A return message comes in almost immediately.
“Thank you.”
I sigh and turn to Georgia’s message. Honestly, I’d much prefer to hang out with her. But, for my own peace of mind, I need to do this. At least for the first time; I need to see, with my own eyes, how Polly interacts with Lily. I’m actually really glad that Polly’s asked me to come with them.
“Sorry,” I type to Georgia. “Polly wants me to go with her and Lily today. I’m going to keep an eye on things ;)”
“Haha,” Georgia writes back. “Have fun then. Tell me about it later.”
“Yep,” I message.
Now, to let Grant down. I hesitate before messaging back, though. I’ve been meaning to call Grant for the last week to talk to him; if there’s anyone who would understand what I’m going through with Polly’s return, it would be him. I gave him some advice when his own girlfriend, Jessica, returned after three years, and I’m hoping he’ll return the favor now.
So, I call him. The line clicks open immediately.
“Hey, Ethan,” Grant greets. “Did you get my message?”
“I did, yeah,” I say. “Sorry, I’ve got other plans today. I’ll come around next week if there are still things to do.”
“Sounds good,” Grant says cheerfully. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
I laugh. “Is it that obvious that I want something?”
“Nah, man, but it’s eight o’clock and you’re calling to tell me you can’t help with the painting today instead of just messaging,” Grant says, amused.
“Yeah, yeah,” I reply, rolling my eyes. “But, you’re right, I needed to ask you something.” I hesitate and inhale deeply. “Remember when I told you about Polly?”
“Yes,” Grant says, his voice going serious. “Is everything alright?”
“Not really…” I sigh. “Last week, she wrote me a letter asking if she could come and meet Lily.”
Grant is very silent for a long moment. I’m about to ask him if he’s still there, when…
“What the fuck?” he rumbles.
“That’s about what I was thinking,” I agree. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, she and I met on Monday to discuss things, and now she, Lily and I are going to the park today.”
“So, you’re allowing Polly and Lily to meet?” Grant asks.
“I don’t really want to but Lily wants to meet her,” I groan. “So, I’m trying to see where this goes.”
“So, what did you need me for?” Grant asks, but there’s a knowing note in his voice; he’s already guessed why I’m telling him all this.
“How did it feel when Jessica showed up and told you the truth about what happened when the two of you broke up?” I ask. There’s a desperate plea in my words that I hate, but I need to hear this. “I remember talking to you about it. You were still in love with her, though, and…”
“And you’re definitely not in love with Polly,” Grant says.
“Definitely not,” I say. I grimace. “Even if I was, she remarried.”
“Ouch,” Grant says. “Look…when Jessica turned up, I was so angry, especially when I found out the secrets she’d kept from me. She stole three years from me, and nothing she said or did was going to make up for that.”
“And now?” I ask. “The two of you are back together… You must have forgiven her?”
“Yes…” Grant says slowly. “For the most part. I trust her enough to tell her I love her and to want to be with her. But there’s a part of me that still hasn’t entirely forgiven her. She did something terrible to me because she refused to talk to me about her worries.”
It doesn’t compute, somehow, that Grant could be together with Jessica and yet still hold a bit of a grudge about what she did to him.
“It’s not a grudge,” Grant says when I voice this. “It’s more…the knowledge of what she did isn’t going to go away. I can’t forgive her actions, but I can move past them. Every day, it’s becoming easier to focus on the future with her, though there are still hard days.”