Page 11

NASH

Grace isn’t answering her phone. She’s not texting me back, and although it’s only been one night that she’s been gone, I can feel deep in my gut that something is terribly wrong.

After she came back from town with the sandwiches, I invited her to come back home with me for the night, but she declined. She said she and her friend Emily had a best-friends date planned but that she’d see me tomorrow.

I woke up, expecting a missed call or a text with heart emojis and snapshots of her night. Instead, nothing.

I can’t decide what to be worried about.

Part of me is going to a dark place, imagining some scenario where she woke up and realized that a lowly mechanic like me wasn’t fit for a high-society princess like her.

And another part of me is worried about her physical safety.

She lives all alone in that cottage; there’s no telling what could happen to her out there.

I pace the garage like I’ve got a thousand cups of coffee running through my veins, checking my phone for the hundredth time. Nick and Crag keep tossing glances to each other, but I don’t care.

I text her again:

You okay, babe? I’m starting to get worried here.

Still nothing.

Fuck it.

“You guys watch the shop for an hour,” I say, grabbing my keys. “I’ve got somewhere to be.”

I hop into my truck and gun it out of the parking lot.

The fifteen-minute drive to her cottage feels like an eternity.

The gate to her drive is closed, so I park and hop the stone wall onto her property.

Christ, I’m going to look like a thief or something if anyone catches me, when in reality I’m just here to check on my girlfriend and make sure she’s okay.

If something happened to her…if someone hurt her… I’ll burn the entire world to ashes.

When I reach the front, I see her car’s not in the driveway. I bang on the door anyway, shouting her name. “Grace! Grace, baby, are you okay?”

Am I losing it? It’s only been a few hours–not even a day. There’s probably a good explanation for her behavior, and here I am, shouting like a madman, hoping she’ll step outside.

But I can’t risk it. What if that creep from the other night came back, pissed that he didn’t get what he was looking for?

I call her again, and this time it goes straight to voicemail.

My stomach drops. She’s avoiding me. Actively avoiding me.

Something happened.

I race back to my truck and drive into town.

My heart is pounding, and I’m sweating as I scan every parking lot and space for her car.

It stands out, and thankfully only takes me a few minutes to spot it, parked in the side lot of Tressa’s Coffee and Tea.

My heart slows briefly, then starts to race again as I park.

I get out and walk to the front door, and that’s when I see her through the glass, sitting at a small corner table with her friend, Emily.

They’re sitting close, hunched like they’re whispering secrets to each other.

Grace’s eyes are rimmed with red, like she’s been crying, and her body is tense.

She’s clutching a coffee cup so tightly I’m shocked she hasn’t crushed it.

I take a deep breath before I tug the door open.

A set of chimes ding above me as I step inside, causing both of the girls to look up. Emily’s eyes narrow as she sees me, and she instantly gets up from her seat and paces over to me like she’s going to hit me.

“You need to leave. Now .”

I blink, looking past her at Grace, who can’t meet my gaze. “What?”

“Grace does not want to see you,” Emily snaps. “Not after what you did.”

Grace flinches at her friend’s voice, like this whole thing is just too much for her.

What I did . That’s what Emily just said. I feel a pain in my chest, like I’ve been speared through with a needle. My mind instantly goes to the one thing in my life that could come back to haunt me–to ruin me. Sheila Cosgrove.

It can’t be…can it?

“Grace,” I call, trying not to make a scene. “Can you just talk to me, please?”

“Get out!” Emily hisses, stepping up close.

People are starting to look over. I really should get out of here. But as I turn to go, I simply can’t bring myself to leave. If Grace thinks something bad about me, I have to talk to her. She needs to understand that I would never, in a million years, do anything to hurt her.

I step past Emily and sit down in front of Grace. I try to take her hand in mine, but she pulls away.

“Grace–”

“I ran into Sheila,” she whispers.

Shit. I knew it.

Hot rage races through me. I bite the inside of my lip until I taste blood. It’s not enough that she tried to ruin my life once–now she has to do it again and involve Grace? This is too far.

“She found me outside Bill’s,” she continues, her voice trembling. “She told me…you had hurt her.”

Emily steps up beside me. “And we believe her. Don’t we, Grace?” Grace nods, but it takes her a second. Like she’s hesitating. There’s still hope. She wants to hear me out. She wants to believe me.

“Why would you believe my crazy ex-girlfriend?”

“Why would we believe you ?” Emily counters. “We barely know you! You didn’t even tell Grace about the accusations!”

“Because it was all bullshit!” I snap, reaching for my phone. I’m trembling now. This piece of my past will simply not go away, no matter what I do. “Sheila is a complete and utter psychopath who fabricated everything because I broke up with her.”

“Right!” Emily scoffs.

“You want proof? I’ve got it.”

I open my photos, go to the folder containing everything, and start pulling up images.

“Grace, look,” I say, sliding the phone in front of her.

“Look. I saved everything. The crazy texts she sent me after I ended things–threatening me if I didn’t take her back. Saying she’d ruin my life if I didn’t.”

Emily groans beside me, but Grace slowly reaches out and takes the phone. I watch as she starts slowly swiping, her eyes widening with every move of her thumb.

“And you see? The court documents showing that the judge threw her case out. He said it was baseless and malicious. She told people around town she had a restraining order against me when she didn’t as well.”

“Oh my God…” Grace mutters softly. Yes. I’m getting through to her. She loves me. She will believe me.

“She tried to get one. She tried twice, in fact, but they said no. The cops even told me if she ran around town any longer telling people she had one that I could file one against her!”

Emily shifts over beside Grace and looks down at the phone as Grace continues to swipe. This is an absolute nightmare. Her face is twisted with pain, and I can see tears beginning to pool in her eyes.

She keeps swiping, and I catch Emily shooting me a glance–a glance that says she might be coming over to my side.

Finally, tears spill down Grace’s cheeks. She drops the phone to the table and sighs, “I’m so sorry, Nash! I didn’t know what to believe!”

“It’s okay, baby,” I say softly, pulling her into my arms.

“She–she seemed so calm, so composed, so convincing. I thought maybe I’d lost my mind falling for you so fast.”

“You haven’t lost your mind, baby,” I reply. “And neither have I. You’re mine, and I’m yours. We both fell for each other because it was meant to be.”

She presses her head into my chest and nods. Emily clears her throat and steps back. “I’ll um, give you two a minute.”

I clutch Grace against my chest, not caring or thinking about the customers in the shop watching us. This is our moment, and no one, not even Sheila and her insanity, can take it from us.

No one can take Grace from me. Ever .

“Grace,” I whisper. “I love you.”

She sobs into my shirt, clutching my shoulders like she’s afraid I’ll float away. “I–I love you too, Nash.”

I kiss her on the forehead, right there in the middle of the shop. Then I reach down and slip a finger below her chin and raise her eyes to mine.

“And I have just one more thing–something I need to ask you.”

Grace’s gorgeous eyes go wide as I get down on one knee before her. She gasps, and so do several other women behind me.

“I don’t have a ring, but I will get you one,” I tell her, my chest filled with joy and desire for the woman of my dreams. “So, Grace, my princess, will you marry me?”

A hush comes over the shop, as if every person is now holding their breath.

Grace stares at me, like she can’t believe what she’s just heard.

Then as more tears spill from her eyes, she nods and smiles the sweetest smile that lets me know I’m the luckiest man alive.

“Yes!” she cries out as thunderous applause breaks out around us. “Yes, I will!”