Part 140
Later that
afternoon, sitting under the tree where Josh had showed her the stars last time
Grace and Josh enjoy some time alone before the evening festivities. After a
few minutes silence Grace broached the subject she and Margaret had discussed
earlier. Grace was sitting between Josh’s bent legs leaning back on his chest as
he leaned against the tree trunk. Turning her head to look at him she said
“hey?”
Looking down at
her Josh said “yeah”
But Grace was
not as confident of Josh’s reaction as she had made out to Margaret so she was hesitant
to discuss this with him and turned back to look out over the paddock again
before answering. There had been a good feeling between him and his parents
lately and she did not want to ruin it but she knew that it may be worse if she
did not warn him. So with caution she waded in. “I was talking to Margaret
earlier.”
Josh was not
sure what was coming but he could tell from Grace’s manner that he may not like
it so when she had been silent for a few seconds, he said “and?”
“She’s a bit
worried.”
He sighed with
impatience when Grace paused again. Josh wanted to know what was going on. In a
stern voice he prompted “about?”
Taking a deep
breath Grace took the plunge. “About how you’ll react if your relatives call
you Brendan instead of Josh” she said.
Josh was silent.
He had not thought about this for a while and it took him a minute to figure
out that really it did not matter anymore. As far as he was concerned he was
Josh but the thought of being called Brendan did not have the devastating
effect it once did.
Worried by his
silence Grace turned around again to look at him. His expression was serious as
he stared down into her eyes. “Will you be okay with it if it happens?” she
said.
Without a change
of expression Josh said “no doubt I’ll cope.”
But watching him
Grace could sense the humor lurking behind his response and relieved she smiled
and teased “so does that mean I can call you Brendan?”
Trying to
maintain his serious expression Josh growled “no it doesn’t and let me warn you
if you try it I’ll be forced to take action.”
Laughing Grace said
in a playful tone “oh what sort of action?”
Grinning now
Josh dared her “try it and you’ll find out.”
Smiling Grace
said “ok….Brendan”
And before Grace
knew what had hit her Josh had her lying on her back, holding her arms above
her head as he pinned her to the ground with his body. In a slow movement he
lowered his head and watched as she raised hers trying to tempt him to kiss her.
But staying just out of reach he gave her a cheeky grin and said “this sort of
action.”
Sighing as she
realised that he was not going to give her what she wanted Grace relaxed back
on the ground. Glaring at him she said “well that’s just mean.”
Josh laughed and
allowed her to pull her arms out from under his hands.
Grace pulled his head down towards her and said
“and you know it hurts you as much as me.”
Smiling Josh raised
an eyebrow and said “true” then added more firmly “so don’t make me do it
again.”
Grace pulled his
head down so that his mouth was close to hers and said “ok” but then smiling
against his mouth she added “Brendan” and kissed him before he could react.
