Authors: Jean Joachim
“She’s here?” Cara applied lipstick.
“Yep.”
“Partner?”
“
Gonna
ask
Jake. Think that’s a good idea?”
Cara turned to face her. “That’s a
great idea. He needs to know how to sing and dance. He’s got the singing down,
now the dancing!”
“
Dorrie’ll
teach him.”
“You’ll teach him,
Pookie
.” Grace finished combing out Cara and scurried into
the wings to take her seat and watch the play for what seemed like the
millionth time.
Never get tired of watching
her act and getting a ton of applause. Not so bad watching Jake, either. He’s
really good.
She sat back in her folding chair with her bottle of water and
turned her gaze to the stage.
When the show was over, Grace hung
back, waiting to talk to Jake. As he came down the hall, she grabbed his arm. “Hey…”
“Hey.” He cocked an eyebrow.
“Something that can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“Uh, yeah. Sort of. A friend of mine
is teaching ballroom dancing here for a few weeks and wants me to take the
class. I used to dance. And I need a partner…how about you?” The words came out
in a rush.
“Wait a minute. You want me to take
dance lessons with your friend?””
“Not ballet or anything. Ballroom.”
“You want me to be your partner in a
ballroom dance class?”
“Yep. Cara says if you want to be a
good actor, you have to know how to sing and dance. Since you already have the
singing nailed…”
A slow grin spread over his face.
“Hmm, getting close to you for an hour? Count me in.”
She jumped up and down. “Great!
Dorrie
will be thrilled.”
Are you the nicest man on Earth?
“See you tomorrow at eleven.” He
leaned over for a quick kiss goodbye and was gone in a flash.
Cara peeked out. “Well?”
“He said ‘yes’!”
The Brewster sisters linked arms and
laughed their way down the hall and into Bobby’s waiting limousine.
*
* * *
It was unusually warm for a day in
January as Grace and Jake strolled through Central Park on their way to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Grace read from some pages she had printed out. “Where
do you want to start, paintings, sculpture, armor, Egyptian mummy stuff,
furniture?”
“You pick.”
“I don’t know what you’re interested
in.”
“’Bout time you found out…” He
grinned at her, and her insides melted.
Why
do I like him so much?
He laced his fingers with hers.
“Let’s just wander around.”
“Okay.” His grip was strong, warming
her small gloveless hand. The sun brightened up the bare, gray tree limbs whose
color matched the gray path winding through the park. It wasn’t long before
they spotted the back of the museum, rising majestically on the Fifth Avenue
side. The huge, slanting wall of glass was unmistakable.
“Holy crap! That’s one big museum,”
Jake said. He stopped and pulled her in close as he wrapped his arm around her
shoulders.
After entering and obtaining two
maps of the imposing structure, they spent most of the morning trying to find
their way around and getting lost repeatedly. A quick game of hide ’n seek
among the tombs of Egypt had Grace giggling and the other patrons shooting them
nasty looks.
Jake treated Gracie to lunch in the
cafeteria then they returned to the West Side. As they wended their way home on
the twisty path, Grace brought out a small bag of peanuts in shells and stopped
a few times to feed hungry gray squirrels. Jake rifled a few to the more timid
squirrels, who hung back in the safety of large tree trunks.
As they neared the entrance to
Central Park West, he drew her to him and planted a kiss on her lips. “Thank
you for today.”
“But we spent most of the time
getting lost and didn’t see much.”
“Yeah, but now we know where some
stuff is and can come back.”
“Tomorrow morning the dancing
begins.”
“Then let’s come back the day
after…oops, no, I have a matinée. Thursday?”
“You’re on.”
He walked her to her building, bowed
a discreet goodbye, and proceeded to his own small apartment. Grace couldn’t
stop smiling.
Best date in years…maybe
ever.
She was humming as she entered.
Cara stopped to stare. “You’re in a
good mood.”
“Fun at the Met.”
“Oh, right. Date with Jake. See?
Told you he’d be good for you.”
“Know-it-all!” Gracie tossed a throw
pillow at her sister.
“Don’t start a fight you can’t
finish,” Cara said, a smile stealing over her face. “Come with me. Time to pick
up Sarah.”
