by Kim Nash
Grace noticed him the minute she walked in. He was sitting on a leather settee, tapping away on his laptop on the low table in front of him, looking studious, with his glasses perched on the end of his nose. He was a man of many looks and they all suited him. When she had first seen him, he was in his gardening clobber, then he’d been looking smart on a night out, and now he looked deliciously casual in jeans, a snug fitting t-shirt (yum!) and smart trainers.
Grace’s first reaction was to turn around and walk straight back out again, but she remembered Monica telling her that she had to change the way she approached situations that made her nervous, so she took a deep breath and walked over to the table.
‘Ahem.’ She coughed nervously when she got there, trying to pluck up the courage to say hello and wondering whether he’d remember her.
‘Grace! How lovely to see you.’ Vinnie beamed at her and stood up, and they had one of those awkward moments when you don’t know whether to shake hands, or kiss once, or even twice. So they did nothing.
‘What brings you to my sister’s fabulous café today then? I do hope you are going to join me,’ Vinnie said, packing his work away.
‘Wow! So this is her shop? It’s lovely. And only if I’m not dragging you away from your work.’
‘That’s more than OK, I’m just sorting out some invoices and it’s truly dull, so I don’t need any excuse to stop. It’s lovely to see you. What can I get you?’
While Vinnie went over the counter to order her a skinny latte, she found herself grinning as she realised that she was properly checking him out. She quickly averted her eyes as he returned before she started staring at his crotch. She looked up at his face instead and realised that she had forgotten how devilishly handsome he actually was.
‘So what have you been doing since we met last? I did try to find you in the bar when I spotted you that Saturday night, but you’d disappeared,’ he said.
‘Yes, we decided to head off for some Chinese food. We’d had a busy day.’
‘Shame, I was so fed up of being with my idiot mates, I was desperate for some normal company. When I couldn’t find you anywhere I sneaked off home, much to my mates’s disgust. It really is a lovely surprise to see you here today, you know.’
‘Thanks, Vinnie. I’m glad I came now. It’s nice to see you too!’
‘There are some people you just don’t forget, Grace,’ he said and then immediately blushed.
‘Here you go little bro!’ said a cheerful, pretty lady in a vintage flowery apron putting two huge mugs of coffee before them. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us?’
‘Grace, meet Ruth. My very annoying but adorable and much older sister!’ The two women shook hands and smiled at each other.
‘Nice to meet you, Grace, and nice to see my little brother with some female company for a change!’ She winked at Grace and perched her bottom on the arm of the sofa. Vinnie glared at her.
‘Alright, I’m going!’ Ruth replied, getting up. ‘I know where I’m not wanted. I know you only want me for my coffee. And it’s about time you settled your bill, Vincent. I’m not a charity.’ She winked at Grace and smiled as she collected the empties from the table next to them and returned to the counter.
Grace could see that they had a relaxed and easy-going, loving sibling relationship. It made her heart twang a little as she realised how much she missed Hannah. While she could never have stopped her emigrating to the US, and living the life of her dreams, she still wished that her big sister was closer than a huge ocean away.
Grace and Vinnie chatted easily, while drinking copious amounts of coffee and devouring an enormous slab of a divine coffee and walnut cake which tasted just like the one her mum used to make. Ruth had sent it over on the house, which was so kind of her. Probably not going to do her diet any good, thought Grace, but the cake was so delicious that she didn’t care.
They talked about their jobs: Vinnie had been working in the world of landscaping since he studied horticulture at college, and had worked his way up from the bottom. He now had his own business and could work from anywhere as long as he had an internet connection, so he was lucky that his sister, Ruth, had reliable Wi-Fi in the coffee shop.
‘The only thing wrong with working from here so much is that I’m now addicted to Americanos – and cake!’ Vinnie chuckled.
Grace told him about her job as an estate agent and how difficult she had found getting that job after being a stay-at-home mum for so long. She also shared with Vinnie her ambition to one day own a bookshop café. She didn’t know why she told him that, because it was a dream that she hadn’t shared with anyone else apart from Monica, but he was so easy to open up to. She felt like she’d known him for years. In turn, Vinnie told her about his dream of living by the seaside. They agreed that there would be nothing better than a walk on the beach every day to ground you, get some sea air in your lungs and feed your soul.
Glancing at her watch, Grace realised that she’d been there for well over two hours, and that Archie would be home soon.
‘Perhaps we could meet up again. There’s a new bistro in the town that I was thinking about trying. Do you fancy coming with me, Grace?’
‘Erm, yes. That would be nice.’
She wasn’t sure if he was asking her because he was going anyway and wanted company or whether he was asking her on a date, but they decided to meet up on the following Wednesday evening. He flipped open his wallet to take out a business card with his personal details on it and she noticed a photo of a blonde lady, but she couldn’t look at the picture properly as he saw her looking and immediately closed his wallet again. She wasn’t quite sure how to say goodbye – was it too formal to shake his hand? – so she awkwardly went for a quick peck on the cheek but as she did that he turned slightly and she ended up planting a kiss on his nose.
