Crash and Burn (19 page)

“The presents. We are not keeping presents for Mr. and Mrs. Adams. That’s not us. You will be Mrs. Hank Fairfield. If we get presents, then we’ll open them together.”

“Hank,” Divina sighed. “These are mine.”

“You’re Mrs. Stone Adams?”

Grace sat forward in her chair, fascinated and eager to hear the answer to Hank’s question.

“You know legally I am, so why shouldn’t I get some benefit?”

Hank threw his hands in the air and stepped backward. “This is unbelievable. All the shit I have put up with in this house, with you and your childish antics. I even stuck by you when you
married
another man!” He was yelling now and Grace saw Stone creeping down a few steps on the stairs. “I’m done, Divina. I love you, but no one should be put through the crap you’ve given me. I’m a man, not a doormat. Go live happily ever after with your racecar driver. I’m sure you’ll be deliriously happy together. You’ll be much more famous with him around.”

Hank turned on his heels and walked to the door. “I’ll be back for my things and I’ll send a note to every invited guest telling them we are no longer getting married. Have a nice life.” He looked up the stairway. “Stone. Good luck.” He tipped his head and walked out.

Divina picked up the fragile bowl and carried it carefully back to the dining room like she was setting the table for the Queen at high tea. When Stone finally looked Grace’s way, his eyes were the size of over-inflated tires.

Grace didn’t dare move and Stone seemed glued to the step he was perched on. Had he heard everything? This might have been the moment they’d all been waiting for. Divina and Hank were done for the time being and Divina could resume the role she’d never played, as Stone’s real wife. Geez, now they’d even received presents to prove how real their marriage was.

Grace leapt to her feet like she was gunning off the starting line. The thought of Divina taking her rightful place with Stone made her sick to her stomach. And the thought of Stone accepting Divina made Grace want to cry out in frustration.

She couldn’t get to her room without passing Stone on the stairs, so she stepped by him without looking in his direction. She couldn’t hear his warm voice that made her insides melt, or think of him and her sister together in wedded bliss. The safety of her room was within her sights when he shot his arm out and caught her leg, stopping her short.

“What was that about?” he mouthed.

Grace shrugged. He was smart. He’d figure it out eventually.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked in a whisper.

“Nothing,” she choked out.

He stood up, eye level with her, and studied her face. She felt like she was under a microscope.

“Something’s wrong.”

Now he decided to be friendly, when on the way home he couldn’t even try to make polite conversation.

“I’m fine. Let me go, Stone. I know you’re upset.”

His brown eyes questioned her silently.

“I didn’t mean to deceive you.”

“Not here,” he said, taking the steps two at a time to the bedroom. At the door he turned to check if she was following. She trudged up the stairs and passed him going into the room.

She flopped down on her bed and threw one arm over her eyes. “I’ll be out of here on the first ferry in the morning.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“My services are no longer required here. Hank’s gone. Divina’s no longer engaged and you and she
are
married. So I don’t need to play my part, nor do I have to break up any fights.”

The bed shifted as he sat next to her. “You can’t leave me here with her. She’s insane.”

“Your problem, bub. You married her.”

“Does it matter if I don’t want her anymore?”

Grace moved her arm to check him out. He looked pathetic, whether it was because he was afraid of being left with Divina’s cooking or the woman herself, she couldn’t be sure. She shook her head without lifting it off the pillow.

After a brief staring session and a long, pregnant pause, he said, “I’ll talk to you later.” He stood up abruptly and left the room.

Grace tried not to listen to where he went, but in the old house, the floor creaked, and she knew he’d gone to find Divina in the dining room.

Dammit, she’d let herself fall in love with the man. She shook her head again. No matter how violently she shook, the feelings wouldn’t leave her chest. Her heart was breaking. Divina had found him first and had a legal claim to him. No one would notice the difference between them anyway. Not even Stone.

A tear crawled down her cheek and landed on the pillow. She sighed. When they’d been growing up, Divina always won. No matter what the situation was, Divina came out smelling like a rose, while Grace would end up doing the time, extra practices, detentions, walking to school and losing out on the boys and dances. Never once had Divina owned up to the stunts she pulled. Never had she offered for Grace to go to the dance.

Here they were again. Grace was going to lose out because of her sister’s erratic mood swings and the fact she had been in the right place at the right time.

Grace kicked her heel on the mattress, feeling the spring as her foot popped back up. Liking the sensations, she did the other heel and then she alternated, looking like she was a kid throwing a tantrum, pausing at the top of each rebound to feel the second of weightlessness before plunging back to the bed.

“I don’t think so, Divina.” Grace heard Stone say. She tried to ignore the stab of jealously slicing through her with the accuracy of a knife.

* * * *

“Stone,” Divina whined. “I want to keep all of our stuff.”

“Do you realize how selfish you sound? I tell you I’m in love with another woman and you want to talk about cheap wedding gifts?”

“Oh, they’re not inexpensive. I know Waterford Crystal when I see it. I don’t care if you love someone else. It was a business arrangement in the first place.”

Divina didn’t even look at him as she continued to survey and fondle the packages and their contents.

“You set this up with your sister. What’s going to happen to her now?”

“Whatever she wants. She can go live with our parents. They’d love to have her. She will need to get out of our house, though. I can’t have her distracting you.”

Stone rolled his eyes. He wasn’t going to win this no-win situation. He was so confused by Grace’s reaction and Divina’s reversal of attitude. If only she’d been this cooperative after Vegas, none of this would be complicating his life.

