‘I’ll get a couple of the guys to move the heavy stuff for you in the morning if you don’t mind lending me your key,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’
‘No problem,’ he said. ‘And thank you. You’ve helped me, too, these last few weeks.’
* * *
But not enough, Grace thought. Not enough for him to be able to move on from the sadness of his past and ask her to stay.
‘Great,’ she said. ‘I guess I’d better start getting my stuff together—and let you get on.’
‘Uh-huh.’ He gave her an awkward smile. ‘Let me know if you need anything.’
She did. She needed him. But it wasn’t fair to put that extra burden on him. ‘Sure,’ she said.
‘I’d better check my emails,’ he said.
‘Yes. So life goes back to normal tomorrow for both of us,’ she said. ‘You get your space back. And I get to stand on my own two feet again.’
‘Well—good night.’
‘Good night. And thanks for everything.’ This time, she didn’t hug him—because it would hurt way too much to let him go. Instead, she had to go back to the fall-back position. Sensible Grace.
If only it could’ve been otherwise.
CHAPTER TEN
GRACE SPENT THE morning moving her things back to the flat. Just as Roland had promised, he’d sent a van and two of his workmen to move the heavy stuff for her, and she’d bought them both a case of beer to thank them for their help.
When she’d put the last of her things in the car, she took the gift-wrapped paperweight she’d bought in Venice from her bag and went into Roland’s office. She put the parcel in the top drawer of his desk, along with the card she’d written earlier, and closed the drawer again.
Once he’d finished grieving for Lynette, he’d make someone a wonderful partner.
If only it could’ve been her.
But he wasn’t ready to move on; and she was still up in the air after her break-up with Howard. Being the one who’d called everything off didn’t mean that she’d escaped any feelings of hurt and loss. She still needed to work out what she really wanted from life.
Besides, it was way too fast for her to have fallen in love with Roland. She’d just responded to the way he’d swept her off her feet, that was all. She couldn’t possibly be in love with him.
She set the alarm and locked the door behind her, then posted his door key through the letterbox. Have locked up and left your key, she texted.
Back in her own flat, she spent her time cleaning the place from top to bottom and then moving everything back into its rightful place. She called in to see Bella and Hugh with a bottle of champagne, and thought she’d managed to fool Bella into thinking that everything was fine; though the next evening her sister turned up unexpectedly, bearing a seriously good walnut cake from her local bakery.
‘Spill,’ Bella demanded.
Just like Roland’s sister had demanded last week, Grace thought wryly.
‘There’s nothing to tell,’ she said, giving her best fake smile.
Bella coughed. ‘You look worse now than when Mrs Concrete Hair used to do a hatchet job on your confidence with her sly little insinuations. So what’s happened? Has Howard had an epiphany and asked you to go back to him, and Mama Dearest has stuck her oar in?’
‘No to both,’ Grace said. ‘And I’m not going back to Howard. We wouldn’t make each other happy. And he’s a nice guy, Bel. He deserves to be happy.’
‘And he needs to grow a backbone, but OK,’ Bella said. ‘So if it’s not Howard, it’s someone else. You might as well tell me, Gracie, because you know I won’t shut up until you do.’ Bella cut them both a large piece of cake.
Grace knew that her sister meant it, so she gave in and told Bella about her deal with Roland. ‘And it’s fine,’ she said. ‘We both did what we promised. He swept me off my feet and I helped him with his dating skills. End of story. If we see each other again, we’ll be polite but distant strangers.’
‘Which obviously isn’t what you want.’
Grace denied it, though she knew full well that Bella wasn’t going to believe her.
‘Just call him,’ Bella said, rolling her eyes. ‘Tell him how you feel. What have you got to lose?’
‘Bel, he’s still in love with Lynette. I can’t compete with a memory,’ Grace said. ‘And don’t get any bright ideas about inviting us both to dinner and trying to fix us up. It’ll just be embarrassing. I’ll be fine. I’ve got my new job to look forward to, and that’ll keep me busy.’