Page 34 of Amazing Grace

‘I don’t think he’d even notice whether I’m there or not,’ he mumbled as Becks suddenly realised that his buddy was home and came running towards Archie, giving him a great big lick. Archie’s frown disappeared and his beautiful smile returned when he saw his furry friend. Becks rolled over on his back and let Archie tickle his tummy.

‘Come on, gorgeous, I baked your favourite chocolate brownies this morning. I think you deserve one!’

‘Just one?’ he asked with a cheeky grin that he knew wrapped his mother around his little finger.

‘We’ll see. You don’t just bat your eyelashes at me and get your own way,’ she replied, and he grinned back at her and fluttered away, knowing that he absolutely would get his own way, like he always did.

‘What have you been doing today, Mummy? Have you had a nice day?’

‘I have, darling, thank you. Do you remember I told you that I had a friend called Vinnie?’

‘Mmm?’ Archie said suspiciously.

‘Well, I was taking Becks for a nice long walk over the forest and Vinnie asked if he could come with me, so he did. We had a bit of a picnic, then I went back to Vinnie’s house for a cuppa and watched a film, then Becks and I came home as we were looking forward to getting our boy back.’

‘Mummy, is Vinnie your boyfriend?’

‘I’m not sure what to call him,’ she replied honestly. ‘I do like him though, he’s a very nice man. I like him a lot. I think I’m a bit too old to call him a boyfriend.’

‘So when can I meet him?’ he asked.

That was unexpected!

‘I’m not sure, darling, would you like to meet him?’

‘Mummy, are you for real? This is someone who you spend time with when I’m not here. Of course I want to meet him. I want to make sure he’s nice to you. I know that Dad sometimes isn’t and I do tell him that, you know! I tell him that he’s not to upset you, that you are my mummy and that I don’t like it when he’s nasty. I need to ask this Vinnie man lots of questions, so can you arrange it as soon as possible? Can you ring him now and ask him over one of the days this week?’ Sometimes, it amazed her just how grown up her son was for a ten-year-old.

‘Oh, OK love, I’ll give him a ring soon. But for now, we need to sort tea and you can do some of your reading while the bath is running.’

Her heart pounded. She needed to know exactly what she had with Vinnie before she introduced him to Archie. He said all the right things, and when she was with him she felt that he only had eyes for her – but she couldn’t help but think of the feeling that she got when she saw that text message. Women’s intuition, they called it, and she was definitely feeling something odd. Perhaps Vinnie wasn’t the man she thought he was, after all. But then, it could be totally innocent. God, this dating lark was really hard.

She and Vinnie hadn’t discussed him meeting Archie yet, and she wondered how he would feel when she asked him to meet her son. She knew now that she’d have to broach the topic with him when she next spoke to him. She knew that she’d have to mention the text message that she’d seen at some point, but when did you bring up something like that? It had already played on her mind constantly since she’d come home, so she knew that it should be sooner rather than later and vowed to do it the next time she spoke to him before she chickened out.

She didn’t have to wait long. While Archie was splashing around in the bath, and she was sitting on the toilet seat reading to him, the phone rang and Vinnie’s name flashed up on the screen.

‘Is that him?’ Archie asked.

‘It is!’

‘Speak to him, then!’ Archie said, grinning from ear to ear.

She answered the call and took a deep breath. ‘Hi, Vinnie, how are you?’

‘I’m good, Grace, thanks, are you? Just wanted to say thanks for a lovely afternoon. I’m glad we talked about Meredith. I didn’t really know how to bring it up in conversation. It’s not really the sort of thing you just drop in, is it?’

‘I suppose not, but I’m glad you told me.’

Grace walked out of the bathroom.

‘Ask him, Mum, ask him!’ Archie shouted from the bath. ‘Please, please, please.’

Grace took a deep breath and decided that she would keep her fears to herself for now. ‘Vinnie, I’m sorry but I have a very impatient little man here who says that I have to ask you something. I hope you don’t mind.’

‘Go on…’

‘Archie would like you to come round so he can meet you. Are you free one day this week at all? Perhaps you could pop in for a cuppa one night, I’d love the two of you to meet.’ She waited apprehensively for his response. She didn’t know when the right time would be to introduce a new partner – if that’s what he was – and her child to each other. It wasn’t a problem she’d ever had to consider before and she squirmed a little, finding herself out of her comfort zone.

‘I’d love that, Grace, I really would. When would be good for you?’

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