‘OMG! I’m so sorry!’ she said, as she went as red as a beetroot.
Vinnie blushed and then they both started to giggle, which calmed Grace’s heart a little, because it was really thumping in her chest. She waved at Ruth, who was busy serving customers but yelled, ‘Lovely to meet you and really hope to see you again, Grace!’ across the room.
Grace walked away from Coffee Heaven with a big smile on her face and a warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart, which she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She kicked herself when she realised that seeing Vinnie there had completely distracted her from the fact that she’d gone there to size up the venue for her slimming club and she’d forgotten to ask anything about that. Smiling, thinking about Vinnie again, she then remembered the picture in his wallet, and her heart sank a bit as she wondered who the mystery lady was. She was probably jumping ahead of herself and it probably wasn’t a date after all, even though Ruth had implied he didn’t have anyone. Crikey, she was so jaded with what had happened with first Mark and then Tommy, she wondered if she’d ever trust anyone again.
* * *
I’m so glad that you finally met up with a lovely man, even if I did have to try really hard to make it happen. I’ve worked it out, now. If I want you to think something, I just have to stay really close to you, making sure that you make connections. I’m really rather clever, you know. I just have to concentrate my mind so much that you know what I’m thinking and then those thoughts become yours. I shall be working hard to send you little messages to steer you in the right direction. I just hope that you follow my clues. I love you, Mum xxx
Chapter Eleven
Grace walked through her front door and was leapt upon by four big brown paws, and a big sloppy lick. ‘Ew, Becks! You are such a monster,’ she laughed as he practically wrestled her to the ground because he was so excited to see her. She giggled. ‘Come on, sausage, let’s go and have a nice long walk’.
Not far from Grace’s house, there was a stunning forest, where the world and his wife walked their dogs. From the moment she got Becks, Grace had had to learn about a whole new doggy code of conduct: that when you have a dog it’s OK to stop, chat a
nd pass the time of day with people you’ve never seen before. This was something that rarely happened if you went for a walk on your own. Luckily Becks was a friendly soul and the perfect ice-breaker, and walking around her village had introduced her to so many people that she might not otherwise have ever crossed paths with.
She was still in her little happy bubble, thinking about seeing Vinnie on the following Wednesday and wondering if it actually was a ‘date’ and who the mysterious lady in the picture was, when her phone rang. Her heart sank when she saw it was Mark. She wondered which Mark it would be today.
‘Need a word!’ he said in his normal abrupt and patronising manner. Oh OK, it was that Mark today. Being a head teacher made him think that he could speak to everyone like he spoke to the parents and children at the high school he worked at.
‘Hi Mark, what can I do for you?’ said Grace. She had given up asking how he was a long time ago, because a) he normally went into a long story about how tired he was all the time because he had such a busy job and she wouldn’t understand and b) she didn’t actually care how he was.
He had changed so much since becoming a head teacher. It was almost like the power had gone to his head. She remembered the days when he was such good company, caring and compassionate, when as a teacher he worried about the pupils he taught, always putting Grace first, as well as work. That was the Mark that she’d fallen head-over-heels in love with. When life with Mark was good, it felt like it was all she’d ever wanted and more, but when it was bad, it was horrid.
She was jolted back to the present.
‘It’s my weekend to have Archie next weekend but something’s come up and I need to go abroad instead to help someone out with something.’
‘And…?’ she waited for him to ask her if once again he could swap dates when something more important than his son came up.
‘You need to have Archie because I won’t be here, obviously,’ he replied.
‘Do you mean, would I mind altering my arrangements to accommodate you?’ she asked.
‘Well, I can’t have him so you’ll have to.’
She was used to his brusque manner, and the way he spoke to her when he was in one of his moods.
‘OK, that’s fine,’ she replied, her first thought being, Yay! I get to spend more time with my boy! She couldn’t understand what could be more important to a parent than spending time with their child, which is why she found it so tough that her relationship with Mark had not worked out, meaning that they had to share their son.
She sometimes felt that Mark had only ever gone for shared custody so that he wouldn’t lose face at school and damage his reputation as Head Teacher, rather than because he wanted to spend time with Archie. Although when he was in one of his good moods he was the perfect dad, treating Archie to new football boots just because he wanted to. But when he was in one of his supercilious moods, he would keep pointing out to Grace that he had a ‘very important job’ and that she wouldn’t possibly understand as she only had her fluffy little job in an office.
Her ‘fluffy little job in an office’, along with the pittance of maintenance that Mark paid her each month, was what paid the bills and kept a roof over her and Archie’s head, but Mark couldn’t seem to understand that. Not to mention the fact that she loved her job! Estate agents often got a bad rap, but Grace could honestly say that she only had her clients’ best interests at heart and loved nothing more than finding someone their forever home.
‘Good, that’s sorted then!’ he said and ended the call.
‘Thanks, Grace,’ she mouthed to herself sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
Despite Mark’s attitude, she brightened up as she thought about what she’d organise for her and Archie to do the following weekend.
