Rules for a Successful Book Club (The Book Lovers 2)

by Victoria Connelly

  ‘You think she shouldn’t be involved with anyone even though her husband’s been gone for over three years? You think she should shut herself off from life?’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘No? Because it sounded like you said exactly that.’

  ‘Please don’t raise your voice.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Jago said, and there was a pause before he spoke again. ‘I love her, Mum, and I want to take care of her and Archie.’

  His mother’s eyes widened at this. ‘That’s an awfully big responsibility to take on at such a young age.’

  ‘I’m not exactly a boy.’

  ‘I know,’ she said, ‘but you haven’t even found your way in the world.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? I can’t fall in love until I earn x-amount of money?’

  ‘I didn’t mean that,’ she said. ‘I just think you don’t know what you’re taking on.’

  Jago stood up. ‘Polly and Archie – that’s who I’m taking on. So you’re just going to have to get used to it.’

  CHAPTER EİGHTEEN

  The first time he hit her, it was so unexpected, that Polly wasn’t quite sure it had really happened. In fact, she’d laughed which had just made the situation even worse.

  ‘What the hell are you laughing about?’ Sean had cried.

  ‘You – you hit me!’ she said, her hand flying to the hot spot on her cheek. Yes, it was definitely stinging. She hadn’t imagined it.

  ‘You made me do it,’ he said, his face full of remorse.

  ‘What did I do?’ Polly was perplexed. What on earth had she said or done to make him behave like that?

  ‘I didn’t want to do that, Polly,’ he said, ‘but you make me so angry sometimes.’

  ‘I make you angry?’ It was the first time she’d heard about it. As far as she was aware, she’d never made anybody in her life angry. Well, unless you included siblings when growing up, but that didn’t count did it?

  ‘You shouldn’t say things like that.’

  ‘What? What did I say?’ she asked him. They’d just come back from lunch with Alex and Georgia who’d been best man and chief bridesmaid at their recent wedding. It had been a wonderful day full of laughing and reminiscing, but somewhere, somehow, Sean had turned. What had happened? What had she done?

  ‘Sean?’ she said. ‘Tell me. What did I say?’

  He looked at her, his blue eyes suddenly steely and cold, unrecognisable. Polly swallowed hard. She’d never seen him like this before and it scared her. There’d been a couple of times in the past few months when he’d been sullen and withdrawn. She’d tried to reach out to him at those times, but he’d refused to talk about it, choosing to go out instead, usually on his boat.

  ‘You said that I spend all my time on the boat. That you’re a boat widow.’

  ‘What?’ Polly said.

  ‘You said that. You made me sound ridiculous.’

  ‘But that was just a joke,’ Polly said. ‘We were having a laugh. You laughed yourself.’

  ‘Yeah? Well, I didn’t find it very funny.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ She reached a hand out to him but, before it got to his face, he grabbed her wrist.

  ‘Don’t ever make me feel like that again,’ he said, his eyes holding hers with a quiet intensity.

  Polly nodded. ‘I won’t.’

  Only she had. She’d made him feel like that over and over again, and each time was completely out of her control because she had no idea what the triggers were. It might be a look she gave another man – a totally innocent look that would wind him up, or something she said that he twisted and misconstrued.

  That first time could have been forgotten, she sincerely believed that. A little misunderstanding. A marital blip. A lesson learnt. But the second time, the third and fourth, the fifth, sixth and seventh...

  Polly hadn’t told anybody. What was there to say? Sean Prior was the perfect gentleman. He was handsome and charming. He worked hard for his family. He took part in community projects and was a total sweetheart to his parents who doted on him. It was so hard to reconcile the man whom everybody else knew with the one that Polly knew. The one she lived in dread of.

  She’d thought about confiding in her mother, but she’d known what Eleanor would say. Leave him. Polly couldn’t do that. She couldn’t bear the thought of letting Archie grow up without a father and she still loved him too and wanted to help him. She truly believed that she could.

