‘You think I should take part in his sessions?’ Jamie shook his head. ‘I’m pretty sure that neither of us are quite ready for that.’
‘I don’t imagine you are. But maybe if you talk to someone here, who’s working within the same framework as his counsellor, that might turn into a reconciliation network for you both. When you and Jon are ready.’
Jamie thought for a moment. ‘It...makes sense. It might work. Nothing ventured, I suppose...’
‘And you both have a lot to gain. Even if you can’t truly forgive him, at least you might know a bit more about what happened and how you feel about it. And you’ll have tried.’ Anna smiled at him. ‘Made the best of what you have.’
‘Now you’re throwing my own words at me.’ Jamie’s charity was all about teenagers making the best of themselves. ‘Don’t you have any scruples at all?’
Anna chuckled. ‘No. Not many.’
None at all when it came to Jamie. Right now, she’d do anything to help him feel better about this.
‘It’s a good idea and I’ll think about it. Very seriously.’ He gave her hand a squeeze and Anna squeezed back. ‘Where are you, in all of this?’
That was a question that bore thinking about.
‘Practically speaking... Our tissue viability nurse can deal with Jon’s burns, and now that we’ve delayed surgery I’ll be taking a step back. I’d like to speak to Dr Lewis and make it formal that I’m no longer Jon’s surgeon.’
Jamie knew what that meant. She still had a duty of care to Jon because he was a patient at the clinic, but she was more free to dictate the nature of her relationship with him.
‘And...’ He was still uncertain. Jamie needed her to say this.
‘It means I have no part in Jon’s counselling or yours. I’m just your friend.’
His moss-green eyes became suddenly luminescent. Slowly Jamie raised her hand and even though his lips barely touched her fingers the effect was electric.
‘There’s no just about having you as a friend.’
* * *
Jamie was sitting in the cafeteria with a young girl of around ten. Young lady described her better. Her dark hair was done in a neat plait and she wore a pink sweatshirt with matching pink baseball boots and jeans. A pretty blue backpack hung over the back of her seat, and both she and Jamie were sipping their drinks from cups and saucers. A book with a sparkly pink cover lay on the table between them.
It looked like the kind of conversation that shouldn’t be interrupted, and Anna decided to collect her coffee and drink it in her office. But Jamie saw her and raised his hand, beckoning her over.
‘Anna, this is Jessica. Will you join us?’
Jamie’s invitation was obviously sincere, and Jessica turned and smiled too. Anna pulled up a chair and sat down.
‘Hi, Jessica. I’m Anna.’
‘Anna’s my friend,’ Jamie explained to Jessica, who nodded, taking the information at face value even if it prompted a small quiver in Anna’s heart. ‘Jess is Caroline’s eldest.’
‘We’re having tea.’ The tone of Jess’s voice indicated that this was an established ritual between Jamie and his niece. ‘It’s nice to have an adult conversation sometimes.’
Jamie chuckled. ‘Yeah, it is, isn’t it? Jess has younger brothers and between them things can get a little loud.’
‘Do you have brothers?’ Jess turned to Anna.
‘No, I’m an only child.’ Since this was an adult conversation, a little honesty was in order. ‘I had loads of adult conversation when I was your age. I often wished I had brothers or sisters.’
Jess considered the thought. ‘I like my brothers. Most of the time.’
‘How many do you have?’ Anna had seen Caroline with the baby and an older boy, and Caroline had joked that she was bringing the children to see their Uncle Jon in instalments so they could each get to know him on their own terms.
‘Three.’
‘The twins are five. And then there’s Joshua, he’s going to be a year old next month.’ Jamie elaborated.
‘That sounds like a lot of noise.’
Jess nodded. ‘Yes, it is sometimes. They’re not allowed in my room. Mum says that’s just for me.’
Anna imagined that Jess’s room would be neat and tidy, probably with a bit of pink and a lot of sparkle. Her special place. And she had her Uncle Jamie to take her for tea and some adult conversation. It was nice of him to think of doing that.
