Page 53 of The Two Halves of My Heart

Chapter 16

Grace 19 Years Old

It had been over three months since I’d heard from Oliver. The longest time we’d ever gone without talking to one another. But my life hadn’t ended. I still got up in the morning, went to work, finished my assignments for Uni, and made time for Maddison.

Since our birthday talk, it’d been hard because there was an expectancy between us. Or rather, from him. I’d agreed that we could look at finding a place to move into, and if we found one, then I’d make a decision. It was all I could offer for now, and I might be stalling for time, but I still hadn’t come to terms with the thought of living together. After losing Oliver, I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Maddison because we’d moved too fast.

We’d been checking out places to rent close to home. Two-bed apartments or houses were few and far between unless we wanted to pay a small fortune and blow our budget. And even during all the looking, I still wavered on my commitment, hoping something would come along and jolt me into making the decision.

I might have wanted to grab hold of this opportunity, but a part of me felt like I was disrespecting Oliver for even considering moving on. I bounced between feeling guilty and being angry, and all of it directed at the only person I couldn’t take it out on. It infected a part of my heart that had belonged to the boy who’d sworn to protect me—except he hadn’t protected me from himself.

Maddison grew frustrated because we hadn’t found a place that I had fallen in love with yet. I was pretty sure that he believed that if the house were perfect, it would tip my decision in his favour. I’d hoped that looking to the future might kill the tension that hung over us, but it only grew. Stolen glances and stilted conversations accompanied each house viewing, and it built the electricity between us.

There was one last place on our list to visit, and it had only just hit the market. The biggest benefit was that it was within our price range.

“Come on, Grace,” Maddison shouted from the window of the car. It was a scorching day. So hot that the air burnt my lungs as I breathed it in. My t-shirt dress had stuck to my skin the moment I stepped out into the sunshine, and the wave of heat pushed me back as I opened Maddison’s car door. The air conditioning only seemed to circulate the warm air, but at least it was only five minutes to the other side of the village.

This property was already the favourite of my mum’s. She’d been quizzing me about every place we saw, wanting to know where it was before any other details, and if it was close, all the better in her view.

We pulled up to the drive of the postage-stamp-sized house—a semi-detached, which couldn’t have been more than a two-up and two-down. The agent was at the front door, looking flustered and ready to call it a day. The scrap of grass at the front had a small path leading up to the front step.

“Hi, we’ll go right in. Cooler inside, right.” The agent opened up, and we followed as best we could. Maddison barely made it through the door—his shoulders were so wide. To the left was a small lounge-come-dining room, and to the right, little more than a galley kitchen.

Stairs opposite the front door twisted around to the upstairs where there were two bedrooms. Just. And a bathroom. I peered around all of the rooms and tried to imagine my own furniture and possessions in place, planning in my head. To my surprise, the images in my mind brought a smile to my face. The house was small; there was no getting around that fact, but it was quaint, in a way, and in much better condition than some of the others we’d visited. If we wanted to give this a go, this was the best we’d seen by far.

Having come from a modest home, I knew it wouldn’t be too hard to adjust to the limited space. But Maddison’s home was massive. He was going to have to have a serious clear out to squeeze all of his stuff into this space.

“Do you accept pets?” I called down from upstairs, looking out at the small back garden: a strip of grass, three fences and stepping-stones to a washing line. We might be able to fit a couple of friends round for a barbeque—if we took the washing line down.

Bob was usually a house cat—he hardly ventured out of my room and was more than content snuggling on a sunbathed cushion. He was coming with me, so if the agent said no, that would be our answer.

“Cats, yes, dogs, no.”

“That’s fine.”

“So, what do you think?” Maddison came out of the smaller of the two bedrooms.

“It’s small,” I stated, although, now we were here, it was the first place I’ve felt even mildly excited about, I didn’t want to lose out. This was the only house we’d seen that I could really see working out for us.

“I know. But, unless you can chip in more, this is our budget.”

“I’m a waitress picking up shifts between Uni. More would be pushing it. I don’t want to ask Mum for any handouts.”

“As soon as I’m earning more, we can find a bigger place. I promise, but we can make this work. At least for a year, then we can see where we are.” His brown eyes sparked with the excitement he was trying hard to contain. The genuineness reminded me of how much of a free spirit Mads could be, especially when we were growing up. He was trying not to make a big deal out of this decision, but it was a big deal—for both of us.

Watching him try to contain his excitement, with my own fizzing through my veins, I couldn’t keep the smile from my face any longer.

“Okay, then. Let’s do it.”

Maddison eyed me and tilted his head to the side. “Really? Don’t fool with me, Grace.”

“Really.” I grinned at him. “I don’t want to miss out on this.”

He stepped into me, and for a split second, I thought he was going to kiss me again. He didn’t, but he swept me from my feet and spun me on the spot. Any farther and we’d have crashed through one of the plaster walls.

My giggles of joy took me by surprise, but bathed me in a true sense of happiness, the first I’d felt in a while.

“We’ll take it. It’s ready now, right?” He called down, and I realised how rude we were being. I nodded towards the stairs, and we both headed down and assembled at the bottom of the steps.

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