Please Forgive Me

by Melissa Hill

  ‘Sure,’ Alex slowed alongside him beneath the bridge and they both paused for a moment listening in silence to the thud-thud of traffic overhead, while below whitecaps crashed against the shore. Then, once he’d got his breath back, they took off again – this time at a more leisurely pace.

  ‘Leonie seems like a nice girl,’ he said after a couple of minutes.

  ‘She is.’

  ‘So what’s her story then?’

  ‘Her story?’

  ‘Yeah. I mean, I know that she moved here a couple of months back and works in a flower store, but what’s she doing here in the first place? Clearly there’s something else going on there, isn’t there?’

  ‘I didn’t think much about it, to be honest.’ It was interesting that Seth’s conclusions were pretty much the same as hers, although Alex wasn’t going to admit as much to him.

  ‘Yeah, I mean how does an Irish girl wind up halfway across the world for no particular reason?’

  ‘How does anyone wind up anywhere? There’s nothing unusual about it as far as I’m concerned and even if there was, it’s absolutely none of my business.’

  ‘So you do think there’s more to her than meets the eye!’ he teased, and Alex cursed herself for being so easy to read. ‘My guess is she’s running from something.’

  No shit Sherlock, she agreed silently. ‘Probably a guy. It’s nearly always a guy.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ Alex drawled. ‘What else could it be? I mean, it’s not as though our lives revolve around anything else, is it?’

  ‘OK, OK, maybe that’s a bit too simple. But when I was talking to her that time in Monterey, before you came along - ’

  ‘When you were flirting with her, you mean.’

  Seth suppressed a smile. ‘Anyway, I got the sense that she doesn’t trust people too easily.’

  ‘Or maybe she just proved herself immune to your charms?’ Alex couldn’t resist taunting him.

  He shook his head. ‘Gimme a break Alex, I’m just telling you what I think, that’s all. As I said, she’s a nice girl and I think all this stuff with the letters is more than just a passing interest on her part.’

  Alex was now genuinely interested in hearing his take on it too. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I just think they could have taken on some kind of extra significance where she’s concerned. Maybe she identifies with what’s going on with that couple because she’s going through or has been through something similar herself.’

  Alex thought about it and decided it made some sense. Leonie did seem uncommonly fixated on reuniting the couple in the letters, irrespective of knowing what actually happened between them. She recalled how disappointed she’d been when the Helena Abbott they’d encountered in Monterey didn’t seem to be the woman they were looking for, and how determined she still was to find either one of the couple, despite Alex’s advice to leave well enough alone.

  ‘She’s certainly taken with their story, I’ll give you that,’ she said to Seth. ‘And she’ll be over the moon if she can get to the bottom of this. But as for her going through something similar, I couldn’t really be sure.’ She resolved to try and broach the subject again with her sometime, assuming that Leonie wanted to talk about it of course. Chances were she’d run away to put her problems behind her rather than confront them head on.

  ‘Well, either way, she certainly comes across as a romantic old soul.’ Seth said. He gave her another sideways glance. ‘And speaking of romance, how are things going with Dr Love?’

  Alex stiffened. ‘Fine, thank you.’

  ‘Only fine? That doesn’t sound so great to me.’

  ‘Seth, knock it off, OK? I don’t want to talk to you about this now – or ever for that matter.’

  He flashed a wide grin. ‘I’m sorry I just couldn’t resist. Don’t mind me, I think you guys make a great couple.’

  She smiled, despite herself. ‘Sure you do.’

  ‘No honestly, Alex I really do. If you’re happy, I’m happy.’

  ‘Funny how you didn’t seem to think about that before you disappeared down to Miami,’ she said, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them. Damn it, she hadn’t planned on the conversation taking that turn.

  Seth drew up short, panting. ‘It wasn’t like that,’ he said gently. ‘Things were crazy, and we both needed space...’

  ‘Well you certainly gave me that,’ she said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

  ‘Alex…’

  ‘Anyway, it’ll all be over soon,’ she said brightly, unwilling to discuss it any further.

