Page 16 of Two Hearts
“Ah, the wiring is messed up.When you pick up an extension the call gets cut off.It’s a pain in the…” Then she stopped speaking.“He wrote something down.”
Charlie’s brows arched, and she turned her head, glancing at the notepad beside the phone.Hope shook her head in disapproval as Grace went to snatch it up.She held the pad this way and that, squinting at it.“He took the top sheet, but I can almost—”
“Give me that,” Charlie said, coming to her feet and taking the pad.She grabbed a pencil and went back to her seat to begin coloring the entire sheet.
“Grace, this is just silly.You love Jack.And you know he’s crazy about you.Why would you be so suspicious of him the very first time anything the least bit odd happens?”
Grace lowered her gaze and her sister gasped.“You mean…it’s not the first time?”
Grace shook her head.“He’s…he’s so secretive, Hope.He comes home late and…sometimes I can smell alchohol on his breath.He gets all…odd when I ask him about his work.And…and, well, there’s more.”
“What more?”Hope gripped Grace’s shoulders, and pushed her gently into a rocking chair.“Tell me.”
Grace shrugged, studying her fingernails, which she’d been chewing mercilessly.“Well…it’s…the sex.”She peeked up to see her sister’s cheeks turning pink.“Nothing to blush about, Hope.Believe me.I mean, it hardly ever happens, and when it does, it’s like…well…it’s like it didn’t.”
“I…don’t follow,” Hope said.
“I do,” Charlie called.“No fireworks, no screaming of names.You getting the picture yet, Hope?”
Hope turned her head away from them both, clearly embarrassed.“That doesn’t mean he’s cheating.”
“One way to find out,” Charlie said.She held the notepad up, its front all colored in pencil gray, with white outlines standing out.An address.“You wanna put an end to this, Gracie?Find out what’s really going on?”
“She can’t!”Hope said.“She wouldn’t!”
Grace stepped forward, taking the pad from Charlie’s hand.“Yes, she would.”
“Oh, Grace, don’t do this.Just wait until Jack comes home and ask him to tell you what he’s been keeping from you.And while you’re at it, you might think about telling him all the things you’ve been keeping from him, too.The black belt, the college basketball, the MVP awards, the tournament trophies, the WNBA scout… The fact that your entire wardrobe at college consisted of jeans, T-shirts, jerseys and that white pajama getup you wear for kickboxing.”
“It’s called agi,and you know it.”
“Tell your husband the truth.He’ll return the favor and all will be well,” Hope went on.“Don’t spy on him.He’ll resent it.”
“Well, maybe I resent having to!”Grace huffed.
Hope sent an exasperated look at Charlie, who only shrugged and said, “I’m in.”
“I’m going alone,” Grace said.
“In your dreams,” Charlie replied.“Go get dressed.And forget the pretty designer skirts and jackets, honey.This is down-and-dirty time—and high time the real Gracie Phelps stepped out of the closet.Maybe if Jack knew his wife was fully capable of kicking his tail all the way home, he wouldn’t be quite so…adventurous.”
Grace made a face, but obeyed, trotting up the stairs to the bedroom.She opened her closet and eyed the wardrobe that had become her daily costume—andcostumewas the right word for it.
Dammit, she’d tried.She’d tried to be everything she thought Jack wanted her to be.Why hadn’t it been enough?Tears burned in her eyes as she recalled his conversation on the phone.First the part about not calling him here—God, could he havebeenmore obvious?Then the bits and pieces she’d heard downstairs.Oh, she hadn’t been able to make out much, but she’d seen his face, caught the edge to his voice.The passion in it.The excitement.
Why couldn’t he be that way with her?
Swallowing hard, she slid the closet door closed, brushed the tears away.Charlie was right.It was time to stop pretending for him.It wasn’t enough.If she were going to lose her husband…well, hell, at least she needed to have herself to fall back on.Not the make-believe Grace she’d tried to become.But the real Grace.
And if she were going to fight for her marriage…well, then she’d need her even more.
She dropped to her knees and hauled the box out from under the bed, where she kept the clothes she used to live in, and now only wore for those days when she slipped out of the house to spend time with a bunch of twelve-year-old girls who wanted to play basketball.Some of them had some real potential, too.Pawing through the box, Grace found her favorite warm-up suit, and threw it on, with a snug black tank top underneath.She left the jacket undone, and pulled on a pair of socks and Nikes.She was ready.No makeup, no hair-fussing.This was it.
She got her keys off the dresser and headed downstairs.“Let’s go.”
* * *
Jack was just so damned relieved that it would be over soon!After tonight, their up-and-coming friendly neighborhood drug supplier would be cooling his heels behind bars and Jack would be able to get on with his life.
