Page 94 of Perfect Harmony

“You too. I heard you’re dating thathandsome dentist from Willington.”

“I am. Connor’s great,” Kira said. “Hey,do you have the number for Rayna Abrams? I want to invite her to Grace’s birthdayparty.”

“I do,” Wanda said. “Why don’t I grab itfor you now.”

“That would be awesome.” Kira waved at Gideon.“See you, bud.”

“Bye, Kira.”

He leaned back in his chair as Wanda andKira left his office. He wanted to text Gracie, wanted to see how she was doingand if she needed him.

She doesn’t need you. You’ve made itperfectly clear that she can’t need you. Not in the way she wants.

He closed his eyes and rubbed at hisforehead. Grace would be gone when he got home, and he needed to accept it.

* * *

Grace sat cross-legged on the bed in Gideon’sguest room and hit the answer button on her phone. She held the phone in frontof her face as Addison’s sweet face filled the screen. “Addie, hi!”

“Hi, Gracie!” Addison said. “Why didn’tyou tell me there was a fire at your place? I had to find out from Daniel.”

“Because I’m perfectly fine and I didn’t wantto bother you,” Grace said. “You’ve been going through a lot. How are youdoing?”

Addison shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Everythingis cancelled for the wedding. We lost some of our deposits, but Harper saysthat Harrison deserves to lose money for what he did.”

“She’s right,” Gracie said. “Is Harperaround?”

“No, she’s at work right now,” Addison said.“But I’ll tell her you said hi.”

“Thanks, love. Are you coming home soon?”

A pinched look crossed Addison’s face. “Idon’t think I can. Not yet. I’m sorry, I know your birthday is coming up, but-”

‘Honey, no,” Grace said. “I only asked becauseI miss you. But I want you to do what’s right for you. If that’s staying withHarper for a while longer, than you should do that.”

Addison sighed. “I just can’t go back homeand face everyone and their judgment. I’m sure Harrison’s been tellingeveryone that he broke up with me and I don’t want to see the pity on their faces.Or hear them whispering as I walk down the damn street.”

“I get it,” Grace said. “But if it makesyou feel any better, I haven’t heard anything about you and Harrison breakingup in the town rumour mill. So, maybe – oof! Tank, down!”

The big dog had jumped up on the bed and hesniffed Grace’s hair before collapsing next to her and putting his head in herlap.

“Grace, where are you?” Addie said.

“At Gideon’s place. He offered to let mestay here after the fire thing.”

“Wow…” Addison blinked at her. “That was…nice of him.”

Grace didn’t reply and Addison leaned alittle closer to the screen. “Is it going okay? Because if it isn’t, you canstay at my apartment. Daniel has a spare key to my place.”

“It’s going fine,” Grace said. “I mean, it’sonly been a couple of days, but…it’s going fine.”

Addison stared silently at her and Grace said,“We had sex.”

“Holy crap!” Addie nearly dropped herphone. “You had sex? When?”

“Last night,” Grace said. “The tensionbetween us was, well, it was intense, so we decided to just…”

“Bang it out?” Addie said.

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