The Date
1135 Words
CHAPTER 6
Richard's POV
I had not been this nervous about a date since I was seventeen.
I kept checking my watch. Seven o'clock. Grace had said she would be ready at seven.
Vincent, my business partner and closest friend, had called earlier.
"I heard you're taking Grace out tonight," he had said.
"How did you know that?"
"Patricia called my mother. She's furious."
"She'll get over it."
"Will she? Richard, what are you doing? You love Victoria. You're supposed to be divorcing Grace, not dating her."
"It's one dinner."
"Is it though? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're having second thoughts."
"I'm not having second thoughts. I'm just... I'm trying to do the right thing."
"The right thing would have been treating her well from the beginning. Not two years later when you're about to divorce her."
He had a point. But I could not change the past. I could only try to fix the present.
I heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up.
Grace stood at the top of the staircase wearing a dark red dress that I had never seen before. Her hair was down, falling in soft waves over her shoulders. She had put on makeup, not too much, just enough to highlight her eyes.
She looked stunning.
"Is this okay?" she asked, coming down the stairs. "I wasn't sure what to wear."
"You look beautiful."
She smiled, and I realized I had never seen her smile like that before. Real and bright and... happy.
"Thank you," she said softly.
I offered her my arm, and she took it. We walked to the car together, and I opened the door for her.
"Where are we going?" she asked as I drove.
"You'll see."
I had made reservations at La Maison, one of the best French restaurants in Toronto. I had never taken Grace anywhere nice. I had taken Victoria there dozens of times.
But tonight was different. Tonight was for Grace.
The hostess seated us at a private table near the window. Grace looked around with wide eyes.
"Richard, this place is..."
"Too much?"
"No. It's beautiful. I just... I never expected you to take me somewhere like this."
"Why not?"
"Because we're not... we're not a real couple."
"We are for three months. Might as well make the most of it."
She smiled again, and I found myself wanting to make her smile more often.
We ordered wine and food, and for the first time since we got married, we actually talked. Really talked.
"Tell me something about yourself," I said. "Something I don't know."
She thought for a moment. "I wanted to be a teacher. Before my father died and everything fell apart, I was studying to be an elementary school teacher."
"Why did you stop?"
"I couldn't afford to finish school. And then Emmanuel arranged the marriage, and I thought... Maybe I could go back someday. But I never did."
"You still could."
She shook her head. "It's been too long."
"It's never too long to chase what you want, Grace."
She looked at me carefully. "Is that why you're with Victoria? Because she's what you want?"
The question caught me off guard. "Yes," I said, but the word felt heavy on my tongue.
"Do you love her?"
"I thought I did. I've loved her for five years."
"Thought?"
I set down my wine glass. "I don't know anymore. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. But lately... things feel different."
"Different how?"
I looked at her. "I look at you, and I realize I've been married to a stranger. And the more I get to know you, the more I wonder why I never tried before."
She was quiet for a long moment. "In three months, I'll be gone, Richard. Whatever this is between us right now, it doesn't change that."
"What if I don't want you to go?"
The words hung in the air between us.
Grace's eyes filled with tears. "Don't say things like that."
"Why not?"
"Because you don't mean them. Because you love Victoria. Because in a few weeks, you'll remember why you wanted to divorce me in the first place."
"What if I don't?"
She stood up suddenly. "I need some air."
I followed her outside to the restaurant's garden terrace. She was leaning against the railing, looking out at the city lights.
"Grace..."
"Do you know what the hardest part of this marriage has been?" she asked without turning around. "It's not that you don't love me. It's that you never even tried to see me. For two years, I was invisible. And I accepted that because I thought that was all I deserved."
"You deserve more than that."
"I know. That's why I asked for three months. So I could have something to hold on to when I leave."
I stepped closer. "And if I asked you to stay?"
Now she turned to face me. "Why would you do that?"
"Because maybe I'm starting to see what I've been missing."
"Or maybe you're just feeling guilty."
"Maybe it's both."
She shook her head. "I can't do this, Richard. I can't let myself believe that you might actually want me when I know you're still in love with her."
"What if I'm not anymore?"
"Are you really going to stand there and tell me you've stopped loving Victoria? After everything?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but I could not. Because I did not know. I had loved Victoria for so long that it felt like part of who I was.
But when I looked at Grace, something else stirred inside me. Something new and confusing and real.
"I don't know what I feel anymore," I admitted. "All I know is that when I'm with you, I don't want to be anywhere else."
Grace's tears spilled over. "This isn't fair."
"I know."
"You can't do this to me. You can't make me hope."
"Why not?"
"Because hope is dangerous. Because in three months, you're going to marry Victoria, and I'm going to be alone again. And if I let myself hope now, it will destroy me later."
I reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Then don't think about three months from now. Think about it right now."
She looked up at me, and I saw everything I had missed for two years. The strength, the kindness, the quiet beauty that I had been too blind to notice.
"What are you asking me, Richard?"
I did not have an answer. Because I did not know what I was asking. All I knew was that something had shifted, and I could not go back to pretending Grace did not exist.
"I'm asking you to give me a chance," I said quietly. "A real chance.”
- Writer
