thumbs up” puffed Grace’s chest out a bit.
    So far, so good. Everyone interacted well, except for one auditory-impaired little girl. For most of the afternoon the child sat alone, small clenched fists crossed under her arms, lower lip protruding in an angry pout. Grace noted dirt smudges on the child’s face and chewed fingernails tainted with chipped purple polish. Her sandy brown hair was twisted into a messy ponytail and a checkered, overly cheery bow struggled to hold the wadded hair in place.
    Grace checked the enrollment list posted on the wall and easily spotted the girl’s name.
     
    •              Asterisk - hearing-impaired
    •              Red Star – anger issues
     
    The red star triggered the memory of her conversation with Jill at orientation about the child with the not-so-great home life. The young girl refused to even sign her name, Cherry.
    “Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” Jill advised.
    Relief. “Good, because I have no idea what to do with her.” The familiar feeling of helplessness began smothering Grace’s relief, knowing the problem wasn’t leaving just because she’d put it off. What would her mother do?
    ~~~
    “ What’s for supper? ” Hannah leaned against the car at the end of the day.
    “Shit! I mean shoot.” Grace grimaced. Hannah giggled.
    “ Sorry, ” Grace signed, unlocking the car. She’d completely brain-farted on dinner and cursed in front of her teenage daughter. No mom Brownie points today.
    “ Doesn’t matter .” Hannah grinned. “ I know the word .”
    “ When did you learn to lip read so well? ”
    Hannah shrugged. “