Authors: Jean Joachim
The next day, Grace dressed in a
wool skirt and sweater and set out to walk to Limoges. It was a warm day for
the end of March, and she turned her face up to the sun as she strolled down
Central Park West. Her heart beat slowed under the weight of her emotions. She
couldn’t let go of Jake. Stopping on a bench, she warred with herself whether
to text Jake or not.
He said something
about having a talk. So it’s okay to ask about that.
She typed out her message about
meeting, but her shaky hand hung back when it was time to press the send
button.
If he says no, then I’ll let it
go…let him go? I don’t know if I can. May have no choice.
She debated if
she could take a negative response from him or not. Was this the time, just
before meeting with Max to put herself out there? So many questions. Then she closed
her eyes and hit
send
before she
could chicken out.
I have to know. Have
to do this. Even if it’s bad.
Standing up on wobbly legs, Grace
continued on her walk. She could see Limoges through the trees. The sound of
the ding, alerting her to the arrival of a text, made her suck in air.
Yes. Want to talk.
Sunday afternoon?
She let out her breath and allowed a
small smile to stretch her lips.
There’s
hope!
Sunday’s good. What
time?
She stopped to wait until the sound
of a message arriving came again a few seconds later.
Dinner at seven? My
place or Panama?
Panama
had become their new favorite restaurant.
You pick.
Okay.
Here.
Order in Chinese?
Perfect.
How was she going to wait until
Sunday? A glance at her watch told her if she didn’t make tracks quickly, she’d
be late to meet Max.
Crap!
Picking up
the pace, Grace’s step had lightened a bit at the thought of meeting with Jake.
And if we’re at his place, maybe I can
seduce him into…Stop! Honest talk. Nothing more. Yeah, right.
Her smile got
bigger at the thought of being in his arms again.
Before she knew it, she was at the
front door of Limoges then being shown to Max Webster’s table.
* * * *
Quinn tried to give Jake advice
about Grace, but Susanna interrupted and told him to discount what her husband
said. Jake laughed but listened when Susanna sat him down.
“She’s coming over tonight?”
“Yeah. To talk.” He rested his palms
on his thighs.
“What are you going to say?”
“I don’t know. Haven’t heard from
her since the dance contest.”
“She’s probably waiting for you to
say something.”
“Great.” He hung his head.
“Do you love her? Sorry for being so
personal…”
“No, no, that’s all right. Yeah. I
do. Miss her like crazy. But the trust thing is a problem.”
“Can you tell her you need her to be
honest with you…all the time?”
“I can tell her but my saying and
her doing, well…” He joined and
unjoined
his fingers.
“How will I know for sure if she’s being honest?”
“You won’t.”
“See? That’s my dilemma. What if it
were about another guy? I’d go nuts.”
“Do you think she’d do that?”
He shook his head. “She’d never
two-time me.”
“You sound so sure.”
“She’s had chances. She knows…about
my past. That would be the end. It’d kill me.”
“If you’re so sure of that, then why
are you hesitating?”
“She says she was afraid to tell me,
but when it came out, I was madder than I’d have been if she’d told me. At
least I think I was.”
“She was afraid you’d be mad, and
then you were mad. What’s wrong here?”
“What?”
“She was right. You were mad, twice
as mad. Probably confirmed her decision not to tell you.”
“Never saw it like that.”
“Maybe it’s the way she saw it?”
“Thanks, Susanna.” Jake gave her a
hug and headed home, feeling stronger than he had for days.
Gracie, will you come back to me?
As he
walked, he wondered if his silence hadn’t hardened her resolve to leave him.
Stupid!
His palms began to sweat and the
collar of his shirt seemed to tighten.
Jake kept himself busy arranging for
singing and dancing lessons in addition to his evenings and matinée
performances. Sunday came soon enough. After the afternoon show, he raced home to
clean house. He ordered Grace’s favorite dishes from The
Yangtse
,
their local Chinese restaurant. Fried
dumplings, hot and sour soup, and crispy prawns with walnuts were on the way.
He took a shower and brushed his
teeth.
