Waiting for Grace Read Online Free

myself from him as he approached.
    “Well,” he said picking up his bike, “I’m Robert.” I gave him a tight smile. “And you are?” he asked, as I had missed my etiquette cue.
    “Oh, Grace,” I said.
    “Well, Grace,” he held the bike up, “wanna walk back to civilisation together?” I looked at him questioningly. “I don’t bite, and to be honest it’s not too safe for pretty girls like you out here all alone.”
    “Oh yeah?” I asked with a smile. “A lot of bikes on their way through?”
    He looked behind me, “Nope, but I bet plenty of psychos would love to find you out here. You’re a sitting duck.”
    I laughed. “Well in that case, I’d better take you up on your offer.” His face broke out into a wide smile again, and I grabbed Jess’s lead and walked next to him towards the red brick estate.
    “So how old are you?” he asked.
    “Sixteen,” I said.
    “Me too. Last year at high school?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Which one?” he asked.
    “Baines,” I said, “You?”
    “Arnold,” he sighed, expecting my reply.
    “Ooo private school, very posh,” he shook his head and laughed.
    We walked back to my favourite street, and Robert and I chatted easily until we reached one of the larger houses.
    “Well this is me,” he sighed.
    “Okay.” I nodded. “Well, see you around.”
    “I hope so,” he said. “I could walk you home if you like?”
    I shook my head, “I think I’ll be fine.” I laughed. “I walk this route all the time.”
    “Well, in that case, I’ll keep my eye out for you.” He winked and I laughed a little, shaking my head.
    “Bye,” I said and then waved as Jess and I made our way home. I plugged my music back in and giggled to myself; it had been strange and exciting to meet a boy on our secret playground. There was something about Robert that was different from all the other idiots that asked me out from school. He was different, funny, friendly, and he didn’t know me. He didn’t know the sad, sorry tale of Grace Amelia Cooper.
    God, I hoped I would meet him again. I hugged myself inwardly on the way home and smirked. Even if I didn’t see him again, encounters like this were what I wanted to fill my life with, exciting and spontaneous, the moments that made me feel alive.

 
    Four
     
    Now
     
    The night I saw Owen, Maria and I had laughed about our teenage years, together and apart. We had finished the bottle of wine and planned a trip to take the kids out the following weekend. I worked Saturdays but was always off Sundays and Tuesdays. The week continued to be dismal, but we wanted to have something to look forward to, and so decided to take the kids to a theme park. It was Thursday, and we were getting closer to the weekend. Tomorrow would be take away night, and the kids would stay up later with us. We would all watch a film like Toy Story or Monsters Inc., one that never got old. I had walked the kids to school; they were excited today as there was going to be a talk at school by a man from a reptile park. I personally couldn’t think of anything worse than handling snakes and iguanas, but they both couldn’t wait.
    After dropping them off, I plugged my MP3 player in and strolled to the bus stop. I started work at ten and so had just enough time to make my connection. I sat on the bus and replayed the conversation with Owen in my mind again and again. We had said so little, but I wondered what he could read into from those few words. Maybe he wouldn’t even tell Robert, maybe it would never come up in conversation, “Oh I saw your ex,” he might mention in passing when meeting up at Christmas, who knew?
    It had been seven years since I had seen Robert. We had screamed at each other at the train station in London. He wanted to go home, and I couldn’t think of anything worse. He said some things that day that I’ll never forget, things that I never thought he could say, and I’m sure I gave him a few poisonous memories to replay on the train home.