Jess had finished her drink and was sliding her book carefully into her backpack. Jamie grinned. ‘You’re going back upstairs to see your mum and Uncle Jon?’
‘Yes. Don’t forget what I told you, Uncle Jamie.’
Jamie spread his hand across his heart, in the expression of innocence that always made Anna smile. ‘No, of course not. You remember the way...?’
Jess rolled her eyes. ‘You don’t need to come with me, Uncle Jamie. I can go on my own.’
‘Yes, of course you can. I’ll just walk you to the door, then, I’m going to get some more tea.’ He flashed the hint of a wink at Anna.
She watched as Jamie lingered by the entrance to the cafeteria, obviously watching Jess along the corridor and towards the stairs that led straight up to Jon’s ward. He turned, pulling his phone from his pocket and speaking a few words into it, before going to the counter and ordering a cup of coffee. Presumably Caroline now knew to expect her daughter’s arrival at any moment.
‘That’s very sweet of you...’ Anna smiled at him as he sat back down.
‘You think so?’ That innocent look again. ‘I’m always up for a bit of adult conversation too. Jess has decided she wants to take me in hand.’
He pushed his half-drunk cup of herbal tea to one side and took a sip of the coffee. Clearly he and Jess had their own set of rules for tea drinking, which stipulated they should both have the same herbal blend, but Jamie preferred coffee.
‘She knows about you and Jon?’
Jamie shrugged. ‘She was old enough when the argument happened to know that something really bad was going on. Not old enough to understand it properly. That’s not easy for her.’
Anna’s own childhood had been full of carefully explained things, all of them age appropriate. She’d never had brothers and sisters, or uncles and aunts, whose actions were a mystery to her.
‘But you’ve explained things to her.’
‘She knows that her twin brothers argue, and then make up and turn into the best of friends again. I told her that when you’re grown up things sometimes get a bit more complicated, but that I’ll always love her and so will her Uncle Jon.’ Jamie quirked his lips down. ‘Caroline will make sure that Jon keeps to his end of that bargain.’
‘Not you?’
Jamie laughed suddenly. ‘You and Jess would get on like a house on fire. She’s made me a list of five things I have to do.’
‘She has? Good girl! I hope you’ve taken note.’
‘I did. I take note of everything you say as well.’ The humour in his eyes couldn’t conceal their warmth. ‘I told her that taking him shopping to get him a present wasn’t really our style, so we agreed on going to the pub for a quiet drink together. Although we’ll have to choose our spot if we don’t want to be besieged by Jon’s fans.’
Jamie’s easy relationship with his niece was nice, he was the protective adult who kept his niece from harm, but they could still talk as equals. Anna had been fascinated by the complex interactions of a large family when she’d been married, and she missed them. Now the only place she could find them was here, at the clinic, and she felt pretty much the same as Jess obviously did. If she could make peace, she would.
‘Your...um...name came up. In my counselling session.’ Jamie was staring into his coffee now.
‘Yes? That’s okay, you don’t have to explain. It’s between you and your counsellor.’ Anna could feel her ear
s starting to burn all the same.
‘There’s nothing that says I can’t mention it either.’ Jamie shot her a thoughtful smile.
‘No. There isn’t.’ Anna was holding her breath. This was stupid, Jamie’s counselling sessions were none of her business. She still wanted to know what he’d said about her. Or maybe she didn’t...
‘I was talking about the weekend. You know I’m taking Jon down to my place in Hastings on Saturday, and Caroline’s bringing the children over?’
‘Yes, Caroline mentioned it the other day. Seems like a good idea. Jon’s been much better these last few days and it’ll do him good...’ The words dried in Anna’s throat. This wasn’t about Jon. It was about Jamie.
‘I was saying that you’d supported us both in keeping the lid on things. I wasn’t sure how we’d do on our own. Caroline’s great but she’s too close to it all and she gets upset when there’s any hint of an argument between Jon and me.’
