"If you do then she'll know I told you," Grace said.

"And you don't want to be a snitch, right?" Carey shook her head.

"You sure you're not hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said as she unbuckled her belt and reached for the zipper. "Can I put the rest of these in too since you're doing that one?"

Carey turned around, realized what Grace was doing, and turned away again. "I wish you'd change in the bathroom or at least warn me."

"You told me to get changed," Grace said. "Besides, you were doing that."

"Just hurry up and get finished," Carey said, keeping her back to the teen while retrieving a soda from the refrigerator. Grace quickly stripped and put on her shorts, then brought her dirty clothes into the kitchen.

"So is it okay to put these in too?" she asked.

"Of course," Carey said, settling down at the kitchen table. "So if it wasn't your fault, why did you try to hide what happened?"

Grace shrugged and put the clothes in the washer. "I didn't want to upset you. You had enough on your mind."

Carey took a sip of soda, then nodded. "I appreciate that, but you still should have just come out and told me."

"Sorry."

"You're the one that had to the do the pushups," Carey said.

"It's okay, I haven't had to do them in a while." Grace flexed her arms. "I can handle ten easy now." She started the washer, then joined Carey at the table. "Please don't do anything about it."

"I hate the idea of her getting away with it," Carey said. "You promise me you won't do anything to try and get revenge on her. You want me to let it go, you have to let it go as well."

"I promise," Grace said.

Carey rubbed her face. "What a day."

"Is there anything I can do?" Grace asked.

"You already did," Carey said. "My mother says I don't call her often enough." She had some more of her soda, then wiggled the can. "You may have one."

"Thanks," Grace said.

Carey rose from her seat. "Relax, I'll get it." As she passed, she reached out and patted Grace's shoulder. "Thank you, by the way, for earlier. I really needed that time. Cola or orange?"

"Orange. So your mom knows about you and she's okay with it'?"

Carey removed the can from the refrigerator and handed it to Grace. "Yes. She's always been supportive of me, no matter what I did."

"Must be nice," Grace said as she opened the can. "I wish I had a mom like that."

"My mother's not perfect," Carey said as she sat down. "No mother is. We just have to make the best with what we have."

"Easy for you to say."

"Your mother really does love you, Grace. It's just that some people have a hard time showing it."

"She wants me to be perfect and I've disappointed her. I think if I told her about this it would be the last straw."

Carey reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "She might surprise you if you give her a chance."

"You don't understand. I gave her a chance. I told her something really important and she didn't believe me. I love her, but when I needed her..." Grace shook her head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter anyway."

"I think it matters more than you want to let on."

Grace shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just not ready to forgive her yet, and I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Carey gave her shoulder a final squeeze. "Just remember I'm here if you ever want to talk."

"Hey," Grace said when she felt Jan bump casually against her. "Feel like cards?"

"No," Grace said, her eyes still on the entrance to Sapling Hill. "I bet he gets here early."

"Your dad?"

Grace nodded. "I'm gonna show him the A I got on that English paper and my SAT scores." Her eyes lit up at the sight of the red rental car. "There he is. See ya later." She ran out of the rec room and raced for the administration building, determined to be waiting at the door for him. When the car stopped, however, Grace could no longer contain herself and ran across the parking lot, meeting him just as he was stepping from the car. "I knew you'd come," she said as she hugged him.

"I told you I would," he said. "I brought the photos like you asked."

"That's great," she said as they started to head toward the administration building. "I can't wait to..." She left her sentence unfinished as a familiar figure walked through the front gate. "I didn't think she'd come."

"Your mother's changed a bit, hasn't she?" he said, seeing his ex-wife for the first time in over a decade.

"Yeah," Grace said. "In the ass."

"Graceful, that's not nice," he admonished. "I've put on a few pounds over the years too."

"I don't want to see her."

"Then tell her that," he said. "You can't just not see her."

"Promise you'll wait?" Grace asked.

"Of course, pumpkin," he said. "Spend some time with your mother if you want or if she wants the three of us to talk, we can do that too."

"Be right back," Grace said, running across the parking lot to where her mother had walked in from the road. "I didn't think you were coming," she said.

