With the exit door within reach, she felt herself seized by the shoulders from behind and turned in one motion. She had a quick impression of Antonio, his face set in hard lines, before he wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace. His head came down and his mouth pressed against hers, hungry and insistent. The bar patrons whooped around them. But the passion of the exchange mocked her. Pity. All pity, she thought.
“I knew it!” a female voice shouted. “I knew I would find you in this bar.”
Grace pulled away from Antonio’s bruising kiss. Susie Rayle, Antonio’s girlfriend or ex-girlfriend, stood glaring at them.
“And I knew I’d find you here with her,” Susie said to Antonio. But he didn’t seem to be listening. He stared at Grace for long seconds before he blinked and acknowledged Susie.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Checking up on my cheating boyfriend. The one who’s always spending time with a girl he claims is just his friend.” Susie eyed Grace and Antonio, still embracing each other. “Some friend. Your tongue was halfway down her throat just now.”
In embarrassed confusion, Grace jerked out of his hold and stepped away.
“I’m not your boyfriend,” Antonio said. “We broke up yesterday. Remember?”
“We didn’t break up,” Susie responded. “I don’t remember it that way. We just had a fight. A fight about her.” She inclined her head at Grace.
“You have a convenient memory,” Antonio said. “But I recall you saying ‘Get your shit out of my house and don’t come back.’ Seems like a definitive breakup to me.”
“You’re such an jerk,” Susie said. “You know I didn’t mean it.”
“Well, I meant it when I said we were through,” Antonio countered.
Grace tried to inch away from the middle of the fight, but her movement caught Susie’s peripheral vision. She turned a nasty glare and a vicious tongue back to Grace.
“You aren’t going anywhere, bitch.” Susie grabbed her arm. “You were the cause of all our problems.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Grace said.
“You were always coming between me and my man,” Susie screeched. “You know it’s true. Antonio would work ten hours and then at night he’d have to meet you for a drink.” Susie flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and turned to Antonio. “Just last Saturday morning you had to go off and kill some giant spider in her apartment rather than spend the morning in bed with me.”
“Grace was scared.”
“Grace was scared,” she mocked in a whine. “Scared my ass. She wants you for herself.”
The entire bar, including Brad and his fiancée, had gone silent, listening to the soap opera.
“If you’re dumping me, at least be honest about the reason,” she said. “You want to screw her.”
“Stop it,” Grace cried.
“And you…” Susie rounded on Grace. “Surely you’re not going to claim that you aren’t in love with Antonio.”
“Of course she isn’t,” Antonio denied.
“Really?” Susie asked. “Why don’t you let her answer?”
“I—”
“But then she doesn’t need to answer. Her heart’s in her eyes and always has been.”
“Grace?” Antonio turned to her, searching her face, her eyes.
“I don’t—” She began to say she didn’t love him, but then Grace knew she couldn’t lie. She knew her face must reflect what she felt. Stricken with shame and face flaming, her eyes filled to almost overflowing with tears.
“You want to make my humiliation complete?” she asked, her eyes locked with his. “All right, I admit it. I love you so much I ache with it. So much it feels like someone is pulling a rib out of my body an inch at a time.”
Antonio said nothing. Absolutely nothing. He just stood there gawking at her with his mouth hanging open.
“And now I’m just…gonna go.” Grace pushed past Susie, heading toward the exit. She just couldn’t face Antonio. Life would never be the same. She’d have to quit her job. Hell, she’d have to move away. Joking with Antonio. Seeing him. Just being with him had been the only thing that kept her breathing…Now all that was gone. The despair choked the breath from her lungs, but she forced her legs to keep moving. She pushed past first a man then a female customer. The woman’s foot crunched under her shoe.
“Ow. Watch it.”
Grace barely registered the words or the woman’s elbow as she passed. Her vision was focused on the door. The door. Getting to the door was all that mattered. She had to get out of the bar. Out of town. Maybe out of the state. The look on his face had said it all. Shock. Distress. Pity. She couldn’t stand the pity. Finally, the exit was in reach.