“You can have your way whenever you want, love,” Art said, predictably. “Just tell me?—”
He was stopped by a loud ringing in Graeme’s pocket. Graeme wasn’t expecting any phone calls, and since pretty much every call he’d received in the last several months had been bad news, he scrambled to yank off his gloves and reach into his back pocket with his heart in his throat.
All of his fears seemed to be confirmed when he saw Mavis’s name flashing on the screen. He swallowed hard, feeling sick, and tapped to answer, “Hello, Mavis.”
Ryan and Art exchanged surprised looks. They knew who Mavis was.
“Graeme, hi,” Mavis said, dragging out the word “hi”, her voice overly soft and sympathetic.
Graeme immediately felt about as big as a snail. “Is everything alright?” he asked. “Has something gone wrong?” He couldn’t think of any other reason his ex would have called him.
“No, no! Not at all,” Mavis said, awkward and overly bright. “In fact, things are wonderful.” There was a long pause before she said, “I’m getting married in a fortnight.”
Graeme’s heart dropped like a brick into his gut. He didn’t have any claim at all over his ex-wife anymore, but the news was still a shock.
“That’s brilliant,” he said, turning away from Ryan and Art. He didn’t want them to see the emotion coursing through him. “That’s really brilliant, Mave. Who’s the groom?”
“It’s, um, it’s Benny, actually,” Mavis said.
Benny. Benny Halterman. His former best friend. The man who had stood at the front of the church along with Graeme and his brother, Lionel, five years before. The man who had been a big part of their married life and who had torn Graeme a new arsehole when he’d confessed to Mavis he was gay and that it would be best for them to divorce.
“That’s wonderful,” Graeme said, his voice wispy and hollow.
“I hope you’re not angry,” Mavis rushed to say. “I know we were all friends. You two used to be close.”
“Yeah, yeah we were,” Graeme said, wishing he could sit down. Those days were long, long gone now.
“Benny was really there for me after—” Mavis stopped mid-sentence. “He was good for me. One thing led to another and, well, he proposed at New Year’s, and the wedding is in two weeks.”
Graeme’s eyes went wide. Proposed at New Year’s? Six months ago? Before the final divorce papers were signed? And no one had told him?
“I’m so happy for you,” he said, trying not to choke up. “I only ever wanted you to be happy, Mave. That’s why I…did what I did. That’s why I called things off.”
“I know, Graeme, I know,” Mavis assured him. “Once I got over the shock, I understood everything. I understand it now. I always defended you, you know. And now I’ve been telling myself that you did something amazing and special by letting me go so that I could discover Benny and I are meant to be together.”
Tears stung Graeme’s eyes. That was exactly why he’d asked for a divorce immediately when he figured things out. It would have been cruel of him to keep Mavis in a marriage that could never truly be a marriage for years and years while he struggled and denied the truth.
Too bad everyone else in their lives hadn’t seen it that way.
“The thing is,” Mavis went on, “I want you to come to the wedding.”
The bricks thumped back into Graeme’s stomach. “Oh, I don’t know, Mave.”
“I’ve spoken to Benny about it, and he agrees that you should be there,” Mavis continued, her voice stronger, defensive.“Despite what anyone else thinks, you’re a big part of our lives and the reason we’re together. It’s horrible how everyone treated you after…you know. We want to extend the olive branch and make things right. We want you there with us on the big day.”
Graeme was speechless. He’d always known Mavis was a good person. And Benny. Considering the background they all came from, they were being extraordinarily generous.
“You can, er, bring a plus one, if you’d like,” Mavis said, her voice shaking.
Graeme knew immediately what she meant. “I’m not with Damien,” he said, peeking sideways at Ryan and Art, who were listening in intently, like two spotters watching an Olympic gymnast perform a banned trick. Art had figured out he was gay, but he hadn’t actually had that discussion with Ryan. Although Ryan didn’t look at all surprised. “I wasn’t really with him at all.”
“Oh,” Mavis said. “I thought…. Well, never mind what I thought. I’ll send you an invitation with a plus one anyhow. Do you still live at the address on all the paperwork?”
Graeme swallowed. “Yes.” He’d moved into the tiny apartment in Sutton after leaving the house he and Mavis had bought together. He’d given the whole thing to her in the divorce and had accepted a larger share of their cash assets in return. But thinking about all that made him feel sick again.
“Good,” Mavis said. “I’ll send the invitation there. And I do hope you’ll come. We’re having something of a destination wedding in Cornwall, at one of those big, old estates.”
Part of Graeme wanted to laugh. He was standing in the garden of one of those big, old estates. “I’ll think about it,” he said. “And I mean that, Mavis. I really will think about it.”
