He joined me at the gate, and I could feel how close he was.
“No. I left for you and spent the next years regretting that decision. Or rather, attempting to forget you.”
“You can’t come back as if nothing has happened.” I finally turned to face him, needing him to hear this. “I love Maddison.”
“I know. And I’m not here to ask you for anything. But life without you in it became too hard to bear. Regardless of how you feel.”
“Maddison. Have you talked to him? He could do with his big brother.” I thought about what we’d been through—how Maddison had become focused on the more dangerous aspects of his life.
“Because you ended things?” He looked at me expectantly.
“Hey,” I snapped. “You don’t get to come back here and judge like that. You have no idea what you’re talking about.” My anger rose like the tide—quick to wash in and destroy the sandcastles built with joy on the beach.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. But you did end things?” He inched away.
“Yes.” I wasn’t giving him the details he wasn’t entitled too. He’d lost that privilege when he walked out.
“But you still love him?”
“Yes.” My answer was to the point and honest. But I was done with these questions.
I walked to my bike and cycled away. I’d had enough of Oliver. The easy friendship we used to share was rusty from neglect, and I wasn’t ready to work at making it better right now.
“Grace?” Mum called as I opened the back door.
“In the kitchen!”
“You left your phone. It’s been ringing and ringing, so I picked it up. It’s a message about the job.”
All thoughts scattered from my mind, and I grabbed the phone from Mum’s hand. “Which one?” I asked, desperate for it to be from the second company.
“I don’t know. I can’t remember which company they said. Just phone them back.”
I scrolled through the recent calls, but the number came up as unknown, so I clicked the voicemail and listened to the message Mum heard.
“And?”
“Shhh!” I turned away and waited to get to the message.
“Yes, Grace, we’d love for you to come in for a follow-up meeting. We were impressed with you when we met yesterday. We have a slot open with the editorial team you’d be working with, tomorrow afternoon. If you can confirm your attendance, we’d appreciate it.”
My stomach fluttered with nerves, but I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.
“They want me to come back in. Tomorrow.”
“The right company?”
“Yep, the one I want.” I dropped down on the sofa, thought over all the questions they might ask, and mentally ran through my wardrobe and picked out something to wear.
“I’m so proud of you. Why don’t we go out tomorrow and celebrate?”
“Why don’t we leave it until I’ve got an offer before we celebrate. I’d feel bad if it doesn’t come off.”
“Think positively. You’ll never conquer the world with an attitude like that.”
“Okay, Mum. What’s with all the good vibes going on? May I take the opportunity to remind you that you were the one who didn’t want me moving out to go to Uni?”
She looked guilty for a moment, and I regretted my choice of words. I knew why she had been nervous about letting me go. “I’m sorry…”
“No, I’m sorry. Since you’ve been with Maddison, I’ve had to realise that I can’t keep you with me forever. You’re your own woman, at least you’re becoming that, and I need to let you grow up. It’s been years since we’ve heard anything from your father. There’s no reason for me to think he’s looking for you.” She sat down beside me; the look of regret evident on her face. “You’ve been through your fair share of heartache recently. I just want to look for the good and not worry about anything else. So, I’m going to prepare to celebrate tomorrow, regardless. Deal?”
I didn’t want to dampen her spirits. “Deal. Thai or Greek?”
“It’s your choice. We’ll be celebrating your job offer.”
“I couldn’t eat another bite!”
“It was delicious,” I agreed, pushing my plate away. Mum had ordered enough for a small army, rather than just the two of us.
“It’s not every day we celebrate your first proper job.” Her voice went all singsong towards the end, and it forced a smile to break over my face. It was good to feel proud of my achievements, and Mum had certainly helped me feel special.
I would start at Quest Publishing in two weeks as an assistant junior editor. Which, based on the conversation at the second interview, would be a lot of learning the basics from the team I’d be working with, supporting and helping the other junior editors with their workload and hopefully, building up to my own projects. They were a small press but had a solid reputation and specialised in my kind of books—fantasy. The relief when I heard it was them on the phone was huge.
“Mum, do you mind if I just go up and crash. All this has put me in a food coma.”
“Off you go. I’ll clear up. You’ll have to give notice at the pub.”
“I know. I’ll speak to them tomorrow when I go in.” That was a conversation I wasn’t looking forward to. I’d been working for the Elson’s for years.
“Sleep well,”
“Thank you, for tonight, and pushing me to do this. I didn’t realise how much I needed you.”
“That’s my job, and I like to feel needed now and then. Now sleep.”
I dragged my legs and my over-stuffed belly up to my room and collapsed onto the bed. Bob gave a small protesting meow before rearranging himself around me, and it crossed my mind to stay in this position and neglect the usual teeth, change, hair, routine before bed, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to follow through.
As I was scrubbing the garlic from my mouth, my phone started buzzing from my room. It was late, and, I had my priorities, mainly sleep, so I let it go to voicemail. Besides, there was nobody who would phone me this late, although, in reality, it was not even past eleven. I just felt like I’d been awake for twenty hours.
The phone started vibrating along my desk again, so I went to see who was so desperate to speak to me. The name that flashed in front of me had me wide-awake and in a panic in under a second.
“Leo, is everything okay?” I asked, knowing it was not. There was no other explanation for this call.
“No, it’s Mads. I need your help.”
Chapter 27
Grace 21 Years Old
Leo hadn’t told me anything. He’d wanted to meet face to face instead. Of course, that meant my mind conjured up a million scenarios about Maddison, all of them involved horrible scenes with fists and blood and fights he couldn’t get out of. And for Leo to call, I knew it must be bad. He’d never have reached out unless I was the last resort, and that was the truth I couldn’t escape.
The morning arrived, and I was up and out of the house before Mum stirred. Leo had given me his address, and I drove straight there, regardless of the time. Twenty minutes later, the heel of my fist ached from the force of thudding it against Leo’s door.