Her pulse racing, her heart thump-thump- thumping so loudly, it drowned out the conversation going on behind her. She carefully stepped away from the curb.
The letter stole all of her attention. Part of her wanted to rip it in two and toss it in the trash without even opening it. If she didn’t know what it said, she could cling to her blissful ignorance for a little longer.
Then again, just because she spent these last few weeks trying hard to forget, desperately trying to pretend that Tommy wasn’t out there, it didn’t make it so. And maybe—God, please, she prayed, maybe—she was getting all worked up over nothing. Lucas and Tessa promised that she couldn’t be hunted down in Hamlet, and she got rid of Tommy’s tracker as far away from the entrance to Hamlet as she dared.
She took a deep, shaky breath. This was it. Either it was him, or it wasn’t. Either he found her, or running for so long had finally driven her insane.
Grace felt like she was about to crack up if she hadn’t already. Another deep breath, a panicked exhale.
Okay.
Keeping her back to Natalie and Phil, Grace stuck her pointer finger beneath the flap and gently eased it open. A single piece of a thick cream-colored card stock was tucked inside the purple envelope. Torn between feeling jittery and hopeful, she grit her teeth and drew the letter out.
No, she saw immediately. Not letter.
Invitation.
She was dimly aware of Phil’s cheery goodbye and the hum of his golf cart as he continued down the street toward Ophelia’s nearest neighbor. Grace might have mumbled her own farewell, or maybe not. It wasn’t important.
“No.” The word slipped out. Her bottom lip trembled. Sudden tears made her vision hazy, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the invitation in her hand. “Just... no.”
How could he? He couldn’t—it just wasn’t possible.
No. The force of her denial seemed to echo around her; at the same time, the drumbeat in her skull, the blood rushing past her ears… it drowned out everything else. Her throat burned, as if she had screamed out loud. That one word kept repeating over and over again as if, by chanting it, she could change the fancy script, the embossed letters, the plainly stated threat. No, no, no. NO!
“Grace? Hey, Grace. You, uh… you okay?”
So maybe she didn’t scream. Natalie would’ve known something was really wrong then. Maybe she did, anyway. She didn’t know. Grace couldn’t tear her gaze away long enough to check. Her eyes were glued to the elaborate invitation. The longer she stared at it, the more she hoped that the words would miraculously rearrange themselves and spell out something totally different.
Because there was no way that it could say what she thought it said.
Only it absolutely did.
It was difficult for her to draw in a breath. Each one was short, absolute panic keeping her from inhaling too deep, and she began to feel lightheaded. Her hands shook, fingers clutching the thick stock so tightly that the edges started to crimp.
Natalie was still talking. To her? Maybe. She tried to focus.
“—you’re looking real pale all of a sudden. Oh, boy. Umm… maybe you should sit down. Yeah. I think you should sit down.”
Sit down? Yes. Sitting down sounding like a great idea. Her legs felt so wobbly all of a sudden and she was going to need them. Because her first instinct? Like every time before, her first instinct—her only instinct—was to run, to just hightail it right out of Hamlet. It wasn’t safe. It never had been.
Tommy found her, like she was afraid he would. Of course, he did.
He’ll never stop.
Grace’s eyes went wide at the realization. Her whole body shook, then the last of her sudden weakness set in with another shallow breath. She collapsed onto the grass, holding tightly to the cursed invitation as if she couldn’t let go of it. Maria’s forgotten bundle of letters landed with a soft plop behind her.
The purple envelope she held in her other hand slipped from her fingers. It drifted gently on the breeze, landing directly in front of Natalie’s sneakers.
The second Grace dropped, Natalie sprang into action.
She thought something was wrong when the outsider went deathly pale; watching her tremble, standing there stunned as Grace fell, she was absolutely convinced of the fact. She immediately took a knee next to Grace, moving until she could look the other woman in the eye.
They should’ve been a light brown. With how dilated her pupils were all of a sudden, the expanse of black made her eyes appear darker. They were also glassy, kind of dazed, like she was seeing something that wasn’t really there. Natalie waved her hand in front of them, trying to get a reaction, only to feel a rush of panic when Grace didn’t even blink.
Ah, crud. How was she going to explain to Ricky what was going on with his girlfriend? She finally got the nerve to apologize for her jealousy. Would he believe she had nothing to do with this if she had to call him for help?
Considering Grace still wasn’t responding, not even after Natalie grabbed her shoulder and gave her a quick shake, she knew she would have to call someone.