Читать книгу Good Night, Gracie - Kristin Gabriel - Страница 14

THE NIGHT OF HER HIGH SCHOOL reunion, Gracie stepped into Between the Covers wearing her borrowed black dress and matching stilettos, feeling a little like Cinderella. Only she didn’t intend to run away from her Prince Charming at midnight. Just the opposite, in fact.

She’d spent hours preparing for this night, grateful the reunion was in Kendall so she didn’t have to factor in travel time. Yet, there was something pathetic about the fact that she hadn’t left this place for the past ten years. Most of her classmates would be coming in from long distances.

“How do I look?” she asked her assistant store manager, turning in a slow circle.

“Sensational.” Trina Powers walked out from behind the counter, the prosthesis on her left leg visible beneath her denim miniskirt. A motorcycle accident eight years ago had led to an amputation just above Trina’s knee. Some days she used a wheelchair, but most of the time she wore the prosthesis, ignoring the stares of the customers and challenging anyone who tried to pity her.

Despite her disability, nothing ever stopped the thirty-two-year-old from performing her duties at the bookstore—or voicing her opinion.

“That’s a Let’s-Have-Sex outfit if I ever saw one,” Trina said with a smile.

Gracie looked down at the slinky halter dress she had on loan from Tess. The four-inch heels belonged to Cat, who never seemed to have any trouble attracting men. “That’s good because I’m definitely aiming for provocative.”

“I know what we should do,” Trina replied. “Let’s ask the expert. Hemingway’s around here somewhere.”

Paul Toscano, an aspiring writer whom Trina had nicknamed Hemingway, was a daily fixture at the bookstore. Every morning he arrived with his laptop and a sack lunch, then settled into his favorite nook to work on his book-in-progress until closing time.

“Hey, Ernest,” Trina bellowed, “come out here. We need your opinion on something.”

Paul emerged from between the bookcases, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose. His shirt and jeans fit loosely on his slight build and his auburn hair and beard were in need of a trim. His soulful brown eyes fixed on Trina and Gracie could see a blush form beneath his whiskers.

“You called?” he asked Trina.

“Gracie has a hot date tonight,” Trina began, “and we need someone with a Y chromosome to tell us if this outfit she’s wearing will trip his trigger.”

His blush deepened as he turned his gaze to Gracie. “It’s very nice.”

Gracie wasn’t going for nice. She wanted Gilbert’s eyes to pop when he saw her. She wanted him to drag her up to his hotel room at the Claremont and ravish her. On second thought, she’d do the ravishing. After reading all those romances in her aunt’s collection, she was ready to bring some of those erotic scenes to life.

“Nice?” Trina echoed, staring at Paul. “You’re a writer. A wordsmith. Is that really the best you can do? How about sexy? Stunning? Irresistible?”

“Maybe I should take you with me to the reunion,” Gracie said to her, “in case Gilbert needs some prodding.”

“He won’t,” Paul said. “You look lovely.”

Gracie wished she could be as confident. Gilbert hadn’t responded to her e-mail, which wasn’t like him. So she’d made a call to the reunion coordinator, who’d confirmed that he’d be there.

She took a deep breath, wondering what it would be like to see him again after all these years. Though there had been some gaps in his communications to her the past couple of years, he’d recently started e-mailing her more than ever.

Their exchanges seemed more personal somehow, with a sexual undercurrent that intrigued her, made her feel closer to him than ever. Maybe because they were both nearing thirty and still single. Whatever the reason, it was long past time to discover if their friendship could lead to something more.

“I looked Gilbert up in an old yearbook,” Trina said, pulling one off the shelf. Between the Covers had every yearbook from Kendall High School dating back to 1934. “He’s not exactly what I expected.”

Gracie looked over Trina’s shoulder as she paged to the senior picture section of the yearbook.

“There he is,” Trina said, her finger tapping on his photo.

