Chapter 4
For the next several days, George showed up every morning to take Grace out.
They would grab breakfast together, wander around bookstores, and walk along the shore of the lake. He wasn't a man of many words, but everything he said landed right.
When she felt like being quiet, he stayed peacefully beside her. When she wanted to talk, he listened like every word out of her mouth truly mattered.
On the fifth day, he took her grocery shopping.
She pushed the cart while he picked out vegetables, and the two of them looked like a long-settled couple who had been doing this for years.
At the checkout, someone nearby started sneaking photos, but she didn't even notice.
That night, back at her place, her phone went crazy.
Someone in the high school group chat had sent a picture of her and George at the supermarket. She was looking down at her phone, and he was watching her with a gaze so gentle that it could melt anyone.
The guy wrote, [Ran into Grace and George at the supermarket. What's going on with them?]
There were more than a hundred replies.
[Them? No way. George has been waiting for her for over ten years. If something were going to happen, it would've happened ages ago.]
[Over ten years?]
[You guys didn't know? George had a thing for her back in high school, but she turned him down. He's been single ever since.]
Grace stared at those words, completely stunned.
She couldn't remember turning George down.
She picked up her phone and texted George: [Is what they're saying true?]
He answered almost immediately: [No, it's not.]
She felt herself breathe a little easier.
Then another message came in: [You didn't turn me down. You just... never realized it.]
She looked at those words, and her heart missed a beat.
*****
The same night, Grace was standing on the balcony, gazing at the moon, when her phone rang.
The number wasn't saved in her contacts.
She answered anyway.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke on the other end.
Then she heard Edward's voice. "Grace."
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"Where are you?" he asked.
She didn't respond.
"I'm in Sunstone. Come and see me," he said.
She gave a cold laugh. "Edward, who do you think you are to boss me around?"
There was a short silence on the other end.
Then he said, "I know you hate me, but I can explain what happened with Olivia."
"Explain what?" she shot back. "Explain that while you were making your big public announcement, I was fighting for my life in an emergency room?"
He had no answer.
Her voice turned ice-cold and steady. "Edward, the day I lost those babies, you were with another woman while she gave birth. While I was lying on an operating table, your child was being born.
"And while I was signing consent forms, you were holding that baby and posting pictures online. Do you have any idea how long I kept bleeding before it finally stopped?"
Edward's breathing grew heavy on the other end.
"Grace—" he started.
"Two babies," she cut him off. "Edward, it was two babies. You didn't come to see them. Not once. So what are you doing in Sunstone now? Are you here to play the devoted husband? Who exactly are you performing for?"
"I'm here to take you back," he said.
"Take me back?" she asked. "So I can keep being your wife? Keep watching you and Olivia act like a happy couple? Keep living alone in that three-thousand-square-foot house, waiting for you to show up whenever you feel like it and stay the night?"
His voice dropped to barely a whisper, like he was struggling to hold back something. "I know I was wrong, Grace. Please, give me a chance."
She laughed again. "Edward, you know what? Marrying you is the biggest regret of my entire life."
He fell silent on the other end.
She hung up and turned off her phone.