"Style and Grace. Good afternoon."
"Is it?" asked Nick. "Is it a good afternoon?"
Her deep sigh told him it wasn't.
"What did the doctor say?" he asked.
"He said it was doing as well as could be expected. These things take time. There's no point in rushing it. I think there were about fifteen more clichés packed in there, but those are the highlights. It's going to be at least another week." Grace's disappointment was obvious from her bitter tone.
Nick felt bad. He was anxious for her to have the cast off because he wanted to make love to her. She just wanted her life back. He felt guilty and selfish.
"Poor you. Well, we'll just have to make the best of it." He tried to sound upbeat.
"Said the man with two good feet." Gracetried to keep her voice even.
"Well, I've got more bad news for you," said Nick, trying to change the subject.
"What is it?" she asked, telling herself to 'snap out it, girl. The man you love is trying to cheer you up.'
"We're going dancing tonight. With Howie and AJ."
"Come on, Nick. You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. They cornered me today and said that they spent a whole week in New York listening to me yap on and on about you and they wanted to meet you. We're going to a club. So put on your dancing, uh...shoe...uh..." You stupid twit, he thought.
But Grace laughed. "Yes, my left shoes all love me, but my right shoes won't talk to me."
Nick threw his head back and laughed. It was going to be all right. She had her sense of humor back. "I'll pick you up at 8:00. We'll have dinner and then meet them later. Okay?"
Grace agreed, thinking she'd try and fit a nap into her afternoon.
"And one more thing, Grace. If you're trying to make a good first impression on the guys, maybe you don't want to mention that you have conversations with your shoes."
"Why not?" she asked, "I'll bet AJ does it all the time."
Nick laughed. "You're probably right. See you later."
******************************Grace disconnected the phone and turned back to her computer. She hadn't got much accomplished today, she could see. She had visited the doctor this morning and had been so depressed at the news that she was going to have the cast for another week at least that she had mooned around the apartment feeling sorry for herself. The whole day seemed to have disappeared. Now she was going to waste the rest of it on a nap so that she could be wide awake to watch other people dance. Snap out if, she told herself. Look on the bright side. Nobody will know you're a lousy dancer.
The phone rang.
"Style and Grace. Good afternoon."
"Hey, Baby." It was Matt.
"Matt. Hello," she said flatly after a couple of seconds. She looked out the window to see if he was watching her from the street. She didn't see anyone.
"I just called to see if you got your cast off."
"How did you know I was going to the doctor today?" Grace's voice rose and the sentence ended on a hysterical note.
"Calm down, Grace. What's the matter?"
"How did you know?" she breathed.
"Well, it's been three weeks and you said when it happened that you thought it would be that long, so I just wanted to know, to see if you're okay." Matt's voice was perfectly calm and sounded honestly concerned. He didn't tell her that he knew because her mother had told him. He didn't want her to be upset with her mother.
"Oh. I see. Well, no, it's going to be another week at least."
"Poor you," he echoed Nick's words. "You must be getting sick of it. I know how much you like to walk."
"Yes, well. Thank you for your concern"
"Listen, Grace, I want to say something."
"No, Matt, don't..."
"No, listen to me. I'm sorry. I know I haven't taken things well and I'm sorry. I should have been more gracious, but it was so hard. I'm sorry about the night outside your building with..." Matt couldn't bring himself to say the name. "...your friend."
"Matt, don't..."
"No, Grace, let me finish. It's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. I've accepted that it's over. I'm moving on with my life. And I hope that after some time goes by, you'll remember that you are my friend. That's all I want - for us to be friends again."
"I would like that too some day, Matt." Grace was pleased to hear him talk this way. "And Matt, I didn't throw the ring in the ocean. I mailed it back to you."
"I know. I got it. But I want you to have it. No, no..." he cut across her protests. "Just as friends. Maybe later when we are friends again."
Grace wanted to get off the phone, so she gave in. "That would be nice, Matt. Maybe later."
She disconnected and went to lay down for an hour.
Matt disconnected and stared at the ring he had been twisting on the end of his baby finger. He opened his desk drawer and dropped it in. He buzzed for Janice. When she appeared in the doorway, he told her to come in and close the door. He motioned with his head for her to come around the desk. He swiveled his chair around and spread his legs. With a sigh, Janice dropped to her knees and reached for his belt.
