Going Home

Part 14

The next morning Josh was ready to go and was pacing impatiently in the living room waiting for Grace. He was suddenly filled with doubt about the whole situation and he found he didn’t enjoy the sensation so it was making him short-tempered. Eventually he’d had enough and called out “come on Grace, what’s taking so long?”

Thirty seconds later Grace walked into the room ready to leave. She knew his impatience stemmed from his anxiety about the immanent meeting with his mother so she didn’t argue. “Okay Josh I’m ready, let’s go.”

“Finally” Josh sighed angrily.

Not wanting to inflame the situation Grace said nothing and walked to the front door.

But now that the time had come to go Josh couldn’t move. This was something he never thought would happen and now it was he wasn’t sure he could handle it. Thinking back to when he first left home hurt incredibly, all the months he’d hoped they’d make contact and they didn’t. After a while he learnt not to hope, he learnt the hard way if he had no expectations then he wouldn’t be disappointed. But what if this renewed connection wasn’t what he expected or wanted? What if he was disappointed again? Could he cope with that?

As Grace reached the front door she realised Josh hasn’t followed and retracing her steps back to the living room door she saw he hadn’t moved. Looking at him she could tell his focus was not in the room and asked “you okay?”

Hearing Grace’s voice brought Josh back to the present and as his eyes focused on her face, he pulled himself together. He realised as long as he had her, he could face anything.  He nodded “yeah let’s get this over with.” Then striding over to her, he grabbed her hand and lead her to the door.