He pressed his lips together in a thin line. “I need you to let me talk to her first.”
“You told me on the phone that you wanted a house that she’d love. It’s not hard to work out that you hope she’ll be joining you there one day.”
Lucas stared Grace in the eye but didn’t say anything.
“I assume this means you’re ready to work things out?” Grace knew this wasn’t really any of her business, but he’d just asked her to lie by omission. If she was going to go down that road with him, she wanted to make sure it was worth it.
They stared each other down until Lucas finally let out a breath and leaned back against the booth. “Grace, do you think there is any chance that Hope and I could live in the same town and not end up together?”
“No. Not really,” she said honestly. “But you’ve been gone a long time. You’ve both changed. I’m just not sure you can go back.”
“I have no intentions of moving backward, Grace. I’m here to move forward. I’m sure you understand that better than most after this past year.”
She gave him a sad smile. “I do. But I’m moving forward on my own.”
“So am I. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to start over with the only person I…” He glanced away as his face flushed pink. “Anyway. If there’s a chance Hope can be a part of my life moving forward, then I’m going to go for it. That’s all there is to it.”
“Okay then,” she said brightly, pleased to hear he still obviously cared for her friend. They were the type of couple who would always be finding their way back to each other. She just prayed that this time they’d stick. Grace pushed the folder across the table toward him. “I put together the homes that are on the market that I think Hope might be most interested in. I didn’t know your budget, so I just pulled what I could find. Let me know if there are any you’re interested in seeing. Or alternatively, you could give me a list of your must haves and your budget and let me do the vetting.”
He shook his head. “No budget. All I care about is that there are at least three bedrooms and it’s a place that Hope would like.”
“No budget?” Grace asked, forcing herself to not gape at him. “Business is going good, huh?”
“Something like that.” He chuckled and then waved the waitress over to take their orders.
By unspoken mutual agreement, they dropped the topic of Hope and talked about the changes in Premonition Pointe since Lucas had been gone, what areas of town he liked best, and Grace’s new life as a single woman.
They were having such a good time chatting that Grace didn’t notice Bill until she heard his voice.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” he said, his tone full of irritation.
Grace jerked around to stare at her soon-to-be ex-husband. “Bill, what are you doing here?”
“Meeting with a client.” He waved at an older woman who was waving at him as she exited the café. “And what about you? Looks like you’ve moved on to dating someone in the appropriate age range.”
“You have some nerve,” Grace said, rising to her feet. “How dare you talk about who I’m dating after you went and traded me in for a woman less than half your age.”
“I didn’t trade you in, Grace. Our marriage was over long before I actually found the balls to leave. You and I both know that.”
Grace curled her hands into fists and contemplated decking the bastard. “We had sex two days before you presented me with your separation plan. Don’t try to gaslight me. You only left because your side piece gave you an ultimatum.”
“Don’t call her that, Grace. It’s beneath you.”
Hatred. Pure hatred ran through her veins. How had Grace been married for twenty years to the gaslighting jackass who was standing at her table? Had he always been such a douche? Had she only seen what she wanted to see, or had he turned into an asshole after ditching her for Shondra? She didn’t know. And other than feeling like the biggest fool that ever lived, she didn’t really care either. “Bill, go away. Go back to Shondra and leave me alone to live my life.”
Bill opened his mouth to no doubt say something else completely awful, but Lucas rose and said, “Hey, man. I think you should just do what she asked.”
“Who asked you?” Bill narrowed his eyes at Lucas. Then recognition dawned in his squinty gaze. “Lucas King. What did you do? Wait until I was finished with her to come back and stake your claim?”
“Bill!” Grace grabbed his wrist and jerked him toward the exit. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What are you doing? Does Hope know you’re dating that guy?”
“We’re not dating,” she spat. “And even if we were, it’s none of your business. You. Left. Me. Remember? Your input isn’t welcome.”
Before he could say another word, Grace spun on her heel and stalked back to her table where Lucas was still waiting and watching.
“Are you all right?” Lucas asked, placing his arm around her shoulders.
She nodded. “Just pissed. What a jackass.”
“You’ve got that right.” Lucas slid back into the booth, and Grace followed suit. “It looks to me like he’s regretting his choices. Why else would he be so put out by who you date?”
Grace scoffed. “Please. He’s a liar. Our marriage might not have been new and shiny, but we were fine. He’s being a dick because he doesn’t like seeing me with anyone else. He’d have been content to stay with me and cheat for the rest of his life. Shondra made him choose, and he’s not happy about it.”
“That’s really effed up, Grace.” Lucas dropped some bills into the check folder and then handed it to the waitress.
“I know.” She rummaged in her wallet and pulled out some money. “Here. I fully planned to pay for that. Client lunch.”
He shook his head. “No way. This was me taking an old friend out. Don’t give it another thought.”
“At least let me pay half,” Grace insisted, still shoving the bills at him.
“Nope.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Deal with it, Valentine. You can get the next one.”
“Fine.” She grinned at him. “It’s good to have you home.”
“Especially when I buy you lunch,” he teased.
“Shut it, King, or I’ll tell everyone you used to wet the bed until high school.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That is such a lie.”
