Going Solo: Grace Gen 4.4

"I gotcha." His voice was deep and his smile was friendly. Friendly smiles meant trouble. He was touching me. His hands lingered on my waist. He was too close.

"Let go!"

I pushed him away. I needed to go, this whole thing was a bad idea. I should have never listened to Mom. The guy stepped closer, frowning at me. He was going to hurt me. I put my hands up, backing away only to trip again and this time I landed flat on my butt.

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to spook you," he said.

Again he stepped closer, putting his hand out towards me. I sat on the ground frozen, people were staring. People...for the first time I was grateful others were around. He couldn't hurt me with people around.

"Grace?"

I turned to see Mom running towards me. When she was within reach, I stood grabbing onto her tightly. I felt like that scared teen again when she or Dad would have to comfort me after having a nightmare.

" I'm sorry, I was only trying to help," the man explained.

"What happened?" Mom asked.

"She tripped and was about to fall, I caught her. Then she pushed me and stumbled back in the process," he answered.

I kept my face buried in Mom's shoulder, hiding my tears. I was so embarrassed. He was right, he'd only been trying to help and I over reacted.

"Mom I'm going to go home. I...I can't do the meeting. Can you just tell the guy, Mr. Solo that I can't today?"

I kept my back to the stranger, too ashamed to face him or to acknowledge any of the stares I'm sure I was getting.

Mom smiled and wiped the stray tears from my cheeks. "You can tell him yourself honey." She turned me to face the guy.

"Jonas Solo, it's a pleasure to meet you."

He put his hand out, giving me another friendly smile. I felt my face heat up with renewed embarrassment. When Mom told me I was meeting with the owner, I expected an older guy. The grandfatherly type. The person standing in front of me was anything but that. Not wanting to appear any ruder than I already had, I shook his outstretched hand.

"Um...Gr...Grace Gruber. Uh, nice to meet you and so...sorry about..."

He put his hand up to stop me. "No harm done."

I was totally embarrassed and just wanted to go home. Mr. Solo was understanding and said we could reschedule, but Mom insisted we should just continue as planned since we were already there. Begrudgingly, I followed Mr. Solo and Mom into the building to his office. Half hour later I was contracted to bring in my harvest and I would be paid by the pound for what I brought in. I didn't really care about pricing, and let Mom do most of the talking. I was just ready to get out of there since he kept smiling at me. I said my goodbyes to Mom and promised to come over later in the week for dinner.

The incident with Jonas rattled me so Vor and I stayed at the house for a few days. I just needed time to get my bearings back. A few weeks later, I was just getting back into the swing of things. Vor and I headed out to do some early morning fishing. The sound of his barking broke through the quiet peacefulness. I turned to see him in a protective stance and the store owner standing with his hands up.

"Mind calling him off?" Jonas asked.

"Wh...what do you want? Are you following me?"

Jonas attempted to take a step forward but stopped when Vor growled and barked more. There was no one around, and I had to walk past him to get to my truck. I was trapped, alone in a secluded place.

"Can you tell him to stop doing that? I mean you no harm. I promise."

"Vormund, come!" He instantly obeyed the command, coming to sit at my feet. Jonas visibly relaxed. "I...I have to go."

I started to walk off, taking a wide path around him. I was thankful for Vor's presence. I felt some sense of protection having him by my side.

"Don't leave. I'm sorry for scaring you."

I kept walking, hoping he'd just stop talking. I let out a yelp when he appeared in front of me. Vor starting barking again.

"Look, I'm sorry. I...I've been trying to work up the nerve to call you. I am not following you, I swear. I do this." He waved his arms around the garden. "I'm a fairy, we're good with plants so...I set this place up. My family owns the land. I normally come at night and heal any of the plants that look like they are dying. I hadn't been in a few days so decided to stop by this morning. So seeing you here, this morning, was a pleasant surprise but total coincidence."

I frowned and tried to keep walking. I wanted away. I needed away. Vormund picked up on my anxiety and started growling again. I'd been coming here for years, surely I'd remember seeing this fairy floating about. Although he said night...I am never out after dark. So it was possible, but still something felt off. Either way I just wanted to get home.

"I...I don't know what you want, but please leave me alone."

He thankfully didn't follow me to my truck and it took all I had not to run to get there. My hands were shaking making it harder to get the key in the ignition. I turned it. It didn't start. I tried again. Still it didn't start. NO! NO! NO! Stupid thing picked now of all times to act up again. I pounded the steering wheel with my fists. I looked up to see Jonas approaching. I locked the door. Jonas got in his car, but didn't leave. A few moments later my phone buzzed.

Need a lift?

It took me a minute to figure out how he had my number. That stupid contract. It had my address as well. What if he came to the house? That thought really terrified me. No, he had weeks to do that if he was going to. Stop over reacting. I looked over to see him smiling at me. I shook my head no.

Are you sure? It's no trouble.

My hands were shaking so bad, I could hardly type. I would not make the same mistake twice. I would not be getting into the car with him.

I'm fine. You can leave.

 You seem upset and I don't feel right leaving you stranded.

I'll call a tow, or my dad, or something. It's fine.

Then I'll sit here, in my car, until someone arrives to help.

I looked over at him again, and again he gave me a friendly smile.

**A/N**

So while I was getting Jonas and Grace posed I looked over to see this:

That old man had a death wish hitting on Cora, but she turned him down!!! She still only has eyes for Davis which is a good thing.