Please Release Me (24 page)
Authors: Rhoda Baxter
Tags: #Ghosts, #romance, #Fiction, #contemporary
Grace set the table while she waited for Peter. They had been seeing each other for several months now, discreetly at first, and then openly. They went out, but not regularly. Having a partner that she could take along, meant that Grace went to more events organised by her work colleagues and suddenly found she’d been accepted into a new social circle. Peter’s family had welcomed her with charm and something like relief. She had got used to being introduced as Peter’s partner now and still got a thrill out of it.
They had made it a rule that Friday night was spent together. Neither of them felt comfortable in Peter’s house, so they took turns to cook in Grace’s kitchen. This Friday, it was her turn.
It was windy and grim outside. Grace checked the oven, where two Parma ham wrapped chicken breasts were roasting. She stood up when she heard Peter’s key in the lock.
‘Hello,’ she called.
He appeared, rubbing the rain out of his hair. He kissed her. ‘That smells delicious. What is it?’
She told him. ‘With asparagus,’ she added. There was some unspoken competition between them, each trying to better the other in their Friday meals. It meant that they ate very well now. For the first time in her life, Grace had started to go running, because she was gaining weight.
‘That will go perfectly with this.’ He pulled a bottle of champagne out of the carrier bag he was carrying.
‘What are we celebrating? Did you land another big contract?’ She found a bottle stopper and plugged the neck of the red wine she’d set out.
‘Better than that.’
She frowned. ‘Better?’
He nodded. ‘Guess.’
‘You sold the house?’
Peter rolled his eyes. ‘You can really take the wind out of a guessing game, can’t you? You’re too damned good at them. Yes.’
‘You sold the house? Oh, that’s brilliant!’ She threw her arms around him and kissed him. ‘That’s great news.’
He nodded, keeping his arms around her. They both knew that selling the house was the last step to letting go of Sally. Despite the fact that Sally had only physically lived in it for a few months, it was still very much Sally’s house. Peter still slept in the spare room when he was at home. The house, despite its obvious attractions, had been hard to sell. There was probably something about the ambience.
Peter told her the details as he fetched glasses and poured the champagne. Grace had always refrained from asking him what he was going to do once the house was gone. Now she couldn’t really avoid it. ‘So, what’s the plan for afterwards?’
Peter took a gulp of champagne. ‘I was rather hoping we could, maybe, get a place together?’
Grace said nothing, thinking about it. She looked at her kitchen. She had made this house her own now, she realised, and she didn’t want to leave it. But she wanted to be with Peter. Would he consider moving into this house instead of starting out somewhere fresh?
There was a movement beside her. When she turned, she found Peter kneeling on one knee beside her. ‘Oh.’
He looked up at her and gave her a nervous smile. He cleared his throat. Taking a deep breath, he took her free hand. ‘Grace. I love you. I want to be with you, grow old with you. Will you marry me?’
She stared at him. Too surprised to answer. She had always assumed that the terrible experience after his last wedding had put Peter off marriage. In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to take on the label of ‘Peter’s wife’. It sounded too much like stepping into Sally’s shoes.
‘I thought you didn’t want to get married again?’ she said.
Peter’s face dropped and she immediately felt bad for her lack of subtlety. He was still for a moment, then he said, ‘It’s important to you to have these things right. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. So … what do you say?’
She felt her heart lift. She wanted to be with him too. More than anything, it delighted her that he put her needs before his. No one had done that for her in years. But this wasn’t about her. It was about both of them. She shook her head. ‘No.’
He flinched, hurt. Then he lowered himself so that he was sitting on the floor. ‘Why not? What did I get wrong?’
She smiled and sank down to the floor with him. ‘Nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just perfect.’ She took his face in her hands. ‘I want to grow old with you too,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to be your wife. I’d like to be happily not married to you for as long as I live. Could you do that?’