  But then he’d gone. Vanished. The funny thing was, they hadn’t fought for weeks. The police had asked her over and over again.

  Did anything out of the ordinary happen between you before he disappeared? Did you fight? Were there any problems?

  No, Polly had told them. And she’d omitted to tell them that there had been problems in the past because the past was the past. That was the thing with Sean’s brand of abuse. It was all over and done with in a flash of the fist. Like a terrible storm after which the air was clear. A new day. A day of remorse and his remorse was always great. Flowers, gifts, heartfelt apologies. How often Polly had forgiven him, comforting him like a child.

  It’s okay. It’s okay.

  You still love me?

  Of course I still love you.

  But she’d feared him too. She loved him, but she would always carry around that little piece of fear for the man she’d married.

  When Jago came round for Archie’s next guitar lesson after school, Polly was still feeling jittery about the whole idea of Sean being around somewhere.

  ‘Hey,’ Jago said as he came into the house with his guitar, cupping her face in his strong hands before kissing her gently. ‘You look tired. Are you okay?’

  She nodded, willing herself not to cry at his gentleness.

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘How are you? How are things with Briggs?’

  ‘Oh, he’s okay. Crisis averted – for now.’

  ‘Good,’ she said.

  He narrowed his eyes. ‘You really do look tired.’

  ‘Just the winter blues,’ she said, moving away from him and walking into the kitchen. ‘I hate these dark days.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ he said. ‘I miss summer evenings when I can go out on my bike.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I said I miss summer evenings when I can go out on my bike.’

  Polly swallowed hard. She’d thought he’d said “boat”. Oh, God, she was imagining things now.

  ‘Polly?’ he said, approaching her, but it was then that Archie came bustling in.

  ‘Jago!’ he cried.

  ‘Arch!’

  ‘I’m ready for my lesson,’ he said.

  ‘Good,’ Jago said. ‘And I’ve got some news on the guitar front. One of my students has a guitar for sale that would suit Archie perfectly. I’ve checked it out and it’s in excellent condition. Save you a bit of money compared to buying a brand new one. If you don’t mind second-hand, that is.’

  ‘Not if you give it the thumbs up,’ Polly said.

  ‘I do. I actually think you’d struggle to find as good a one new.’

  ‘Archie? Do you mind second-hand?’

  ‘I’ve been playing Jago’s and that’s second-hand,’ he said with great maturity.

  ‘You’re right,’ Polly said with a proud smile.

  Jago told her the price and Polly agreed to buy it.

  ‘Thanks, Mum!’ Archie said, flying across the kitchen to hug her. She kissed the top of his head, catching Jago’s eye and mouthing a thank you. He smiled back at her and she felt a surge of gratitude that he’d come into their lives.

  She left the two of them to it, listening to the now familiar sound of Jago’s patient teaching voice and Archie’s tentative strumming. She walked over to the kitchen sink and looked out of the window into the back garden, remembering how Dickens had barked the other day as if there’d been an intruder there. Could it have been Sean? And, if it was, why h
adn’t he called?

  Polly could feel her heart racing at the thought of what might have happened if he had called. How would she have responded? And how would Sean have responded to finding her there with Jago? Terrifying thoughts chased around her head as she continued staring out into the darkness. She wasn’t aware of time passing but a whole hour must have elapsed because, before she knew it, Jago was in the kitchen.

  ‘Archie’s still playing. I literally can’t stop him.’

  She turned and smiled at him. ‘I’ve never known anything like it. I feel so guilty now that I nearly didn’t let him have lessons.’

  Jago crossed the room and held her hand. ‘I think we should tell him.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know – that we’re a couple,’ he said.

  Polly didn’t say anything.

  ‘Polly?’ He squeezed her hand.

  ‘I’m not sure it’s the right time,’ she said at last.

  ‘But I thought you were all for it.’

  ‘I – er – I’m not sure now. I think it might be too early.’

  Jago frowned. ‘But you said you thought he knew anyway.’

  ‘I just think we should wait.’

