Page 43 of Amazing Grace

‘You cannot keep speaking to me this way, Archie. I’ll not stand it.’

‘Well, perhaps if you had more time to play football with me in the garden, I’d be a better player and we’d be a better team. But you’re always too busy to play with me these days, Mum, or too tired. But you always seem to find time for Vinnie. It’s not fair!’ He opened the car door and stomped off through the back gate into the garden.

Just something else to feel guilty about, Grace thought. When did the parental guilt ever end? Perhaps she needed to look at the time she was spending with Archie and spend it more wisely, as he clearly wasn’t happy. It didn’t seem to matter what she did, she never seemed to get it quite right even though she was trying so hard to please everyone. She left him out in the garden to cool off for a while and he eventually came in.

‘I’m sorry, Mummy! I’m an awful son.’

‘Darling, you are not an awful son at all. You are a wonderful son. But sometimes you have to be a little more patient. I know you’ve had me to yourself for years, and that was because I didn’t have a job before, but now I have a job and a house and a dog to look after. And I can’t do everything all of the time. I’m sorry, darling, I wish I could.’

They both sat on the kitchen floor, crying. Archie was getting older, and with that came a difficulty in coping with his emotions. Grace made a mental note to mention to Mark that it was happening more and more and they needed a plan to deal with it. She wanted to do the best by Archie but knew it was important for him to have male role models around.

Vinnie arrived around three o’clock. Grace was sorting out the final dinner preparations while Archie sat in the lounge watching the football with Vinnie, when there was a knock at the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone till six when Archie was due to go to his dad’s for the evening so was mighty surprised when she opened the door and there was Mark.

‘Hope you don’t mind,’ he said. ‘Just wanted to come early and see my boy!’

‘Oh,’ she replied. ‘It’s not really convenient to be honest, I have a friend here.’

‘So you are refusing to let me see him, are you, Grace?’ he asked shirtily.

Grace sighed to herself. Sometimes Mark’s combative nature really deflated her, although she tried not to let it. ‘I’m not refusing, Mark, I’m just saying that you can’t just turn up here as and when you feel like it. We have plans, we’re only ten minutes away from having dinner.’

Archie must have heard the raised voices and came into the hall.

‘Dad!’ he yelled and flung himself at him.

‘Steady on, son,’ Mark replied, laughing. Becks jumped up at Mark, taking him by surprise, and Mark lost his balance and toppled backwards as Becks jumped up and stuck his paw right in his privates. Mark bent double on the floor dramatically and Grace had to work really hard to stop herself from laughing.

Bless Becks. Whenever Mark came into the house these days, he always jumped up at him and practically pushed him over. It was funnier because although he jumped up at Grace and others as well, he never tried to knock anyone else over. She knew that it really annoyed Mark and although she tried not to laugh, a little bit of her found that really funny. She was quite convinced that Becks did it on purpose; they did say dogs were a good judge of character, after all!

‘Dad, come and meet mine and Mum’s friend, Vinnie, he’s really cool.’ Grace put her head in her hands as Archie helped Mark up off the floor and led him into the lounge.

Vinnie had obviously been keeping his head down while all the excitement was taking place in the hallway but stood up as Mark walked into the room. Vinnie held out his hand to him. Grace could see that Mark wasn’t going to shake his hand, and Archie said, ‘Isn’t it nice and grown-up when everyone shakes hands?’ At that point, Mark would have made himself look incredibly stupid if he hadn’t, so he leant forward and briefly shook Vinnie’s hand, wincing as he did so at the fact that his son had shamed him.

‘Can Dad stay for dinner, Mum, please, please? You said you’d done enough to feed an army.’

Grace cringed inwardly. ‘I’m sure Daddy has lots to do and will need to get back to Lorraine.’

‘No I haven’t, not today. She’s gone out with some friends for the afternoon, which is why I thought I’d call over early. I was at a bit of a loose end. I’d love to stay for dinner, thanks.’

Grace went into the kitchen, silently fuming. She hadn’t even invited him. This wassoMark. She couldn’t work out if he was extremely dense or extremely clever and whether he was playing another of his little games. She called Vinnie through to the kitchen on the pretence of asking him to lay an extra place at the dinner table.

‘Oh my bloody God!’ she whispered. ‘What a cheeky bastard he is! Vinnie, I’m so sorry, I just didn’t know what to say or do.’

Once again, Vinnie always seemed to know the right thing to say.

‘Grace, we’re adults, we can get through this. Don’t worry. There was nothing you could do without upsetting Archie. Let’s just get through the next hour or so, for Archie’s sake, then we can get rid of him and relax.’

‘You are a star, do you know that?’ she said, kissing him gently as he went through into the dining room to lay an extra place. She opened a bottle of Pinot and poured a small amount into a glass. She took a sip and tried to steady her nerves. Then she knocked the lot back and filled up her glass again.

‘Shall I serve up, like old times?’ asked Mark when she placed the casserole dish on the table. He smirked annoyingly. It was clear that Vinnie’s presence had brought out his territorial instincts.

‘No, it’s fine thanks, I’ve already asked Vinnie to do it,’ she replied, handing a serving spoon to Vinnie, smiling sweetly at him. He winked back at her and she calmed a little.

It was a really painful hour, with everyone except Mark trying to be as normal as possible to keep the pretence up for Archie. Archie didn’t even notice as he talked animatedly about football and Mark promised him that he would get him a new kit for his birthday.

‘Vinnie’s going to take me to a Villa match one of these days, aren’t you, Vinnie?’ Grace’s and Vinnie’s eyes met across the table.

‘Oh, you don’t want to go there, mate, they’re rubbish!’

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