He grinned. ‘I’m happy with that. That IS a yes, of sorts then, isn’t it?’
She nodded. He kissed her, a gentle lingering kiss that held a whole future in it. ‘Thank you,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be not married to.’
He put a small leather pouch in her hand. ‘Open it,’ he said. ‘It’s not a ring.’
She opened the pouch and tipped its contents into her palm. A heavy tangle of gold glowed against her skin. She untangled it with one hand. It was a necklace of delicate gold flowers, each with a sapphire at the heart of it. ‘It’s beautiful.’ She turned it and watched the light glinting off it. ‘Just … beautiful.’
He picked it out of her hand and put it around her neck. ‘They’re Ceylon sapphires,’ he said. ‘They’re rare and beautiful, just like you.’ He stroked her cheek. ‘Grace, you are the most beau—’
She interrupted him by kissing him. They sat together on the kitchen floor, entwined leisurely, until the oven timer went off.
‘I love you Peter,’ Grace said before she went to check on the food.
They dished out the food and clinked champagne glasses across the table. It was the sort of domesticity Grace had never had before. There was a feeling that everything was just as it should be. She looked at the pictures on the walls. This was her home. It could adapt to her new life with Peter. Maybe even children. Maybe.
‘Why don’t you move in here,’ she said, waving her glass to indicate the place. ‘This house is big enough. It’s a family home.’
Peter lowered his glass. ‘A family home,’ he said, carefully. ‘Needs a family in it.’
Grace met his gaze. She smiled. ‘How about you move in, and we’ll see what we can do about that.’
Rhoda Baxter likes to write about people who make her laugh. In real life she studied molecular biology at Oxford, which is why her pen name might sound suspiciously similar to the name of a bacterium.
After trying out life in various places, including the Pacific island of Yap (it’s a real place!), Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Didcot (also a real place), she now lives in East Yorkshire with one husband, two children and no pets or carnivorous plants. She has a day job working in intellectual property and writes contemporary romantic comedies in whatever spare time she can grab.
She can be found wittering on about science, comedy and cake on her website (
www.rhodabaxter.com
) or on Twitter (
@rhodabaxter
) or Facebook
(
https://www.facebook.com/RhodaBaxterAuthor
).
From Rhoda Baxter
Doctor January
If you keep looking back, you might miss what’s standing right in front of you …
Six months after a painful break-up from Gordon, Beth’s finally getting her life back on track. She has faith in her own scientific theories and is willing to work hard to prove them. She’s even beginning to see Hibbs, her dedicated lab partner, as more than just a lousy lothario in a lab-coat and goggles.
So when Gordon arrives back from America without warning and expects to be welcomed back into Beth’s arms, she’s totally thrown. She also quickly begins to see that Gordon isn’t the man she thought he was … Hibbs has always held a candle for Beth, but he can only wait so long for her to realise there’s more to life than being patronised and bullied by the one who’s meant to love and protect her.
Will Beth foresee the explosive nature beneath Gordon’s placid surface before he destroys everything she’s worked for, both inside and outside the lab?
Read a preview
here
.
Doctor January
is available as an eBook and paperback:
Girl on the Run
Outrunning her past was never going to be easy …
A job in a patent law firm is a far cry from the glamorous existence of a popstar’s girlfriend. But it’s just what Jane Porter needs to distance herself from her cheating ex, Ashby, and the press furore that surrounds the wreckage of her love life.
In a new city with a new look, Jane sets about rebuilding her confidence, and after Ashby’s betrayal, she resolves that this will be something she does alone.
That is until she meets patent lawyer, Marshall Winfield. Sweet, clever and dealing with the aftermath of his own romantic disaster, Marsh could be the perfect cure for Jane’s broken heart.
But with the paparazzi still hot on Jane’s heels and an office troublemaker hell-bent on making things difficult, do Jane and Marsh stand any chance of finding happiness together?
Girl on the Run
is available as an eBook:
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