“You go. I’m
kinda
tired.” Grace retreated to her room and closed the door. Lying on her bed, she
thought about her life.
Jake’s changed.
He’s not that drunken, grabby guy he was. What happened? Maybe I didn’t know
him. I don’t want to like him, but I do. What will I do if he finds out who I
really am…what I’ve done?
She shuddered as a feeling of
sadness pushed out her warm ones from their date.
Once he finds out, it’ll be all over.
Depression at the thought of
losing his affection weighed her down. She closed her eyes to shut out the
sense of loss she was dreading and fell asleep.
* * * *
A week later, Grace returned from
her dance lesson with Jake. They had worked on the Viennese Waltz. Gliding
across the floor in Jake’s arms had been heaven. She had given up building a
wall around her heart and began to let him in little by little. Then Cara
dropped a bomb.
“You don’t need to stay after the
show tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Gunther Quill is in town for a
couple of days. He’s stopping by to talk about a new movie he’s producing.”
Grace dropped a dish that she was
carrying into the kitchen. It shattered on the floor. “Gunther Quill?”
“Gracie! Are you hurt?” The two
women stooped down to clean up the broken china.
“I’m fine.” But the fluttering in
her stomach belied her statement.
He’s
going to be at the theater?
Queasiness filled her and she ran to throw up.
“Are you sick?” Cara asked, standing
in the doorway of Grace’s room.
She shook her head.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Grace
shot a hostile look at her sister. “Whew! Good. Maybe you ate something bad.”
“I’ll be okay, Cara. Give me a minute.”
Grace closed the door and willed away her tears. Her legs wobbled like
Jell-O
, forcing her to sink down on the
bed.
I can do this. I will do this. I won’t
fall apart. What happened, happened, it’s over. Done. Moving on. No one knows,
and I have to keep it that way.
Within an hour, the women were in
the car, and Bobby was winding the vehicle through a snarl of rush hour
traffic, transporting them to the theater. Gracie forced her hand to stop
shaking so she could help Cara apply her makeup.
As she was walking to the
refrigerator to get juice, Jake grabbed her arm and pulled her into his
dressing room. “You look good.”
“In a T-shirt and jeans?”
“Yeah.” The glow in his eyes lit a
small fire inside her. “We need to practice our waltz.”
“I know.
Dorrie
has open time early in the morning.”
“Early? Hard to rise early when I
don’t get home until eleven. How early?”
“Maybe seven?”
“Ouch!”
“Try it. Maybe on Monday?”
“My day off?”
“You want to be good, don’t you?”
“I want to be great. I want us to
win.” He eased her closer, resting his hands on her waist. “Wish me luck
tonight?”
“I wish you luck every night.” She
stood on tiptoe and kissed him. He pulled her up against him for a passionate
kiss then angled his head to deepen it. Gracie couldn’t breathe, her heart rate
jumped, and heat traveled through her.
When she regained her senses, she
pushed away gently. “Hey, save it for the audience.” But her breath was ragged,
and her face was flushed.
“You’re beautiful when you’ve been well-kissed,”
he whispered. Grace reached up and touched his cheek with a finger then her
palm.
Would you be so sweet if you knew
who I really am and what I’ve done?
“Grab pizza with me tonight?”
She nodded then glanced at her
watch. “Break a leg. Almost curtain time.”
Jake took a deep breath and shot her
an easy grin before he strode out the door and into the wings. Grace took her
usual chair and focused on the play, trying to forget that her nemesis, Gunther
Quill, would be backstage after the show.
Two
curtain calls. Not bad for a Thursday.
Gracie stood ready with a bottle of
water for Cara. Jake disappeared on the other side.
“What time is it?”
Grace glanced at her watch. “Ten
fifteen.”
“Oh, God, Gunther is probably
already here!” Cara rushed down the corridor to her dressing room. Grace heard
the familiar voice as soon as Cara opened the door.
“Give me a minute to change…” Cara said,
leaving Gunther in the hall.
He peered at Grace like a mountain
lion that has spotted an unsuspecting rabbit. She could see his eyes glow, even
as she started to back up. “No problem, Cara. Take your time. I have all
night.”
