Read The Name of the Game for Free Online

appeased.
    Thankfully they relented, leaving her alone. Gracie took a deep breath and blew it out. She opened her purse and scrounged around for her makeup bag. She’d freshen up and put on her best smile. Even if it killed her she’d be on her best behavior and as warm as she could be with James. Once she got home, this odd unrest she felt about him would flitter away in the Revival wind. She’d bake her favorite salted caramel cupcakes and all would be right with the world.
    She pushed her phone out of the way, and when it illuminated she saw she had a text from her brother.
    She unlocked the screen and swiped the icons until she read the text message from Sam, who’d stayed back home an extra day to take care of his bar. You okay?
    She smiled and some of the pressure in her chest eased. I’m fine .
    A second later the phone rang and she shook her head, laughing. “I’m fine!”
    â€œWhat happened?” Sam had a gift , as their momma used to call it, of sensing trouble. Being thicker than thieves, and still living together in the house their mom had left them, he had the annoying habit of knowing when she was distressed.
    Gracie sighed. She could deny it, but there wasn’t any point. Sam would guess anyway. “Nothing. I had a run-in with the professor and now everyone is mad at me. I’m hiding out in the bathroom.”
    â€œWhat’d you do?” Sam’s amusement carried over the line.
    She expelled a long breath, feeling lighter and more centered with every second she talked to him. She didn’t understand how it worked, but Sam sometimes seemed to shift a person’s emotions; a trait that served him well as the owner of a bar. He’d defused many bar fights without even raising his voice.
    A chuckle bubbled up inside her for no particular reason. “Why do you think I did anything?”
    â€œHistory.”
    â€œI might have been a little bitchy,” she admitted. Sam wouldn’t judge her. He was her family. The only family she had, and they stuck together.
    â€œYou need to stop this, Grace,” he said, sounding like their mother.
    â€œYeah, yeah, I know. I promise I’ll be nice.”
    â€œGood. I’ll be there tomorrow so you won’t be alone.”
    She blinked back the sudden swell of tears as he pinpointed in thirty seconds why she was distressed. She did feel alone. In the bedroom, as she’d gotten ready with Maddie and Cecilia, she’d managed to forget, but the incident with James brought it all back. She felt out of step with them.
    She took a shaky breath. “I hate you.”
    Sam chuckled in that lazy way he had. “Everyone does. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    The idea of seeing him soothed her. “Thanks.”
    She hung up and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were stained with pink, her eyes a bit too bright, but other than that she appeared her regular old self.
    It was time to face the music and eat some crow.
    Even if it was like glass going down.
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    The trendy hotspot was packed, the din of the crowd an octave over reasonable. As Gracie walked through the restaurant on her way to the bar, where everyone was waiting, the energy crackled around her. Chicago had an electricity that couldn’t be matched in Revival, where everything was lazy and serene and everyone knew everyone. In Revival, she couldn’t sneeze without the whole town taking notice, but here, in this vast city with its skyscrapers and endless lakefront, a person could get lost. As much as she loved the small, cozy town she called home, at times the thought appealed to her.
    A million years ago she’d dreamed of leaving Revival and moving to the big city, but then her mom had gotten sick with the cancer that would eventually take her life and Gracie couldn’t bear to leave. After her mom died, Gracie hadn’t wanted to leave Sam alone, and eventually the dreams faded until they were