Chapter Five
March 2024
Grace sat nervously at the table in her small flat and looked at the three other faces sitting around it, all looking at her expectantly. Was this what Caz had to go through every time she met someone new and had to come out of the closet again?
She’d invited them over. The intention being to tell them about the new turn in her relationship with Caz.
These were her oldest friends, those first-day-of-school pals who had known her forever, and if she couldn’t convince them about Caz, then there was no way she’d convince anyone else.
“Well, this is fun,” Cressida said, raising her wine glass to sip demurely. “Are we going to find out the big secret?”
Grace laughed. “It’s not a secret, I just…it might surprise you, that’s all.”
Sandra smiled. “I’ve got an evening off from Greg and the kids—surprise away.”
“Alright.” Grace took a deep breath. “So, you all know my friend Caz, right?”
“Yes, the mechanic who looks like she’s been cast in a movie about mechanics?” Sandra said with an impish grin. When everyone else turned to look at her, she laughed. “What? You don’t think she has a ‘Julia Roberts joins Fast and Furious’ vibe to her?”
“I can see that, actually,” Grace said, beaming, before remembering what she’d started saying. “Anyway, yes, her…that Caz.” She took a large glug from her wine and placed the glass down again slowly. “The thing is, Caz and I, we’ve been close for a long time and things have—”
“I knew it! Didn’t I say it?” Cressida jumped up and clapped her hands. “Jane, what did I say?”
“Well, we don’t actually know what Grace is telling us yet,” Jane, the quieter, more thoughtful one of the group, answered.
Cressida pursed her lips but sat down.
“So, yes, Caz and I, we’re together, as in, a couple, as in, going to move in together…”
“Can I gloat now?” Cressida said to Jane, before turning back to Grace. “It took you this long to see it? I can’t believe I noticed first.”
“What did you notice?” Grace asked, suddenly aware of the fact Cressida was very insistent about the relationship.
“Oh, come on, it was obvious. You two have been joined at the hip for years. I always thought, if one of us was going to try the gay path, it would be you, with Caz.”
Sandra nodded. “I thought you already were, and just didn’t want to say anything.”
“Really? Why?” Grace asked, absolutely intrigued by this. She was all prepared to sit and fight her corner, but apparently, they’d always assumed it anyway.
Three sets of shoulders shrugged.
“You’ve always been close with each other, it just kind of seemed natural it would have developed,” Jane said. “And we’re happy for you.” She looked at the others, who all nodded and smiled.
“As long as you’re happy, and judging by how you are anytime Caz is around, it would appear you are,” Sandra chipped in.
“I am,” Grace admitted. “Caz is my person. She just gets me, and we want the same things, and there isn’t anyone I’d rather be doing life with than her.”
“Moving in together—that’s serious,” Cressida added.
“I think it’s about time.” Sandra laughed. “You said yourself, it’s like they’ve been dating for years.”
Jane reached for her drink. “So, now that’s out of the way, what else shall we talk about?”
“Grace?” Dani blurted, as common now as she had been when Caz had met her in sixth form at Bath Street Secondary. Thankfully, her pint glass was on the table and she hadn’t taken a mouthful yet. “You and Grace?”
“Yes, Grace.” Caz rolled her eyes. You’d think she’d just told them she was moving in with a man. “It’s not that shocking,” she added, staring at them all.
Dani sat, open mouthed, one side of her hair hanging long, the other shaved off. Portia and Dalilah, both in suits, hair slicked and held in place with God only knew how many products, looked impassive.
It always tickled Caz how the butchest women she knew could both have such girly names.
Portia leaned in, pushed her thick-framed glasses up her nose and then ran a hand through the two inches of hair on her head as she said in her cut-glass English accent—a gift from boarding school and a degree at Cambridge, “To be fair, she’s quite…straight.”
“And as we all know, sexuality is fluid,” Caz reminded them.
“So, like…you’ve always been together, or is this like, a new thing?” Dalilah asked. She had more of a Brummie accent, seeing as her parents had settled there when they’d immigrated from India three decades ago. It had softened over time as she’d been living down south since her own uni days at Brighton.
“It’s a new thing,” Caz answered. “We’ve always been close, so you could say we’ve kind of been dating all along, but now we’re…” She didn’t want to lie to her friends, so she picked her words carefully. “We talked and realised we both think we’re the perfect match for each other.”
“And what? You had too much to drink one night and snogged her? Like, how did this come about?” Dani piped up, a little less shocked now she’d had time to absorb the information.
Caz felt uneasy. “You know what it’s like—you’ve been friends for years and then suddenly, you look at them differently, and you already know what you both want from life and so, it’s easy to just step over that line and—”
“But…” Portia broke in again, “she’s never been with a woman before, has she?”
Caz sat back. “I have far too much respect for Grace than to be discussing her previous relationships. I’m not asking for permission from you all, or even expecting any of you to understand. I just have respect for you guys, too, and I wanted to share my news with you all.”
Dalilah grinned. “You’re right. It’s none of our business. We’re happy for you, right guys?”
Dani and Portia both nodded.
“Good…cos we’re moving in together.”
“Okay…bit quick, init?” Dani stammered out.
Portia stood up. “I think we need more drinks. Same, again?”
Three heads nodded and she wandered off towards the bar.
“I get it, you’ve known her for years, but so have we and we aint…” Dani’s face scrunched up at the idea, “…don’t you want to see if things work out now you’ve…you know, added in intimacy?”
Caz frowned. “You know, I don’t remember you being so diligent when you met Paula, or Sinead, or who was that other one?”
Daliah chipped in with a mischievous grin, “Nerys.”
“I didn’t move in with them,” Dani exclaimed a little too defensively.
“You might as well have. You got engaged after a week with Sinead and after a month with Paula. You barely knew them. Grace and I have been tight for nearly twenty years.”
“Yeah, which is why it’s weird that all of a sudden you’re into each other,” Dani pointed out.
Caz shrugged. “So, we’re different people now... ready to settle down and just enjoy life.”
Dani raised her hands in acceptance. “Alright.”
“Okay, here we go. One for you,” Portia said, placing a pint glass in front of Caz, “and you, and you, and me.” She grinned. When they all had a drink in their hands, she said, “Congratulations, Caz. Wishing you and Grace all the best.”
“Hear, hear.” Daliah raised her glass to the centre for them all to clink together.
“To you and Grace,” Dani said.
“Thank guys, it means a lot that you’re all okay with it,” Caz said after she’d sipped her drink. “Not that it would change anything, but you know, it’s good to have your friends on your side, right?”
“Hell, yeah, it is.” Daliah laughed. “Always, Caz, always.”
Opening the door, Grace smiled. “So, how did it go?” She moved aside and let Caz in.
Her best friend shrugged nonchalantly. “As expected. They were a bit shocked I’d snagged the straight girl, especially because they thought it would have happened by now. She shrugged again. “But they’re happy for us… You?”
“Weirdly, mine were the opposite. They thought we’d been shagging the entire time and had just been waiting for me to tell them.”
Caz raised a brow at that. “Really? Why?”
Now it was Grace who shrugged. “Apparently, we have always been ‘ joined at the hip’ and if any of us were to be trying out the gay path, they thought it would be me.”
Caz pressed her lips together to suppress the laughter. “You’re like the least gay person I know.”
“I know, right?” Grace joined in with the giggles. “I don’t know whether to be offended or not.” She laughed, harder this time.
“At least we have them all convinced.”
“Yeah, that’s the main thing.” Grace grinned. “Tea?”