Finding Grace(50)

Thirty-Six





Sixteen years earlier





Once she had met Stefan and his friends in the university café, Lucie’s life seemed transformed.

There was no longer time to sit around in her soulless little room watching daytime television and existing on tea and toast.

She was part of Stefan’s friendship circle now, and on top of that, her course had started with a full roster of lectures and she was loving it.

It sounded a bit weird, she supposed, loving the processes of accounting. It was the reliability of numbers that she liked. The way that everything could be ticked off via a logical and tested process. Formulae could be applied to ensure that you ended up with an accurate, satisfactory result. If only life could be like that, too.

The course was going to be academically challenging, there was no doubt about that. But whenever she began working on an accounting problem that seemed almost impossible to resolve, she kept a single thought in mind that always inspired her and got her through: the answer was there, it was just a matter of finding it.

The other students on her course all seemed very studious and committed. They reminded her a bit of herself before she became involved with Stefan and his friends. It didn’t bear thinking about how lonely she would have been if she’d started the course without already having met people, because this lot were very obviously natural loner types who headed straight to the library to swot after each and every lecture.

None of them made the effort to befriend each other or sit together during study periods, but that didn’t bother Lucie now. She’d found her own sort of people to hang around with out of class, though she spent a lot of time in the library too. The tutors had made it abundantly clear that self-study was crucial to getting the required marks, and she was determined to make the most of the well-resourced area.

So much so that she’d actually turned down Angela’s offer to go down to the Quayside area of the city later for a bite to eat followed by drinks with ‘the gang’, as Angela referred to their mutual friendship circle.

Lucie had a full day of lectures, and the following morning first thing there was to be a question-and-answer session. She wanted to use the evening ahead to prepare some intelligent questions. It was important the tutors realised she was committed and keen, and she could only show that by putting the study time in.

She headed across the campus, intending to spend the next two hours in the library.

‘Hey, gorgeous, how’s it going?’

She glanced at the figure advancing on her from the left.

‘Stefan!’ She felt her cheeks heating up. It was so annoying how she was forced to reveal her feelings, courtesy of her inherited high colouring. Her dad was just the same. ‘I’m good. How are you?’

‘I’m fine, Lucinda. Better now I’ve seen you. A little bird tells me you’re not coming out tonight?’

He insisted on using her full name, even though she’d asked him not to. It made her sound a bit stuck-up but she’d learned to ignore it.

‘Sadly I can’t make it. Maybe next time, though.’

‘Seize the day!’ Stefan punched the air. ‘That’s always been my maxim and it’s stood me in good stead so far. What’s so important that you’re turning down having fun?’

Lucie explained about the Q-and-A session preparation. ‘Also, I’ve told my dad I’m staying in to study and we’ve arranged a call at eight o’clock.’

‘Tut tut. Still tied to Daddy’s apron strings? That will never do.’

Lucie shrugged. ‘It’s just… he sounded a bit down when I spoke to him this morning, and he really perked up when I said we could chat later.’

‘What did I tell you? You’ve got to be cruel to be kind. If he’s not waiting in for your call, he might just make the effort to get out himself and start to build his own life.’

Stefan had a point, but her dad wasn’t really the sort to join a class or take up a hobby. Bob down the road was his only friend, and apart from the odd bet on the horses, all his hobbies – reading, gardening, watching movies – were home-based.

But Stefan would not be dissuaded.

‘It’s only a few drinks. You’ll probably be tucked up in bed no later than ten, and you can get up super-early and squeeze a bit of studying in if you’re really keen.’

She looked up at him, feeling small and protected in his company.

‘What do you say?’

She hesitated.

‘That’s agreed then. Meet you at the campus bus stop at seven, yeah?’

And with that, he turned and melted into the crowd of students who’d just piled out of the lecture theatre opposite.

Lucie sighed and headed over to the library. She didn’t mind being jostled by the crowd; it felt good to be amongst people who were here to study and make a better life, like herself.

She knew she’d allowed Stefan to press-gang her into going out, although she felt certain he meant well. And most of what he’d said made perfect sense, to be fair.

There was something else, too, although she’d never admit it to anyone else. Stefan liked her. She could tell.

She’d noticed the other girls in the group look longingly when he saved her a seat next to him or slung his arm casually around her as they left the café together.