“Are you sure?” the officer asked carefully while studying Ben.
His eyes flashed to the officer’s. “This isn’t in my head. We had a good life.” Ben closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he looked up, he said, “We have a life. Even if she wanted to leave me, Grace wouldn’t leave her family. They were very close. There’s no way she could do this without Emily knowing.”
“Who is Emily?”
“My sister, and Grace’s best friend. We grew up together.”
“Ah. Okay. Look, Mr. Edwards. I know this is hard, but I have to be honest. Most of these cases . . . the signs were there, but we’re too blind to see them. Maybe she wasn’t happy and moved on,” he went on without regard to Ben’s breaking heart.
“Not my Grace.” It was a fight. Nothing more. “She wouldn’t leave me alone, not like this.”
Overworked.
Stressed from the wedding planning.
Not enough time together.
A stupid fight.
They were always quick to make up. Nothing was left hanging over their hearts for long. Nothing had been . . . except her disappearance.
Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a building he’d had a hand in designing, Ben never accepted the theories that his Grace no longer graced his world. No, he couldn’t.
He wouldn’t.
Ben was standing downtown lost in the memories when he should have been texting Rebecca. He met Rebecca while searching for Grace. He couldn’t bear for someone else he loved to call him Ben, so Rebecca called him Benjamin. She didn’t ask much of him, but he rescheduled the client meeting, which would free him to attend her awards dinner. It was an important night for her. Not only would various medical achievements in Chicago be recognized, but they’d also have the chance to schmooze with the on-staff doctors and attempt to secure a permanent position.
Rebecca was nominated in the impressive “Leaders In Residence” category, which meant an official job offer after her stint at University if she won. During the last nine months they’d been together, she’d worked hard to earn a place at the hospital, while simultaneously trying to win Ben’s heart. She’d stuck with him through dark months of his attempts to let go of something that had moored him for so many years. His life with Grace. He and Grace had been friends for four years, dated for seven, and engaged for almost two. Without Grace, he’d buried himself in work, which earned him three promotions.
He had money.
He had success.
He didn’t have Grace.
He had Rebecca.
She never once complained about his work schedule, maybe because she also had a busy schedule. She attended his holiday party and executive dinners, and she never insisted on staying at his place when she wasn’t asked. It was an understanding they had, although she wasn’t happy about it. She didn’t push though, which he appreciated. She remained patient, his amiable companion. She knew about Grace and the hole her loss had chiseled in his heart. They didn’t fight. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad though, but now, it was time he was there for her.
Looking up from the phone briefly before typing out the text, his gaze landed on a woman not ten feet from him. The sidewalk was crowded, people passing between them. He saw her though. She appeared like a ghost from years past, and in a blink, she had disappeared, lost in the bustling crowd.
He could swear on his life he’d seen her. But his body was sluggish, stunned even, so he stood there turning in a slow circle looking to where she could have vanished. Desperate, he looked for the angelic face framed by the long dark hair that he remembered so well. But, like a flash of lightning, she was gone. Without a trace. Again? How was that possible?
He struggled to move, willing images of her to help him, to soothe him, to guide him back to reality.
His phone rang and without thinking, he answered, “Hello.”
“Hey, honey, you were supposed to get back to me earlier in case I needed to change my RSVP.” Rebecca. Always cheerful. He could feel her smile through the phone. Did it ever frustrate her that sometimes their calls only consisted of appointment reminders?
“Oh, um . . .” He couldn’t find the words he needed, not presently in the conversation. Grace. Grace was all he could think about. He started running in the direction he had seen her.
“Benjamin?”
The call became an afterthought as he ran, not thinking about anything but his Grace, focused on finding her again. He couldn’t let her get away, not this time. If it was her, he had to find her. He had to try. He stopped at the exact spot where he originally saw her walking, but it was a corner where she could’ve easily gone in any one of four directions. He ran one block up and searched. Picking up his pace and using all his strength, he ran in the opposite direction. After covering the cross street, he fell to his knees, winded and heartbroken all over again. His hands squeezed at the cramps piercing his side as tears stung his eyes.
Life tortured his battered soul relentlessly. Every time he thought he could move on, he was dragged back into the hell of his past. His delusions of seeing her had gotten the best of him too many times. As he bent forward, his breathing came in gasps, needing air. He wasn’t out of breath. He was out of hope. He wanted the nightmare to end. He looked around one last time, realizing if she had been real, he’d lost her. Again.
Ambling to his feet, he staggered to the closest brick wall, using it for support. His phone rang, bringing him back into the present. “This is my existence. This is my life now,” he said quietly to himself, reminding himself to find acceptance with reality. Grace was gone.
Grace was gone.
He reached into his pocket to grab the phone, but before he had a chance to say anything, he realized the call had been accidentally answered and heard, “Benjamin? Benjamin, what are you doing? Did you hang up on me?”
After exhaling a deep breath, he started to explain, “I’m sorry, Rebecca . . . I had . . . I saw . . . I thought—”
“Are you okay? I was worried. Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“Your calls?”
“I called you back three times.”
“Oh . . .” He couldn’t tell her he was running down the street, looking for a ghost who’d disappeared off the face of the earth three long years ago. Ben knew that would upset her, and he’d never intentionally hurt her. He gave her the news she’d been hoping for. “I can go to the awards dinner. I rearranged some stuff to make it work.”
“Really? You’re coming?”