2 weeks later...
It was a Friday night and Grace had taken the evening off motherhood to spend time with a few friends. Herself, Lila and Francesca had shown up at the bar along the sea front, and been met with the expected faces, with Max being one of them.
Usually, Grace would have done anything she could to avoid him. However, that was no longer an issue anymore. Instead, she was happy to join him and the group, and finally engage in conversations that didn't lead to arguments.
Since Max's first meeting with Brinley, things had just gone up from there. Although it had begun with nerves, Max had now seen Brinley twice a week, under Grace's supervision and it was going better than she could ever have imagined.
Although her breakup with Harvey had been heartbreaking, she did now see how much easier it had made things. She was able to focus all of her attention on ensuring Max was the best dad he could be, without having to worry about anything else.
As the group had settled down and began chatting about their days, Kiara had spotted something among them which she felt seemed off.
"Where is Lottie?" She asked, as she leaned across the table and directed her attention straight at Naomi. "She's not bailing again, is she? She's rarely here now."
Before Naomi was given a chance to respond to the question, TJ had already jumped in without really thinking.
"She's in Cambridge." He said so casually, causing many eyes to drift his way in shock.
"Wait, what?" Kiara exasperated, as her mouth dropped open and you could feel the joy radiating off of her. This was drama and they all knew how much Kiara loved a bit of drama. "With Harvey?"
"Yeah."
"TJ!!" Naomi's overpowering and angered voice finally caused TJ to stop and look at her.
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
TJ looked confused, as though his girlfriend's panicked state was completely out of the blue. While he was seeing nothing but innocence in his words, she saw the complete opposite.
"That was none of your business to announce to everyone." Naomi bit before her eyes drifted over to Grace, and caught the expected look off her. She didn't look impressed.
"It wasn't a secret though, was it? Harv never said to not say anything."
"But they never said to say anything either, and I know for a fact that Lottie does not want everyone knowing her damn business."
"I don't see what the big deal is..." TJ held his arms out to his sides in confusion, yet everyone felt the argument brewing between the pair; something that wasn't unusual.
It was clear they were now all very intrigued though, as it hadn't been the answer they had expected. Therefore, TJ giving it away was something many were willing to encourage more of.
"Is she really in Cambridge with Harvey?" Kiara spoke up once again, wanting to soak this gossip up, and TJ looked away from Naomi's burning eyes and over to Kiara.
"Yeah but apparently that was meant to be a secret, when I'm pretty sure Harvey never said." He mocked, clearly making a dig at his girlfriend.
"He doesn't have to say it, it's obvious TJ! You're just too stupid sometimes to realise." Naomi bit back and at this point Max was trying to hold in his laughter, as he watched TJ roll his eyes.
"They were together almost a fucking decade. It's not out of the blue for them to be seeing each other again, so why does it have to be a secret?"
"It's just insensitive to shout it out."
"Why?"
"Because it might not work out, Lottie knows he fucked up so doesn't need everyone else's opinions on the matter. Plus, Harvey's ex happens to be sat right here too, by the way!." Naomi spat, as she turned to look straight at Grace, who had been biting her tongue.
Although she was hurting inside, she couldn't help but let that other side of her overpower her true feelings, as though it was acting as a sort of defense.
"It's whatever. I expected him to go running back to her anyway."
"But still, TJ still shouldn't have said anything. So can you all just keep out of it, alright?"
Naomi was desperately trying to save the mess that TJ could have caused here. She knew that Lottie wouldn't be happy with everyone knowing and she was almost certain that Harvey wouldn't either.
Lottie going to Cambridge was supposed to be private between them and what come from it, was also meant to be kept between them. Therefore, Naomi didn't appreciate her boyfriend's big mouth in letting it out.
"We know now! We can't exactly forget." Kiara remarked as a grin spread across her face. "We love a bit of gossip anyway."
"It's not gossip. It's their lives."
"But they can't expect us not to talk about it either. He was with Grace not long ago."
Kiara's comment took Grace a little by surprise because the tone in her voice sounded as though she was sticking up for her. However, she quickly remembered who Kiara was and that it was very likely just due to her loving the drama. She definitely couldn't care less about anyone's feelings.
"He's not with Lottie in that way." TJ added, as he was being watched closely by Naomi. "They're just hanging out."
"You can't just hang out with your ex, though. Can you?"
TJ didn't know what to say anymore because Kiara had made a pretty good point. He knew that Harvey and Lottie hanging out wasn't just occurring so they could make up and be friends again. Instead, it would involve something much deeper and would bring back many memories from their past, which would be difficult to forget.
Therefore, everyone sat here were capable of placing predictions on what was going to happen and they would all very easily be right, Grace included.
Although she was sat acting like she couldn't care less, she felt very differently on the inside. It had been almost 3 weeks since their break up, not even a month, and it seemed as though Harvey was already forgetting about what they had.
It made her question whether it was real for him, or if it had just been a time passing experience while he enjoyed his new life.
Either way, it hurt and Grace hated that this whole situation was so capable of controlling her emotions, when she was so used to being the one in control.
**
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