Her mother stared in the direction Grace had come from. "Is that...?"

Grace nodded happily. "He came last month too."

"So you've decided to go with your father instead of me?"

Grace crossed her arms. "If that asshole's going to be living with you, yes."

"Have you forgotten that he left us? I'm the one with custody and you'll be coming home to me, not him. And don't talk about Bob that way. He loves us. He wants to make a home for us. Both of us. When you come home, you'll see."

"I'll talk about him any way I want to," Grace said. "Don't defend him to me, Ma."

"He drove me up here," her mother said. "He's parked just down the road waiting for me. Now would he do a thing like that for me if he didn't care about you?"

"Ma! Stop it!" Grace spun away, her anger rising. "I don't want to know where he is, what he's doing, and I sure as hell don't wanna hear about how he feels about me."

"Grace, please don't start a fight," her mother said.

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Grace asked angrily, turning around to face her. "You never listen to me."

"I do listen to you," the older woman said.

"Bullshit!" Grace shouted. "I told you." She clenched her hands into fists. "I told you and you didn't believe me."

"Please don't bring that up again," her mother said. "You know how it upsets me."

"Upsets you?" Grace yelped. "If it upsets you, you wouldn't be with him." She angrily kicked at a stone. "You're not upset about what he did, you get upset because I won't just pretend it didn't happen like you want me to." She stormed toward her mother, causing the older woman to back up and unbeknownst to her, Instructor Donaldson to come running toward them. "Well, it happened, Ma! That son of a bitch came into my room and raped me and you let him get away with it. Are you listening to me now?"

"Waters," the blonde instructor said as she approached.

Grace felt a firm hand land on her shoulder but jerked free. "You want to be with him? Then go." She pointed at the gate. "Be with a son of a bitch that has a thing for little girls. I hope you're real fucking happy."

"Grace, please don't be like this," her mother said, dabbing her eyes.

"Like what?" Grace shouted, taking yet another step toward her mother. "Like someone who won't go back to that hellhole?" Her eyes narrowed. "Never! Do you hear me? Never!"

"Waters!" Donaldson's sharp bark snapped Grace back to the moment. Looking down at her clenched fists, she realized just how close she had come to losing control. Forcing her hands to relax, she saw the crescent red marks where her nails had bitten into her palm.

"Don't come back," she said, glaring at her mother with all the anger and outrage she felt inside. "You had a choice and you chose him. As long as you're with him, you don't have a daughter."

"Grace-"

"No!" She turned away, feeling her throat tighten. "You were supposed to believe me, to..." Her eyes stinging, she closed them and shook her head. "Don't come back." She began walking toward her father, ignoring her mother's repeated calls to her. Never. I'll live with Dad or I'll get a place of my own or I'll be homeless, but I'll never go back there. I can't. She blinked rapidly as tears threatened to spill out. I'll kill myself first. Seeing her father holding his arms out, she ran the remaining distance.

"Come here," he said. The tenuous hold she had on her emotions broke as soon as she was in her father's arms. She began crying, scalding hot tears soaking into his flannel shirt. "Tell Daddy what happened," he said, stroking her head like he did when she was young.

All Grace could do was shake her head and cry, taking comfort in his strong arms.

"Okay, pumpkin, okay. Daddy's got you," he said over her sobs. "Shh, Daddy's got you."

"Mr. Waters, if you'd like to take her inside." It was Carey's voice, though Grace had not heard her approach.

"Do you want to go inside?" he asked. Grace sniffled and shook her head, clinging tighter to his shirt.

"There's a lake up that path," Carey said. "She knows the way."

This time Grace nodded. "O-okay." She felt a hand much smaller than her father's gently rub her shoulder.

"Grace," Carey said, giving a gentle squeeze. "I hope you have a good talk," she said before stepping back. "Take all the time you need."

Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Grace pointed at the path. "It's this way," she said, keeping one arm around her father's side. His arm went around her shoulders and they quietly began walking up the dirt path, gradually becoming surrounded on either side by trees with only the sounds of birds and crickets to keep them company.