  ‘Wait for what?’

  She shook her hand out of his and walked over to the kitchen sink. ‘I don’t want to talk about this now, okay?’

  ‘No,’ Jago said. ‘It’s not okay. Tell me what’s going on. Why the sudden change?’

  ‘There is no sudden change. I just–’ she stopped. What exactly was she going to say to him? That she thought her missing husband might be hanging around, threatening to make an appearance at any moment? Was she going to tell him that she couldn’t get involved with somebody else on the off chance that Sean might be coming back into her life? And did she even want that? Did she really want Sean back if he was still alive?

  ‘Something’s going on here,’ Jago said, turning her towards him. ‘Tell me.’

  She shook her head. ‘Nothing’s going on.’

  He placed a finger under her chin and tipped her head up towards him. ‘Please don’t lie to me.’

  Her eyes widened. She didn’t want to lie, much less be accused of lying to the man she was in love with.

  ‘Jago,’ she said, his name coming out in a strangled whisper.

  ‘What is it?’

  She took a deep breath before confessing. ‘I think Sean might be back.’

  ‘What?’

  She walked over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers, taking out the model boat which Archie had been given.

  ‘Archie brought this home from school the other day. A man gave it to one of Archie’s friends, telling him to pass it to Archie.’

  Jago took the boat from Polly and looked at it. ‘I don’t get it. What’s this got to do with Sean?’

  ‘It’s the spitting image of his boat, the Oystercatcher.’

  ‘You think Sean gave him this boat?’

  ‘I don’t know. But who else would do something like that?’

  Jago shrugged. ‘There are a lot of crazy people out there and I’m a bit disturbed that some of them might be hanging around Archie’s school handing over gifts. But it’s probably just a sad old guy giving out random things. We had a strange old woman who used to hang around our school giving away sweets. The headmaster marched her off one day, threatening to call the police, but she was harmless enough. Just lonely, I guess.’

  ‘But this isn’t just a random gift,’ Polly said.

  ‘Isn’t it?’

  ‘No. The man told Tiger to give it to Archie.’

  Jago didn’t look convinced. ‘So you think Sean’s back and that he’s hanging around the school watching Archie?’

  ‘He probably wouldn’t even know what Archie looks like anymore – that’s why he gave the boat to another boy, see?’

  ‘This is all sounding nuts,’ Jago said.

  ‘What about when Dickens was barking the other day?’

  ‘He’s a dog, Polly. Dogs bark.’

  ‘There was somebody out there. I know there was.’

  ‘It was probably a squirrel.’

  She shook her head. ‘I think someone’s been watching the house too.’

  Jago didn’t look happy at this revelation. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I once thought I saw someone out on the green watching the house.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me about all this?’

  ‘I’m telling you now,’ she said. ‘I’m worried. I think he’s back.’

  Jago folded his arms around Polly and hugged her to him. ‘And that’s why you don’t want Archie to know about us?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry. I really don’t know what to do.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘I understand. But promise me something?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ll let me be here for you. I don’t want you going through all this on your own.’

  She took a deep breath and sighed it out. ‘I don’t want to do this alone either.’

  He stroked her hair and that’s when Archie walked in. They hadn’t realised that the strumming had stopped, but there he was, staring open-mouthed at them embracing in the middle of the kitchen.

  ‘Have you two been kissing?’ he asked.

  ‘No, we haven’t,’ Polly told him, leaping away from Jago. ‘Just hugging.’

  Archie looked from one to the other as if not totally convinced.

  ‘Your mum needed a hug,’ Jago said, crossing the room and suddenly catching him up in a hug too. ‘We all need hugs from time to time, don’t we?’ He started tickling him.

  Archie laughed. ‘Let me go!’

  ‘Don’t we?’ Jago said.

  ‘Yes!’

  Polly watched her son, gauging his response. He seemed totally unfazed by the whole thing and then he surprised her by what he said next.

  ‘It’s okay you know.’

  ‘What’s okay?’ Polly asked.