A stout teenage boy with shaggy dark hair, chipmunk cheeks and Coke-bottle bottom glasses that magnified his brown eyes stared back at Gracie. He wore a frayed denim jacket and a sullen expression, neither of which made him appear very appealing.

“Gilbert was never photogenic,” Gracie said in his defense. “And he told me he lost a bunch of weight five years ago and had Lasik surgery, so the glasses are gone. Besides, I’ve gone out with plenty of guys who looked great on the outside but were jerks on the inside. At least I know Gilbert isn’t a jerk.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Trina closed the yearbook. “Besides, who am I to judge? It’s not like I have a Gilbert or any other man knocking down my door.”

Paul cleared his throat and started to say something, but before he could get the words out, Trina abruptly changed the subject.

“I found a couple of possibilities in the real estate section today.” She moved to the counter and swiped the newspaper off the green marble top. “Not the best locations, but we obviously don’t have time to be picky.”

Gracie looked at the two items circle in red ink, guilt welling up inside of her. She hadn’t given enough attention to their impending eviction, leaving all the work to Trina as she’d worked on the presentation to the historical society. That would change after this weekend. Then she’d make finding a new home for Between the Covers her first priority.

But right now all she could think about was Gilbert.

She wondered if he really had changed much physically since high school. Not that it mattered. He made her feel special and that was more important than a handsome face or a buff body. Still, a few doubts lingered in her seduction plan. What if the sparks simply weren’t there? A wild weekend of hot sex wasn’t worth ruining their friendship.

Was it?

The fact that she could even ponder such a question was proof that her long sex drought had taken its toll. Between running the bookstore and taking care of her sick aunt, Gracie hadn’t been able to find much time for a social life.

“Here,” Trina said, digging into her purse. “You’d better take these.”

Gracie looked up from the newspaper to see Trina pull out a handful of colorful condom packages. Paul made a strangled noise in his throat at the sight of them.

“What?” Trina challenged, looking up at him. “You think a gimp can’t get lucky?”

“You’re not a…I never said…” Paul sputtered.

“Thanks,” Gracie interjected, taking the condoms from her.

Why couldn’t Trina see that the guy was totally in love with her? Or maybe she did see and just chose to ignore it. Paul wasn’t exactly Mr. Exciting.

“Now go out and have fun,” Trina said, propelling her toward the door. “And don’t worry about the store. I can handle everything here.”

“I’ll help her,” Paul said, then added quickly, “not that she needs it.”

Trina laughed and Gracie was surprised by the pinprick of envy inside of her. She’d never had a man look at her the way Paul looked at Trina. The closest she’d come was in high school when Gilbert had asked her to the senior prom. She’d suggested they go out for pizza and bowling instead, fearing he’d only made the offer because she’d whined so much about not having a date. Now, ten years later, she was about to invite him to sleep with her.

She hoped it was an invitation he couldn’t refuse.

ZACH STOOD IN THE BALLROOM of the Claremont Hotel wondering how he ever thought he could pull this off. The class of 1995 milled around him, their excited chatter punctuated by occasional shouts of recognition and giddy laughter.

He’d skipped his own high school reunion last year, where he no doubt would have felt as alien as he did now. Those days were a blur to him, mixed with unhappy memories of his father’s abandonment when he was thirteen years old.

After he’d been made the man-of-the-house by default, Zach had given up sports and other school activities so he could go to work and help his mother keep their household afloat.

More than once, Zach had fallen asleep in class, exhausted from working double shifts at his job at the all-night delicatessen.

That was where he’d first considered a career in law enforcement, since it was a prime spot for the cruising patrolmen to take their breaks. He’d listened to their stories as he worked, enthralled by the excitement of it all. Compared to slicing salami and shredding lettuce, it had seemed like a dream job.

Now he knew that excitement came at a price. Like almost losing your partner. Or leaving a case unsolved. That still bothered him and he found himself scowling at the blond woman approaching him.

