The cottage door swung open and Grace’s eyebrows shot up. Her face was flushed. ‘Thank God, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!’
‘Huh? What’s up?’ I answered, walking past Grace and lingering next to her in the hallway.
‘What’s up? Mum claimed she dropped you outside hours ago and there’s been no sign of you since.’ I could see the worry etched all over Grace’s face. ‘I was beginning to think you’d been kidnapped.’
‘At my age,’ I laughed. After bumping into Sam outside and being caught up in the moment, I’d never given it a second thought that Grace would be wondering where I was.
‘I kind of fell asleep.’
‘What, in the garden?’ she asked, following me into the kitchen.
‘As if! I’ve been at Sam’s,’ I said casually, trying to suppress my smile while I poured myself a glass of water.
She raised her eyebrows.
‘I bumped into him outside after Connie dropped me home.’
‘If you say so,’ she teased, ‘but never mind that now. Mum phoned to say she’s picking you back up in an hour to visit Grandie again. We were both worried when you weren’t home.’
‘I’m sorry, I never thought … An hour?’ I began to panic. ‘I need a quick shower and some food, I’m starving!’
‘Worked up an appetite this morning, did you?’
‘No comment,’ I laughed.
Grace playfully pushed me towards the stairs. ‘Go and get your shower and I’ll quickly rustle you up something to eat.’
‘Thanks, Grace.’ I turned and bounded up the stairs with a spring in my step.
A few hours later Connie and I were back from the hospital. Grandie had appeared bright and cheerful, all things considered. The two of us had battled through the crossword in the paper to keep him occupied, with the help of Siri, which Grandie found extremely fascinating. ‘The youth of today! If you wanted answers to questions in my day, you had to get on your bike, ride to the library and look up things in an encyclopaedia.’
‘What’s one of those?’ I kept my lips flat-lined for a second before the laughter escaped.
Now feeling tired, I was looking forward to a girly night in with Grace.
Tomorrow was a jam-packed day. The ladies of the WI had jumped at the chance of a night of glitz and glamour and were keen to begin their training routine for Brook Bridge Goes Strictly. There was so much to do. The dance school needed a good airing and a quick sweep of the floor; there was the music to organise and Jim had kindly offered to paint a backdrop for the staging. Connie had agreed to take care of the outfits and Sam had texted me to say his dance friends had agreed to take part, which was a huge relief. It was all coming together.
Grace placed two calorific hot chocolates down on the coffee table and slumped on to the settee, waggling her pink fluffy striped socks in the air.
‘This is just what I needed.’ I plunged the long-handled spoon into the top of the cream and scooped up the mini-marshmallows while Grace stuffed a piece of margherita pizza into her mouth.
‘How was Ted?’ she asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
‘He’s looking a lot brighter but I think it’s been a gentle reminder for him that he needs to take things easy.’
‘It must be so frustrating when you’ve always been active, then to suddenly be told you need to slow down. Did you update your mum?’ asked Grace, grabbing the remote control and flicking through numerous film options.
I shook my head, ‘I’m still pondering … kind of.’ My mood flipped as thoughts of Mum flooded through my mind.
‘About?’ she asked.
‘In fact, I’m not pondering at all, I’ve made a decision. Please don’t judge me, but desperate times call for desperate measures now.’
‘Go on, I’m listening.’ Grace looked worried as she waited for me to speak.
I took a deep breath, ‘I’m going to twist the truth a little,’ I admitted, feeling very underhanded. ‘The minute I stepped off that plane, I felt like I’d come home. Before Grandie even offered me the farm, the dance school, I knew this was where I wanted to be.’
‘But the only dilemma is Rose.’
I nodded. ‘So, I’ve been thinking, and I know I am about to play with fire.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Grace sat up straight and looked at me wide-eyed.
‘Stretch the truth?’ My hands were trembling as I picked up my phone. ‘I can’t physically drag her here, but this situation can’t go on. They need to see each other and speak, and how can they do that if they are miles apart?’
I began to type a text to Mum and just before I pressed send, I closed my eyes and exhaled.
‘Done.’
‘What did you say?’
‘That Grandie is asking to see her.’
Grace gasped. ‘Yikes, that is stretching the truth.’
‘Believe me, I’m not proud of myself, but how else am I going to get her here? If this doesn’t work, nothing will. I’ll just have to deal with the consequences when and if I have to.’
I felt awful sending that text, it was dishonest, I was the first one to admit that. Everything could go wrong, even Grandie might never speak to me again when he found out what I’d done. I could lose it all. But hopefully Mum would take the bait, book her plane ticket and once they were both finally in the same room they would get over this silly feud and let bygones be bygones.
Grace gave me a warm, encouraging smile, but inside I was far from smiling. I was on tenterhooks, waiting for a reply, nausea surging through my body.
Within a few seconds my phone beeped and startled us both.
I couldn’t even bring myself to read the message. ‘Grace, can you read it?’ I asked nervously, sliding the phone over towards her, my chest pounding.
Grace nodded, faltering for a moment before she picked the phone up.
‘And breathe, it’s from Ben.’ She gave a forced laugh, the relief written all over her face.
I rolled my eyes, remembering the last encounter I’d had with him. ‘What does he want?’
‘He’s asking if you can talk,’ she said, handing back the phone.
I sighed, ‘I’ve got nothing to say to him.’
Just as I balanced the phone on the arm of the chair, it beeped again. Grace noticed my hands trembling. ‘I take it that’s not Ben again?’
Shaking my head, I passed her the phone.
‘It’s Mum.’
Grace read out the text: ‘That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll book a flight and be with you by the end of the week. Please sort me out a place to stay.’ Grace stared at me, her jaw dropped somewhere near the floor.
‘I’ve done it now, haven’t I?’
‘How do you feel?’ Grace asked tentatively.
My head was spinning. ‘I really have no idea,’ I admitted, feeling my pulse throb in the side of my head, an outbreak of nerves making me shudder. ‘What do I do now?!’
‘We do nothing, we say nothing, we act surprised,’ she said with a half-smile.
‘What, like, “Ta-dah! Mum’s turned up out of the blue!”’ I waved jazz hands in the air.
‘Okay, maybe not with jazz hands, but we say nothing until we know what flight she’s on, and then we need to tell my mum.’
‘What do you think Connie will say?’
Grace shrugged, ‘We’ll explain that you were desperate, you panicked when they took Ted into hospital.’
‘So, we just sit tight, until we know more?’
‘That’s exactly what we do; no point rocking the boat until Rose is actually here.’
I nodded, struggling to take it all in.
‘Thanks, Grace, I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
‘You’ve certainly injected drama into my life,’ she grinned, ‘but who wants a boring life anyway?’
Right at this second I’d give anything for a boring life. I’d never actually considered what I’d do if Mum agreed to come to England. It was safe to say she’d actually taken me by surprise. I’d no idea how any of this would play out, I’d just have to wait and see. But at least I was on the way to getting some answers.