Chapter 53
FIFTY-THREE
Gracie fell through the front door, sobbing. Boris half opened one eye from his kitchen bed and went straight back to sleep. She went to the drinks cupboard, poured herself a large gin and slugged it down neat.
She knew exactly what four months pregnant looked like and it looked like Annalize. It had to be Lewis’s. No wonder he’d gone white as a sheet. No wonder he was being so nice to her. He had to have known. All of this proposal shit must have been a complete ruse, a filthy, guilty ruse.
She poured herself another gin and reached for the tonic this time, sending a glass smashing onto the ceramic tiles. Boris ran to the sanctuary of the living room. Noms appeared with her hair sticking up and looking slightly flushed.
‘What’s all the noise about, Grace? What on earth’s happened?’
Through snotty sobs she told Noms what she had seen.
Noms looked sympathetic but said, ‘It’s doubtful it’s Lewis’s. You’re just being paranoid.’
‘Paranoid? I’ve just seen the girl Lewis shagged four months ago and she’s pregnant. I don’t think there is anything that could happen that could be worse. Can you?’ Gracie had never felt so angry. ‘I’m going to kill him. I honestly want to kill him.’
‘Is everything all right?’ A woman appeared in the kitchen wearing Noms’s dressing gown.
‘What are you doing here?’ Gracie recognised the redhead as the woman who’d come to her rescue in the street.
‘Oh, hello. How are you? Your injuries?’
‘Err… hello, Ali. All healed, thanks.’ The surprise of this new development slightly sobered her madness.
‘You know each other?’ Noms was wide-eyed. Gracie thought back to Ali’s kindness in the street when she had fallen over.
‘Not as well as you two do now, I guess.’ Gracie shook her head in disbelief at the scenario unfolding.
Before Gracie had had a chance to explain to Noms how they knew each other, there was a knock at the door.
‘If it’s Lewis, I don’t want to talk to him.’ Gracie rushed past Noms and a now open-mouthed Ali.
It was Noms’s turn to look surprised. For standing in front of her – in all his handsome glory – was none other than Leo Grant.
She opened the door a small crack so Ali didn’t see him and lowered her voice. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
‘I’m filming in London and…’ He clocked the horror on Noms’s face. ‘Is it not a good time, sweet cheeks?’ He handed her a card. ‘My UK cell. Look, I shouldn’t have turned up unannounced, I know, but I’ve thought about it long and hard and I have a right to meet Jack.’
‘He’s not here.’ Noms was furious. ‘He’s at a friend’s overnight, thank goodness. What about our agreement? I can’t believe you’ve got the audacity to turn up at my home!’
Leo noticed her dishevelled appearance. ‘Ah, and you’ve got a visitor, I get it.’ He winked and clicked his teeth.
Noms took a deep breath. ‘Look, Leo. I appreciate we need to talk, just not today, eh? I’ll call you, I promise.’
‘OK, OK. I get it. Is Grace still living with you?’
‘Yes, she’s just had a terrible shock, though.’
‘Gee, that poor girl. Get her to call me on my cell. I’m in town all week if she fancies a chat. I’m a good listener, she knows that.’
With that, he pulled his cap down to meet his sunglasses and sauntered back to his chauffeur-driven Mercedes.
‘Who was that?’ Ali enquired as she made her way back up the stairs.
‘Just Ed, a guy Grace was seeing – is seeing. Actually, I’ve no idea what’s going on anymore.’
‘Oh, Ed, yes. Tall, handsome, goatee beard, drives a red van?’
‘This is just too much for me. You know him too? So much for a discreet afternoon dalliance.’
‘I’ll get dressed and go. I think your sister needs you more than me right now.’
‘Yeah, OK.’ Noms smiled. ‘It’s been great. Let’s do it again, if you fancy?’
‘Sure.’ Ali grinned. ‘Let me know when you’re about and I can work around my shifts.’
‘Will do. And I promise it’s not always like being on the set of Eastenders here.’
Ali let herself out as Noms knocked on Gracie’s bedroom door. She was face down on the bed.
‘Grace, come on.’ She gently pulled her sister up and into her arms. ‘Let’s be rational for one minute.’
‘Rational, bloody rational. My ex-boyfriend has got the girl he slept with pregnant! He is going to have a baby. We can’t have babies. And you tell me to be fucking rational.’
‘Did you ask him if he knew if it was his?’
‘He declared he had no idea,’ Gracie replied pitifully. ‘I just ran, like I always do when I have to face confrontation. If it is his I’m moving away, I can’t be near them.’
‘Oh, baby girl, don’t be so dramatic.’
‘It’s bad enough knowing that slag has managed to get pregnant in her forties. Miss Bloody Perfect. Managed to get everything she ever wanted.’
‘I thought you said she never wanted kids?’
‘Well, she obviously changed her mind. I hate her as much as I hate Lewis.’
‘I know, I know. Look, do you want me to speak to Lewis? I can be calmer.’
‘No! Part of me doesn’t want to know. I don’t think I can bear it. I don’t know how I’d ever move on from it, if it is his. But it must be, Noms. Oh God.’ She stood up and started pacing the floor.
Noms was ever the pacifier. ‘If it is his, Lewis might not even know, she might not have told him. Actually, she obviously hasn’t told him. Lewis would have had to let you know. He is honest and decent enough, I’m sure. And she could have been sleeping with a plethora of men, you just don’t know.’
‘Hahaha,’ Gracie laughed falsely. ‘Honest and decent, yeah, right. Why hasn’t he called me then, Noms? Probably hatching a plan with her as we speak to get their stories straight.’
‘Grace, stop it. Call him now and see what he has to say.’
‘No. I can’t bear it. It almost feels better that there is a chance it’s not his. If I knew for sure then it would be worse than this.’
‘So, this is what you are going to do instead of lying here moping and wailing.’
Gracie sniffed. ‘What?’
Noms handed her Leo’s business card. ‘You are going to ring Leo and say you want to go out for dinner with him.’
‘Leo? Why, is he in London?’
‘He was at the door half an hour ago. I’m furious with him. I need to talk to him, too, but you go and be treated. I know you like him. It’ll do your ego the power of good.’
Gracie shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think I can face it.’
‘Get in the bath, get your glad rags on and just go. It will make you look at life as a bigger picture. You don’t have to stay out late. Just be treated. You deserve it.’
‘So… you and Ali, eh?’ Gracie managed a smile.
‘She’s really nice.’
‘And?’
‘And nothing, dear sister.’ She looked away. ‘I meant to ask you if you’d heard from Ed again.’
‘Yes, he messaged me. He’s staying down in Cornwall for a few more days and said he’d like to talk on his return.’
‘You’ve got a lot of talking to do, girl. Now get ready. You’re on the “A” list this evening.’
‘I can’t. Leo Grant can wait. I mean, look at the state of my eyes. I want to run away somewhere and never come back. Oh, Noms, when is this nightmare going to end?’
‘Ssh, now.’ Noms held her sister to her. ‘I’ll run a bath for you.’