Sex? Tonight? Hope so, but maybe
not. Still should be prepared.
He checked the night stand for condoms.
His pulse kicked up at the idea of getting
her back in his bed.
It had already been too long. Jake was horny, itchy to
touch and kiss her.
Talk!
Gonna
talk first.
He tried to calm his libido,
but it was a struggle.
If she comes in
dressed sexy, it’s all over for me.
He laughed at his own weakness.
If I want her that much, does it mean I love
her? Or is it only lust? Maybe both.
He chuckled as he slapped on
Macho,
his favorite aftershave. He
stroked his cheek. He’d managed to shave it down to just the right length for
his stubble to be sexy but not annoying. Keeping it the right length was a
chore, but he was getting better at it.
Gracie
likes some growth on my face.
He smiled into the mirror.
Don’t hate me, baby.
The buzzer sounded as he was pulling
a T-shirt over his head. He pressed the buzzer and a serious set of nerves
kicked in. He was sweating, breathing heavy, and couldn’t stand still. All the
signs he was in love.
Ugh.
Gotta
be cool. Rational.
He opened the door. She looked up,
and their eyes locked. He saw fear, and his heart melted.
Don’t be afraid of me, Gracie. Please.
“Come in, Come in.”
She shed her coat, and he hung it on
a hook.
When she turned to face him, she was
wearing a big sweater that fell off one shoulder. It was midnight blue,
bringing out the color of her eyes. He could see her jiggle.
No bra.
He swallowed as his gaze slid
down her body, from the sweater to the tight, light blue jeans hugging her hips
and flaring at the bottom in a flattering boot cut style. His mouth went dry as
he mentally stripped her naked.
Stop!
Talk. Need to talk.
He took her hand and led her to the
little table that was his dining room.
“Dinner. All your favorites.” He
opened container after container. Tempting aromas of Chinese delicacies filled
the air. His stomach growled.
Feed one
appetite at a time. Talk!
Controlling his sex drive was going to be a
bigger problem than he anticipated.
How
can I ever forget making love to her? She’s so tempting.
“Thanks. I’m not very hungry.” Grace
put two dumplings on her plate and two shrimp.
“No soup? It’s so cold outside.”
“Yeah, but…I’m not hungry.” She
nibbled on her food, watching him chow down.
Then he opened a container of soup
and tasted it. “
Ow
, hot but good.”
“You okay?”
He nodded, touching his lip
gingerly.
I love it when she takes care
of me. Stop! Talk. Only talk. She talks. I listen.
“You wanted to talk,” she began,
picking up her dumpling with chopsticks.
“Yeah. I thought we should. I
mean…what happened. Seemed to blow us apart and…well…I don’t—” He stopped.
What should I say?
“Go on.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell me what you want. Do you want
to break up? Become only friends? Or stay together?” Her face paled as she
spoke. She was so white, he thought she’d faint.
“Are you all right, Grace? Do you
want to lie down? You’re awfully pale.”
“Lie down? Trying to get me into
bed?” Her eyes flashed.
“Of course not. I thought you were
going to pass out. Are you sick?”
Getting
you into bed would be heaven.
“I’m not sick. I…I was feeling a
little weak for a moment.”
“Maybe you need food.”
“I’m fine.”
“Glass of wine? I have your favorite
brand, Velvet Vineyards.”
“Trying to get me drunk so I’ll
sleep with you?” She cocked an eyebrow at him.
“What’s going on? These are innocent
remarks.”
“Trying to tell me you don’t want to
sleep with me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then you do want to sleep with me.”
“What happened to our talk?”
Helplessness overcame Jake. Nothing he said came out right.
“Do you want to sleep with me?”
“Of course. You know that.”
“Do I? Do I? I don’t hear from you for
a week and…” Grace broke down. She hid her face with her hands, but Jake saw
the wetness.
He was destroyed. He had made her
cry. In a heartbeat, he was beside her, taking her into his arms. “Don’t cry,
Gracie. Baby, don’t cry.”
“I don’t know what to think. I’m
confused,” she wailed.
“So am I.”
