Always You

Chapter 17

{Meg}

"Mummy." Abby calls as she runs into my arms. Only a few weeks ago the chance of leaving her overnight would have been non-existent. Now she can barely say hi to me before going back to whatever game she's playing with the boys.

Gracie laughs at the quick interaction, beckoning me to the kitchen to chat.

"Did she behave?"

"Good as gold. Now what about your night, how did that go?" Gracie asks with her back to me, puttering around.

"Where to start. Let's see, while I'll was waiting outside the restaurant I ran into Trina."

Gracie whips around so fast that tea goes flying from the cup she'd just picked up. "Shit." She says, putting the cup down and grabbing a tea towel.

"Are you okay? Did it go over your hands?" I ask worried she burnt herself, I should have probably timed that better.

"I'm fine don't worry. What's this about Trina?"

"She was going in the restaurant."

"Did you speak with her?"

"Yeah." I sigh, remembering the awful encounter.

"Did she apologise for breaking your engagement? Did she apologise for leaving you a week before your due date, causing you to go into early labour?"

"What do you think?"

"Oh, you don't want to know what I really think." She says hotly, before saying exactly what she thinks. "I think she is a vapid excuse for a human being. She preys on women, telling them how special they are. Only it's not in a sweet way, no she does it in a way that makes it sound like she's the only person who will ever think that way about you. She's manipulative. I think the best thing she ever did for you was leave."

Wow, that was a pretty real reality check. Everything she said was true but it still hurt to hear, to know I fell for those pretty words. I was the perfect target. Insecure and shy from lack of parental love, only open about my sexuality for less than a year when I met her. Still heartbroken over Layla. I was a baby lesbian with confidence issues, easy pickings for a player like Trina.

Gracie grips my hands in hers, forcing my eyes up from the table. "You were always too good for her. She needed you more than you needed her and it killed me that you never saw that. You're my baby cousin and I wanted to protect you but I couldn't. Meg, you are bloody amazing. I've always known it; Abby knows it and so does Layla."

"What would I do without you?"

"Live a very boring life." She says causing us both to chuckle. "Now tell me, how did Layla react to Trina, please tell me she knocked her out?"

"Actually, they never met. Layla didn't turn up at the restaurant."

"Wait, what?" Gracie's tone quickly changing from jovial to protective big cousin.

I explain what happen, all the misunderstanding and the argument. She calms down by the end but she does threaten to slap Layla upside the head for being stupid. Then I make the mistake of telling her we slept together.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, finally. I don't know how you've gone this long without getting laid." She chuckles.

I bury my face in my hands and decide to rest on the table. She can be so mortifying sometimes.

"So was it as good as you remember. Wait, you did used to have sex with Layla when you used to date right? She was your first."

"We were each other's first, yes."