GRACE
The call ended abruptly before I even had the chance to reply the person. Irritated by the unknown female’s audacity, as well as a pang of jealousy, I redialed the number only to realize it was Connor’s business number. One I didn’t bother to save.
Why would another female be calling me with Connor’s number? I wondered, getting up on my feet and absentmindedly grabbing my winter coat.
“I only left yesterday and he had the guts to hang out with another female? Let’s not jump into conclusion just yet, Grace, breathe… I said to myself looking down at my friends who were staring at me like I had suddenly lost my mind.
“Who was that Grace? What kind of call made you get up like that?” NK asked me sharply, concern written on her face.
“Uhmm,” I hesitated, wondering if it was okay to let them know, well dammit! “A female just called me with Connor’s phone telling me to come get him, that he’s drunk,” I informed, NK, almost choking on my words.
I was furious, and yet, worried.
“I have to go,” I said to the both of them, giving them no room for argument.
“You shouldn’t go alone,” NK stood up, grabbing her clutch bag.
“How about you stay with Laurie let me go with Grace?” Jody got up as well, picking up her jacket and sling bag.
NK nodded with a sigh, taking her seat and hugging a throw pillow. “Alright then, call me when you get there and don’t stay long okay?” she yelled after us, sounding like our mother.
…………………………………
GRACE
I drove as fast as I could, almost ashamedly. I couldn’t believe he was doing this. I truly wondered about how he was going to explain. At a point, Jody offered to man the steering wheel because she was scared of how fast I was going and also, considering the state of mind I was in. I refused, telling her I was fine.
It was time to sort out whatever was going on between Connor and me I. Putting off an issue that needed to be sorted out was just unnecessarily wasting time. And I was fed up with women being linked to him every moment if I as much looked away from him for one second.
I wondered all the way who the woman could be? The Angela that had caused so much issue from before? Connor’s mother probably rekindled their partnership to get rid of me, and Connor probably went with their wishes because he was fed up with fighting for me. For us; his daughter and me.
The thought of that hurt the very core of my heart. Had he stopped thinking we were worth fighting for? How could he? How dare he? I had been fighting for a better life for Laurie those seven years and he felt he had the right to give up in just a few months?
I instantly felt something inside my breast pocket, and that thing made my heart leap and drop at the same time. It was the ring. It did the same thing Connor did; made my whole life leap and drop as much as he liked. I was so fed up already.
I was going to get his assurance and promise of consistency once and for all, or we had to go our separate ways. I couldn’t keep living like this.
Us parting would be hard but we’d survive. We had survived many years without him.
Funny enough, my hot blood had cooled down pretty much before I got to the restaurant. And I took well-comported steps to the entrance as Jody walked beside me, looking tentatively at me. When I entered, my fears were confirmed. There was indeed another woman but she wasn’t Angela. Another happening; not a surprise and yet one, was seeing Marcus here. I looked to Jody to see her reaction and she was clearly uncomfortable and thrown off her groove. When she offered to follow me, she must’ve really not been expecting to see Marcus.
My steps slowed as we approached them. Connor was sprawled on the chair and partly resting on the table. He was really wasted as the lady suggested. The same person who asked me to never drink without him had drunk without me? It sounded like a little betrayal but it hurt me.
But anyway, I was the one who asked him not to reach out to me. So wasn’t this partly my fault?
The lady smiled once I wasn’t so far away and I at once realised my error. This wasn’t Angela or some other woman like I had thought. She was so unmistakably related to him. The resemblance was everywhere, in her eyes, her hair and her smile.
I mentally facepalmed. I had let myself get worked up about nothing at all.
“Hii, I’m Lena, Connor’s sister.” She stood up and came in to hug me. “Nice to meet you.”
I threw my arms around her and hugged her back, glad to be accepted by a family member of Connor’s. Or wait, was I jumping to conclusions too quick?
Once Lena withdrew, she threw me a sorry face. “I apologise for how that woman treated you. Rest assured it’s not that anything is wrong with you at all, she’s just the awful person.”
