"Hi Grace." Boyds only words when Grace finally opened the door.
"Peter." The shock on Graces face as she looked Boyd up and down. "What the hell are you doing here so late? I thought you were going to Frankie's?" Firing questions at him as he stood on the doorstep.
"I was, or at least I did. It got complicated again and I left. Do I have to stand out here all night or you gonna let me in." Grace shaking her head as she moved aside to let Boyd in.
Grace locked the door when he was inside, surveying Boyd as he stood in her hallway.
"Go take a seat, I'll go get us a drink and then you'll explain what the hell you're doing at my house so late." Giving Boyd that look, the one that told him he would be explaining what he was doing there.
Boyd took his coat off and walked through to the living room while Grace went into the kitchen. He put the light on and sat down, sitting forward as he waited for Grace. He was staring at a picture on the wall when Grace entered, not really taking in his surroundings.
"Here." Grace said as she passed him a cup of coffee as she sat down beside him.
Boyd took the cup and mumbled his thanks, now staring at the steam rising from the cup. After a couple of minutes of silence Grace spoke.
"Well?" Seeing Boyd look up and then back at his cup.
"She wasn't going to tell me." Taking a sip of the hot coffee.
"Okay. Wasn't going to tell you what exactly? How about you start the conversation from the start, then maybe I will be understand what exactly happened." Grace watching as Boyd moved about on the settee so he was sitting back and facing her.
"We were doing so well. I cooked tea while she had a soak in the bath. She told me the other day she would love a bath, but didn't want to risk it incase she got stuck or whatever." Grace listening intently as he started to explain. "She had her bath, I helped her get in and out, get dried." Graces eyebrow raising as she read between the lines. "After tea we sat and talked, she told me the due date, even apologised for not telling me sooner. Then it went to hell after that." Pausing to take a drink of his coffee. "I asked why she didn't tell me at the time, why she just packed up and left. She told me she was confused, not sure what she wanted to do. That losing Mel had left us all a mess. When you went to see her, she decided after that to keep the baby. Apparently because I didn't go after her, didn't try to contact her she gave up on me." Finishing his coffee and placing the cup on the table.
Boyd sat back, rubbing his hands over his face the scratch of his beard sounding loud in the quiet room.
"Peter, please tell me you were tactful? That you didn't flip and have a tantrum. Frankie could have lied, could have told you want she thought you wanted to hear." Grace hoping that for once Boyd had used some self-restraint.
"What the hell, Grace! Do you honestly think I'm going to have a go at a pregnant woman? No matter what she said if she hadn't seen me in the coffee shop I would still be in the dark. She had no intentions of contacting me, as in ever. I would never have found out about the baby, got that chance to be her dad." The pain and misery in his voice making Grace wonder what Frankie was thinking.
Grace knew the pain Boyd had suffered. First losing Luke, then Matty. At least he knew Matty was safe, alive and well with Jenny. As for Luke, he was still out there somewhere, somewhere Boyd couldn't find him. Grace knew Frankie would never deliberately hurt Boyd, yet she was so much like him. She gave a straight to the point answer, giving the truth no matter the cost. She needed to speak to Frankie, find out the other side of this story.
"So what did you do?" Wanting to find out how they had left things.
"I left. Just got up and walked out. I had no idea what to say, or what to do. She had just admitted that the past few days were a charade. For fuck sake Grace, we had sex an hour before and then she tells me she didn't really want me in her life." Hearing the shape intake of breath from Grace at his added confession.
"You what? What on earth made you do that? Why did you do it? Did you not listen to a word I said when we talked? Take things slowly don't rush into anything, and you have sex. Talk about another monumental cock-up Boyd." Grace a mix of disgusted and confused with them both.
"How was she when you left? Did you even notice?" Wondering what mental state he had left Frankie in.
"She was crying when she told me she was crying. Other than that I have no idea. What the hell do I do Grace?" His question throwing Grace for a curve.
"I have no idea." Having no idea what state of mind Frankie was in. "As I've said before, if Frankie didn't want to talk to you she could have walked away, in the coffee shop. She could have kept you in the dark and just walked out. I have no idea what state of mind Frankie is in, no idea what she wants. The question is what do you want?" Giving him the chance to tell her what he wanted out of all of this.
"I want, I don't even know what I want now. I wanted to be with Frankie, with the baby, be a family. Now, how can I do that knowing it's not what Frankie wanted?" Getting up suddenly and walking across the room.
He's started to pace, his hands in his pocket as his mind reeled. Grace watched him carefully, his mood all over the place. She needed to see Frankie, firstly to see how she was doing, secondly to get her side of the story. She was stuck in the middle, wanting to help them both but not knowing the full story.
"Boyd, sit down, you're wearing a hole in my carpet. Why don't you go home, sleep on things? Think things through logically, attempt to see things from both sides. Then see how you feel, maybe work out what you want before you do anything. I would say don't do anything rash, but that would be a waste for time. I can't say much more, I know both you and Frankie are too much alike for your own good. It's late Boyd, I want to go back to bed, and you need to get some sleep. Go home and we'll talk more tomorrow if you want to." Knowing he would stew and pout if she let him stay much longer.
"You're right, as usual. Thanks for the coffee, I'll see you in the morning." Turning and walking out of Graces living room.
Grace follows behind him, bid him goodnight before closing the door and locking it behind him. She thought things were going so well between them both, that they were finally sorting things out. How wrong could she have been? She headed back to bed, making sure she had locked up before she went upstairs. She needed to get to the bottom of this, and Frankie was the only one who could help her do that. She would track Frankie down one way or another, and see if she could sort this mess out before they put a barrier between them that they could never break down.