I woke up to my phone ringing. It was still dark and I had no idea what’s going on. My first thought was that something happened to Gavin. I was relieved when I heard Gracie’s voice on the line, but as soon as the sleepy fog lifted from my brain I realised she was crying.

“Gracie, what happened?”, my fingers went cold as the options ran through my mind.

“He just… he… he…”, she couldn’t finish and just kept sobbing. Her baby was born last week and she was still emotionally unstable.

“Who? Rodney? Something happened to Rodney?”, I asked, but she just kept crying and muttering incoherently. “Gracie, talk to me!”

“I… I… c-c-ca-han’t…”

I knew it was still early, but I got dressed, called a taxi and was at her house within half an hour.

She was a mess. Rodney broke up with her last night. The whole fight started when Gracie suggested they should move in together now that the baby was born. Rodney lost it and told her he never wanted this kid in the first place and she shouldn’t expect anything from him.

“But he promised me we will make this work”, Gracie looked completely lost.

“I know, I know”, I told her, stroking her hair. I had no idea what else to do. I had a feeling from the beginning that Rodney will chicken out at the end, but I’m really not the right person to give advice to others how to live their lives.

I felt awful. I was so caught up in my own life that I neglected my friends. I spent the last few months almost exclusively with Gavin, ignoring most of the attempts Gracie, Alani and Li Lo made to meet me.

After what felt like eternity I managed to calm Gracie down.

“I know you are right. I shouldn’t have expected anything from him”, she said with a sigh. “I saw it coming but I tried to deny it as long as possible.”

Gracie is a strong woman. I know she will be fine. She’s quite well off so she will be able to get all the help she needed; we went through together the website of a nanny agency and already picked out some of the prospects she will interview next week.

“You are not alone, Gracie. I’m rubbish with babies, but you can always count on me as a friend”, I assured her.I had plans with Gavin later but I cancelled them and spent the whole day with Gracie. I even helped with the baby, even if it just meant reading out paragraphs from her parenting handbook while she was freaking out.

After lunch Gracie was almost back to her usual optimistic self. She asked me how things are going with Gavin. I felt a pang of guilt; she’s going through this breakup and I’m sitting here and couldn’t be more happy. She probably sensed my anguish.

“It’s okay, Abbie”, she said as she put her hand on my arm. “I’m not going to break down crying again.”

I didn’t want to sound like I was boasting but I couldn’t help it. Everything was just so great with Gavin. Since his declaration of love on that cold morning, things were just getting better and better. I finally opened up my heart to him, not holding anything back. And he was so caring. We could talk about anything, and he never seemed to be bored with my silly rants about books I read, never seemed to be disappointed with the half cooked pancakes I served for breakfast, and just laughed when I got agitated over the stupidest things, even found it adorable.

Gracie seemed genuinely happy for me, however I saw a frown starting between her brows when I told her we might even take this relationship a step further.

“Just be careful, Abbie…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… it’s probably nothing”, she shrugged. “But I heard Terri is still holding a grudge against you. And I don’t know if you knew, but she actually bought a house not far from Gavin’s. I’m sure this all means nothing. But I overheard at the grocery store the other day that she’s still cursing your name and blames you for everything that happened to her.”

I was speechless. She’s clearly unhinged. Did Gavin know this? Since we were together he never once mentioned Terri to me.

As I walked into my bedroom this evening my gaze fell on the picture of Gavin and me, and I felt a moment of apprehension.

Something is going on here…