The gleam of his white teeth visible
in his mirthless smile gave her the chills. She retreated until she found
herself on the empty stage. Crew members had scattered to return to their
homes. It was deserted and quiet.
Gunther advanced toward her. “Well,
well. Ms. Grace Brewster. You’re looking very tempting tonight. I see a bare
table…” With the grace of a panther, he moved nearer quickly. Grace froze, like
a deer in the headlights. “If you could bend over it, we could renew our
acquaintance.”
Her mouth was as dry as cotton, her
heart beat out of her chest. Gracie shook her head.
“Why not? I can relieve your tension…in
no time at all. A few thrusts and you’ll be screaming my name.”
Grace stepped back, but there was no
place to go and no one around. As he inched closer to her, she found her
tongue. “Go away, Gunther.” She held up one hand.
“Don’t be like that. You’re a tasty
morsel, my dear. I’m just coming back for seconds.” He continued to move toward
her, his strides becoming longer as he closed the gap between them.
“Get away from me.” She tried to add
conviction to her shaking voice.
“I don’t like to take ‘no’ for an
answer.” As soon as he was within five feet, he lunged at her, grabbing her
upper arms in a vise-like grip. She struggled, trying to pull away, but he held
fast. She squirmed, turning her face to escape his mouth, until she heard a
familiar voice.
“Grace! Grace! Gracie, where are
you?” Jake walked onto the stage and stopped cold. His face clouded over. “What
are you doing, Gunther?”
“Trying to make love to this little
bit, but she’s playing hard to get.”
“Get
offa
me!” Gracie said, twisting in his grip.
“Let her go!” Jake hollered,
crossing to them in three long strides. As he approached, Gunther dropped his
hands. Grace rubbed the place where his grip had been cutting off her
circulation.
“Fine, fine. She wants to play
little miss virgin…but she didn’t before. No, this tasty girl came willingly
into my arms in LA. Didn’t you, Grace, dear? Maybe now you’re playing with
Jake, instead, eh?”
Gracie shrunk back, horrified. Jake
looked at her, his eyes hard. “Is that true?”
She stood silently, her feet riveted
to the floor, unwilling to lie to Jake, but unable to admit the truth. Jake put
his hands on her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Gracie?” She nodded
once. The look of surprise and disappointment on Jake’s face squeezed her heart
like a fist. He turned away from her toward Gunther, who stepped closer to
Grace.
“Leave her alone. ‘No’ means ‘no’.”
Jake insinuated himself between Grace and Gunther, facing the man.
Another voice joined them. “Gunther!
I’m ready now. Come, let’s powwow.” It was Cara, who wandered into the tense
scene.
Suddenly, Gunther’s hard,
challenging look melted away, replaced by a placid, accommodating expression.
“Ah, Cara. I’m coming.”
Cara’s frown increased when she
spied Grace cowering behind Jake. “What’s going on? Gunther, did you do
something to Gracie?”
“Just a little misunderstanding.
That’s all. No worries, Cara, darling. Let’s go.” Gunther placed his hand under
Cara’s elbow and steered her toward her dressing room.
“Gracie?” Cara called over her
shoulder.
“I’m fine. Go.” Grace waved her
sister on. When they were gone, Jake turned to face her. “Is what he said
true?” His voice was low, calm, and very serious.
I’m
losing him! But I can’t lie.
She nodded, blinking rapidly. He turned to
leave, but she grabbed his arm. “Wait! There’s more to it than that.”
“There usually is. Unless you’re
just a slut…” She stepped back as his words stung her like a thousand bees.
“But then if you were a slut, you’d have slept with me on that first date.
Slept with that sleazebag, but not me.” Jake shook his head slowly. “And he’s
engaged. Grace, who are you?”
“I made a mistake. He promised—” Emotion
choked her.
“Oh, he promised? You slept with him
as a payback? Whoa, lady. Slut it is!” He backed up.
“No, wait. It’s not like that…I…I…” Tears,
no longer contained, cascaded down her cheeks.
Don’t leave me.
She could see him soften a little. “Please don’t
leave. Please. Let me explain. I was stupid. He, he…please.” Sobbing into her
hands, Grace thought her heart would break until a pair of strong arms
enveloped her. Peeking up, she saw concern and questions in Jake’s eyes.