Page 114 of Ethan & Grace

Me:

Text me as soon as you can.

To distract myself while I waited, I started watching London Has Fallen. Henry hated the film. He’d gone to see it in the cinema with Logan when it came out, but had walked out before it was even over. Ever since, Logan had been giving him a DVD of the film at every possible occasion. I wanted to finally understand the joke so I could be in on it too. But I couldn’t really concentrate.

Ten minutes passed.

Twenty.

Still nothing from Grace.

After half an hour, I paused the film and called her. It rang, but she didn’t pick up. My hand tightened around the phone. The faint worry I’d felt earlier had snowballed into serious concern. This wasn’t like Grace. She usually answered quickly, especially since she knew I was waiting to hear from her.

Five minutes later, I tried again. This time, it went straight to voicemail.

Had she declined my call? The thought that she might be ignoring me hadn’t occurred to me, but now it hit me hard. Had the talk with her parents gone that badly? Had she changed her mind and decided she didn’t want to be with me after all? No, I couldn’t imagine that. Firstly, I’d seen in her eyes what she felt for me. Secondly, Grace was many things, but she wasn’t a coward. If she didn’t want to be with me anymore, she would tell me to my face. Something was wrong.

Before I knew what I was doing, I strode out of my flat barefoot and made my way to Henry’s. I pressed the doorbell several times, urging him to hurry. A few seconds later, the door swung open, and I was looking straight into my brother’s puzzled, slightly flustered face.

“Is Kate still here?” I demanded before he could say a word.

“Yes, I’m here!” She waved at me from the sofa.

I pushed past Henry into his flat. “Could you try calling Grace?”

“Why? What happened?” She reached for her phone.

“No idea. Maybe I’m overreacting, but she’s not answering my messages, and she’s not picking up either. I keep getting her voicemail, which has never happened with her before.”

Kate frowned. “Did you two have a fight?”

“No. Everything was fine when she left earlier. She wanted to tell her parents about us today and said she’d talk to me after, but that was hours ago.”

“Let me try,” Kate said.

With my stomach in knots, I watched Kate call Grace, putting the phone on speaker so I could hear. But it also went straight to voicemail. “The number you have dialled—” Kate cut off the automated voice and tried again, with the same result.

The knot in my stomach tightened. I turned to Henry, who had been watching in silence. “Can I borrow your Bentley?” I didn’t own my own car; I’d never needed one, since I could always call Wallace, but he had the day off after working late yesterday.

“Sure.” Henry fetched the keys and tossed them to me.

I caught them. “Thanks.”

“Text us when you’ve spoken to Grace.” Kate sounded worried.

I nodded and hurried off, not wanting to waste any time. The drive from the hotel to Grace’s place usually took about half an hour, but I made it in under twenty minutes. On the way, I tried calling her twice more.

I parked outside the house where Grace lived with her parents. It wasn’t how I’d pictured our first meeting, but at this point, I didn’t care any more than I cared about the traffic laws I’d broken on my way here. I rang the doorbell and was immediately buzzed into the house. I took the stairs two at a time. A woman in her fifties stood in front of one of the doors. Her blond hair was darker than Grace’s, but she was unmistakably her mother. A puzzled look crossed her face when she saw me.

“Good evening, Mrs. Claymore,” I said, trying to sound composed.

She inclined her head. “Good evening. You’re Ethan Darlington.”

“Yes, that’s me. Is Grace home?”

“No, she’s with her friend Kate.”

“Did she tell you that?”