Read Online Finding Grace by Becky Citra - Free Book Online Page A

girl in a maid’s uniform whisks the tray away.
    I gulp the cake down in three bites and lick the sticky bits off my fingers. I check out the small gift shop next. It’s beside the reception desk and is filled with neat stuff like glass ornaments, perfume, soap, boxes of chocolates and fudge, postcards, books, and even a rack of bathing suits.
    â€œCan I help you find something?” asks a woman with red hair. She has pink glasses, which I admire immensely. If I had glasses, I would get a crazy color too, instead of the boring old glasses that most people have.
    I touch the dollar bill in my pocket and then shake my head. I can taste that marshmallow fudge melting in my mouth, but who knows when I’ll have a whole dollar again? “No, thank you.”
    I head outside. Puddles dot the pavement in front of the hotel, but the sun is shining through the clouds and there are patches of blue sky. “Enough blue sky to make a Dutchman a pair of pants,” I say, thinking of Granny.
    I cross the road and stand in front of a low stone wall that runs along the lake. A couple that I bet anything are newlyweds are taking pictures of each other and giggling a lot. They take breaks to smooch! An older lady with a baby stroller walks past and smiles at me. Two kids race by on bicycles.
    The lake is huge and gray, like the ocean. I can see an island and, way in the distance, the peaks of mountains. A motorboat cuts across the water, leaving two frothy lines of wake behind it. It slows down and glides up to the side of a long red dock that juts out into the lake. Three kids wearing bright orange life jackets climb out, shouting at each other and laughing. They look like they’re having so much fun.
    It’s really beautiful. I wish Mom were out here too, looking at everything instead of lying in that dark room feeling sad.
    I turn around and gaze back at the hotel. As far as I can tell, the hotel is at the end of the road. If you keep going past it, there’s a big hillside covered in forest. A path disappears around a bend. I’ll see what’s along there later. Right now I want to go in the other direction and see the village.
    The road into the village runs right beside the lake. There’s the stone wall, a path, and the lake on one side of the road and buildings on the other. There are way more people than I expected out walking around. They look like tourists. You can tell because they’re taking their time and they’re chatting or licking ice-cream cones or taking pictures. I pass a store called Inkman’s, a store called The Red and White, and a couple of cafés. There’s an empty lot where some kids are playing baseball, a big white building with flowers at the front, a place with little brown bungalows all exactly the same, and a No Vacancy sign. The whole time, I’m looking for Grace, but I don’t see her.
    In hardly any time at all, I end up at a gravelly beach, which is pretty much the end of the village. At least it is as far as I can go.
    Three boys partway down the beach are standing around a pile of boards and arguing in loud voices. I stay away from them and walk across the gravel to the edge of the water. I pick up a smooth round stone and hurl it as far as I can. My stomach feels like it’s full of fluttering birds. How am I ever going to find Grace?
    I take my running shoes and socks off and wade in the water. I can’t get very far past my ankles because it’s so icy cold.
    The sun has disappeared and the sky has filled up with black clouds. A cold wind is blowing right through my T-shirt. Weather sure changes fast around here. A few raindrops sting my cheeks.
    I should be thinking about Grace, but instead I think about the fire in the hotel lounge, the squishy armchairs, and my book. Looking for Grace isn’t going to be as simple as I thought. I’m starting to shiver and the thought of going back to the hotel is getting better and