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“Lila loves you, and she has a strong opinion on how to show that sometimes—”

“She’s too much at times like this…she’ll want to take over and I know it’s from a good place, but I don’t think I have it in me right now to deal with that.”

Caz snagged a slice of toast Grace had already buttered and bit into it as she said, “So I can tell them. I’ll make it clear there’s to be no big deal made of things and that you’ll come to them when you’re ready to talk about it.”

She watched as Grace’s bottom lip quivered and the tears that had been welling began to flow.

“I just feel like such a failure.”

Caz moved quickly to be by her side, putting her arms around her. “No, that’s not it at all.” Her own tears appeared and she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay. “Sometimes, things aren’t meant to be…maybe there’s a different path for us.”

“I hope so. This just feels so incredibly unfair.”

“I know…and you know what?” She slapped her hands down on her thighs and stood up. “I’m going to book us a couple of days away. Let’s just go somewhere and relax, get wrapped up in each other, and do whatever healing we need to do.”

Grace wiped her face. “Really?”

“Yeah, your dad will be fine with it once he knows and I’m sure your boss is cool with you taking whatever time off you need, and if he isn’t, well, tough…”

“Can we go…can you see if the beach house is free?”

“Are you a mind reader now, too?” Caz laughed. “That’s exactly what I was going to look at first.” She pulled her phone from her pocket, swiped the screen, and found the booking app. “It’s almost October. I can’t see there being much call for a beach house when the weather is like this…” She looked towards the window at the rain sliding down in sheets. “Here we go…” She scrolled down the page to the booking calendar. “Yes, it’s free tonight through ‘til Monday…”

“Let’s do it—let’s go now.”

“Hold on.” Caz pressed buttons and swiped, and typed, and pressed, and then smiled. “Okay, it’s booked. You pack, I’ll go and talk to your parents.” She pressed a quick kiss to Grace’s lips and then stopped. “If that’s alright with you?”

“Anything you do…is alright with me,” Grace said, and just for a moment, Caz felt sure that meant a lot more than speaking to Ron and Lila. “I won’t be long.”

“Okay. I’ll pack for you too. Jeans, jumpers and shirts.”

“Can’t go wrong.” Caz smiled and pushed herself back up to her feet. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Caz called ahead and asked Ron for a meeting, and for Lila to be there, which had garnered a multitude of questions, all of which she dodged with an, “I’ll be there soon.”

When she arrived, she noticed two things: Lila’s Mercedes was parked in the corner, meaning she was already here, and Dani was finishing off a set of tyres and beckoning her over.

“What’s up? You alright?” Dani asked, running a greasy hand over her head when Caz approached.

“Yep, but I need to talk to you—in private. Come up to Ron’s office when you’re done.”

Dani nodded. “Sounds ominous. You ain’t leaving, are you?”

“Nothing like that, but…it’s important.”

“Okay, I’ll be right up. Just got to screw this back on.” She pointed to the wheel and Caz walked away.

Waving a hand at some of the lads, Caz didn’t stop for a chit-chat. Instead, she made her way up the stairs to Ron’s office, striding up the steps like a woman on a mission. Because she was on one: A mission to make her wife’s life better in any way she could, including dealing with her parents.

At the door, Caz paused. This was going to be tough—emotional. She could imagine Lila’s response being much likeGrace’s, only more dramatic. She rubbed her face vigorously and blew out a breath. “You can do this,” she said to herself, and then she knocked.

“Come in,” Ron bellowed.

Opening the door, she could see him instantly, sitting in his chair like usual, at the desk with a steaming mug of tea to one side of his left hand.

Lila was perched on the other side, craning her neck over her shoulder to see who it was. When she realised it was Caz, she jumped down and straightened her skirt.