Sean drove home so far beyond frustrated his jaw had transformed into a vice grip. He squeezed the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He flipped the radio to a hard rock station and let the harsh drums wash over him. The driving beat matched the thoughts racing through his head.

Grace was outrageous. He’d known her for years, almost as long as he’d known himself. When he was eleven years old, Grace had moved into his life and somehow made a place for herself. She was a wonderful person with a great sense of humor and sustaining beauty. Yet, somehow, she’d managed to get with a man that had done something so bad, he’d had to take the day off work to help her move out of their home in three hours. Lucky for them he had a big ass truck. He’d bought it just because…he didn’t actually need a truck. He drove his BMW to the office every day while the truck stayed parked in the garage.

Sean thought about how she’d sat beside him, silent as death the entire ride from Hillsdale to Trenton. He’d heard her crying quietly, but she hadn’t wanted to talk…not yet. That was fine; he just didn’t like the idea of his beautiful childhood friend so upset.

He hadn’t noticed Grace’s beauty for the first six years. They’d been kids, growing up together, playing and going to the same schools. He’d thought of her as a buddy, not quite the same as his guy friends, but similar.

Then, one day, he walked to her house and was forced to stop a few yards away. He stared at Grace playing in the yard with her tiny dog. Millie was a small, overly excitable brown and black terrier. Grace had a piece of cloth taunting Millie into attacking it and rubbing her belly as she rolled in the grass. Sean barely saw or heard the yippy little ball of fur as she growled and wrestled. He was solely focused on Grace who sat on her haunches in the perfectly manicured lawn. She had taken off her white button up shirt and wore a white satin camisole. She still had on her green and black pleated school skirt and her feet were bare. The skirt fell to her mid thigh, exposing long brown legs. She lifted herself off the ground to pull the dog close again. Grace was slim; her flat stomach was exposed when she held Millie high in the air then brought her back in for a hug. It wasn’t until the dog was tucked in the crook of her arm that she noticed him standing up the street and smiled.

Sean’s breath caught and he tried to return the smile even though he was almost a hundred percent sure that his seventeen year old awkwardness hadn’t helped him save face. She somehow launched to her feet and headed toward him. At that moment Sean didn’t know what to do. Was she aware that he’d just that moment found her? He’d found her to be more than just the girl up the street or the sister of his little sister’s best friend, or the girl that sat two rows behind him in American History class and made better grades than everyone in that and every other class. She was so pretty and he’d just figured that out…after all those years.

“Hi, Sean,” she said giving him a slight shove.

“Huh…huh…hello.”

Grace frowned at him then shrugged. “Do you need help with your homework?”

Sean shook his head slowly. “No. I just…I just…my mom….” His mouth wasn’t working. “My mom wants me to make sure that your sister is allowed to stay the night.”

“Why didn’t she just call?” Grace said rubbing Millie’s belly.

“They’re working on our phone lines in the house. So is it okay?”

“I don’t know,” Grace said with a shrug that lifted the breasts that he was painfully aware of suddenly. “Go inside and ask mom.”

Sean sighed. “Can’t you ask her?” He was slightly afraid of Grace’s mother. She was always so serious and kept her children in line with a simple look. The idea of someone being so bad-ass they could scold without saying a word was frightening. His parents lectured, but Mrs. Lewis had this look she gave her daughters that spoke volumes more than any lecture he’d ever gotten.

Grace rolled her eyes. She grabbed his hand with the one that didn’t contain her dog and pulled him up the walk to the house. “You ask her,” she snapped.

Sean’s dick jumped to life at the feel of her soft hand in his. He was immediately seized with fear at the thought of Grace’s mother seeing him with a hard on so close to her daughter. He tried to think of anything to redistribute the blood in his body…his school teacher, jumping into a cold pool, baseball, softball, dodge ball, tetherball…damn it, nothing worked. Finally, he pulled his hand away from hers and sighed. “I’ll ask her if you go get my 311 CD.

“Sure,” Grace said pulling the massive front door open and letting him walk ahead of her. “Mom is in the library, make sure you knock.”

Sean lost Grace again after that day, though, not as quickly as he’d found her. He’d purposely stayed away from her for weeks. He wouldn’t look at her in school. He found any excuse to avoid taking his sister to her house. He became a serial dater, every once in a while bedding an overly willing girl. He tried not to see Grace screaming under him when he was with those girls, but he did. Even though those girls were the furthest thing from Grace there was, pale complexions, mostly blondes, sinewy girls in short denim skirts and low cut tops. Sure they were sexy, he was after all having sex with them, but they weren’t Grace. All they wanted to talk about was his long blonde hair, or his brand new Firebird, or what they’d bought from the mall that day. Grace talked about things she saw on the news or something she’d read or replayed the last Mets game critiquing botched plays and bad calls. Maybe that’s why he grew tired of those girls he did sleep with.

The final straw was when Grace enrolled in an exclusive residential girl’s school. Sean received the odd phone call and Christmas card, but they were rarely together after that. She went on to Yale as he finished up his four years at Adams College and started NYU law school where he met Joan. She was his first serious relationship and mother of his daughter Allison.

“Shit,” he cursed when his thoughts screeched to a grinding halt at his daughter. He fished his cell phone out of the center console and perused the speed dial for his parents’ house.

“Mom,” he said when she answered. “I need you to pick up Allie from school this afternoon.”

“Why is that?” his mother asked.

“I’m not going to make it there by three-thirty. I’m in Jersey right now.”

“What are you doing all the way in New Jersey?”

“Could you not give me the third degree right now, mom? Can you pick her up or not?”

“Of course I can pick her up. I’ll be there promptly at three-thirty and when you come to pick her up you can tell me why you’re in a different state in the middle of a workday.”

“Nosy,” Sean muttered loud enough for her to hear through the speakerphone.

“Yes, I am dear.”

Sean hung up and tried to calm down and take it easy for the rest of the drive back to Hillsdale.