Part 6

~

She acts like summer and walks like rain

Reminds me that there’s time to change, hey, hey

Since her return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey

~

Present time

“Grace.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, standing right before me, was Grace Myers, a girl I hadn’t seen in over eight years.

I wanted to ask her a million questions, but I was speechless. I just couldn’t believe she was really there. I never thought I would see her again, and then out the blue, she showed up at my wife’s funeral.

“I’m so sorry, Brian,” Grace said, looking at me with those beautiful brown eyes, which were filled with sorrow.

Sorry for what? I wondered. Sorry about Leighanne? Or about disappearing and never speaking to me again? Maybe it was a little of both.

I wasn’t sure what to say to her. Tell her it was okay? It wasn’t okay. It wasn’t okay that my wife was dead or that Grace had left me all those years before. I said nothing.

“Are you okay?” Grace asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. Her touch sent tingles down my spine.

“Of course I’m not okay,” I said, rather sharply. She looked hurt, and I automatically felt bad for snapping at her. “I’m sorry, Grace,” I apologized softly.

“It’s alright, Brian. I understand,” she said, lowering her eyes. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Are you mad at me?”

“Mad at you?” Well, now that she brought it up, yes, I did feel mad at her. What right did she have to have sex with me when I was just eighteen, promise that she would love me forever, and then vanish into thin air? But I didn’t say that. “Grace, why does everything have to be about you, huh? My wife just died! I have more things to be upset about than you!”

Again, wrong thing to say. Her eyes slowly filled with tears, and I again regretted saying it. I had always hated making Grace cry. “Don’t cry, Grace,” I said, sighing. “I didn’t mean it. I just…” I trailed off and shrugged, not knowing how to express how I was feeling.

“I know, Brian. Your wife died; you have a right to be upset. I think I better just go now though and leave you alone. Bye.” With that, she turned around and started across the grassy cemetery.

I stared at her in disbelief, my mouth dropping open. She was just going to leave like that? Just walk out on me? “Grace, wait!” I called, hurrying after her.

“What?” she asked, turning around.

“Please don’t leave. I’m sorry.”

“I know. But you need to be alone now. I shouldn’t have intruded,” she said.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to be alone. I want to talk to you. God, I haven’t seen you in eight years!”

A mix of expressions crossed her face. In the end, it looked like one of relief. “Okay,” she said slowly. “I saw a coffee shop a ways down the road when I was driving here. You wanna go and get a cappuccino or something and talk?”

I nodded. “I’d like that,” I replied.

She smiled slightly. “Okay,” she said. “My car’s parked over there.” She pointed to a small, gray, beat up looking car parked on the side of the street. “Did you come in a limo, or what?”

“Yeah,” I said, motioning to the black stretch limo parked a ways down the road. I could see some of my bodyguards standing near it, watching us.

“Well, why don’t you go tell them to leave, and you can get a ride with me. That would be easier, wouldn’t it?” Grace offered.

“Yeah, that would be good,” I said. “I’ll go tell them. You go ahead to your car, and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” she said and started off towards her car, while I walked to the limo. I explained what I was doing to one of the bodyguards and then walked back across the cemetery to where Grace was waiting for me, in her car.

“Ready?” she asked, as I climbed into the passenger seat of her tiny old car.

“Yup,” I said. She pulled on to the street, and I showed her how to get to the nearby Starbucks. It only took a couple minutes to get there. We didn’t say much to each other until we got into the café.

“Gosh, it’s been so long,” Grace commented, as we sat down opposite each other at a table in the corner, taking a sip of her cappuccino.

“I know,” I said. “So how did you know to come here anyway? I mean, we never released any information on where the funeral would be and when or anything. How did you find out?”

“Actually, I was back in Lexington a couple days ago. I was gonna call your parents, but then I found out they had moved into a different house, and the number was unlisted. But then, by come coincidence, I ran into your mom at the grocery store. I hadn’t even heard what had happened. She told me and gave me the details of the funeral and told me to come if I wanted to. So I did.”

I smiled sadly. “Thanks for coming,” I said. “It means a lot to me.”

“No problem. It’s great to see you again,” she said honestly. I nodded, saying nothing.

Grace sighed. “Bri, I know what you must be thinking,” she started. “I know you probably think that I betrayed you. You’re probably angry that I disappeared on you like that all of a sudden. Am I right?”

I stared at her in amazement. She had read my mind perfectly. “Grace, I’m not angry really, just confused. I mean, I thought that we loved each other. I thought we were gonna try to keep the relationship going. And then you just left, and I had no idea where you’d gone. You never called, you never wrote, nothing.”

She looked away. “I know,” she said. “And I feel horrible about it. But I couldn’t help it.”

“What happened thought?” I asked. “Why did you leave?”

“It was my dad.” She sighed and continued. “The day you left, he came home late, drunk as usual. But this time, he had a gun with him. He went after my mom and me and pointed his gun at us. Mom managed to knock him out with a lamp or something, and while he was unconscious on the floor, we split. We grabbed some stuff, just clothes and all the money we could find, and left. We took Mom’s car and just drove. Eventually, we made it to my aunt’s house in Texas, and we stayed there. I didn’t have your phone number or address in Orlando with me, and Mom wouldn’t let me call or write to your parents because she didn’t want them involved. She was scared to death that my dad would find out where we were and come after us. Plus, we couldn’t have afforded to make a long distance call like that. We were poor, Brian. My aunt and uncle don’t have much money anyway, and so things were really bad for awhile.”

