Chapter 94
It was slower than she would have liked, but Grace was improving her image with Will. Her frequent visits to the office had garnered favor with his staff. In her interactions with them, he was able to see small glimpses of the old Grace. She was kind, courteous and bright.
They began to interact more. Will would take her out for dinner every now and then, and Grace was thrilled. However, there was still a certain chill about the way he treated her. She wanted a hot, steamy romance and was getting a lukewarm friendship.
“Welcome home, Will,” she greeted him one night after he returned from work and leaned in for a kiss. Will stiffened and leaned away.
“Hello,” his tone was tense.
“Can’t I have a good evening kiss?” she flirted and leaned into him again. Will stepped away and went around her.
“Grace…”
“I prepared dinner for you,” she announced. Her voice was cheery with a hint of desperation. “Come.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dining room. A grand feast was laid out before him. Will’s appetite wasn’t what it used to be, but he was pleased at the smorgasbord presented to him.
“This is nice,” he said. He pulled out a seat for Grace and took the chair across from her.
“Will, we need to talk.”
“We do.”
Grace was surprised by his answer. His eyes seemed tired, and his shoulders were slumped over. He wasn’t the dominant William Stewart she remembered and a part of her wondered when they had become these shell versions of themselves. It’s because you left him.
“We’ve been married for a while now. And you refuse to touch me. You won’t kiss me or caress me. You won’t even hold my hand. There hasn’t been any intimacy in our marriage and I’m getting tired of it.”
“You’re right,” Will answered.
“Really?” Grace squealed. “I knew you felt the same, I just knew it!”
“I’ve not been fair to you, and I should have said something a long time ago.”
“So, then I think the solution is…”
“The solution is to end this charade once and for all. If we act now, we can get the marriage annulled instead of going through a divorce.”
Grace felt her heart fall into her toes. The life she was fighting for was crumbling away beneath her. This was not the conversation she expected to have with him.
“Annulled? Divorced? You think that’s what I want?”
“This is a sham marriage. We aren’t in love…”
“I am! I’m in love!” Grace shouted. She jumped up, slamming her hands on the table. “I want to be with you. Don’t you see how hard I’m trying?”
“That’s the problem,” Will was exasperated. “Why should you fight to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you? I do not love you.”
“Yes, you do!”
“No, I don’t. That ship sailed and sank.”
“I am the love of your life. We’re supposed to be together!” Grace was hysterical and inconsolable. The persona she had been crafting was slipping away and Will was seeing through the cracks in her armor. “How could you love me so much one minute and then completely be over me the next?”
“I’m not going through this again,” Will got up and tried to walk away, but Grace threw her arms around him.
“It’s her, isn’t it? You’re trying to leave me for her.”
“Grace, please,” he tried to push away from her, but she tightened her hold around him.
“Tell me the truth!”
Will took a deep breath. He hadn’t wanted to be mean, but there was nothing else he could say.
“I’m not trying to leave you for anyone! I just don’t want to be with you.”
“I don’t believe. I know you think about her. I know you’re trying to find her.”
“I’m trying to let you go, so you can go be happy. So, you can find someone else.”
“I don’t want anyone else!”
“Why?”
There was a pause. It hung on for an eternity but only a few seconds had passed. But those few seconds were long enough.
“Because I love you.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” Will pushed himself away from her and left the house. Grace and the half-eaten dinner were abandoned. She watched from the window as Will’s car peeled away. The further away he got, the more she knew. There was only one way out of this.
Will drove until for a while with no destination. His conversation with Grace hit a wall and he realized she would never let him go, but not for the reasons she wanted him to believe. For so long he had tried to replace her in his life, and now he realized that all he wanted was for someone to actually want to be with him. At the end of the day, he was still that affection starved child.
“God, you’re so stupid,” he said to himself. He pinned all of his hopes on the first person to show him any warmth and it had backfired. He hated how pathetic he was, how all he ever did was ruin relationships and then pine for them. Love was some sort of inaccessible terminus that was just a few inches away. He’d always be able to see it and never touch it.
Eventually he went back home. The lights were off, and the attendants were gone for the night. He assumed Grace had gone to bed. The dining room had been cleared. He got a bottle of whiskey out of the liquor cabinet and decided to drink the night away. Glass after glass of dark amber liquid burned its way down its throat. The opposite effect of the way one he had hoped for manifested. Instead of numbness, he felt everything. Every mistake, every fail flooded his mind.
“Will?” Grace stood at the doorway. Her voice was small.
“Grace!” Will called. “Another woman whose life I ruined. C’mere,” he waved her over. She shuffled towards him, and tried to stand, but stumbled over.
“You’re drunk,” Grace stated.
“Mmhmm. Sure am,” Will laughed. “Dint work though.” He slurred his words, and Grace couldn’t understand him well.
“Let me help you to bed.” Grace put an arm around Will’s waist and guided him towards his room. Will groaned in response. They got to his room and Grace led him to his bed. She let him go, and he fell in bringing him down with her.
“Will!” she yelped in delight as she lay on top of him. “I guess all you needed was a little liquid courage to loosen you up,” she purred.
“Mmm.”
“Oh Will, this is going to be amazing,” she leaned in to kiss him.
“I wanted to try,” Will moaned. “I’m sorry.”
Grace gasped and disentangled herself from Will’s arms.
“What does that mean?”
“We could’ve been good, Emma. But I messed it up. I wanted to try.”
Grace ran out of the room crying and collapsed into her own bed. She cried for a few moments, heartbroken with the conformation that Will, who had once worshipped her, was in love with someone else. It hurt. The knowledge that she allowed it to happen, hurt her worse. She had essentially pushed Will into Emma’s arms when the intention was to solidify her hold on him.
“I took it too far,” she whined. Her options were limited. If she didn’t do something soon, Will would serve her with divorce papers. She would have to do something to at least delay his final decision. Grace buried her fears and sorrows and went back to Will’s room. His chest rose and fell with his deep, but uneven breaths. It was time to stop playing nice and start playing dirty. As she watched him, her plan began to form.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
