by Pam Howes
Nick, draped toga-style in the sheet, was seated on the edge of his camp-bed and looked up as Jon walked in. ‘Is Mum back in bed?’
Jon nodded, unable to speak. The thought of Nick going to Jess again was overwhelming and he felt he might throw up any minute.
‘See you in the morning then,’ Nick said.
Jon closed the door as Nick left. Jason, already asleep, was snoring lightly on his bed in the corner. Jon threw off his clothes, lay down and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. His stomach was in knots. Jess, naked, was far more beautiful than he’d ever imagined.
***
Nick whispered Jess’s name over and over as he thrust into her, their hurried lovemaking quickly reaching an explosive climax. He clamped his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams.
‘Shhhh, you noisy, wild woman. You’ll wake the bloody dead, never mind the parents.’
‘Sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I couldn’t help myself. I love you, Nick.’
‘I love you too, Jess.’
‘Don’t go to sleep, Nicky,’ she pleaded, reverting to his childhood name as he closed his eyes. ‘I want to do it again, without any interruptions.’
‘Jess, don’t you ever get enough?’ I’m just resting. I’ll cuddle you first then we’ll do it later.’
***
As she lay in Nick’s arms, Jess’s thoughts turned to Jon’s earlier unfathomable expression. Why had he snatched his arm away? She also wondered why she’d felt a sudden, and unexpected surge of jealousy when she saw him kissing Helen. Then she thought about last night’s dream and what it meant. Why did she keep having it? Was it a premonition?
At least she wasn’t alone tonight if she had the dream again. Nick was snoring softly now, drained after the long day. He usually had bags of stamina, but the late night yesterday had taken its toll, too. Never mind, she thought and cuddled up. They had a whole lifetime of loving ahead. She closed her eyes to picture Nick’s handsome face, but it was her brother’s intense green eyes that she saw and a strange unsettled feeling came over her.
***
CHAPTER THREE
Sammy stared with amusement as Roy and Eddie, sportily attired in navy designer shell suits and top-of-the-range trainers, slipped out through the front door. They wore natty blue sweatbands around their heads, Mark Knopfler style.
She joined Jane, who was in the kitchen, trimming the rind off several rashers of bacon.
‘They spent a fortune on those bloody shell suits, so I suppose I shouldn’t mock their efforts to keep fit.’
‘They do their best.’ Jane tossed the bacon onto the grill. ‘Hope this old cooker can stand the pace of the next few days; otherwise we’ll have to eat out all the time.’ She wiped her hands on a tea towel and looked around. ‘I’ve been thinking, this kitchen could be really fabulous if it was fitted with new units and given a fresh coat of paint.’
Sammy nodded and glanced at the dated olive-green cupboards and orange walls. ‘It’s huge. I don’t recall it being this big when we came down for the Bank Holiday. But then again, the size of the kitchen was the last thing on our minds.’
‘Hmm,’ Jane said. ‘I was more interested in the size of something else.’
Sammy laughed. ‘You were always a hussy, Jane Mellor. But yeah, waxed pine units and buttermilk walls, like yours at home, now that would look lovely.’
‘Oh it would,’ Jane agreed. ‘But I don’t think Ed’ll change anything. This place holds a lot of memories for him. He spent every summer down here until his teens. If he can’t sell it as it is, then he’ll have to think again and get it updated.’
‘We should ask one of the antique dealers in The Lanes if they’d be interested in making an offer for the furniture,’ Sammy said. ‘Coffee?’ She picked up the kettle as Jane nodded.
‘I made a few enquiries yesterday. Ed and Roy can go out later to organise a dealer. Meantime, we can box up all the china and that coloured glassware.’
‘Is there anything you’d like to keep, Jane?’
‘I want the framed photos, and Ed wants to keep Celia’s wartime letters. I might take the brown furry rug from the lounge,’ she added, almost as an afterthought.
‘Why on earth do you want that moth-eaten old thing? It’s seen better days.’
‘It’s sort of sentimental to me and Ed.’
Sammy frowned, and then nodded. ‘Ah ah, so that’s where the pair of you got up to tricks that afternoon. Roy and I wondered why you never followed us upstairs.’
‘That rug could tell you a tale or two. It’ll do for the dog to lie on in the back porch if anyone asks why I want it.’
Eddie and Roy arrived back, red faced and coughing like consumptives. As they collapsed to their knees in the hallway, Sammy showed no sympathy.
‘Get up, you pair of posers. It’s all very well dolling up in that gear, pretending to keep fit. What you should do is give up smoking, or at least try.’
‘I want to, love,’ Roy gasped. ‘But it would kill me.’
‘It’ll kill you if you don’t, you daft sod. You’re a pathetic pair. Jane’s cooking breakfast, so crawl through to the kitchen.’
‘Sit down, you two. Eggs, bacon and sausages okay?’ Jane said, grinning as they limped towards her.
‘Please, Jane,’ Roy nodded. ‘But I need coffee first. I’m hopeless until I’ve had caffeine. My hands shake. Look.’ He held them out for her inspection.
‘Roy, you’re a mess,’ Sammy said. ‘You’ve got to start taking more care of yourself or you won’t make forty-three.’
‘I’m not that bad. I’m not overweight or anything. Perhaps I should cut down on smoking and drink decaff. But I can only do one thing at a time. I’d be impossible to live with if I did both together.’
Sammy snorted. ‘Too bloody true. We’ll start with the coffee, see how it goes. We should make the kids get up, Jane, or they’ll sleep in all day.’