“Okay, until sixth grade then,” she said, chuckling.
“Keep it up. See what happens.”
“Grace!” Jackson Dixon, Lex’s best friend, rushed over to the table. He was wearing tight ripped jeans and a T-shirt that had Pointe of View Café scrawled across the front. “Hey. I was hoping I’d get a chance to say hi before you left.”
“Hey, Jackson. What are you doing here?” She eyed him, wondering why he was working at the café when he had a thriving graphic arts business.
“Just some extra cash. You know how it is. Gig economy. It’s nice to have multiple cash flows.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Plus, it’s nice to be around other people a few days a week.”
“Right.” She gestured to Lucas. “Jackson, this is my old friend, Lucas King. Lucas, this is Jackson Dixon. He’s been Lex’s best friend since grade school.”
Lucas shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” Jackson turned his attention back to Grace. “I tried to get over here sooner to run Bill off, but I got held up by a customer. Can you believe Shondra has already cheated on him?”
Shock rendered Grace speechless for a moment. But then she forced herself to swallow and croaked out, “She did? How do you know?”
Jackson glanced over at the kitchen, apparently checking to see if he was needed before sliding into the booth beside her. “Um, I have an acquaintance who works at the women’s clinic. We got together one night and had way too much to drink. I’m talking entirely too much tequila, and he started to tell me this story about a woman who came in to get checked for genital warts.”
Grace’s eyes went wide. “Ohmigod. Your friend discloses private information about the patients at the women’s clinic?”
“Oh, no. It’s not like that.” Jackson shook his head. “He never mentioned any names. He was just telling me this story about a woman who lost her shit after she was diagnosed. She was going on and on about how her fiancé was going to kill her when he found out she’d been with someone else even though he was a cheater himself. Let’s just say my hookup gave enough details that it wasn’t hard to work it out since I know both of you.”
“Your hookup? Did you meet this guy on Grindr?” Grace asked. She couldn’t resist needling him. He was the one who’d mentioned the guy was a hookup after all.
“Um, yeah. But don’t worry! I’m safe. No need to lecture me,” he insisted.
“I wasn’t going to,” she said with a laugh. “Although, if you meet up with him again, tell him to keep his trap shut about the patients at the clinic. This town is too small for people to not make connections.”
“Oh. Yeah. I won’t be seeing him again.” Jackson’s expression turned dark. “Dude turned out to be a jackass. I should’ve known when he was going on and on about Shondra. But since she did you dirty, I couldn’t resist the gossip.”
Grace had to admit she was damn near giddy with the information he’d just supplied. Genital warts. She wanted to laugh, but then she distinctly remembered wishing that Shondra would contract the virus and instantly felt terrible. Had she actually cursed the woman by accident? It wasn’t unheard of for thoughts to turn into actual hexes, but until Nina ended up with acne, she’d never thought it had happen to her before.
“You’re a good friend, Jackson,” she said, patting his hand. “Thanks for that juicy tidbit. You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear Shondra can’t keep it in her pants. It’s no less than Bill deserves. But now you need to lock it in the vault. Got it?”
“Got it.” He flashed his brilliant smile at her and slipped out of the booth. “Tell Lex to call me back or else I’m going to crawl through her bedroom window, climb into her bed, and steal all the covers.”
Chuckling, Grace promised to relay his message. “She’s had a lot on her plate lately.”
Jackson snorted. “I’m sure. And her name is Bronwyn.” Wiggling his fingers at her, Jackson hurried over to the kitchen area and tied an apron around his waist.
“He’s colorful,” Lucas said, still eyeing the recent college graduate. “I like him.”
“He’s a good kid,” Grace agreed.
“What is it he does besides working here?”
“Graphic design artist. Freelance,” Grace said, but her mind was on Shondra and the idea that she might have cursed the woman. If she was responsible for the warts, she had to do something about it. There was only one way to find out. She had to offer the woman a counter curse in the form of a potion. She just had to figure out how to get Shondra to drink it without admitting she might’ve been responsible for her predicament. Because there was no way Grace would ever admit to hexing the woman who slept with her husband.
Chapter Twenty
Saturday evening with Joy and Hope passed quickly. They’d come over as planned, however Joy hadn’t been able to do the research she’d promised when she got roped into helping her daughter with an issue at work. Instead, they drank too much wine and laughed too hard when Grace described Isobel’s ghost-hunting tactics. By the time they’d left for the night, Grace’s heart was full of friendship, but also guilt. Keeping the news of Lucas from them was pure torture. But she’d made a promise, and she intended to keep it.
Grace spent all day on Sunday showing Lucas available houses in Premonition Pointe. There were at least two he seemed interested in but not enough to make an offer. By the time she pulled into the parking lot of Crabby’s, the seaside restaurant that specialized in serving steamed shellfish, she was nearly starving.
“My treat. Let’s eat before I pass out,” Grace said, pushing her SUV door open.
“Um, Grace,” Lucas said, grabbing her wrist to stop her. “Hope is over there.”