“You’re so cold, then you buy my
favorite foods and you’re so nice…what is it, nice or cold? Love or hate?”
He held her to him and stroked her
hair. Grace snaked her arms around his middle and hugged him, burying her face
in his chest, wetting his T-shirt with her tears.
“I don’t hate you, Gracie, honey. I
could never hate you.”
“But you don’t love me.”
“Can we try this talk again? Can we
talk about trust?”
“Okay. Trust.” Grace wiped her eyes
with her hand and sat back, easing away from Jake.
“Yeah. I trusted you, and now I’ve
lost a
lotta
that trust. I don’t know if you’re going
to hide stuff from me because you’re afraid it’ll make me mad.”
“I promise never to do that again.”
“Are you afraid when I get mad? Do I
scare you?”
She nodded. “But not afraid the way
you think. Afraid you’ll…stop…” She took a deep shuddering breath, “Stop loving
me.”
“Oh, baby,” he reached for her.
“Anger wouldn’t make me do that. Sure I was mad you, said nasty things. But
what got me was you didn’t trust me enough to tell me before. Then I had to be
humiliated in the press. Told in front of the world…something you should have
told me in private.”
“That was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“Did you see our pictures in
Celebs ’R Us?
And the newspapers?”
“They were awful. I’m so sorry,
Jake. I had no idea…I’ll never do that again.”
“Even if what you’re going to tell
me might make me mad?”
Her voice shook. “I’ll try. That’s
hard for me. I’m not good with anger.”
Jake reached out and took her hand.
“You’d never lie about…seeing another
man. Would you?”
“I’d never see anyone else while I’m
committed to you. Never. No matter what.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. That
idea had been nagging at the back of his mind all week, and he didn’t know how
to ask. The words simply tumbled out as they often did with Jake. This time he
didn’t make a mess of it, but managed to speak from his heart. “And I’m sorry,
too.”
“For what?”
“For treating you so badly…for
making you so mad at me, that you…you…did that.”
He offered her his handkerchief. She
wiped her face then took a bite of her dumpling. “I overreacted.”
“I had it coming.” He hung his head.
Grace cupped his cheek then kissed it. He took the opportunity to brush her
lips with his.
“Maybe we should start again. We
rushed into living together.”
“That was your idea.” She finished
her dumpling.
“I know. Still. Could we date?”
Come on, Gracie. Don’t leave me.
Grace hesitated. She took a deep
breath and looked him squarely in the eye before she spoke. “I don’t want to be
without you. There, I’ve said it. I’ll go back to dating, if it means we can be
together.”
Jake scooped her into his arms and
kissed her passionately. “I love you, Gracie,” he whispered. “I want us to be
together.”
Color suffused her pale face, and a
smile stretched her lips. “Could you put some of that shrimp and rice on my
plate. Guess I’m hungry after all.” They ate in silence, eyeing each other
hungrily while they shoveled in the delicious food. Gracie smiled. “Did you see
the whole review of your new movie?”
“Yours? You mean the Movie Maven’s?”
“Uh huh.”
“I did. It was awesome. Thank you.”
“I loved the movie. First nice
review Tiffany agreed to print. I’m done with the Movie Maven, by the way.”
“Good.” He finished the container of
hot and sour soup.
“Did you see the piece Tiffany put
in her gossip column about Gunther?”
He shook his head.
“
Here.
I’ve got it right here.” She handed Jake the piece cut from the magazine
To a certain producer.
We know what you’re up to. No more mistreatment of young women. Or we will out
you. Right here. Trust me, we mean it. You know who you are.
“Do
you think it’ll stop him?”
She
shrugged. “I don’t know. No more time for dumb Movie Maven stuff anyway.” She
took a mouthful of the shrimp and rice. He raised his eyebrows in a questioning
glance. She smiled mysteriously at him. “Max Webster bought my screenplay.”
Jake
jumped up from the table. “He did? Wow! Fantastic!”
“He’s
sending the contract over tomorrow. I’ve got to go to L. A. for script meetings.
He says we have to change a bunch of stuff, and I’ve got to be there.”