  ‘If you were kissing,’ he said. ‘I don’t mind.’ And then he left the room, running up the stairs to his bedroom. Polly looked at Jago and he stared right back at her and then they burst into laughter.

  ‘Your son is the coolest little lad on the planet,’ Jago said.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘And if that’s his view about the matter–’

  Before Polly could say anything else, Jago was kissing her and Polly didn’t stop him because she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

  ‘Jago?’ she said, when they finally stopped. ‘I’m scared.’

  He hugged her to him and kissed the top of her head. ‘I’m right here,’ he said, ‘and I’m not going anywhere.’

  Polly clung to him, feeling some of her tension slip away. How lucky she was to have this man in her life, she thought. How very lucky.

  CHAPTER NİNETEEN

  As the days turned into weeks and February sped by in a blur of rain, hail and snow, Polly began to forget about the incident with the model boat. Perhaps Jago had been right all along and it had simply been a loon at the school gate. The feeling of being watched had stopped too. She hadn’t had that eerie feeling for a long time now.

  It was the last Sunday in February and Polly was driving Jago and Archie to Campion House in the Land Rover.

  ‘Are you sure your folks won’t mind me turning up again?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Polly said. ‘Mum specifically invited you.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘It’s not too soon since Bryony–’

  ‘That’s all in the past,’ Polly said as she slowed the Land Rover to allow a pair of partridges to take off from the road into a field.

  ‘Why did Jago go out with Aunt Bryony?’ Archie asked from the back seat.

  ‘It was a mistake,’ Polly said.

  ‘Your mum set me up,’ Jago said.

  Polly gasped.

  ‘Why did you do that, Mum? I thought you liked Jago.’

  ‘She was in d
enial,’ Jago said.

  ‘What’s that mean?’ Archie asked.

  ‘It means she didn’t want to admit that she was madly in love with me.’

  Polly thwacked Jago’s leg.

  ‘Ouch!’ he cried, causing Archie to laugh.

  ‘You two!’ she said, shaking her head, but she secretly adored his banter and how he got on with Archie. Everything seemed so natural with Jago and she had to admit that she’d never been happier.

  Parking in the driveway of Campion House, the three of them got out of the car together with Dickens. Jago dared to take Polly’s hand, squeezing it tightly in his.

  ‘Here we go,’ she said as they knocked on the front door before opening it.

  Out of all the people who could have greeted them first, it had to be Bryony.

  ‘Oh, hi,’ she said.

  ‘You okay?’ Polly asked, kissing her sister’s cheek.

  ‘Oh, you know,’ Bryony said. ‘Still selling books. Still single. Still looking for a bloke my sister won’t steal from me.’

  Polly’s mouth dropped open in horror. ‘Bry–’

  ‘I’m joking!’ she said. ‘Come on – I couldn’t miss that opportunity, could I?’

  ‘I guess not,’ Polly said as Bryony thankfully turned her attention to Archie. ‘How’s my favourite nephew?’

  ‘I’m your only nephew!’ Archie pointed out.

  ‘Maybe not for much longer,’ Bryony said with a naughty grin at Jago.

  ‘Oh, God – is this what it’s going to be like?’ Jago said.

  ‘For the first couple of years, I’d say,’ Polly said. ‘It might settle down a bit after that.’

  And, sure enough, Sunday lunch continued very much in that vein.

  ‘So, which one of my sisters are you dating this week?’ Josh asked Jago.

  A stunned silence greeted the question from around the table. Even Grandpa Joe didn’t know what to say and then he gave a funny sort of chuckle which was followed by Frank joining in and, soon, everyone was laughing, the tension of the situation broken.

  ‘I’m sorry if I’ve confused you all,’ Jago said.

  ‘You haven’t,’ Bryony piped up. ‘You and Polly – well – you were meant to be together.’

  ‘Can we please talk about something else?’ Polly asked. ‘Mum, these potatoes seem lighter and fluffier than normal. How did you cook them?’