Page 37 of All These Beautiful Strangers

Teddy glared at me.

Shit. Doting older brother. I forgot.

“Would you care to dance?” I asked Grace.

Grace looked like I had taken her by surprise, but she recovered herself quickly. “Sure,” she said. “Of course.”

She slid out of Teddy’s arm and gave me her hand again. Something in my stomach tightened.

I led her out onto the dance floor, past several other couples, so we could no longer see Teddy or my mother.

Grace leaned her head close to my ear and whispered, “So, I’m going to tell you a secret, because you’re going to find out in just a moment anyway. But I don’t really know how to dance.”

I smiled and bent my lips close to her ear. “Your secret is safe with me. Don’t worry, just lean into me and I’ll lead you through it. No one will be any the wiser.”

I took her in my arms then, one hand at the small of her back, the other holding her palm in mine. I drew her close and we danced.

“This isn’t so bad,” Grace said after a moment. “Thanks for making me look good.”

“That’s hardly a challenge,” I said.

Heat bloomed in Grace’s cheeks, but she laughed to cover it. My eye caught on the crab pendant of her necklace, which rested against her throat. I wondered if Teddy had gotten that for her.

“Teddy told me the two of you met in a library,” I said. “That’s some extraordinarily bad luck you had. The library should have been the one place you’d be safe from a travesty like that.”

Grace laughed. “Well, I work there part-time, so I’m there a lot. Painting’s really more of a hobby than anything else. I just do it because it makes me happy—I don’t really expect it to ever pay the bills.”

“So, what’s next for you then, if not painting?” I asked.

“To tell you the truth, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up,” Grace said. “What about you? Did you always know you wanted to follow in your father’s footsteps and take over the family business?”

“I always knew I’d do it,” I said with a shrug.

“That’s not the same thing,” Grace said.

She looked at me, really looked at me, and there was something—unsettling? comforting?—in her gaze. She looked at me like she already knew me. Even the parts I hadn’t meant to show her, the parts I never showed anyone.

“You’re exactly the way he described you,” Grace said.

“Teddy?” I asked.

“No, not Teddy,” Grace said. “Jake Griffin.”

The name struck me, ran through me, like an electric shock. I stopped cold. It was a name I hadn’t heard in years.

“I’m sorry,” Grace said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I debated not saying anything, but it seemed strange not to mention it.”

I realized I was standing still, so I started to move again, stiffly, with Grace in my arms.

“How did you know Jake?” I asked.

“We were dating when it happened,” Grace said. “Before that, we grew up together.”

“You’re that Grace,” I said. It clicked then. I knew why Grace seemed so familiar. I hadn’t met her before—but I had seen her.

“He talked about me?” Grace asked.

I nodded. “He had this picture of you on his desk in his dorm.”