Grace twisted around so fast she wrenched her back, sending a shooting pain straight down her leg. “Ouch!” she cried and pressed one hand to her lower back, trying to support herself enough that she could minimize the pain. “Oh, hell. I don’t think I can move.”
“What the hell just happened?” Lucas asked as he jumped out of the vehicle and rushed around to her side.
“Threw my back out. Can’t walk. Can’t get back in the SUV. I’m going to die here,” she said dramatically. “Just put me out of my misery.”
“Drama queen much?” he mumbled.
“You’re not the one frozen in place,” she countered.
“Come on. I’ll get you in your SUV and get you home.” He opened the back door and placed one hand on the small of her back and held out his other arm for her to brace herself. “Ready?”
Grace took a shallow breath, gritting her teeth against the pain as she nodded. “Let’s do this.”
He slowly guided her the few feet to the back door and then said, “Go on. Climb in and just lie down on the seat.”
“How do you propose I do that?” Grace was bent slightly forward, panting from the pain.
“I’ll boost you up. You just crawl in.”
“This is never going to work,” she said even as she reached for something to grab onto. When her hand wrapped around the headrest of the front seat, she squeezed her eyes shut and said, “Now.”
Lucas did as he promised and grabbed her by the waist to lift her into the SUV.
A bolt of pain seized her entire back, causing her to let out a cry that she immediately tried to stifle. She didn’t need half of Premonition Pointe talking about how she’d thrown her back out just by getting out of her car.
When her knees hit the back seat and she was finally able to crawl, the pain became somewhat manageable. It wasn’t long before she was curled up on her side, wondering exactly how she was going to get out of the SUV when Lucas got her home.
Suddenly he was looming over her, his hand on her back again. “Are you all right? Maybe we should take you to urgent care.”
Grace shook her head. “Too late. It would have to be the emergency room. Forget it. This is just a pinched nerve. It will work itself out in a few days. In the meantime, I’ll get Joy to fix me some pain potions.”
“Are you sure?” Lucas asked.
Grace stared up at his concerned eyes and forced a smile. “I’m sure.”
“Grace? Is that you in there?” a very familiar voice called.
Hope. Oh, hell. She was the reason Grace had thrown her back out in the first place. “Yep. It’s me.”
Suddenly Lucas disappeared from Grace’s sightline, and she heard his voice crack a little as he said, “Hope?”
“Lucas?” Hope sounded shocked and then suspicious as she added, “What in the world are you doing here? And what’s going on? Why were you with Grace in the backseat of her SUV?”
Grace groaned. Dammit. This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to keep anything from her friend.
“Grace threw her back out. I was just helping her into the backseat so I could drive her home.”
“So you just happened to be here when Grace hurt herself, and now you’re playing the hero?” The anger in Hope’s tone was unmistakable, but Grace didn’t necessarily think it was directed at her. There was more going on between Hope and Lucas than she’d realized.
“No,” he said with a sigh, and Grace could just imagine him running his hand through his thick hair. It was a gesture she’d noticed earlier in the day when he was thinking. “She was showing me some houses and—”
“Houses?” Hope was clearly surprised. “Why?”
“Because I need to buy one?” Lucas’s reply sounded more like a question than a statement. “I did ask you for a recommendation for a Realtor, remember?”
“You didn’t say it was for you. I can’t believe you’re m
oving back here, and instead of informing me, you went behind my back and had my best friend show you houses. Well, isn’t that just perfect.”
“Hope, I—”
“Never mind, Lucas,” Hope said coldly. “I obviously am not important enough to be in the loop. But I’ll take care of Grace from here. You can take off and do… whatever it is you plan to do in Premonition Pointe.”
Grace had to stop herself from snorting in amusement because she was pretty sure the only thing Lucas wanted to do in Premonition Pointe was Hope.
“Grace?” Hope said after poking her head into the SUV. “I’m going to take you home now.”
“Okay,” Grace said, trying not to think about how she was going to crawl out of the vehicle. If Lucas was there, he’d no doubt carry her if he had to. But if it came to that, Hope wouldn’t be able to do it. She’d just have to pray they figured it out, or she’d be sleeping in her car that night.
Hope jumped into the SUV, and without another word to Lucas, she cranked the engine and peeled out of the lot.
“Ouch!” Grace yelped as she was tossed against the seat. “Um, Hope, I appreciate you helping me out, but do you think you could be a tiny bit more cautious? I’m dying back here.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said. “I just…” She shook her head and let out a little growl of frustration. “How long has he been in town?”
“I honestly don’t know. We met yesterday for a late lunch to discuss his housing needs and then—”
“So that’s why you couldn’t join me and Joy to dig into the research on the cottage,” Hope said.
“Right. I had a client.” Grace wanted to reach out and squeeze her friend’s shoulder, but she couldn’t. Instead, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away. He asked me not to, and I… I just—”
“You were being a decent friend to him. It’s okay, Grace.” Hope’s voice was low when she added, “I’m just not going to be able to get used to having him around. It’s too much.”
Grace’s heart ached for her friends. They had a lot of baggage to work through, and Grace wasn’t at all sure things would work out for them. But she sure prayed they would. “Hope?”
Witching For Grace: Premonition Pointe, Book 1 Page 15