Set in Stone

Chapter 42

During the drive over to Andrea's house, Grace was occupying her mind by browsing Twitter. It was the first time in a couple of days that she had been on the app. Predictably, after her title win on Sunday and a squash victory of Dana Brooke on the Raw after Wrestlemania, her mentions were full of people telling her to fuck off and die.

Looking up her own name, she scrolled past abuse and negativity in abundance, trying to find something positive. There were some people defending her, mainly on the grounds of race. Shaking her head a little, Grace seriously doubted that the vast majority of people hating on her were doing it because of her skin colour. No, it was all about her booking. Lucy Thorne's concept had worked well, and was continuing to do so.

"We're nearly there," Roman advised her.

Grace locked her phone and stuck it in her pocket. She recognised their surroundings, which told her they would be turning onto the street where Andrea and Layla lived in less than a couple of minutes. Layla was not going to be there today because Andrea had thought it best to have her spend the day with her grandparents while she was being talked about at home.

"You okay?" Roman asked her.

Nodding to confirm that she was, Grace had one last think about the way she wanted to handle what was sure to be an awkward encounter with Roman's ex-wife. It would be awkward for all three of them. Grace had decided that she would do her best to avoid any kind of confrontation. There was no need for her to have any ill will towards Andrea unless Andrea wanted it to be like that. Judging by everything she had seen and heard since her relationship with Roman had started, Grace believed that she was as good a parent as Roman. They both obviously wanted nothing but the best for Layla in the tricky situation of a broken home. In this case, the best for Layla was to be allowed to build a relationship with a stepmom over time, Grace thought, although she was a long way from being established enough to actually think of herself as a stepmom.

"Babe?" Roman asked, glancing at her for an answer to his question.

"Sorry, yeah, I'm okay," Grace said, flashing him a slightly nervy smile. "This is going to be tricky for all of us."

"Yeah," Roman said with a bit of a sigh. "I'm hopeful that it'll be fine. I mean, it's not like there's any animosity between Andrea and I. And it's not like we're doing anything wrong by dating, I'm moving on."

"And she is too," Grace pointed out, recalling that Andrea had mentioned to Roman that she was dating a guy. There were absolutely no grounds for a judgemental attitude from any of the three as far as she was concerned. Hopefully it would be nothing more than an awkward conversation to get through.

Shortly, Roman had the Ford GT cruising up to Andrea's house. Not for the first time, Grace found herself considering that it was bigger and nicer than where she and Roman currently lived. After all, the house they called home had actually been Roman and Andrea's first house, before they had moved on and upgraded. Luckily for Roman, he hadn't chosen to sell the old place, which had eventually left it available for him to move back to. Grace looked forward to them searching for a place of their own – something they had talked about a few times but hadn't yet started to do.

"Right, here we go," Roman said, killing the engine.

Grace reached out, took his hand and squeezed it, more for her own reassurance than his. She tried to imagine the situation from Andrea's point of view, about to meet her ex-husband's new partner. There had to be so many thoughts and emotions in her mind. Grace hoped they weren't going to be taken out on her.

Getting out of the car, she told herself to find her confidence. She wasn't a shy or nervous person. Being a pro wrestler wouldn't have been the job for her if she was. What she needed to do was be positive and polite with Andrea, in the hope of getting a similar response.