‘He’s been baiting you, hasn’t he?’ Anna had noticed the jibes that Jon aimed at his brother from time to time. Jamie was one of the most easygoing people she knew, and he ignored them, but Anna could see him making an effort to hold his anger back.
‘Jon’s always been the more impatient of the two of us. He’s making a good show of things, and claiming he’s better and stronger now, but he’s still fragile. My role is to keep the peace and help him as much as I can.’
It was an approach. One that clearly took more heed of Jon’s needs than Jamie’s. ‘You might be right. What do you want of me, Jamie?’
‘It’s a big ask...’ He quirked his lips down. ‘Not much notice either, you’re probably busy...’
‘All right, so you’ve supplied me with an excuse to say no. You’d better give me a chance to use it.’
Jamie chuckled. ‘I was wondering if you fancied joining us. Not as an arbiter between me and Jon, just for a day out and some lunch together. Although I might glance in your direction from time to time, just to remind myself that I do need to keep a lid on things.’
Jamie needed this. Badly. He wouldn’t have asked if he hadn’t.
‘This is your family day, Jamie. Won’t Caroline feel I’m intruding?’
‘I mentioned it to her and she thought it was a great idea, if you’d like to come. She was expecting that her husband Harry would be there, but he has a meeting with a client who’s only in the country for a couple of days so it had to be Saturday. Harry runs his own architectural practice and this client wants to talk about a new project, so Caroline told him he must go and that she’d be all right on her own. I think she’s rather hoping she won’t end up being the only adult in the room.’
‘And what are you hoping?’ Jamie had tried so hard to keep his feelings under control and Anna had seen the toll it had taken on him.
‘I’m planning on being the perfect host. Caroline knows that, but she thinks your presence might remind both Jon and me that we still need to make an effort. She reckons that you have us both twisted around your little finger at the moment.’ He shot her his most compelling innocent look, and Anna’s heart jumped in her chest. ‘I haven’t a clue what she means, and I told her that she was imagining things.’
Twisted around her little finger. It was a breath-taking thought, not so much where Jon was concerned but Jamie... And he wanted her to be a part of his family day. Anna felt herself flush.
‘I’ve embarrassed you. It’s a bad idea, I shouldn’t have asked...’ Jamie’s face registered concern, and he was back-pedalling furiously now.
It would take just one nod to take everything off the table. They could finish their coffee, and Anna could go on to put the finishing touches to her non-existent plans for Saturday. That might be the best way forward, but Jamie needed her. If she needed reminding that he was just a friend, then she could imagine the look he gave her when he said it. As if friends were the most important thing in the world.
‘You should have asked. Because I’d like to come.’
‘Really?’ He seemed genuinely surprised.
‘We could have an adult conversation, if you like. About the weather, or something inconsequential.’
Jamie laughed. ‘That would be fantastic.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
SATURDAY MORNING WAS gloomy and overcast, but when Jon walked out of the clinic, with his brother by his side, he greeted the drizzle of rain and the open air with a broad smile.
Anna had hung back, wondering if Jon would take the front seat, but he held the door open for her and then climbed into the back of the car. Jamie didn’t even seem to notice his brother’s show of gallantry, and Anna settled into her seat. As they drove out of London the skies seemed to clear a little, and by the time they reached Sussex, the sun was out.
The old farmhouse stood back from the road a little. A silver SUV was parked in the drive outside, indicating that Caroline was already here with the children, and when they approached the door it flew open.
‘Uncle Jamie...’ The twins ran towards Jamie, and he bent to pick them both up, one under each arm, and whirl them around.
‘What have you two terrors been doing?’
‘Making gingerbread men. Mum said it was all right for us to cook.’
Jamie chuckled. ‘Oh, she did, did she? I’ll be having a word with your mother if she’s left a mess. Did you make one for Uncle Jon?’
‘Yes!’
Jon had been watching, still a little reserved around the children. He broke into a sudden smile, and Jamie put the twins back down onto their feet. ‘Why don’t you show him, then?’