  ‘Sure it will,’ Seth agreed, but there was an edge to his tone that made her worry if he had something else up his sleeve.

  Chapter 24

  On Monday morning, Leonie was at Flower Power inputting credit card details into the store terminal when she got a call.

  ‘It’s for you,’ Marcy said, handing her the cordless phone, ‘Some crazy woman from Ireland.’

  Leonie frowned in confusion, wondering who on earth would be calling her here, and tentatively she held the receiver to her ear. ‘Hello?’

  ‘I’m coming to see you!’ Grace said excitedly down the line. ‘I have my ticket booked and everything.’

  ‘What? Where?’

  ‘To San Francisco, where do you think? I’m sick to the teeth of hearing about Alex and Marcy and all these people I know nothing about. And I miss you. So I said to Ray, forget the family holiday – honestly I think we’d be better off waiting until the kids are older and bit less … well mad, I suppose, but Ray knew I was mad for a break so he offered to stay home to mind them and suggested I go over to you for a long weekend instead. Can you believe that? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he got hit over the head or something but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I checked the website last night and got a flight out for the Thursday after next!’

  Leonie who’d wondered if Grace would ever take a breath, never mind finish the monologue couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Grace was coming to San Francisco! And soon!

  ‘I can’t believe it …I mean, this is fantastic! I don’t know what to say. But Grace,’ she added then, her tone softening, ‘I know I sounded a bit down the last time we talked but please don’t think I ever expected you to -’

  ‘Feck it Leonie, we’ve been friends for donkey’s years, and friends are supposed to be there for each other in times of need, aren’t they? Now, of course it wasn’t my fault that you decided to up sticks and fly half way across the world, but like they say if Mohammad won’t come to the mountain …’

  Leonie felt tears in her eyes. She was unbelievably touched that Grace was prepared to come all this way just to ‘be there for her’. And in truth, the timing couldn’t be better. She had been a bit down in the dumps over the last week or so, what with hitting a complete dead end with the letters, and for some reason starting to rethink and relive everything that had happened back home.

  ‘How long will you be staying?’

  ‘Just for a long weekend – until the Monday. I couldn’t leave Ray with the twins for that long. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to, but he’d be up the walls for any more than a weekend and would probably have packed his own bags by the time I got back. So just the four days. But someone told me that staying in my own time zone will avoid the jetlag so if I do that I should be grand.’

  Leonie had to smile at this. ‘You do know that we’re eight hours ahead here?’

  ‘Exactly, it’s ideal. I’ll have no problem getting up at the crack of dawn whereas in reality it’ll be like having an Irish lie-in. And I don’t get too many of those either, I can tell you.’

  ‘True.’ Leonie smiled indulgently, deciding not to point out that by the same reckoning, Grace would also be in bed by teatime.

  ‘So is it OK if I stay with you? I know you said your place is small, but the ticket was pricey enough, without a hotel bankrupting me too -’

  ‘Are you mad? I wouldn’t d
ream of having you stay in a hotel! Yes, yes, of course you’ll stay here – you can have the bedroom and I’ll take the couch and -’

  ‘Not at all, sure you know me, I’ll throw myself down anywhere,’ Grace said in her usual easygoing way, which merely reminded Leonie again how much she’d been missing her and how brilliant it would be to see her. ‘Now, I’m not looking forward to ten hours on my own on the plane, but won’t it be a bit of peace and quiet for once? And I’ve never been in America before so I’m dying to see what all the fuss is about, not to mention putting faces to the names of all the people you keep talking about.’

  Leonie grinned. It would be fantastic to be able to introduce her to Alex and Marcy. And speaking of Marcy, when she got off the phone, she’d take a look at the roster to see how things were fixed here for the weekend of Grace’s visit. She knew she was off that Friday but not so sure about Saturday. But as Flower Power closed on Sundays, even if she did have to work one day out of the weekend she’d still have loads of time to spend with her friend. And no better woman than Grace to entertain herself in any case.