Her phone rang again. Oh no, what have I done now? she immediately thought, expecting it to be Mark again, and was really pleased to hear Monica say, ‘Hey babes, how was the coffee shop? Is it suitable for the busy people’s slimming club?’
‘Oh, Mon,’ she said in a dreamy voice. ‘You’ll never guess who was there?’
‘Donald Trump?’
‘You are ridiculous!’
‘Lady Gaga?’
‘Not even close.’
‘OK, last guess. Prince Harry?’
‘Remember Fit Bloke – the landscaper? Well it’s only his sister’s café. I’d completely forgotten that he’d said that she owned one.’
‘And…?’
‘Well, he saw me and asked me to join him. I was there for over two hours. It was just... well, just lovely.’
‘Gracie’s i-in lur-ve! Gracie’s i-in lur-ve!’ Monica sang.
‘Oh, you’re so childish!’ Grace laughed.
‘Yep, I sure am. But you love it! So, are you seeing him again?’ Monica asked.
‘I am actually, we’re going out for a dinner on Wednesday night,’ Grace replied.
‘OMG, you are so going to get a seeing to on Wednesday. You’d best dust the cobwebs off your lady garden, Mrs. As they say at the fair “buckle up baby, this could be the best ride of your life!”’
Grace’s heart dropped to the floor. It had been so long since she’d even found a man that she fancied, she hadn’t even thought about going that one step further until she went out with Tommy. She shivered at the thought of what might have happened if she’d gone back to his hotel room and then found out he was married. Mortifying. And really! How could she possibly let someone who wasn’t Mark see her body naked? She was so conscious of the fact that she’d put on weight that she didn’t even look at herself in the mirror any more. And she didn’t think she’d shaved her legs for six months. Even Archie had started commenting on her legs looking like a hairy monkey. Despite everything that Monica had done on the outside, she still felt old, fat, frumpy and unattractive on the inside.
‘Oh crap, Mon, I hadn’t even given that a thought! I’m going to have to call him at once and cancel. I can’t possibly go through that.’
‘You will do no such thing! You will be well prepared, de-fuzzed, sparkling and beautiful and you are gonna knock his socks off!’
‘It’s not his socks I’m worried about,’ she sighed. And then she remembered the picture in his wallet. Maybe she might be worrying for no reason. Maybe this wasn’t a date after all.
Chapter Twelve
The week did not start well. She’d had to battle that morning with Archie to get ready for school on time, having to wrestle the iPad from him at one point, which resulted in him having a huge meltdown. Then, after school, two of his school friends knocked on the door and asked if he could go to the park with them to play football.
‘Can I, Mum? Can I?’ he begged her, pulling on her jumper.
‘I’m sorry, Arch, but I really don’t think you are old enough.’
‘I am though, Mum. I’m ten and you let me walk home from school now. How’s this any different?’
It didn’t matter how many times she explained to him that she wasn’t happy about him going to the park in the evening with boys she knew from school, but didn’t really know anything else about, he was still cross. They’d have main roads to cross and while she knew she had to let go of him sometime and increase his independence, this was not going to be that day.
He stomped off upstairs into his room and refused to come down for an hour. He seemed to have morphed into a teenager over the last few weeks. The only thing that brought him out of his room was the fact that they were going to visit Papa, who she hoped might talk some sense into him.
They drove the five miles to the retirement village in near silence, with Archie staring out the window and giving one word answers to any questions she asked. She left him in the lounge with her dad while she went to make a cuppa for them all, and as she returned and stood outside the lounge door, she heard them talking.
‘But Mum never plays football with me any more, Papa. She’s always too busy cooking, or cleaning, or decorating. She never has time for me. And she never lets
me go to the park with my mates, either.’
‘But you’re not really old enough to go to the park on your own yet, son. I know it’s hard when you see other kids doing it, but all your mum is trying to do is to keep you safe.’
‘If Dad was still with us, he’d be able to share jobs and then Mum would have more time for me.’
‘Your mum is working her socks off so that you can have all your fancy stuff. If you want Z-Boxes and aPads someone has to pay for them, son. And if she doesn’t do the cleaning and cooking, who will? I don’t suppose you help her, do you?’
She looked through the gap in the door as Archie shook his head.
‘You need to cut your mum some slack. She’s trying her best. Now come over here and give your old papa a man-hug.’
‘I’ll try, Papa. I promise I’ll try.’
Grace promised herself that she’d do her damnedest to make more time for Archie even if it meant having to stay up later to get the housework done. Who needed sleep, anyway? She’d already rocked his world by splitting with his dad. It was her job as his mum to protect him from hurt and she already carried that guilt around with her so she had to make sure that he didn’t end up resenting her.
* * *
Wednesday evening arrived. She’d told Mark that she was going out at six-thirty and he did his normal trick of not arriving to pick up Archie until six forty-five, blaming the traffic. She knew he did it on purpose and had often thought he probably sat around the corner, deliberately waiting till he was late before arriving at her house. She used to get really wound up by his tardiness and say that perhaps he should have left a bit earlier but it was obvious that he got a real kick out of winding her up, so now she took the high road and never mentioned it, much as she had to grit her teeth.