Whispers of Fate

vi

"He'll be here Mum, just give him a minute." I shuffled somewhat nervously, playing with my floral skirt.

I hated to say it, but this week had gone mostly the same as last week. What with my frenzied meetings with Lucy to further the business planning and Teo's tight work schedule we'd barely had chance to see each other. We'd managed to squeeze in a walk through the park with my dog Coco, who had been returned to me (finally) but aside from that we'd only been able to exchange a few quick phone calls. On the last phone call he had promised that he would be free to meet my parents on Thursday, a date that although may not have been the most romantic in the world, was absolutely necessary.

My Mum had nearly wet herself in excitement at the prospect of meeting the boy I'd been obsessed with since 18. She'd taken the day off work to prepare, cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom and readying the meat for the slow cooker.

That brought us here, the three of us sat around our small dining table staring at the food with mixed emotions of longing and apprehension. A dim ikea light cast a yellow glow on all of our faces. Teo was thirty minutes late and his phone was going straight to voicemail.

I tried to smile at Mum as she surveyed me with a look of pity. I knew what she was thinking: poor little Gracie being stood up by her Spanish lover. Again. It was even worse that I was beginning to worry she may be right.

"He's probably just held up at work. He won't mind if we start without him, as long as we save him some." I finally conceded, giving into my hunger. If Teo didn't want to show up on time then he could cope with cold meat. With one final, sad look at me, Mum too gave in as she picked up the knife and began carving the beef.

Forty minutes later and still no sign of Teo. It was time for me to admit it; he wasn't coming. I felt embarrassed on behalf of him and irritated that this was my parents first proper impression of him.

"I'm so sorry Mum, he promised he would be here." I was apologising for the third time as I stood next to her at the sink, dutifully drying the plates she handed me. She hadn't said much, just brushed off my words with a dismissive hand gesture. This time, however, she stopped her washing and turned around to face me fully.

"Grace the only thing that upsets me about this whole situation is that you are the one who is apologising. He's the one that stood us up. You shouldn't be defending him when you're clearly hurt too." Her voice was firm, using the same tone that I'd heard frequently growing up as an over-emotional teenager. She held my gaze for a second, before shrugging and turning back to the pots. "That's just my opinion on it. You can do what you want, you're an adult now."

As I watched her clean I realised everything she had been saying was true. Why was I so desperate to defend him? Was it to prove he really was a good person? The issue was, how could I defend him when his actions didn't line up with the version of him that existed in my head?

After a cup of tea with my parents, during which we all deliberately danced around the topic of Teo's absence, I kissed them both on the cheek and promised to stay in touch.

Stepping out into the street I was hit by the cool air crushing into my lungs, each breath like swallowing ice water. It was gradually getting colder, with October just looming around the corner. Leaves had already begun to turn amber and some had even fallen off the trees already, creating one of nature's many seasonal carpets.

I walked slowly down the path, a part of me hoping to walk into Teo breathlessly running to tell me that he was so sorry, work just overran and he wanted to make it up to me however I saw fit. I encountered no such luck however and a part of my heart sank as I realised that I truly had created a version of him in my head that was not realistic in the slightest.