“Oh, God, Grace, I had no idea,” I gasped, stricken. I immediately felt like a selfish jerk for being angry at her about it. “So where are you living now?”

“I saved up enough to buy an apartment for myself, near Houston. It’s pretty crappy, but at least I’m on my own now,” she said.

I nodded. “Are you working?”

“Yeah. I’m a waitress at a diner in Houston. I know that sounds like a crappy job to you, but I didn’t get to go to college; there wasn’t enough money. So I’m glad to have it. The money’s not bad, and at least you meet a lot of people.”

I nodded. It was hard to believe what different directions our lives had gone in. It was like we had nothing in common anymore. Here I was a celebrity, living in a mansion in Atlanta, Georgia, touring all over the world, and Grace was living in a shabby apartment in Houston, Texas, working as a waitress.

“But enough about me,” Grace continued. “Let’s talk about you. I couldn’t believe it the first time I saw your face on MTV. I was like, ‘That guy used to be my boyfriend!’”

I laughed. “Yeah, who would have thought I would have ever been in this position. You know, I wouldn’t be in it now, if you hadn’t have convinced me to go to Orlando.” I smiled slightly, remembering that evening, the last night we had spent together. It had been eight years ago, but I could remember everything perfectly.

“I’m glad I did then,” she said. “You deserve to be where you’re at. You’re talented and dedicated, and you’re a great person too.”

“So are you,” I said. “And you deserve better than what you’ve got. You shouldn’t be living in a crappy apartment and waitressing. You’re too good for that.”

Grace shrugged. “Maybe so, but what other choice to I have? I have to support myself somehow, and without a college degree, it’s hard to find a good job. And not everyone can get their big break like you did.”

I frowned. Was that a diss on me? After all, I hadn’t gone to college either. But here I was rich and famous because I had gotten my “big break”. Did she resent me for that? I didn’t say anything, not wanting to make her feel worse.

“So, you’re not married?” I asked, to change the subject.

She shook her head. “Nope. I was seeing someone for awhile, but we split up, and he got married. I really haven’t been in a steady relationship since. Just haven’t found another guy I love as much as I loved him.”

She smiled slightly at me, and slowly, I realized what she was talking about. “You mean… me?” I asked.

“You catch on quick, dontcha, Bri?” she asked, rolling her eyes and grinning at me.

I smiled slightly, studying her face. What did she mean by that? That she still loved me? Or that she just hadn’t found someone she loved as much as she used to love me?

“What about you? Did you date after we… got separated?” Grace asked.

I shrugged. “No, not really,” I said. “I dated this girl, Samantha, for a couple of years, after I joined Bsb. And then, after she and I broke up, I met Leighanne.”

A lump rose in my throat at the mention of Leighanne’s name, but I swallowed it back quickly. I had cried enough in the past few days. I didn’t need to break down in front of Grace. She obviously had enough to deal with on her own.

Grace nodded. “Can I confess something?” she asked.

“What?”

“I have to admit I was sorta jealous when I found out you were getting married,” she said, smiling sheepishly at me.

I returned her smile. “Don’t worry, I would have been jealous if I had found out you were getting married too.”

A slight smile crossed her face. But then, her expression changed. She looked thoughtful all of a sudden and a little sad too.

“Grace? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Huh?” she said, looking up. “Oh, nothing, I was just thinking.”

“What about?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about us, about our friendship. I want us to keep in touch from now on and stay friends,” she replied.

I nodded. “Me too,” I said. “I don’t want to lose contact with you again. I missed you, Grace.”

“I missed you too, Bri,” she replied. “I missed you so much.”

I smiled at her. I could tell that our friendship was going to be just fine. Many aspects of our lives had changed drastically over the years, but our friendship had not. We may not have been in love, like we were eight years ago, but we could always be friends.

I don’t know exactly how long we sat in that coffee shop, but it was a long time. We talked about everything we had gone through over the years, from her experiences in Texas, to mine as a Backstreet Boy.

When we finally got up to leave, the whipped cream on our half-finished cappuccinos had melted into the brown liquid, and my butt was practically numb from sitting in that chair for so long. But I felt much, much better than I had earlier. Being with Grace had helped me take my mind off of Leighanne, something I had needed badly. I knew that once I got home, my tears would come back, as I thought about her, but at least I could escape that pain for a few hours.

Grace gave me a ride home from the Starbucks. When she pulled into my driveway, she stopped the car and fished a pen and small pad of paper out of her purse. She wrote down her home address, phone number, and email address down on the top sheet and gave it to me. “Here you go,” she said. “Can I have yours too, so we can keep in touch?” She smiled slightly, then added, “Don’t worry, I won’t auction it off to the highest-bidding teenybopper.”

I grinned. “Sure, no problem,” I replied, writing down my address and phone number. I had an email address somewhere, but I rarely used it. I wasn’t the most computer literate person. That was Nick’s thing.

“Thanks, Bri,” she said. “I’m heading for home tomorrow, so we probably won’t get to see each other again for awhile. You take care though and please call me if you get the chance.”

“I will, Grace,” I told her. “I don’t want to ever lose you again.” I leaned over and hugged her tightly.

“Me neither,” Grace replied. “Love ya, Bri.”

“Love you too, Grace,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks so much.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and I got out of the car and headed up to my house. I waved to her, as her car pulled out of my drive and disappeared down the street.

***

Lyrics taken from Train’s “Drops of Jupiter”

Next

Back to index