“Stay with them,” Eli said to Chelsea, but her look made him know that she wasn’t going to do that. With a sigh, he held out his hand to her and they began running in the direction of the parking lot.
“Nolan,” Grace said, “I can’t thank you enough for all you did today.” It was just after 6:00 p.m. and they were at her house. A pizza had been delivered and he was opening a bottle of red wine. “It was really strange how you’d get my computer working, then it would shut itself down again.”
“Yeah, it was,” Nolan said, but his eyes didn’t meet hers. All day he and Eli had exchanged texts. As soon as Nolan had fixed one thing, he’d text Eli and immediately something else would go wrong. By afternoon it became a game between the men. THAT ALL YOU GOT? Nolan had texted, and the next problem had occupied him for an hour before he fixed it. Afterward, he texted Eli, HOW ABOUT SOMETHING CREATIVE? It took him thirty minutes to find the little green dragon that Eli sent to the computer.
Nolan showed none of this to Grace. Instead, he just worked and listened. It hadn’t been easy to get her to start talking. He accomplished it by asking her advice on how to deal with Scully. Did she know what the kids were up to?
After that, they’d sat in her office, and while Nolan worked on her computer, Grace talked. There were several times when he was shocked at what she told him about Orin Peterson and the times she’d given him money.
“I don’t know the truth,” Grace said, “but I think maybe the real story isn’t what Orin’s told me all these years.”
Nolan wasn’t sure what she meant, but he was beginning to think that there was more to her late husband’s suicide than just despondency.
“Maybe I didn’t . . .” Grace whispered. “Maybe Gil wasn’t . . .” She didn’t finish her sentences, but Nolan had an idea that maybe the burden of guilt that she carried was being lifted.
Toward the end of the day, Nolan sent Eli one last text—FINISHED—and the computer continued to work. Nolan was packing up when Grace invited him to her house for pizza.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d love to.” He was afraid to say any more for fear that she’d see what was in his heart. When she’d first moved to Edilean they’d dated for four glorious months. It had been wonderful!
At first their two children had nothing to say to each other. Grace’s pretty daughter was concerned with clothes and makeup and boys, while his son was as nerdy as they come. But through repeated visits, Abby’s brain came to the fore and Scully learned some desperately needed social skills. By the end of that summer, Nolan thought they had become a family.
But one day, Grace called it off. She said some things about guilt and her late husband’s suicide, but none of it made sense. All Nolan knew for sure was that one Saturday she went to meet with her husband’s former business partner, and when she returned, she told Nolan she couldn’t see him anymore.
Nothing he said dissuaded her. For a few months he pursued her but she wouldn’t budge. In anger, he went out with a couple of other women, but he didn’t like them much.
After the breakup, Abby and Scully stayed friends—and there were times when Nolan was downright jealous. When she came to pick up Abby, he’d see Grace in her car, but they never talked.
Until today. Today she’d been different. It was as though something inside her had been released. She’d talked and even, a couple of times, laughed.
When she’d invited him for pizza, he didn’t hesitate in saying yes.
“I’m sorry about Abby going to the prom with a football player,” Grace said as she filled the wineglasses.
He agreed, but he wasn’t going to betray his son by telling of Scully’s hurt. “It’s all right. Scully’s happiest when he’s in front of a computer.”
“I know how much he cares about Abby. But the kid, Baze, is nice too.”
“And he can dance,” Nolan said. “And he knows how to talk to people and all those things I should have taught my son. If I knew how to do them, that is.”
Grace laughed. “I think you’re quite adept in social matters. Scully could be too if he had some training. It’s just that Abby needs to learn that there is value in a male besides a muscular body.”
Nolan smiled. “I’ve been thinking of joining Mike’s Gym. Think that if I had some biceps I could win a girl’s heart?”
Grace looked at him over her glass of wine. “I think you can win the heart of any woman just the way you are.”
Nolan put his hand out to hers and she took it. In the next moment they were standing, their arms around each other, and kissing.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Nolan whispered against her lips. “The time we spent together was some of the happiest of my life.”
“And I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
“Isn’t this nice?” came a voice from a few feet away.
Turning, they saw Orin Peterson standing there holding a gun pointed at them. His shirt was misbuttoned; his trousers had no belt. There was a bloody scrape on his forehead. He looked as though he’d escaped from somewhere.
“Where’s the rabbit?” he asked.
Grace stepped out of Nolan’s arms. “Orin,” she said as calmly as she could manage, “you look like you could use some food. The pizza is hot. How about if I make you some coffee?”