“Well, hey there,” she said with a slight Southern drawl, “you don’t look like you’re having a very good time. Maybe I can fix that.”

He pushed thoughts of the case out of his mind, forcing his face to relax into a smile. “I’m sure you can,” his gaze dropped to the name tag on her ample chest, “Sandra.”

She laughed. “You don’t remember me, do you? Nobody’s recognized me yet. I used to be a brunette back in high school. And a bit of a tomboy. Now, don’t tell me your name. Let me guess.”

He wondered how long it would take before she gave up, but he didn’t mind waiting. Gracie hadn’t shown up yet, so he had nothing better to do.

Sandra tilted her head to one side, looking him up and down. “You’re Gilbert Holloway, aren’t you?”

Zach blinked in surprise. He and Holloway were close to the same height and both had dark hair and eyes, but nobody would ever mistake them for twins. “How did you know?”

“Because I’m the official reunion greeter and the only two men who haven’t picked up their name tags yet are Gilbert Holloway and Mitch Putnam.” She laughed again. “But even with that Boston accent, I know you’re not Mitch.”

“Of course not,” he agreed, wondering how she made the distinction. But he didn’t want to blow his cover by asking. He was certain Gracie would realize he wasn’t Gilbert as soon as she saw him. He just hoped she’d give him a chance to explain before revealing him as a fraud to everyone in the room.

Zach realized now that he’d been crazy to come here. Gracie wanted to see Gilbert, not him. She didn’t even know him. Or realize that she’d been communicating with a complete stranger these past few months, telling him all her desires, spilling all her deepest secrets.

Making him fall in love with her.

Zach shook that unsettling thought from his head as soon as it appeared. He wasn’t in love with her, just intrigued, maybe even infatuated. But that’s as far as it went. That’s as far as he’d allow it to go.

Despite his second thoughts, he’d come too far to back out now. Once he met Gracie and satisfied his curiosity, he could put her behind him. It might not be easy, but he’d done it before. All he wanted now was this one weekend with her. One weekend to fulfill the fantasies he’d had about her since her very first e-mail had touched something inside his soul.

Sandra peeled back the adhesive on Gilbert’s name tag, then slapped it on his chest. “Can you believe how much everybody’s changed? I wouldn’t have recognized Stacie Winston if I’d passed her on the street and we started kindergarten together.”

“A lot can happen in ten years,” Zach replied, feeling more confident about pulling off this charade. Sandra didn’t hesitate in accepting him as Gilbert Holloway.

Of course, he’d picked up on a few of the guy’s mannerisms and speech patterns while acting as his bodyguard. Zach knew all Gilbert’s favorite foods and little idiosyncrasies. And he’d read his journal, as well as all the e-mails exchanged between Gilbert and Gracie for the past decade, which were saved in a special file on Holloway’s computer.

In some ways, he knew Gilbert better than he knew himself.

“I still can’t believe it’s been ten years since we graduated.” Sandra leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Did you know Andy Winkleman’s been married three times already? And Kendra Nebbles has four kids from four different men. I guess her parents shouldn’t have forbidden her from taking that sex education class.”

He knew all their names, having memorized them from the yearbook during his flight to Texas. Zach had treated this like any other undercover assignment, covering all his bases before he went into action. Only this assignment was personal and there was no set strategy—other than meeting Gracie.

He checked his watch, hoping he didn’t have to wait much longer. “Do you know if Gracie Dawson’s arrived yet?”

“Not yet.” Sandra gave him a sly smile. “So tell me, were you two really just friends back in high school or was there more going on?”

That was a question Zach couldn’t answer, so he hedged a little. “We’ve always been close.”

She laughed. “And you’ve always been so secretive. I never could get any juicy tidbits out of you.”

“I guess I’m just not a juicy kind of guy.”

“Maybe not back in high school,” she replied, her gaze roaming voraciously over his body. “But you have definitely improved with age.”

Zach sensed it was time to move on, but before he could make an excuse to end their conversation, Sandra sidled closer to him.

