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The waiter returns with our food and quiet takes over the table while we eat. I don’t have much to say any longer. If anything, I’m ready to finish this meal and get out of here.
I can’t be around her. I can’t watch her find happiness with her husband. My frustration at the entire situation has taken on a new tenor because I know without a doubt that she doesn’t have the type of connection with her husband that we have. And I can’t imagine anyone she sets me up with will compare to her either.
What we have is special, and it sucks that I didn’t meet her first, because if I had, she wouldn’t be sitting with another man having dinner and talking about how she’s almost happy. And I wouldn’t be sitting at a table with a woman wondering how far I’ll go to make her mine.
Chapter 12
Gace
I’m getting dangerously close to telling Cash the truth. It is almost impossible to lie to him. He sees right through me. Asks the questions that peer into my heartand he knows the answers without me revealing them. What’s the point of lying? The result either way is the same. Whatever it is we could have had is an impossibility because I’m damaged goods.
I have a history, a failed marriage, and now I’m his matchmaker. How would that look to the press? He’s got enough on his plate with his new job. As he’s pointed out, that is where his focus must lie. That’s what matters. My divorce, the misdeeds of my husband, those will be nothing more than a distraction. Fodder for the press and those looking to take him down.
But his eyes pull me in—the hope I see when he asks me questions, and the piercing disappointment that flashed across his face when I admitted I’ll be happy once he finds a wife. It pains me that it’s true. Because then, and only then, will I be able to stand on my own two feet without Steven. And that is something to be happy about. Even if it’s killing me to let him go.
I reach my hand out to touch his, and Cash lifts his gaze in surprise. I squeeze, and he gives me a halfhearted smile. He’s like a schoolboy that I want to pull onto my lap and comfort. Which is odd because he’s one of the best-looking men I’ve ever laid eyes on. He could probably bench press two of me, and clearly, he’s a leader when it comes to business. But there is a softness to him, a vulnerability that he offers when we’re alone, like he has been looking for someone to love him his entire life. It breaks me open.
“Gracie bear,” a man’s voice says from my side. Cash flinches and pulls his hand away from mine, and I turn to see Jonathan Hanson standing with a bemused smirk on his face. “I’d heard the rumors, but I believed you would have given me a heads-up before you started dating.”
I roll my eyes and stand. “Jay, good to see you.” I offer him my cheek, but he pulls me against his chest and hugs me as if we are long-lost lovers. Which I suppose isn’t totally off base, but it’s been ten years since we broke up. I whisper against him, “Give it a rest; this is business.”
I turn to introduce Cash, but he is already standing. “Hanson, good to see you.” He holds out his hand, and Jonathan takes it.
Of course, they know each other.
“I hear congratulations are in order. Good luck with the takeover.”
Cash gives a refined smile. It’s not a soft one or even one of the truly joyful ones he’s given me when we are alone, but his lips are curved in the right direction. “Thank you. So how do you know Grace?”
Cash shoots me a questioning look as he waits for one of us to answer.
“Oh, Gracie was the one that got away. But maybe not for long.” He turns to me and winks. “I really was sad to hear about you and Steven. He’s a bastard. If I had known how it would have turned out, I would have fought harder to keep you.” Jonathan’s hand wraps around my waist possessively, and I feel impermissibly trapped. He’s giving away my secret and sending the completely wrong message about our relationship to Cash.
Cash clears his throat. “So, you and Grace dated? When?”
I pull myself out of Jonathan’s embrace and slap him on the shoulder. “Oh, don’t let him fool you. Jay has never been the type to settle down. Saying we dated is a bit of a stretch.”
Jonathan’s eyes meet mine, and he looks almost hurt. “For me it was as real as it got.”
I feel a sense of nostalgia for the man he’s become. He wasn’t the greatest boyfriend back then, but he never led me on, and he always took care of me. “It’s good to see you,” I say, running my thumb against his cheek before I return to my seat.
Cash watches us closely but doesn’t say anything.
“Where are you staying, Grace? Tell me you didn’t let him keep the house after all the renovations you funded.”
I feel my cheeks heat. If it wasn’t obvious before, there is no denying at this point that Cash now has a complete picture of what my marriage was like and that it’s over.
“Staying in the city. The suburbs weren’t for me, I suppose. Besides, with work I have lots of client dinners, as you can see.” I motion to Cash as if to explain that is all this is.
Jonathan nods in understanding. “Right. Well, I won’t keep you. But since you are back in the city and done playing the dutiful wife, when can I take you out on the town?”
I laugh. “Does anyone really talk like that?”
Jonathan leans down close and whispers in my ear, “I don’t think you want me to say what I really want to do with you.” My eyes flick to Cash’s, and I see he is holding his temper by a thread, his jaw clenched so tightly he may break a tooth.
“I’m having dinner with Tessa tomorrow, but maybe we can meet for drinks after. I’ll text you.”
I have no intention of following up with Jonathan. Not because it wouldn’t be fun, but the kind of fun he’s alluding to is not something I’m ready for. At least not with him. It’s in this moment that I finally realize that I want the man having dinner with me more than I want anything else. And just maybe now that he knows my marriage is a farce, we’ll be able to figure it all out.