My eyes widened; it surprised me she was talking about her mother like that. But it still felt nice to have those words spoken to me, because I had contemplated Connor’s mother words lots of times and they might’ve started to sink in.
“Grace… Grace…” Connor mumbled from his half-sleep and my heart melted at once.
Why did I keep letting other people’s mistakes serve as a basis of judgement of this man who I knew didn’t have any bad intentions towards me and our child?
I turned to Lena. “I- I- I guess s…” I wasn’t sure how to agree with her without insulting Connor’s mother.
She chuckled a bit. “It’s okay. Can we talk? Over there.” She pointed towards a table and chair near the exit.
Before we went, I took a glance seeking Jody and was amused to find her seated on Marcus’ laps.
When we settled, Lena went straight to the point without mincing words.
“Do you think it’s okay for parents to force their self-centred wants on their kids?”
I was blank as I didn’t know where this was coming from, but I shook my head anyway. “No.”
“Good. What about them actively causing problems in that child’s life just to make that child helpless?”
“That’s an absolutely awful thing to do,” I replied, starting to fit the puzzle pieces together. I was starting to see her point.
“I’m glad you acknowledge that. Now, Grace, tell me then why you allow Mother to come in between you and Connor? This is literally just you just giving her what she wants on a platter of gold.”
I was speechless. I just kept on staring.
Lena continued, “Look, I don’t know the full details or the ins and out of your relationship with my brother, but I do know one thing for sure, Grace. He loves you, he loves you with the entirety of his heart. In the past years, my brother was stuck on only one woman, and it was you. I understand your hesitation to completely let go and fall fully into his arms, but I think he deserves a credible second chance. To make up for the mistake the universe made in your love story in those years. He’s willing to go the distance, but he can’t do that if you keep pulling the wheel from him and letting outsiders come in between what you have.”
Again, I was speechless. Everything she was saying made perfect sense and were things I had considered before myself but wasn’t able to fully able to articulate and never got thrown to my face like this.
“Thank you, Lena. I understand what you’re saying and truly appreciate it.”
She smiled very sweetly at me and I returned the same. She swung her little bag properly over her arm. “I’ll have to leave now. Good luck getting him home.”
“What?” I called. She wasn’t expecting me to get Connor home myself, was she? With Marcus also drunk, I would be doing the whole weight-lifting myself and I wasn’t really sure I could handle Connor myself. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah!” she confirmed almost enthusiastically. “I would love to help- no I’m actually just lying, I have no wish not to talk of intention to help. Which is why I’m leaving right at this moment. You’re the one in love with him, remember? See you later!”
And like that she dashed out of the restaurant, leaving me standing and mumbling incoherent words persuading her to stay. How could she do this?
I turned back to the table to see Jody humping and panting and she tried to lift Marcus to rest on her shoulder. I would’ve laughed if I wouldn’t be facing the same fate later on. I begrudgingly walked towards the table and was thinking of a way to come to terms with this hurdle and Jody cried out in pain.
“Grace, I need a hand!”
I quickly apologised and rushed to help her, but even with me helping, it still took another ten minutes to get Marcus to his car. It took an even longer time to get Connor to my car. Jody and I’s bodies were dripping with sweat by then and we were terribly exhausted and thoroughly disgruntled. Why were the men who were supposed to be loving and doting on us putting us through so much trouble?
And why did the barman suddenly disappear to nowhere at the time he was most needed?
For a few minutes, after Jody and Marcus were long gone, I sat in the car contemplating where to drive to. I had the options of Connor’s house and mine. Connor’s house was clearly the most comfortable to the duo, but Laurie was home with Nk and I didn’t know how to feel about taking myself to the home I had just left in the name of space. So I drove Connor to my home.
He wouldn’t be as comfortable as he would be in his home, but he had to bear with me. I was, after all, not the one who asked him to get drunk out.
I would be needing lots of explanations and apologies from him the next morning.