“Hello.” Nick flipped open his cell and looked at the screen. He didn’t recognize the phone number.
"Nick? Nick Carter?"
"Who's calling?" Nick never identified himself until he knew who was on the other end of the line.
"It's Matt Lowry, Grace's...friend."
"What do you want?" asked Nick. He couldn't believe the balls on the guy, phoning him up like this. And where did Matt get the number?
"Well, two things really," responded Matt. "I just wanted to ask you how Grace was doing..."
Nick cut him off. "She's fine, just fine. She got the cast off."
"That's good," said Matt, calmly "That will help her...keep control." Matt didn't seem to know how to finish the sentence.
"I told you, she's fine. She does physiotherapy twice a week." Nick hated it that he was giving information to this creep. He reached to disconnect.
Matt spoke again. "And I just wanted to see if you had any questions, anything you need to know about Grace's...er...problems."
"The only problems Grace had were caused by you as far as I can see," said Nick angrily. Who did this bozo think he was?
"Look, Mr. Carter...Nick...I know you don't like me. I can't blame you for that. I didn't acquit myself very well at our last meeting."
Nick didn't really know what Matt meant. He thought maybe Matt was apologizing for being an asshole, but he wasn't sure.
"...but I want to assure you that I am only interested in her welfare."
"She's fine," said Nick. “Goodbye.”
“So…no blackouts?”
Nick’s hand froze over the End button. “Blackouts? What the hell are you talking about?”
"Well," said Matt, "does she say things like - the time got away from her, or she lost track of the time, seem to have periods of time unaccounted for?"
"No, nothing like that," lied Nick.
“Good, good.” Matt paused for a moment and then continued, “What about absentmindedness?”
"What do you mean?" asked Nick cautiously.
"Well, losing things and then finding them again, being late, forgetting to do things..."
"No," Nick lied again. "I'm telling you she's fine."
"Good, good," said Matt again. "It sounds like she might really be on the road to recovery this time."
This time? What the hell did that mean?
"Well, considering what happened to her, I think she's coping pretty well," said Nick slowly.
"Oh, no," said Matt, "She hasn't gone back to telling that story, has she?"
"What story?" Nick wasn't following.
"The story that she was...um...assaulted at college."
"What do you mean 'story'?" asked Nick. Icy fingers of doubt began creeping up his spine.
“Don’t get me wrong, Nick,” said Matt, reassuringly. “I’m sure something happened to Grace to make her leave college, but that wasn’t it.”
"How do you know?"
"Because I checked. When she first told me the story, I was so angry I wanted to kill the bastard, and I tried to track him down through the university, but they had no record of anyone by that name."
"What about the other two?"
"What other two?"
Nick's blood ran cold. "Um, so what happened to her then?"
Matt sighed. "I'm not sure. She wouldn't tell me. I don't think it was one event. I think maybe school just got too hard for her and she couldn't cope, so she cracked up."
Nick winced at the term. This made no sense to him. It didn't match Grace's story at all. But somehow, Matt didn't sound like he was lying. Except...
"If she wasn't, you know, assaulted, why was she so afraid of, well, sex?"
"Grace? Afraid of sex?" Matt exploded in laughter. "Are you kidding me? I never saw anyone so willing..." He stopped abruptly. "But I don't feel comfortable discussing Grace's intimate life," he continued in a more serious voice. "I just wanted to make sure she was all right and that there was no danger."
"Danger of what?" Nick's head was spinning.
"Well, of a breakdown, some sort of episode. You're a public figure, Mr. Carter. I would hate to see you embarrassed by anything like that. But if you're aware of it, and you say she's fine, then that's great. I'll let you go. Feel free to call me if you have any questions."
Matt rang off. He leaned back in the bed and smiled in satisfaction. Now, you little pop star prick, he thought, let's see if you're as dumb as I think you are.
"What did you do that for?" asked Janice. "I thought you said you were over Grace."
"I am, Baby, I am. But you know, I still have a soft spot for her and I don't think this guy is right for her. That was just a little test. Come here, you."
******************************Nick sat with the phone in his hand for a long time, mulling over the conversation with Matt. He didn’t know what to believe. Well, of course, he knew what to believe. He believed Grace. But what was the purpose of Matt’s call? He had to figure Nick would tell her about it and then she would never have anything to do with Matt again. He had sounded sincere and well-meaning but it had to be a pack of lies. It had to. All Nick had to do was ask Grace.
Oh yeah, that would work. Excuse me, Grace, I was discussing you with your ex-fiancé and he says your story is bullshit, so would you mind proving you were raped?
But what about the other stuff? Losing track of time, misplacing stuff? That was sure true. Nick couldn’t count the number of times that had happened in the past few weeks. Nick wasn’t sure why he’d lied about that to Matt. He got up and began pacing the floor, trying to figure it out.
Maybe Matt really was just trying to help. And he seemed to know the symptoms. The word ‘symptoms’ stopped Nick’s train of thought. No way, he told himself. Grace is not…well, whatever Matt seemed to think she was. So what if she’s a little absent-minded. She’s very busy with her work these days. And of course, Matt would know about that. He was engaged to her, for God’s sake! He would know her little habits.
Nick puzzled over Matt’s motivation in making the phone call. And he tried to figure out what, if anything he should say to Grace about it. He sat down again and put his head in his hands. Man, this relationship stuff was hard work.
******************************"Man, this relationship stuff is hard work."
Nick finally went to Kevin. He didn't know what else to do. He couldn't talk to Grace about it. He laid the whole thing out for Kevin and then stood back. He felt guilty because he had now shared Grace's secret with two people, but he really wanted to hold this together.
Kevin listened to it all. Then he let out a sigh. "Well now, let's take a look at this. Do you believe Grace or Matt?"
"Grace."
"Why?"
"Because I love Grace and Matt's an asshole."
"And there you go. Dang, that was easy. Want a beer?" Kevin stood up.
'Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's it? That's all?"
"Yep, that's it."
"But why would he call me? Why would he say those things?"
"Because he's an... " Kevin made a hand motion, inviting Nick to fill in the blank. Nick looked confused.
"Look," said Kevin. "Grace Barrett is one of the sanest people I've ever met. And considering what you've told me about what she's been through, I'd say this Matt creep is the lunatic, not her. He's just trying to break you up, to drive a wedge between you. If he can't have her, neither can anyone else. That kind of crap." He looked at Nick. "He's planting seeds of doubt in your mind, hoping you'll say something to her and start a fight or whatever. You're not going to let him do it, are you?"
"“No, I’m not. But I don’t get it. He’s with this other girl, now. This Janice. Why would he do this?”
Kevin sighed. "Because he's an..."
"Got it," laughed Nick. "Okay, where's the beer?"
"I'll get it. It's good you came by. We have to talk about the MWC dinner thing next week. Kris doesn't want to go."
******************************"Kris doesn't want to go," Nick explained to Grace. "She has this other thing she wants to do. And she says there's a limit to how much mediocre banquet food she's willing to eat on Kevin's behalf."
Grace listened and nodded. Nick had invited her to join him at the combination awards/fundraising banquet for Musicians Who Care, a group of entertainment people who were getting heavily involved in environmental issues. Because of Kevin's JWR and Nick's Oceans Campaign, they had been asked to present one of the awards.
"It's not a big deal like the Grammys or the MTV awards. There aren't any parties. It's not even going to be on TV, except for clips. But we bought the tickets. Like I said, it's a fundraiser. So do you still want to go if Kris isn't? And who will we get for the fourth ticket?"
"I have a better idea," said Grace. "Want to be a hero?"
