Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (14 page)

‘
Wow
,
how cool. We didn
’
t have anything like that back home.
’

‘
Life was different back then. It was safer and more family oriented. There was a lot less stress and mums cooked the nightly meal. Fast food chain outlets weren
’
t in every suburb like they are today. And while we
’
re on this topic
,
I
’
d like to know why the food you buy never looks like the pictures they show in their shops or on the television ads?
’

‘
Good question
,
perhaps there
’
s a story in it.
’

Grace laughed.
‘
Yeah
,
I can see the front page now and the law suit that follows.
’
She felt relaxed around him. This was an unfamiliar feeling for Grace on a date. She was usually a bucket of nerves as men often had a hidden agenda
,
like Jock.

‘
What
’
s with this Jock character?
’
Jake asked the moment Grace thought it.

Oh boy.
Her stomach began to do somersaults. How did she even begin to start with the saga of her date a couple of nights ago? She didn
’
t want to make a fellow countryman of Jake
’
s look like a total
,
utter
,
complete nightmare or the poor excuse of a man he was yet
,
sadly
,
it was the truth. She filled him in on the details of how it all came to pass and how during dinner he had asked her if she was on the pill and had she had an AIDS test.

‘
Wait
,
wait
,’
Jake held up his hands in horror.
‘
He what?
’

Grace placed her right hand on her heart and said
,
‘
I swear
,
as God is my witness
,
it
’
s exactly what happened.
’

‘
Oh
,
Grace
,
some men. What can I say? It makes it even harder for the rest of us to come across as normal when guys behave like freaks. You
’
ll think we
’
re all like him.
’
 

‘
I
’
ve been around long enough to know that
’
s not true. Finding the good ones is tough though. Unfortunately
,
there are more guys out there like Jock than people realise.
’

She explained how she had run from his clutches after he tried to squeeze her inside leg. She then kneed him in his nether region leaving him writhing on the ground with an audience applauding. Hence
,
she
’
d decided there would be no more blind dates in her future despite the guy
’
s glowing credentials.

‘
What is the likelihood of running into your blind date the night after you
’
ve had such a hellish experience? I
’
m ready to forget about the whole thing and I
’
m embarrassed I dragged you into this wretched mess
,’
Grace said.

‘
You didn
’
t drag me into it. I
’
m glad I was there to help. If there
’
s one thing I can
’
t tolerate
,
it
’
s those types of men thinking they can force themselves on a woman because she
’
s the weaker sex and can
’
t do anything about it.
’

Grace moved slightly away from Jake
,
raised her sunglasses and stared at him.

‘
Um
,
I meant
,
they think they can use their brute strength to get what they want. It
’
s wrong. Sorry
,
I don
’
t have the gift of words like you.
’

The journo picked at her lunch.

‘
Grace
,
from the story you told me I can
’
t imagine Jock would be your type. How
’
d you end up on this date?
’

‘
It was a favour for a friend.
’

‘
Okay. So
,
he
’
s ended up drunk the night after you humiliated him. You probably broke his heart.
’

‘
I doub
t
he has one
,’
she said.
‘
He
’
d also told me he wasn
’
t drinking because he was in training for a triathlon or some equalling gruelling and unnecessary pursuit for greatness.
’

‘
So
,
I
’
m guessing
,
he sat through dinner without drinking and the following day his ego was bruised so he went out and got hammered. What happened to his commitment not to drink?
’

‘
How do I know? The whole thing was weird. Can we move on
,
please?
’

‘
When someone behaves like that
,
man or woman
,
especially when they
’
re tanked
,
it
’
s not a good look. Plus
,
I wouldn
’
t see you two together. He wasn
’
t good looking
,
Grace.
’

‘
Are looks important? Isn
’
t it about inner beauty?
’

‘
Yes and no. Don
’
t be fooled into thinking looks aren
’
t important to a man
,’
Jake sighed.
‘
I have a big dose of foot in mouth today.
’

‘
So
,
what
’
s my type?
’

‘
Someone who would treat you as if you
’
re more precious than all the rubies in all the countries in the entire world
,’
he said.

Her shoulders dropped
,
her head titled and her mouth opened a little. Finally
,
she said
,
‘
Wow. I thought you weren
’
t a words person.
’
That was pure gold.

He grinned and threw a chip in his mouth.
‘
Serendipity occasionally shows up and drops the words into your heart. So
,
what
’
s the biggest story you
’
ve ever cracked?
’

‘
I
’
m not sure I
’
ve cracked it yet
,’
she said.

‘
I get the impression there
’
s something on the boil then?
’

Should I tell him?
Grace
’
s eyes glazed over as she hesitated to divulge information about The Voice and the potential for the biggest story of her career to date. She hadn
’
t had a chance to go through this morning
’
s package The Voice had given her so she didn
’
t know what to say about it.

Jake lent forward and said in a co-conspirator tone
,
‘
You can rely on me. I won
’
t tell anyone.
’

She smiled and felt she could trust him. She didn
’
t know why
,
perhaps it was because he was a private investigator and it was a pre-requisite to be good at keeping someone
’
s confidence. And technically
,
they had worked together so she knew he had integrity. Unexpectedly
,
she was telling him all about her meetings with The Voice and how she hadn
’
t quite figured anything out yet. Her gut instinct told her there was something fascinating between the lines and she was intrigued. She confessed she was leaning towards investigating Sleen to see if he
’
d been up to anything suspicious.

‘
So you were up early this morning? Ah
,
no wonder you were asleep when I called. You weren
’
t giving me a line last night about having a dawn appointment.
’

She could see the cogs turning over in his mind and the penny dropping.
‘
No
,
why would I lie to you?
’

‘
Girls can play the same games as guys. After our friendship in New York
,
I sensed you were honest. Then the whole Misty thing blew up and
,
well
,
another time
,
hey?
’

‘
She wasn
’
t honest
,
I
’
m guessing.
’

‘
Precisely.
’

‘
Does it still hurt?
’

‘
Not like it did. And it gave me the out I wanted. So
,
the potential for the story sounds exciting.
’

‘
In all these years
,
I haven
’
t experienced anything as clandestine as this
,
it
’
s fascinating. To be honest
,
it
’
s all a bit over the top
,’
she laughed.
‘
Who knows where it
’
ll lead?
’

‘
You don
’
t have any idea about this guy? Is there anything familiar about him?
‘

‘
No
,
I don
’
t know. He tells me I
’
ve worked with him on stories before
,’
she raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders.
‘
I
’
m sure he
’
ll call me again soon with more information. Although
,
if he doesn
’
t come through with the big reveal this week
,
I
’
m not sure how much more of this I can take. It
’
s a waiting game and patience is not one of my virtues.
’

  Grace noticed Jake fell quiet and contemplative. He stared at the small waves in the ocean and after a long time
,
turned to Grace and said
,
‘
I could help you.
’

‘
Yeah
,
how?
’

‘
When you have your next meeting with him
,
call me. I
’
ll follow you both and take some pictures. I
’
ll run his picture through the system and see if I can
’
t find a match. Then we should be able to find out his identity.
’

‘
I don
’
t want to involve you in something that could be a time waster. And won
’
t your company want to know what you
’
re doing with your days? I don
’
t want to throw a wetter than wet blanket on your idea but this guy dresses in a disguise.
’
She remembered he was here for a short time and it wouldn
’
t be long before he headed back to the US. Why have him involved in her life at all? The anxiety crept in and she had to keep it in check. She tried not to think about this teensy piece of information
,
although
,
it
’
d been a long time since Grace had felt this connected to someone
,
especially after the
‘
rubies
’
metaphor.