Set in Stone

Chapter 47

"Remind me again how I got myself into this situation?" Grace said to Roman. They were in his Mercedes, only minutes from Andrea and Layla's house. Today was the first day of the practical phase of their scuba certification courses. Both of them had completed the online portion of their learning, Andrea likely having helped Layla with it. Layla would be working towards a junior certification, which she would be able to upgrade to full certification once she was fifteen years old.

Roman smiled, showing some amusement, but he responded seriously. "It'll be fine. Remember, you're doing this for Layla. She'll really appreciate it, as do I. We both know how excited she's been about learning to dive. That snorkelling session she had with you made her catch the bug for it."

"Aww, it totally did. She loved it," Grace recalled fondly. That day had been the first proper one on one bonding experience she'd had with Layla, and for that reason it would always be memorable.

Shortly, Roman pulled the car onto the driveway of Andrea's house. There was plenty enough room for it to fit on there behind what Grace assumed was Andrea's brand new Honda. Grace wasn't any kind of expert on cars, but the one she was looking at was a fairly sporty model, and looked expensive.

"All set?" Roman asked her as he killed the engine.

"Yeah," Grace reported, glad that she wasn't feeling nervous. She needed to be in scuba instructor mode today, so nerves had no place being on her mind. Since Andrea was paying for her lessons, she was actually going to be Grace's first official client of her instructing career. What a weird turn of events that was. "How about you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Roman smiled. "Let's be honest, I'm going to be sitting poolside in the sun all day, drinking beer and watching you teach my daughter to dive."

"And your ex-wife," Grace pointed out.

"Her too. But that's not why I'm here."

"And you'll even get driven home later," Grace said.

"Don't make me regret that," he said jokingly.

Grace gave him a withering look that he would know had humour behind it. With that, they got out of the car. They had needed to use the Mercedes because the Ford GT had no trunk space for the two travel cases that Grace had needed to bring with her. Three sets of scuba gear was a lot to pack. Retrieving one of the cases focused her mind on the first concern of the day. Due to today's first part of Layla and Andrea's courses taking place at their home, Grace had needed to pick out some rental gear for them at Miami Diving Adventures. Roman had been able to remember their sizes for their wetsuits and fins, but the rest of the gear was not tested for the best fit in the way that it ideally should have been.

"It's going to be a good day," Roman said, taking a six pack of beer out of the trunk, along with the other travel case. The three air tanks remained in the trunk for now.

Chuckling, Grace followed him up the driveway to the front door. Unease at seeing Andrea again notwithstanding, she was greatly looking forward to seeing Layla, as she always did. She did feel slightly on edge over how she would interact with Layla, though. Would Andrea take offense if they shared a hug? She wished she had spoken to Roman about it earlier, but it was too late now.

Andrea opened the door, smiling politely. "Morning. Come in."

"Morning," Roman said leading Grace inside.

"Hi, Grace," Andrea said.

"Hi, Andrea," Grace replied as she hauled her case over the threshold, feeling awkward.

"Layla! Your dad and Grace are here!" Andrea yelled as she closed the front door.

Running footsteps could be heard upstairs straight away.