“No! Was she in Vegas with you? Is that who you were with that night?” She had to fight the urge to slap him. She’d let him answer first.

“No.” He spoke calmly. “She was there. She’s part of the wedding party. I didn’t know she was going to be there.” He reached for her hand but she pulled it away again.

Grace took a step back and he stepped forward. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“’Cause I knew you’d be mad. I didn’t wanna upset you for nothing.” He turned and gave Alex a hard look as if he wanted privacy but they all stood there staring as if they were watching a catastrophic train wreck.

Grace felt the tears coming and it enraged her, she stepped back again but he followed. “Did you spend time with her?”

“No. I was with the guys the whole time and she was with the girls. They sent over drinks one time but we never hung out. She was just trying to get in your head, baby. She probably figured I wouldn’t mention it. I should’ve.” He reached for her hand again and this time she let him. She needed to feel his touch—his reassurance. “I’m sorry.”

“Why was she here today?”

“She’s drunk. Her friend said if she hadn’t driven her here, she was gonna drive herself. She’s stupid that way.” He squeezed her hand. “Gracie, she means nothing to me.”

She stared at him, wanting desperately to believe him. He took another step forward and hugged her, kissing the side of her face. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She finally lifted her arm and hugged him back. “I hate her.”

“I do, too.”

~*~

A week later Sal still couldn’t get over Melissa showing up at his place. He treasured every moment he got with Grace but he lived with constant fear of the possibility of it all being ripped away by something Melissa might say or do. He considered just confessing and praying Grace would forgive him, but he knew she’d be crushed—he saw the trepidation in her eyes the day Melissa showed up.

The memory of her kissing him that night had gotten longer since then. He now remembered her telling him how much she missed him, but he had no recollection of what his response was only that she kissed him again. He’d tossed and turned even on the nights Grace was lying right there next to him. A few times he even lay there, staring at her wondering what he’d do if he lost her. One thing was for sure he wouldn’t go down without a fight. If he had to get down on his knees and beg, he would.

It was early and Grace wouldn’t be in until a few more hours. He sat in the back online looking up cars for sale. He hadn’t told her yet but he was looking into getting her a car. Joey was dropping her off today, but she’d told him that before, then he found out later that she’d actually taken the bus, because at the last minute Joey’s car wouldn’t start and she didn’t want to call Sal to pick her up. He hated her taking the bus. She was one of, if not the most important person in his life now. He wasn’t about to keep risking something happening to her.

Alex walked into the back. “What are you doing?”

“Looking up cars.”

“For Grace?”

“Yeah.”

“’Bout time. I don’t see how you’ve let her take the bus all this time. It’s dangerous.”

Sal frowned. “Well, most of the time I make sure she doesn’t. But she’s stubborn. She says it’s not my job to chauffer her everywhere.”

“You don’t have to tell me about stubborn women.”

Sal chuckled and spun his chair around. “Close the door will you? I wanna talk to you.”

Alex did and stared at him curiously. “I’m thinking about telling Grace about Vegas.”

Alex’s face immediately went hard. “Are you insane?”

“Don’t you think it’s just a matter of time, before Melissa does? Wouldn’t it soften the blow if she heard it from me and not her? Fuck!” He dropped his head back. “I’ve tried so hard to remember how I could possibly let that happen. I don’t remember shit!”

“Why don’t you file a restraining order on her ass? You can keep her away that way.”

Sal covered his face with both hands then slid them down slowly. “If she wants Grace to find out, she’ll get the message to her one way or another. I’m literally losing sleep over this, Alex. Seriously, what would you do?”

Alex started to auto-answer then stopped and seemed to ponder it a little longer. “I’d play the odds. Melissa already made an ass out of herself. She probably didn’t count on all of us being there either. My guess is once she sobered up she felt pretty stupid. She’s an attorney, Sal. She can’t be doing shit like that. Maybe you can warn her that you’ll slap her with a restraining order if she keeps it up. That can’t look too good for her and I’m sure that kind of shit shows up if someone ever runs a background check on her. That might make her think twice before doing anything like that again.”

Sal thought about it. He hadn’t heard a thing from her ever since she showed up. Not even a text. Before that she’d been texting him at least once a day, so the theory about her feeling stupid made sense. Maybe she finally got it. Nothing was happening between the two of them ever again. If he filed a restraining order now he might piss her off. “You’re right, she can’t be doing that shit anymore. If she texts me again I’ll tell her I’m filing a restraining order, because I’m not calling her.”