Waiting for Grace by Hayley Oakes Read Free Book Online Page B

arrangement, and maybe go it alone. Perhaps she wanted her independence. She had never said anything, but how long could our situation last? Surely one of us would meet someone one day. Hell, we were only twenty-four years old.
    I pushed the thought away and wondered how I was going to speak to Devon about Robert’s reappearance. It would have to be just us two, and somewhere that we wouldn’t be interrupted. Perhaps tomorrow we could just go for a walk to the park together, maybe get a coffee and a cake. I had tried to erase yesterday from my memory, tried to forget Robert’s face that went from happiness to horror in the blink of an eye. I had spent all day yesterday at work excited to see him and I was revelling in the thought that he was excited, too. However, I knew what was to come and hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought. It was worse. I imagined him being angry, I imagined him hating me for what I decided to do, but I hadn’t imagined how much it would hurt me. To hear that he looked for me, that he wanted me after that day at the train station, and then for him to say I ripped his heart out … wow.
    I needed to bury it all. I needed to forget exactly how Robert Banford made me feel. I needed to forget how he was the centre of my universe when I was a kid and how he made me feel loved when no one else did. I needed to forget that he broke my heart and since then it had never healed. I needed to forget the way my heart stuttered when I saw him at the diner and I needed to realise that this man was a far cry from the boy that I fell in love with.
    “Right, you two.” I made my way into their room. I was now fully dressed in my uniform and they were still struggling to get it together. Devon had managed underwear, vest, tights and skirt, but Max had only managed underwear. Typical man. “Come on, speed it up.” I glanced at my watch, 8.30. “We need to be out the door in five,” I said, getting Devon’s shirt and jumper and helping her with them. “Shoes,” I said and then turned to Max, the disaster, as he was pulling his trousers on. “You’re like an unmade bed,” I told him and laughed. “Now come on, shirt on and tuck it in.”
    I managed to get them in order, and we left to walk to school. I held their bags and lunch boxes whilst they sped ahead on their scooters. I strolled easily and enjoyed the crisp air. My mind still wandered, but I kept it in check.     
    I made it to work fifteen minutes early. “Wow,” Groucher said. “Early in after a hot date.”
    “It wasn’t a date Groucher. An old friend, that’s all,” I said, hanging my coat up. He could tell from my tone not to probe.
    Lyndsey was giggly and telling me about her most recent night out and how she had met “the one.” God, women my age were really boring, or perhaps Maria and I were just old before our time. I smiled to myself at the thought.
    “So how was your night?” she asked, widening her eyes for dramatic effect. “He was gorgeous. So corporate and sexy and blonde, ooo he looked to die for.”
    “What?” I asked, trying to dodge the question.
    “The guy who came in yesterday morning, Groucher said you went out.”
    “Oh, that, he’s an old friend, practically family, nothing there.” We stood with full trays and I turned round into Robert. His face was crumpled and his eyes were sunken, the blue sparkle momentarily dull.
    “Oh,” I said, shocked as I turned.
    “Hi,” Lyndsey said breezily. She took one look at him and then at my reaction and tightened her mouth as if to say, “Practically family, my arse.”
    “Grace …” Robert stepped towards me, and I scooted around him to take the tray to the kitchen.
    “Take a seat,” I said as calmly as I could. “I’ll be out in a sec.” I barrelled into the kitchen and took a few deep breaths, checked my appearance in the shiny extractor fan, and walked back out.
    He sat at the bar; the diner wasn’t too busy, it wasn’t lunchtime yet and we