Holiday with the Best Man
So Grace was tactful and kind, too, Roland thought. Rather than throw a hissy fit at the idea of sharing her wedding day, she’d tried to make the older woman feel important.
‘And,’ Grace added, ‘I wanted my sister to be my bridesmaid.’
Roland blinked in surprise. ‘She didn’t want Bella to be a bridesmaid?’
‘Cynthia didn’t like Bella. She said Bel was too headstrong and too quirky.’
‘Bella’s a free spirit, yes—and she’s great,’ Roland said. ‘I’m beginning to dislike your almost-mother-in-law.’
‘Bella didn’t like Cynthia, either. She called her “Mrs Concrete Hair”.’
‘Because it was never out of place?’ Roland had to stifle a grin.
Grace nodded. ‘Cynthia prided herself on always being turned out immaculately. And she wore a lot of beige.’
‘Did you like her?’ he asked.
Grace wrinkled her nose. ‘Do I have to answer that?’
‘Yes.’
She smiled wryly. ‘I think Cynthia and I didn’t meet each other’s expectations. I wanted a mother-in-law who’s like my own mum—someone who’s warm and supportive, who’d be there if I needed help, but who would always encourage me to stand on my own two feet. Someone I could be friends with and who’d make me feel part of the family.’
Roland thought of his own parents. That summed up their relationship with Lynette—and his own with Lynette’s parents. He’d assumed that was completely normal, but maybe they’d both been lucky.
‘And what did Cynthia want?’ he asked.
Grace looked away. ‘Someone who’d keep up appearances at all times and do whatever she told them to.’
‘Which doesn’t sound like much fun.’
‘It wasn’t,’ Grace said, her voice so quiet that he could barely hear her. ‘I hated being judged all the time, and always falling short.’
Which was what he’d done to her. No wonder she’d been so prickly with him, at first.
And now he was beginning to understand her. Grace was the quiet, sensible sister. The one who’d thought she’d wanted her partner to be completely the opposite of her unreliable father. And yet what she’d really wanted was to be swept off her feet...
An idea was forming in his head.
A really crazy idea.
But maybe it could work. Could he ask her?
Should he ask her?
‘Obviously cancelling the wedding shook up your life a bit,’ he said, ‘but why did it mean that you became a temp and you taking over the lease of Bella’s flat?’
‘Because I worked for Howard’s family’s accountancy practice,’ she said. ‘I could hardly keep working there when I’d just cancelled my wedding to the boss’s son. I couldn’t ask them for a reference, in the circumstances, so temping was my only real option. Plus I’d already given notice to my landlord, and he’d leased my flat to someone else.’
So cancelling the wedding had cost Grace her job and her home, too. Now he understood what she meant about a decision turning her life upside down. And it was a decision she clearly hadn’t made lightly.
‘So what are you looking for, Grace?’ he asked carefully. ‘Marriage?’
‘Maybe, maybe not. I’ve just come out of a long relationship, and I guess right now I need to find out who I am and think about what I really want.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I just wanted to be swept off my feet once in a while. Which I know isn’t going to happen, because I’m very ordinary—I’m not free-spirited and brave like Bella is.’
The crazy idea suddenly seemed that little bit less crazy. Maybe Grace—quiet, sensible Grace—could help him move on, haul him out of the limbo where he’d spent two long years. ‘What if you had the chance to be swept off your feet? Would you take it?’ he asked.
‘That’s really not going to happen,’ Grace said. ‘I have friends who’ve joined online dating sites or gone speed-dating, and they’ve all ended up disappointed.’
‘What if,’ he asked carefully, ‘the date was with someone you know?’
‘Such as?’
‘Me.’
‘You?’ She stared at him, looking shocked. ‘But you don’t even like me.’
‘I was obnoxious to you at the wedding because I’d jumped to some very wrong conclusions about you,’ Roland said. ‘I’ve got to know you better over the last couple of days and I’ve realised how wrong I was. And I apologise for that.’