Page 37 of Holding Grace

She took it with a question in her eyes.

“You looked cold,” I explained. She watched as I bumped the heat up a little on the dash, then slowly folded the sweatshirt around herself.

“I am,” she said quietly. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing.” I glanced over at her again. She seemed off. “Everything alright, Grace?”

“Yes.” She looked at me, then away. “Yes, I’m...”

The sound of chimes filled the space, cutting off whatever she’d been about to say. She bent and reached for her bag on the front floorboard.

“Sorry, that’s my phone. It must be Mercy.” She stopped, frowning as she looked at the screen. “It’s not Mercy, it’s Vanessa.”

Vanessa? “From Barney’s diner?”

Grace nodded in response as she tapped to connect the call and held the phone to her ear. “Vanessa?”

She listened for a few seconds, her frown deepening.

“He said what? Wait a minute. I’m with Michael. I’m going to put you on speaker.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and tapped again. “Okay, you’re on speaker, Vanessa.”

“Okay. So, like I was saying, Travis, that bartender from down at Cameo, stopped in a little bit ago. He was all casual, ordered a black coffee and a piece of cake to go, which is just weird. Then as I’m ringing him up, he tells me real quietly that some guy was asking about you at the bar earlier tonight.”

The skin on the back of my neck prickled as Grace stilled, her hand squeezing tight on the phone.

“Did he say what the guy wanted?” Grace’s voice was as tight as her grip.

“To see if anybody knew you, knew where you were, that kind of thing. Travis told him you used to live here but lied and said you took off for California a few weeks ago. Travis said the guy didn’t seem to know you’d worked here at the diner, and he didn’t tell him. He thought I might know how to reach you so that’s why he came to tell me. He also told me to wait until I got home to call you in case the guy was watching, which creeped me right the fuck out. I didn’t see anybody hanging around, though.”

“Did he say what the guy looked like?” I interjected.

“He said about his height, brown hair, kinda shaggy, and he was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans. That’s it.”

“Did Travis say anything else?”

I wanted to touch Grace, hold her hand, but I didn’t know if that would make things better or worse.

“No, that’s it. Girl, I don’t know what this is about but if anybody comes asking, I’m going to stick to Travis’ story. As far as I know, you were headed for the land of sunshine and celebrities when you left here. You stay safe, okay?”

“You, too,” Grace urged. “Thank you, Vanessa.”

“Of course. I know you’d do the same.”

Grace disconnected and sat staring through the windshield.

“Does that description sound like Seth or Ellis? I know Ellis should still be locked up.”

Grace took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “It could be Seth. Ellis keeps his hair buzzed super short, almost shaved, and nearly always wears black. Both are about the same height and build as Travis, but of the two, it sounds more like Seth.”

Her voice was flat, almost monotone. She seemed disconnected somehow.

“Are you okay?”

Her eyebrows crinkled together. “It’s just so weird to know they’re truly trying to find me.” Finally, she looked at me. “I’ve never known for sure but this...I can’t dismiss this as just some bar customer who wants to hit on me or some guy in a grocery store who maybe looks like Seth. Even that phone call when I lived here before – I told myself Ellis was just bluffing, or he or Seth would have shown up on my doorstep. But this time, they did – or someone did anyway. They had to have known somehow that I’d lived above Cameo. If I’d stayed...”

Grace drew a shaky breath, and it was all I could do not to haul her over the console into my lap.

“I know, but you didn’t. You’re here now.” She looked down at her hands wordlessly, and the realization hit me. “Don’t take off, Grace. I know you’re scared right now. Even if they do show up here – which they haven’t – I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

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