Saving Grace by Jane Green Read Free Book Online

it, but when he decides he is ready to leave, he must leave, regardless of what anyone else wants.
    ‘Almost. I was just having a lovely chat with Beth. She’s a personal assistant, looking for her next job.’ Grace surreptitiously raises an eyebrow as Beth turns to Ted, standing to introduce herself properly.
    ‘It’s an honour to meet you,’ she says, the disarmingly lovely smile now on her face again as Ted pauses, noticing her properly for the first time. ‘I’ve been a reader of your work for years.’
    Interesting, notes Grace. She didn’t say ‘fan’.
Everyone
says ‘fan’. What does it mean that she said ‘reader’? It feels as if it was a word chosen deliberately, as if she wanted to praise him and elevate herself at the same time.
    She is clever, Grace realizes, and cool. The combination is ever so slightly unsettling, that quiet confidence in one so young. But
is
she so young? Grace watches as Beth chats to Ted, who is clearly delighted, wondering just how old she is.
    She moves to watch Ted, seeing he is charmed. He has always loved young women, as long as they are not foisted upon him as his editor, and is busy telling her a story that has her laughing, pulling herself quickly together as if embarrassed to reveal so much of herself.
    ‘Make sure you give Grace your details,’ he says, now ready to go. Beth scribbles her number on a paper napkin, apologizing for not having cards, looking Grace in the eyes and smiling as Grace relaxes, wondering what on earth she was concerned about.
    ‘I enjoyed myself,’ Ted says in the car, going home. ‘I always dread these evenings, but it was fun.’
    Of course it was fun for you, thinks Grace. It is always fun for Ted when he is surrounded by people who feign adoration, particularly when his star is so very faded from what it once was.
    In Ted’s mind, he is still one of the greatest writers in America. It is a throne he refuses to relinquish, even though he has been overtaken by many, his book sales are suffering, he is no longer talked about in
The New Yorker
as one of the greats – is usually not mentioned at all.
    No one dares to tell Ted about his dwindling numbers, his changing rank on the ladder of literary success. His agent blames the smaller advances on the state of publishing in general, the poor reviews on the youth, inexperience and the stupidity of the reviewers.
    Ted’s fragile ego could never handle the truth, that his books have become long-winded, dull, and largely irrelevant. He still gets awards, like tonight, but that is largely a nod to his past, to who he has been, rather than because of who he is now.
    ‘You were wonderful,’ Grace says, relieved at his good mood, hoping to keep it that way for the rest of the evening.
    ‘Thank you. And what a lovely surprise that Clemmie was there! Not sure about the fellow she was with. Looked a little frightening to me.’
    Grace shakes her head. ‘He was delightful! You just have a thing about bearded men. You always think they’re suspicious, but I thought he was rather delicious. He had fantastically soulful brown eyes. I quite wanted to be thirty years younger and single.’
    Ted looks at her, aghast. ‘Do not turn into one of those dreadful middle-aged women competing for their daughters’ boyfriends’ attention.’
    ‘I wouldn’t. But I can see how it happens.’
    ‘You think twenty-five-year-old boys are attractive?’ Ted is amused.
    ‘I’m sure he was around thirty. And yes, I did think he was attractive. In a nostalgic, yearning, never-going-to-happen kind of way. Speaking of finding younger people attractive, how about that Beth? The potential assistant? What did you think of her?’
    ‘Ah, Beth. She of the utterly plain face but strangely compelling and confident smile.’
    ‘Yes!’ Grace sits up. ‘That’s exactly it! She seemed so mousy, but then she smiled, and it was like looking at a completely different person. It made me want to just stare and stare at her.