He shook his head. No, he was glad for some of the drama because it had brought him to Grace. He never would have met her, even if she was a stalker.

He chastised himself thinking of her in those terms. She was trying to come clean about who she was. He should be thrilled by her admission of loving racing and by the fact she loved him. He’d worked this entire scenario out in his head on the drive home. Now talking to Grace was priority one. He would tell her he was divorcing Divina and he’d made up his mind to tell the truth to George and the world.

Aw, shit. That sounded really heavy. George and the world.

“You can sleep in my bed tonight.” Divina said, shifting toward him and slanting her head to the side.

“What?” he said, louder than he should have.

“My bed. Our bed.”

“Are you high? What makes you think I want to sleep with you?”

She slid over to him, holding a golden candlestick in one hand. With the other, she touched his arm and smoothed her hand along his shoulder and back. Her hand came to a rest on his ass. “Who said anything about sleeping? I’ve been watching you.”

“What about Grace?” He was having trouble wrapping his brain around exactly what Divina was asking of him. Grace told him Divina always got what she wanted, regardless of Grace’s feelings, but he hadn’t truly believed it. Until now.

“Grace will rebound, she always does.”

“What about Hank?”

She leaned against his chest, her face inches from his. “Hank, who? He was a nobody with scant potential. I’m not sure I would have gone through with the wedding anyway.”

“You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” he asked, sarcasm burning in his mouth.

“I do,” she said, silkily. She started to close her eyes and pucker her lips.

Stone took a step back, then another. “I don’t.” He turned and sprinted to the stairs.

Safely in his room with Grace, he tiptoed over to her bed to see if she was still awake. He listened to the quiet, even breathing. Disappointed, he realized he’d missed his chance to talk to her tonight. If she could sleep, she clearly wasn’t as affected as he was.

He’d talk to her in the morning. He’d explain his position and ask if she’d take him back.

* * * *

The ferry pulled out of the slip without a bump or fanfare. In her hand was yesterday’s newspaper with her picture on the front page of the sports section. She was standing, screaming and cheering. The wide smile on her face showed the foolish love she felt for her driver. Inside there was a related story and a picture of her and Stone with major lip-lock. It was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. Every time she peeked at the picture, which she did often, the butterflies in her stomach fluttered to life.

Leaving him was like ripping a piece of her heart out and letting Divina tap dance on it. This time Grace had wanted it to be different. Wanted to get the guy and live happily after, but when she’d woken this morning, Stone’s bed had been empty and made. He’d obviously wasted no time in getting back to his marital bed with Divina.

One big, fat tear escaped her eye and she angrily brushed it away. She found a seat outside the cabin, looking over the water. Most of her things were in her car below decks and she didn’t feel like reading the book she’d brought. She heaved a sigh.

“Excuse me. Aren’t you Divina Adams? Stone Adams’ wife? We were at the race this past weekend. Stone was awesome.” A man about Grace’s age with his two sons stood next to her, expectant looks on their faces.

“Stone
was
awesome this past weekend, but I’m sorry. I’m not Divina.”

“Come on. I’m sure you are.”

“Actually Divina is my sister. I’m Grace. Want to see my license?”

The man looked taken aback, then embarrassed. “Sorry to have disturbed you, miss.”

She smiled hastily and looked away as they scampered off in a different direction.

Another tear trickled down her face. Pulling out her cellphone, she pressed Kayla’s number.

“What’s up sweetie?” Kayla asked.

“I left.”

“What? You’re breaking up.”

“Divina wins again.” Grace stifled a sob. She glanced around to make sure she was alone again. “He went to her. She asked for him back and he went.”

“Oh Grace. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he’d do something like that. Where are you?”

“On the ferry to my parent’s house.”

“You could have come here. I have an extra room.”

“I need the space. You live too close to them. I need to get away from the temptation to run over there and beg for him to love me.”

“I’ll be there in the morning.”

The phone cut out and Grace glanced down at it.
Signal lost
. She didn’t want Kayla coming to Connecticut. A pity party was in order and two would be a crowd.

The ferry ride dragged on. The captain must have taken the long way. No one else approached her during the ride and she was thankful. She hadn’t realized she would be recognized after only a few outings and a magazine spread. An unfortunate situation she’d have to endure.

The musty smell from her parents’ house was strong. She’d never called her mom to tell her she was coming home and her father was still at the rehab center. She left her suitcase in the front hall and walked through the empty house, opening windows. With her sweater still on, she sat in the living room, looking out the window to the backyard. It was a gray day, which didn’t help her depression. She was sinking fast. Trying to think of something insightful from her social work studies, she strained, but couldn’t think of one thing to tell herself about falling in love with and making love with her sister’s husband. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed.

* * * *

He hadn’t been gone long, but when he got back to the bedroom, Grace and her things were gone. He’d woken up early, thoughts swirling around in his brain, so he’d gone for a run. Street running usually didn’t do it for him. He was a treadmill guy, but today feeling the slap of his feet on the pavement was great therapy. It kept him from doing what he really wanted to do, which was crawl into bed with Grace and wake her up the best way possible. Ever since they’d made love, he’d craved her. Even when he was mad, he felt her nearness like a light bulb in a socket.

Now his bulb was blown. Grace had left him after he’d asked–no, begged–her not to leave him alone with Divina.

“Stone?” Divina called from upstairs.

“I’m here. What?”

“Is my breakfast ready?” she asked, syrupy sweet.

“No. I’m going to work now. I can’t help you.”