Once she’d emailed Edith back and confirmed that, yes, Grace Decker really was Ella Decker, the girl who used to live in Gracemont—her pen name a nod to the small town she’d loved—her fate had been sealed. Because the older woman had begged her to attend one of the book club meetings as their featured author, and Edith wouldn’t take no for an answer. Not that Ella fought too hard. Because that request had come shortly after she’d decided it was time for a life overhaul. Time for her to make some serious decisions about her future.
There wasn’t anything holding her to Idaho anymore. Or at least, nothing that didn’t make her feel like complete and utter shit—namely, her family.
Ella had spent most of her life trying to maintain a relationship with her mom and sister, Martha. She’d long ago accepted that there was no hope for her and her father…and recent events had driven home just how dead their relationshiptrulywas.
Despite her estrangement from Dad, Ella remained in touch with her mom and Martha, trying to connect with them once a week, either for lunch or coffee. She wasn’t always successful, because those visits were contingent upon fitting in with their husbands’ schedules. Martha’s husband, Elijah, and her father frequently found reasons for them to cancel, their needs always taking precedence.
The lunch and coffee dates had fallen to the wayside completely in the past six months, following her grandmother’s death. At a time when Ella needed her mom and sister more than ever, they’d gone radio silent on her, leaving her to grieve alone.
Ella blew out a slow breath and put those thoughts away. Her whole reason for coming here was to take a break from all the shit back home.
“It’s grown up around here,” Ella mused, as Manny left the airport, merging onto the toll road. She was surprised to see the Metro tracks stretching far beyond where they used to.
“Oh yeah, Leesburg is a sprawling place nowadays, but I think you’ll find that Gracemont hasn’t experienced the same growth. Not much there will be too different from when you left. Change comes slow to our little neck of the woods. Thank God.”
Ella grinned, sharing that sentiment.
While Gracemont was just a half-hour drive from Leesburg and an hour outside of Washington, D.C., the town was quiet and quaint and felt like the setting of some historical romance set in the early twentieth century.
That was what she’d always loved about it. Everyone seemed to know everyone there, but more than that, the locals all seemed to like each other too. There was a general atmosphere of friendliness and support that Ella hadn’t experienced in her own hometown. Though to be fair, Meridian was considerably larger than Gracemont, more city than town.
The ride to Gracemont passed pleasurably as Manny started talking about people Ella might recall. She’d only lived in Gracemont for three years, but because it was a tight-knit community, she had gotten to know more people than she realized.
Apparently, her old high school principal, Mr. Bott, had taken a higher-paying job with Loudoun County Schools acouple years earlier, and he’d been replaced by Ella’s favorite teacher of all time, Mrs. Williamson.
Ella was sad to learn that Ms. Pauley, the public librarian she’d adored, had passed away last year, though she wasn’t surprised by the news. Ms. Pauley had been old fifteen years ago, and not in the best of health back then.
“Ms. Pauley was so nice,” Ella said. “I spent all three summers I lived in Gracemont volunteering in the library with her. In a lot of ways, I think she impacted my career path because she definitely fostered my love of reading. She always used to say that one day, my books would be sitting on the shelves of her library, which planted the writing seed. I’m not sure I would have considered writing a book if not for her belief that I was born to be a storyteller.”
“Aw. Ms. Pauley was a sucker for a good story. She and Aunt Edith were thick as thieves for most of their lives, connected by their shared love of books…and bourbon. My God, but those two could put down Old Fashioneds.”
Ella laughed, enjoying that newly discovered fun tidbit about someone she’d always admired.
“Well, here we are,” Manny announced as they pulled off the highway, taking the narrow road that led to Gracemont. Within minutes, they were passing the beautiful brick sign, welcoming them to the town.
Manny hadn’t lied. The place looked exactly as she remembered, and she had to turn her face toward the passenger window so she could surreptitiously wipe away a tear. She hadn’t expected her return to this special place to impact her so strongly.
But she supposed it made sense. This town had been the setting to some of the most important moments of her life.
Mercifully, Manny didn’t notice her second of sentimentality as he continued talking, filling her in on what businesses hadchanged and which were still the same. The town dive bar had been sold and was now called Whiskey Abbey. According to Manny, it was a lot classier than its predecessor and very popular with the locals. There was also a new French restaurant, Café Des Amis,that Manny insisted she try while she was in town, claiming they made the world’s greatest coq au vin. “Pretty sure that dish is the culprit for this ever-widening waistline.”
“What waistline?” Ella asked, much to the man’s amusement.
“Still the same sweet Ella. You’re an excellent liar.”
They were laughing as Manny pulled into the driveway of the Millholland House. Edith had run the boarding house for years.
“She stopped renting out rooms a while back. She decided that seventy-five was a good age to retire,” Manny explained.
“Seventy-five, huh?”
“Yeah. Not that it’s slowed her down a bit.”
“I thought you said she had a boarder in October?” Ella asked, as they got out the car, walking toward the trunk. Manny grabbed her suitcase for her.
“That was a special situation. Theo Storm had hired a new event coordinator for Stormy Weather Farm, and she was having trouble finding a place to live. Edith agreed to rent her a room. Which was probably one of the best offers she ever made, because Edith and Gretchen, despite the significant difference in their ages, have become close friends.”
Ella had been silently holding her breath the entire journey from Dulles Airport to Gracemont, waiting for the Storm name to drop. She was surprised it had taken this long, given how large the Storm family was.