Page 33 of Amazing Grace

‘Are you OK, Vinnie?’ Grace asked, wondering about his emotional reaction.

‘Yes thanks, I might just need a hug though.’

Grace stepped over to him and hugged him, even though she was confused as to why she was comforting him when he was clearly so devasted about an ex-girlfriend. Especially one who was stunning to look at!

‘Perhaps I’d better tell you about my Meredith. Sit down, Grace.’ He sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. ‘Meredith was the most incredible girl I’ve ever known. Full of life, full of adventure and full of love. She meant the world to me. I loved her so much.’

Grace couldn’t move; she felt compelled to listen even though she knew he was about to say something she really didn’t want to hear.

‘She was just twenty-one when she died of leukaemia. It was discovered way too late and the illness was short and over quickly and we could do nothing to help her. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. I loved that girl with all my heart. I still can’t believe that my little sister was taken away from me!’

‘Your sister? Oh my God, Vinnie, your sister? How awful.’ She hugged him tightly, knowing that it was hard for him to have to explain. She wanted to kick herself for being such a jealous bitch, but she really had thought it was an ex. Now that she knew the truth, she felt dismayed at her initial jealous reaction, and empathy for this man, having to go through the pain of losing a sibling. She couldn’t imagine how that must have felt and she vowed to ring Hannah as soon as she could to tell her how much she loved her.

Vinnie wiped his eyes. ‘God, I’m so sorry! I’m not normally so open. I’ve shielded my heart for so long because I thought it would never mend after Meredith had gone, but I feel like I can – and need to – open up to you, Grace, and let you into my life. What have you done to me?’

She put her hands on either side of his face and wiped away his tears with her thumbs. She kissed the place where the tears had gently rolled down his cheeks. ‘I amsosorry that you went through this Vinnie,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t even begin to imagine how you could get over something like this.’

‘But it’s strange, Grace, because for the first time in a very long time, I actually feel like I’m ready to move on from this part of my life and start a new chapter. It’s almost like she’s willing me to do it. Meredith leaving us hit Ruth and me really hard, but we know that we can’t continue to live in the past, wishing that she was going to walk through the door, because it’s never going to happen. I know it’s time to move on. We’ll never forget Meredith but we have to learn to live our lives without her.

‘Since I met you, Grace, I feel like I finally have something special to look forward to. I feel like I can finally start to see some light at the end of a very dark tunnel. I haven’t had anyone special in my life for a long time. I suppose what happened with Meredith broke my heart and I just didn’t want to put my feelings out there again to be bashed around any further.

‘I don’t know what the future holds for you and I but I have a good feeling, a really good feeling, that we could have something really special together and I’d like us to explore that. God, I hope that’s not too heavy for a Sunday afternoon. I sound like a big girl’s blouse and a stalker rolled into one!’

Grace laughed, realising that she was relieved he’d acknowledged the fact that there wasn’t anyone else in his life. ‘You don’t sound like those things at all, you sound like a wonderful human being who adored his little sister. I do know what you mean about us, though. I know we’ve not known each other for long but this just feels so right. I know it’s early days but I also think we have something special, and I’d love to see where this goes. How does that sound?’ She kissed him long and lingeringly on the lips and gave him a hug that said lots of things. Becks started barking and jumped up excitedly, which made them both laugh out loud. ‘Now, are you going to pour that coffee out or not?’

They sat side by side on the sofa watching a comedy, which lightened the mood somewhat. Becks crept up onto the sofa and put his head on Vinnie’s lap. Grace went to move him off but Vinnie said he was happy for Becks to join them. He rested one hand on Becks’s head and the other held Grace’s, as she snuggled into his shoulder and realised that she never wanted to move from that spot. They stayed like that until Grace realised the time; she needed to head home soon as Mark would be bringing back Archie. Grace felt that this afternoon had been a pivotal point in her and Vinnie’s relationship and that they had shared something incredibly special. She hoped that it would be the first of many special moments.

Vinnie popped to the loo, and his phone was on the coffee table. It pinged to say there was a message and she couldn’t help but look at it. It was from someone called Ellie and it simply said:

Ring me, it’s urgent.

Her heart sank and she had a really bad feeling in her tummy. She knew it could be something, and she knew it could be nothing.

When Vinnie came back downstairs, he quickly looked at the phone, frowned and put it in his back pocket. Grace kissed him on the cheek and drove home, her mind full of what ifs and maybes.

Would she ever learn to trust someone again? Perhaps she was better off with Mark. At least she already knew he was a shit sometimes. At least she wasn’t trying to get the measure of someone all over again. Perhaps it was a case of better the devil you know.

18

She arrived home and was just getting Becks out of the car as Mark and Archie pulled up. Archie ran up to her and flung his arms around her as if he hadn’t seen her for days.

‘Hello, gorgeous, how are you?’

‘I’m better now I’m with you, Mummy,’ he replied. ‘Can I go on my Xbox?’

‘Oh, OK, but only for half an hour,’ said Grace, wondering how she was going to have tea and get Archie in the bath, and get some of his school reading done, all before bed, once he’d got on the Xbox. And it would have been nice for some snuggling up on the sofa time before he went to bed.

‘You’re too soft on him. You can say no to him, you know.’ Mark laughed as he saw her brain whirring, and Archie ran upstairs to his room.

She laughed back at him and was glad that things between them had been better lately. They seemed to have reached a truce and it was all quite a relief.

‘OK then, Archie, say goodbye to Daddy,’ she shouted up to him. ‘We’ve got lots to do so hurry up, sweetie.’

He ran back downstairs and hugged his dad goodbye, and she said a cheery goodbye herself and shut the door, feeling relieved that her world was now complete again now her boy was home, where she felt that he belonged.

‘Do I have to go to Dad’s all the time, Mum? You know I’d rather be here with you instead. It’s so boring at his house. I don’t have my own bedroom and he and Lorraine are always yelling at each other. I think sometimes they forget I’m there. All Dad does is watch TV or work. I even asked him if he’d listen to me read earlier and he said he hadn’t got time, but then sat and watched the Chelsea match on the telly.’

‘Dad would miss you so much if he didn’t see you darling, you know that.’

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