  ‘I still can’t believe you’re coming!’ she told her, delighted. ‘I can’t wait to see you and we’ll have such a brilliant time I promise you.’

  ‘I can’t wait either,’ Grace said, sounding just as enthusiastic. ‘USA – here I come!’

  ***

  The afternoon Grace was due to arrive, Leonie booked a Lincoln town car to collect her from the airport. Although they were a cheap and a relatively common means of transport from the airport, she knew her friend would get a huge kick out of travelling to the city in a big plush American car and it would be a great start to her first visit to the States.

  While waiting at arrivals, she thought she would burst with anticipation; she was so looking forward to seeing Grace. The last time she’d seen her, Leonie herself had been in a pretty fraught situation, so it would be wonderful to be together now in much happier circumstances.

  After a few minutes Grace appeared through the crowd, laden down with luggage and grinning from ear to ear. Dropping her suitcases, she practically launched herself at Leonie, and the two hugged as if they hadn’t seen one another in years.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re actually here!’ Leonie said, feeling more emotional than she’d anticipated. ‘And you look fantastic, have you lost weight?’ Typically, Grace had made no effort whatsoever with her appearance, her fair hair fell in heavy strings around her face and she wore not a scrap of make-up, but still she looked wonderful.

  ‘Well if I have, that flight alone would have accounted for a stone at least, what with the manky food they gave us,’ she said rolling her eyes. ‘And as for the drink …I was disgusted. Here I was planning to load up on freebies to help pass the time and then your woman puts her hand out looking to be paid.’

  ‘So a good flight then?’ Leonie grinned.

  ‘A long flight Lee, honestly I don’t know how you do it. I was bored out of my skull watching that teeny little plane on the screen; it was like it wasn’t moving at all.’

  ‘Didn’t you read or watch a film?’

  ‘I thought I might, but to be honest I just was too excited to concentrate.’ She looked around her trying to take it all in. ‘America – I still can’t believe I’m here!’

  ‘Me neither, but um …how long did you say you were staying again?’ Leonie asked, looking down at her two enormous suitcases. ‘No, wait let me guess, you brought the twins too?’

  Grace winked. ‘You know me,’ she said. ‘Always come prepared.’

  She was full of chatter on the journey from the airport and brimming with great ideas on how to beat the jetlag.

  ‘Staying on Irish time is definitely the way to go,’ she assured Leonie. ‘I didn’t change my watch at all when we landed so if I keep that up I should be fine.’

  ‘OK.’ Leonie wasn’t about to argue.

  ‘And I want to see and do everything and …oh, is that the bridge?’ she said, her face falling as she pointed out the window of the car. ‘It’s not very golden at all, is it? I suppose it’s must be true what they say about these things not living up to your expectations.’

  ‘Maybe because that’s the Bay Bridge,’ Leonie told her smiling. ‘And don’t worry, I doubt you’ll be unimpressed when you see the Golden Gate.’

  But after being ‘disappointed’ by her initial glimpse of San Francisco, Grace seemed to very quickly fall in love with everything else about the city. ‘Oh my God – a cable car!’ she shrieked, upon catching sight of the Powell/Mason car heading downtown, its bell clanging as it went. ‘And look …lesbians! Oh, I can’t wait to tell Ray all about this, he warned me they’d be everywhere!’

  ‘Um, I don’t actually think they’re lesbians, Grace, just a couple of girls out shopping.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her disappointment was palpable. ‘Well hopefully we might find a few later.’

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ Leonie replied wryly.

  A few minutes later, the car dropped them off outside the house in Green Street.

  ‘Oh wow,’ Grace enthused, her eyes out on stalks as she got out. ‘You live in one of these? But they’re like doll’s houses! God, I had no idea this place was so pretty, all the hills and the trees and these beautiful houses … it’s almost like being on Wisteria Lane!’

  Leonie smiled as she helped Grace carry her bags up the steps. ‘I loved it when I first saw it too.’

