With Grayson's sudden absence from her life, Mia tries her hardest to carry on as normal; to continue as though she had never met the man who turned her world upside down in only a short amount of time.
With the help of her best friend Hailey, and...
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Pulling up to the barn, I wait for Grayson to take the lead. I'm praying that Phil and Maria haven't caught on to what went on last night and so I allow Grayson to make the first move when we enter through the front door.
Thankfully, Maria seems her usual self—cooking up something delicious in the kitchen—and Phil is watching a cricket match on the TV. As for Chloe, she's beaming at us from the kitchen, laying the table and silently implying that everything is good here.
"Oh kids!" Maria sings. "How was your night?"
I smile meaningfully, grateful that there's no suspicions over what happened last night.
"Great," Grayson says, a grin etched into his face. "Brilliant actually." He nudges me in the side which thankfully goes unnoticed to anyone else, but I catch his sarcasm.
"How was Julian?" Phil pipes up from the lounge. "I must go and say hi soon."
Grayson nods. "All good. I'm sure he'd love to see you."
With the niceties out the way, I follow Chloe to the bottom of the garden, taking a seat on a bench which overlooks the lake in the distance.
"Everything okay?" Chloe asks quietly.
I nod, my lips upturned. "All good now. Thank you so much for everything you did last night."
Chloe's arm snakes around my shoulder. "Anytime Mia. You're family to me. You're good for Grayson. I'll always be there for you even when I'm a thousand miles away in Italy. I hope you know that."
"Thanks Chloe. That means so much."
Happy, I smile to the distance. I grip the necklace that's permanently clipped around my neck—the necklace Grayson got me—and I hold it tightly because it brings me some form of comfort. I may have lost my mother, and I think about her every second of every day, but the Coopers are like family to me and I owe them so much for everything they do for me. Including Grayson.
"Come," Chloe says, her warm smile radiating. "Let's go inside. Mum'll be devastated if we don't join them for her Sunday roast!"
***
Maria's Sunday roast is definitely something else. If I had to eat it every Sunday for the rest of my life, I'd have no problem with that.
"Right," Grayson claps his hands together once we finish up lunch, our suitcases loaded into his car. "We're off."
I watch Phil and Maria hug their son, then in turn their daughter, who is heading back off to Italy today.
"Thank you so much for having me," I say to Grayson's parents. "I had such an amazing time!"
Okay I lie a little, but all in all, I really have had an amazing time, despite the hiccup in between.
