Chapter 1

Grace

Sold.

Her house. Their house was sold.

And the worst part was she didn't know how to get it back.

It took one look to her best friend, with tears rolling down her cheeks to know that she would get that house back.

"Grace." Frankie sobbed.

Her heart stopped. Why was she just sitting here doing nothing? Frankie leaned her head on Grace's shoulder. She could feel her own tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'll get it back. I will. I promise." She choked out.

Grace felt the hitch in Frankie's breath. She looked at Frankie as she slowly lifted her head up iff her shoulder. She immediately felt cold. She expected Frankie to say something. Anything. But she wouldn't even make eye contact with her. Looking anywhere but at Grace.

"I-I'm going to call someone. I'll be right back."

She slowly rose from her chair and made her way down towards the water. It was better if Frankie didn't know who she was calling. That's what she old herself. As soon as she took her shoes off and the cool water washed up onto her feet, she let the tears fall. I'm so confused. How could this happen? How could I have stopped this? How could I have been so stupid? She picked up her phone and pressed the home button. The lock screen picture was of her grandkids. More like zoomed in on her grandkids. The original picture was of Mallory, Brianna, Coyote, Bud and all off their other "clan members". Everytime she looked at the photo it made her sick. Everything except the grandkids. A picture of her grandchildren was respectable, right? But her home screen, protected by her password that not even Frankie knows, was all hers. A perfect moment captured forever that she could gaze upon everyday. It was a picture of her and Frankie, sitting on the beach chairs at a family get together. Maddy had just gotten a new IPod and was eager to take a picture of everything she could get her hands on. She just happened to get a picture of Frankie smashing a s'more into Grace's mouth. Grace had her eyes closed and her part of the picture was blurry, but Frankie. She was smiling her beautiful smile and it was as if she was glowing. She could look at it for hours on end. But right now she couldn't Call. Get it over with. He'll understand. She pressed the button for Nick.

"Grace!" He exclaimed.

"Hi Nick."

"Oh my gosh, I-I missed hearing your voice! I actually have something to tel;-"

"Nick, the kids sold the house." She tried hard to hold back a sob

Silence.

"Fra-Frankie and I left Walden Villas. The kids tricked us… I-I don't know how to explain it without sounding crazy I-"

"Grace, I believe you."

"Yo-You do?" She sobbed.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk. Can we meet tomorrow for lunch?"

"I would like that."

She made arrangements and hung up. This is a good starting point. It'll be ok. She still had no idea what to do about Frankie. What would she tell her? That things will work out? No, they needed to take baby steps. She walked back up to Frankie, whose face was red and still had tears running down it. She was nervously braiding her hair, but when she saw grace quickly undid it and sniffed and wiped her eyes. She stood up and walked over to Grace.

"Did you um… get anything?" She asked quietly.

"I'm working on it. What stuff do you have on you? I have my wallet and my phone."

"I um… I have an old debit card, let's see… not expired. I'll check the balance."

"That's ok. We're going to the store."

"Wait Grace… why are we going to the store."

"To get the bare necessities, because we are staying at a hotel. Because our kids are little shits who tried to trick us. Keep up, Frances."

She meant to make the mood lighter, but it just seem to make Frankie more sad. She turned away and Grace heard her sniffle.

"Oh, no Frankie I didn't mean-"

"Oh, yes you did. Sorry for asking." She said looking into Grace's eyes.

Grace took time to look at Frankie in this moment. To really look at her. She looked exhausted. THere were dark circles under her eyes, and her frown lines were more visible. Grace suspected she looked the same. She reached out to grab Frankie's and, but she had already grabbed her phone to call an Uber. Grace waited until she was finished.

"They'll be here in 8 minutes," She said quietly, "Sit down… your knee."

Instead of defending herself, she just sat down.

"Grace… for Frig's sake get up! Our driver is here."

Grace woke with a start. How the hell did I fall asleep? She looked for Frankie, but she was already walking up the steps to the road. She followed her into the car.

"Where to ladies?" The driver said.

"Um… the nearest Macy's please." Grace said.

She reached for Frankie's hand, something that happened a lot these days. When the gesture wasn't returned, she realized Frankie had her head leaned against the window, and her breathing was slow. She had fallen asleep. She grasped on her hand anyway, and ran her thumb back and forth. It was comforting, she realized. Just to be connected.

They reached Macy's soon enough, she gently nudged Frankie awake and she groggily climbed out of the car.

"Meet me back here in half an hour. Bare necessities. Two or three outfits at the most." Grace said, lacking any form of firmness in her voice.

She waited for a reply, none came. Frankie was already halfway down the aisle. Grace sighed and moved to her section. Two shirts, Two pairs of jeans, A bra and underwear were in her cart in 15 minutes. 15 more minutes. 15 more minutes until step 2… a hotel. She grabbed makeup and toiletries and she stopped to get some food as well. She checked out and waited for Frankie.

"Grace… over here. Uber's here." Frankie called to her from across the parking lot.

She hurried to the car, put the stuff in the seat beside them. Once they reached to hotel, she put all the things on a luggage cart and checked in. Once they were up to their room, she took the bed closest to the bathroom, and started putting her stuff in the closet. After she and Frankie put everything away, Frankie started mindlessly flipping through channels.

"I'll go back tomorrow. I'm going to break the lease. Step 3." She said.

"Oh… so there's an instruction manual to this situation."

She would've chuckled. But she was too tired.