Ben, the more reserved of the two, hung back, but Thomas took Jon’s hand, pulling him into the house. Jamie smirked, pleased with the welcome, and Anna followed him inside. Coats were taken off and piled onto the hallstand, and Jon was propelled through the hallway and into the kitchen.
There was a mess, along with the smell of cooking, but Jamie didn’t heed it. Caroline was doing her best to get icing out of her baby son’s hair, while Jess had a stack of fine china plates in front of her, none of which matched, and was clearly deciding which plate went best with which gingerbread man.
‘That one’s yours, Uncle Jon.’ Thomas waved his finger towards a figure with a large yellow splodge of icing around its chest. ‘We made a guitar.’
‘That’s great.’ Jon was all smiles now.
‘Did you make one for Anna?’ Jamie asked Ben, and he nodded.
‘Of course we did. You’re the one with the yellow icing all over your head, Anna.’ Caroline grinned at her. ‘A bit like Joshua. The twins reckoned it was a good idea to ice him as well.’
‘Go and sit down, I’ll make the coffee while Jess finishes putting out the plates.’ Jamie smiled at his niece, who grinned back at him.
‘No, I need to clear up a bit...’ Caroline protested, but Jamie was shooing everyone out of the kitchen.
‘I’ll do that. It’s easier when no one’s making icing-sugar footprints all over the place.’
‘Oh! The carpets... Thomas and Ben, take your shoes off,’ Caroline wailed, and Anna bent down, helping the twins with their shoelaces.
Order was restored, and Jon lowered himself into an armchair, seeming tired after the journey. The children were left to play by the fireplace, and Anna had a moment to look around.
Jamie’s sitting room was...different. The room had obviously been stripped back at some point, but no effort had been made to cover the cracks in the brickwork over the fireplace, they’d just been filled. The old polished floorboards were pitted and stained from years of wear, and the deep brick fireplace had obviously seen many years of use. But above it the long wooden mantel was pristine and gleaming, with glass lamps at either end. The sofas and chairs were all spotless, and the book cabinets and furniture gleamed. It was a suffusion of old and new, comfortable but with a lot of character.
�
��Nice, isn’t it?’ Caroline had seen her looking around.
‘It’s lovely. If I’d known that not decorating could be so effective, I wouldn’t have gone to all the bother at my place. Although I imagine that quite a bit of thought went into this.’
‘Yes, it did. When Jamie bought this place, it was pretty run down. He decided that anything you touched would be new and clean. Anything you didn’t touch would be left as it was. I was a bit sceptical, but my husband Harry’s an architect and he got it. I do now too, I think it works.’
As long as you had the eye to pick out furniture that didn’t match but which went together well. Chairs and sofas that were all different but were upholstered in complementary colours, dark reds and russet tones. It seemed artless, but there was a cohesiveness of thought behind it all.
Jessica appeared, carefully holding two plates, each with a gingerbread man on it. She gave one to Jon and one to Anna, and Anna thanked her for choosing the prettiest plate for her. Jess confided that it was her favourite too, then disappeared back into the kitchen for the next two. Jamie brought the coffee, and the twins were persuaded to sit down in a couple of wooden children’s chairs that stood by the fireplace.
‘So...why have I got green hair?’ Jamie was regarding his plate with a smile.
‘The green icing was meant to be for your eyes.’ Caroline shrugged. ‘Call it artistic licence.’
‘Yes. Of course.’ Jamie bit the leg off his gingerbread man. ‘They taste great, Jessica.’
Jessica gave him a little smile, obviously pleased that her part in it all hadn’t gone unnoticed by her uncle.
‘You’ve done a lot here since I saw it last.’ Jon was looking around the sitting room. ‘It looks great.’
‘You want to see the rest?’ Jamie asked diffidently.
‘Yes, thanks. That would be great.’
There was a restrained courtesy about Jamie and Jon’s conversations, but they were talking and it obviously meant a lot to Jon to be asked here. A shared glance between her and Jamie was enough for Anna to tag along with them, curious to see what he’d done in the rest of the house.
A Rival to Steal Her Heart Page 7