“Can you believe it?” she asked in a hushed whisper, her gaze fixed across the room. “I think that’s Allison Webb. Right over there, next to the punch bowl. Imagine her just showing up here like she graduated with all the rest of us! That certainly takes some nerve. Especially since I didn’t even send her an invitation.”

Zach followed her gaze and saw a tall blonde scoping out the room. “Did she drop out or something?”

Sandra looked up at him with a snort of disbelief. “How could you forget? It was the talk of the school for months. Allison just disappeared in the middle of our senior year. No warning. No explanation. Some people said she got pregnant. Others claimed she got busted for drugs and thrown in jail. But nobody ever knew for sure.”

Now it clicked. In the back of the yearbook had been a mock-up of a wanted poster with Allison’s picture on it and text underneath that read:

The senior class of Kendall High is offering a reward of one dollar for any information about AWOL classmate Allison Webb. She was last seen in the computer lab, wearing a pink sweater and white denim jeans.

“Well, it looks like the mystery will be solved tonight,” Zach said. “All we have to do is ask her where she went and why.”

Sandra smiled as she swept her arm in Allison’s direction. “Be my guest, Mr. Holloway. I’ll be waiting to soak up all your juicy tidbits.”

Zach walked across the room, driven more by a desire to escape Sandra than any curiosity about Allison. As he approached her, she caught sight of his name tag, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Gilbert Holloway?” she said, looking him up and down.

“That’s right,” he replied. “How are you, Allison?”

“You know how I am.” She moved closer to him and whispered, “The question is, what are you doing here?”

“Catching up with old friends,” he replied, caught off guard by her reaction.

“Are you nuts?” she hissed. “This isn’t the time to be playing games. There’s too much at stake.”

His instincts as a cop kicked into high gear at her words. It looked like there was more to the mystery of Allison than anyone here had imagined. There was something going on between her and Gilbert. Not a physical relationship, obviously, since she didn’t realize he was an imposter—which left another incriminating possibility.

“I guess I like to live dangerously.”

“I know why you’re here,” she accused, her gaze narrowing on him. “You want to see goody-two-shoes Gracie.”

The jealousy in her tone was unmistakable. But he still couldn’t be sure about her connection to Gilbert. He needed to draw her out and make her reveal something that would lead him in the right direction. “What makes you say that?”

“Maybe the fact that you’re compromising the entire plan by showing up here tonight. Why did you insist that I make contact with Walker Mullen if you were planning to be here?”

Walker Mullen? The name didn’t sound familiar. Just how many alumni from the class of ’95 were involved in this case?

“In case you’re interested, he bought my story about the stalker and is making the plans for us to travel incognito. I’m supposed to pick up the airline tickets at his agency on Monday.”

So Walker Mullen was a local travel agent—and a dupe. That answered one question but still didn’t get him any closer to finding Gilbert.

“Now you’re taking a chance of blowing everything. And for what?” She rolled her eyes. “A chance to moon over Gracie Dawson?”

Zach wished he knew what she was talking about. He was floundering here and had no idea how to dig for more information without revealing himself.

“Let me buy you a drink,” he offered, noting the empty glass in her hand. He could smell the alcohol on her breath and hoped a little more would help her loosen her tongue.

She shook her head. “I’m leaving now. Besides, I prefer to keep a clear head. It’s safer that way. And I suggest you do the same—especially around Gracie. If she gets in the way…”

“What?” he prodded, his skin prickling at her tone.

“Just follow the plan and Gracie won’t get hurt,” Allison replied. “I know where she lives, so if anything goes wrong—and I mean, anything, then she’ll be the one who pays. Got it?”

Before he could reply to her not-so-veiled threat, Allison turned on her heel and walked away. Zach started to follow her when another woman came into his view. The woman he’d flown over a thousand miles to meet. The woman he’d only seen before this moment in a yearbook and in his dreams.

Gracie.