  Once inside the apartment Grace felt the need to open every door, look inside every cupboard, and inspect every piece of furniture. And like Leonie, she was immediately drawn to her beloved bay window. ‘Oh you can see the sea from here and oh – my – God,’ she gasped, enunciating the words extra slowly as she caught sight of San Francisco’s most famous landmark, which at that moment looked exceptionally beautiful – vibrant and luminous against a gorgeous clear blue sky. ‘That’s the bridge?’

  ‘That’s the bridge.’ Leonie repeated, knowing Grace was experiencing the sense of spellbinding awe most people did when confronted in real life by such an iconic structure. ‘We can head out and see it tomorrow if you’d like. And take a tour of Alcatraz too maybe, I haven’t had a chance to go there myself yet.’

  ‘Hmm, seeing as I’ve just escaped from my very own Alcatraz,’ Grace murmured wryly, ‘I just might give that one a miss if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Whatever you prefer,’ Leonie laughed and switched on the kettle. ‘Fancy a cuppa?’

  ‘What – don’t you have anything stronger? Or has all this wholesome California lifestyle got to you already?’

  Leonie duly went to the fridge and took out a chilled bottle of Californian bubbly. ‘Well, I was planning to wait till later, but what the hell? No time like the present.’

  Grace rubbed her hands together like a small child when Leonie popped the cork. ‘This is just fantastic! I still can’t believe I’m here – drinking bubbles with you in San Francisco! Oh it really is beautiful in here, Leonie,’ she said looking around. ‘Is this your own stuff or was it like this when you moved in?’

  ‘Most of it’s my own, but I inherited a few things,’ she said, immediately thinking of the letters. But she’d tell Grace about those some other time.

  ‘I love the fireplace, and the ceiling and the floors…oh everything is just fabulous!’

  The two continued to chat and sip their drinks as they sat facing each other on the window seat, their backs to the wall while they stared at the sailboats entering and leaving the bay. Grace was completely entranced by the views and the way the city descended in almost higgledy-piggledy fashion towards the water.

  ‘You’d pay a fortune for a view like this in Dublin – not that you’d get anything like this, with the bridge and all the gorgeous houses, and oh, can we try out one of the cable cars? They’re probably old hat to you by now, but I’d just love to give it a go! And will you show me the flower shop where you work and -’

  ‘Relax, I’ll show you anything you want,’ Leonie
said, grinning at her enthusiasm.

  ‘Good woman! So what’ll we do tonight? Are you going to bring me out on the town? I’d love a good night on the tear. Anywhere but an Irish pub though,’ she added with a firm shake of her head. ‘I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to come halfway across the world and then go to an Irish pub…’

  ‘Are you sure you want to go out though?’ Leonie looked at her watch. ‘It’s after two in the morning at home now, and I thought you wanted to stay on your own time.’

  Grace stared at her, suddenly realising her grand plan had just been shot to shreds. ‘Ah, to hell with it,’ she said. ‘Don’t I have the rest of my life to sleep? But I will tell you one thing – I’m absolutely ravenous after all that travelling. Is there anywhere close we could go for a good feed?’

  Leonie smiled. ‘I think I know just the place.’

  Still, slightly giggly from the champagne, the two spent the following couple of hours down at the Crab Shack chatting and bantering with Phil and Dan who (luckily) seemed amused with Grace’s unbridled delight at them being a couple.

  ‘I know it’s San Francisco but, I don’t know, I just didn’t expect them to be everywhere,’ she confessed wide-eyed.

  ‘Come off it Grace – they’re hardly everywhere! And it’s not as though we don’t get gay couples at home either.’ But she knew that Grace was just so delighted to be here that she was overstating everything while wholeheartedly throwing herself into the experience.

  ‘So tell me, how are you?’ Grace asked meaningfully after the meal, when their chatter had calmed down considerably. She tried to stifle a yawn and despite her protests, Leonie knew that the time difference was gradually starting to get to her.

  ‘I’m great,’ she told her breezily. ‘As you can probably tell, I love it here.’

  ‘And?’