“Hello?” he said as he closed the car door and turned on the engine.
“Matthew?”
“Grace?”
“It’s me. Jem got me a cell phone, it’s way fancier than the one I had when I was taken. I asked him for your number, I hope that’s okay.” She sounded tentative, almost shy, but he was grinning like an idiot, too bad she couldn’t see that. Grace had tracked him down, she’d only left the hospital this morning, and yet she’d already got a phone and called him.
“It’s more than okay, I'm so glad to hear from you.”
“I wasn’t sure if you'd want to. I mean, I know what you said earlier, about how you … you know … liked me, and I don’t think I'm ready for anything right now, not a relationship anyway, but I do need a friend, and I'd like to get to know you better. I know it’s a lot to ask of you because I don’t know when I'm going to be ready, and I can't expect you to wait, but …”
But she was asking him to wait, and it was everything he wanted to hear.
No way had he expected her to be so upfront with asking him to wait for her, but he was so glad she wasn’t afraid to ask for what she needed because over the coming days, weeks, and months as she healed from her ordeal, she was going to need to reach out to her support system.
A system he was honored to be part of.
“Grace, it is more than okay. It’s not too much to ask at all. I told you I like you but that I knew my timing sucked. I’ll wait for as long as it takes.”
There was a long pause, but he could hear her breathing on the other end of the line. “What if I'm never ready?”
“Then I’ll have a best friend I’ll never walk away from,” he replied without hesitation. It was true. Would he be disappointed if things never progressed any further between them, yeah, he would, but if the only way to be part of Grace’s life was as a friend, then he would be the best friend he could be to her.
Her breath whooshed out, and he could tell she was relieved. “Thank you. I don’t want to make you wait, I promise, I'm not trying to play games. Jem and I made some calls today, I’m hoping to start school in the fall, and I’m going to go looking for a job soon. I’m determined to get my life back, Emmanuel isn’t stealing anything more from me. I’d like you to be part of that future, but I just need to get my feet beneath me first.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself, Grace, I understand. Really. You have a lot on your plate, it’s okay to focus on yourself first. I think it’s great that you're so determined to rebuild, and I think you going back to college is a wonderful idea, but, Grace, I hope you're taking care of yourself too. Are you seeing a therapist?” Since they seemed to be on an honesty kick when it came to each other, he didn't want to beat around the bush. It was important for her to rebuild her life, he knew it was because she’d had no control over it for the last five and a half years. Now she was exerting that control again, but she had to take care of her mental health as well.
“Jem insisted. I like her but she doesn’t get it, not like you,” she added softly.
So it was the shooting of the other victims weighing the heaviest on her mind. While he was glad he could help her, he wasn’t a substitute for a real psychologist, he couldn’t provide the support she needed. “You know I'm not going anywhere, and I’m here any time you need to talk, day or night, but I want you to promise me something.”
“You want me to promise to keep seeing the therapist.”
“Would that be so bad?”
Grace sighed. “No, I guess not. I’m just being stubborn. I was a psychology major you know, I was going to go into criminal psychology, like Jem, but I changed my mind, I want to help victims, people like me.”
“I couldn’t think of anyone who would do a better job of that than you.”
“I can make a difference in people’s lives,” she said softly.
“Yeah, you can, sweetheart.” Matthew couldn’t think of anyone better qualified to guide victims through trauma than Grace Bennett.
“So, you sound like you're in your car. Are you just leaving work?” Grace asked, and he could tell she was ready to move on from the deep stuff.
“Yep. Was just getting into the car when you called. I was going to stop off and grab some dinner on the way home.”
“Do you want me to go?”
Putting the cell on speakerphone, he stuck it in the cupholder and put the car in reverse. “Nope. What I want is to learn everything there is about Grace Bennett.”
“Everything?” she asked, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
“Everything, so get talking.”
July 10th
11:04 A.M.