Free Wild Within (Wild at Heart #1) by Christine Hartmann Page B

exaggerated care alongside her plate.
    “Hope.” Grace flicked her finger insistently against her water glass. “Look at me. Your husband didn’t get a job offer on the East Coast, right? You’re not going to move, are you?”
    Hope pantomimed to a waitress that Grace needed another pair of chopsticks.
    Grace knocked the hot sauce container against the table. “Look at me, Hope.” Hope raised her eyes. “This has to be a joke.”
    “Grace, it’s not that bad. I didn’t just tell you I had cancer. Atlanta’s still in the United States.” Hope waited. But Grace refused to look at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Nothing’s firm yet. Harrison flew out two weeks ago for an interview. He got the call yesterday. It’s still being negotiated. He wants more money than they’re offering.”
    Grace snorted.
    “I know you don’t like Harrison. But he’s trying to do his best for us.”
    “Like the way he always forgets his wallet when we go out to dinner, so that I have to pay?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Grace shot her arm across the table. “Oh, Hope. I didn’t mean that.” She took a deep breath and rubbed her crumpled napkin hard against her lips. “It’s Kenj.” Her words filtered through falling bits of paper.
    “I know. Now it’s always Kenji. Even if we’re talking about the Wi-Fi being slow or the windows needing cleaning. I can’t get away from him. At the same time, I never want to stop thinking about him.” Hope ran her hand through her thick bob, as though trying to wipe away a memory. Her shoulders sagged. “What should I do?”
    “Please stay. I need my little sister.”
    “I can’t promise, Grace. I’ve got two kids. And our family’s falling apart.”
    “You and Harrison?”
    “No. Us. You and me. Mom and Dad. It’s all such a mess now. I used to hate going to Mom and Dad’s on Sundays. They were always fussing over Kenji. Sometimes I thought they wouldn’t even notice if the rest of us didn’t show up. Now I would give anything to do it one more time.”
    Grace reached for Hope’s hands and spoke slowly, with a pause between each word. “I want you to stay near me, Hope. But that’s what I want. You have to do what you want.”
    After lunch, outside the restaurant, she returned to the subject. “Keep Harrison’s job offer a secret until things are clearer, okay? The last thing we need is Mom going ballistic because her daughter’s moving across the country. Or that she crashes into some kind of depression. You never know with her. She’s like the stock market—hard to predict.”
    “I won’t say anything until it’s firm.”
    “Good. Mom and Dad both seem so brittle.”
    Or maybe , Grace thought two weeks later, that was how I felt.
    Her mother and she stood in the Mori family kitchen. Grace scooped fried rice and garlic shrimp from takeout containers onto plates.
    Her mother’s high-pitched Japanese broke the silence. “Dad and I want to move back home to Japan.”
    Grace dropped the box. Two shrimp caught in her blouse. Her mother sighed, pulled Grace’s arm over the sink, and shook the sleeve vigorously. The renegade prawns plopped onto stainless steel and slithered into the disposal.
    “Sit down.” She led Grace to a chair. “You want some tea?” She pumped a thermos pot. Hot water filled a delicate clay bowl. She swirled the tea around and poured Grace a small cupful.
    Grace pushed the cup away. “You are moving back to Japan.” Her Japanese was slow and careful. “After all these years?”
    Her mother stood beside her, hands cupping the tea bowl. “Do not worry. We will not go soon. But with Kenji gone, nobody needs us anymore. You have your job. Hope has her family. We think we could have a second beginning back home in Japan. A second spring.”
    Grace’s accusing eyes sought her mother’s. “I thought this was your home.” Her finger pointed around the room.
    “It is. But we want to go back to where we came