******************************Going out with AJ and Howie was fun and Grace was glad that she went. AJ was with Sarah, of course, and Howie was with a girl named Janine, an incredibly beautiful girl of Latino heritage with maybe some Oriental mixed in. She was shy and didn't say much, not that there were many gaps left in the conversation by Sarah. Grace found AJ's fiancee quite overwhelming. She wasn't wearing much in the way of clothes and she couldn't keep her hands off AJ. She was loud and brassy. Grace couldn't imagine her getting along with Leighanne and Kristin.
Howie and Janine made a beautiful couple. They danced well together. Whenever they went out on the floor, other couples moved away to make room for them. At the end of each song, some of the applause was for the music and some was for them. Howie was oblivious to that, of course. When AJ and Sarah danced, it made Grace want to look around for a fire hose. It was like vertical sex. Couples moved away from them too, but for entirely different reasons.
"Want to dance?" Nick whispered in her ear.
"What if I do?" she shrugged.
"No problem," he said. "I already worked this out. Come on." He helped her to her feet and handed her the crutches. He led the way to the dance floor. She followed behind, feeling eyes upon her. When they got on the floor, Nick turned to her. "May I have this dance, please?"
"And may I have those, please?" said AJ's voice from beside her. He took her crutches and Nick slipped his arms around her. They stood together, swaying to the music. She closed her eyes and breathed him in. He held her close and kissed her hair. Slowly, the whole world faded away and there was just the two of them.
When the music ended, he didn't let go of her, just kept slowly swaying. An up-tempo number came on and Grace could feel couples dancing around her, but she never opened her eyes. This moment could last her whole lifetime, she knew, and she would be happy. She leaned into Nick and could feel the bulge in his groin. She shifted her body as best as she could on one foot and felt him moan. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her sweetly. When he took his mouth away, she reached up to whisper in his ear, "What would Kevin say?"
"Screw Kevin," he replied and lowered his mouth again.
When the music stopped this time, Grace heard a loud 'ahem' from beside her. She opened her eyes to see AJ looking at them over the top of his glasses. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Just say the word and I'll take them away again," he said, lifting the crutches.
They stopped swaying. Grace reached for the crutches. She made her way back to the table with Nick behind her. He kept one hand on her waist the whole way. When they were seated again, she laid her hand on Nick's arm.
"Thank you," she whispered. He placed his hand over hers. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time. AJ and Howie exchanged looks. This was the real thing, they could tell.
******************************Tuesday
The next morning, Grace opened her email. She knew something was up the minute she saw the number of incoming messages. There was one from TFN with the subject line 'Heads Up!' She opened it up and looked in dismay at the message. "Brace yourself, Gracie-Facie, somebody out there doesn't like you." He included a link to a message board. When she clicked it open, she ran down the list of topics. She selected The Boys Go Dancing and clicked it open. Someone had obviously been at the club because they described the evening perfectly, down to what people were wearing and who they danced with. Particular attention was paid to the fact that she and Nick had remained locked in an embrace while everyone else danced around them. And there was a picture. It was taken from the side and it showed them exiting the dance floor. Nick's hand was on her waist and the state of his arousal was evident for all to see. Omigod, thought Grace. Please don't let my mother find out about this. Or Kevin!
Grace moved on to the emails and sure enough, there was lots of comment. She was surprised by the number of emails she got from people who thought they knew her because they had emailed her. She had never responded to any of them, but she was getting stuff from people who seemed to consider themselves old friends. 'Hi again, Grace. I hope you're having a nice day. I saw the picture of you and Nick. Hope you had a good time.' Of course, there were many that weren't so nice. But only one said, 'you slut, you fucking slut, I'm going to kill you for this.' And included a copy of the picture in the email.
Grace stared at the email for a long time. She didn't recognize the address. That didn't mean anything, of course. She had had hundreds of messages in the last couple of weeks and barely glanced at the addresses. But this one she would remember, she thought, as she moved it into the file with the other vaguely threatening ones - 2969426@freenet.com. There was nothing vague about this threat.
Grace wondered if she should mention it to Nick. She hadn't mentioned any of the others. She remembered the first time they had talked about the fans, how Nick had shrugged and said they didn't pay attention to any of it. No, she wouldn't tell him, she didn't want him to think she was paranoid. Was she being paranoid? she wondered. What was that old joke? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