Jane handed Eddie and Roy their breakfasts. She placed a rack of toast and a pot of honey on the table. ‘Right, tuck in while I go and call the lazy foursome.’
She bellowed up the stairs, ‘Come on, get up. We’ve a busy day today.’ Running up the first flight she yelled again. ‘Jon, Jess, Nick, Jason, up - now!’
Jon’s sleepy voice called back. ‘Coming, Mum. We’ll just get ready first.’
‘Don’t bother poncing around with your hair. You can do that later.’
‘Alright,’ was the weary response.
Jane strolled back into the kitchen, sat down and reached for a slice of toast, drizzling it with honey. ‘Ed, you and Roy can go out and find a dealer this morning while Sammy and I make a start on the cupboards.’
‘Antique dealer, darling,’ Sammy explained to a frowning Roy. She patted his hand. The only dealer Roy was familiar with was his old friend Mac from whom he purchased his cannabis supplies.
‘Ah, of course. I wasn’t thinking.’
‘Too early for you,’ Sammy said.
***
Jason sauntered into the kitchen, bare-chested, hair standing on end.
‘Hi folks.’ He sniffed the air and smiled. ‘Smells good. Any left for us?’
‘Sit down, son,’ his mum ordered. ‘Jane’s making some for you. Any sign of the others?’
‘They’re getting ready,’ he replied, avoiding her gaze. He’d been sent downstairs half asleep and half dressed to create a diversion while Jon went to get Nick out of Jess’s room.
***
Jon tapped on Jess’s bedroom door and walked in without waiting to be asked. Jess and Nick were fast asleep on the narrow bed, wrapped in one another’s arms. Jon’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of her beautiful body. He averted his eyes and threw a sheet over the naked pair. He fought the urge to drag Nick to his feet and punch him and shook Jess by the shoulder.
‘Wake up, Sis. Shh,’ he warned as she opened her sleepy eyes. He shook Nick. ‘Come on, everyone’s downstairs having breakfast.’
‘Whatsamatta?’ Nick began as Jon
clapped a warning hand over his mouth.
‘Shurrup! Move it, Jess. Throw some clothes on and go. You can get ready properly later. The alarm mustn’t have gone off, or you slept through it.’
Nick sat up, blinking. ‘Fuck! Do they know where we are?’
‘Not at the moment. You go down first, Jess. We’ll follow in a minute.’
‘Don’t look then,’ she said, not quite meeting Jon’s eye.
She slid out of bed, pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, fastened her hair into a ponytail and slipped out of the room.
Nick stared after her, a secret smile playing on his face.
‘Come on, get ready. That must have been some good time you had. The two of you slept like logs,’ Jon said, enviously.
‘Yeah, it was, but then it always is with Jess. She’s one heck of a lover.’ Nick leapt up, pulled on his clothes and followed Jon out of the room. ‘I don’t understand why the alarm didn’t go off,’ he whispered.
‘Did you pull the button out at the back of the clock?’
‘No, I don’t think I did.’ Nick yawned loudly.
‘Well that’s why, you dope.’
***
‘Morning, boys,’ Sammy greeted Jon and Nick as they took their places at the kitchen table. They thanked Jane who handed them laden plates.
‘Morning, Mum,’ Nick said and winked at Jess who was buttering a slice of toast. ‘Sleep well, Jess?’ He held her gaze as she licked her buttery fingers in a suggestive manner.
‘Like a baby,’ she replied with an innocent smile. ‘And you?’
Sammy caught the look that passed between the pair. She raised her eyebrows, but remained silent. She’d tackle Nick later, rather than create a scene at the breakfast table. She wasn’t stupid, that intimate look was exactly like Roy had given her so many times in the past. She excused herself and left the room.
‘Anymore toast?’ Jane asked. ‘No? Well in that case bring your pots over here when you’ve finished and I’ll wash up.’
‘That’ll be a novelty for you, Mum,’ Jess said. She handed Jane her empty plate and cutlery and then poured a mug of coffee.
‘You should offer to wash up for Mum,’ Eddie suggested, looking closely at Jess who had never washed a plate in her life, having been brought up in a home with a kitchen full of gadgets, including a dishwasher.
‘What about my nails. They’ll get ruined.’
‘Rubber gloves, Jess dear.’ Jane flapped them at her.
‘Ugh, God! They’ll make my hands smell.’ Jess shuddered, recoiling in disgust from the bright yellow rubber.
‘It’s quicker if I do it myself,’ Jane said. ‘At least they’ll be done properly. We’ll end up with salmonella or something if Jess does them. You can get some groceries from the supermarket later. I’ll write you a list,’ she said to Jess.
‘Okay, I’ll go and get ready then. Bagsy the bathroom first.’
‘Don’t take all morning, I want to wash my hair,’ Nick said.
‘Me too,’ Jason echoed.
Sammy, who had just come back downstairs, said, ‘When you’ve finished your coffee, Nick, go up to my room.’
‘Why?’ He stared at his mother, wide eyed.
‘You know very well why.’ She’d taken a look in the boys’ room and found Nick’s sleeping bag still rolled up on his camp bed, as she’d suspected it would be. A further investigation had revealed his shoes, socks and boxer shorts on Jess’s bedroom floor.
‘What’s going on, Sam?’ Roy raised a questioning eyebrow.
‘Nothing I can’t handle.’
‘Fair enough. Let’s take our coffee into the lounge, Ed.’
***
As they went upstairs Nick whispered to Jess, ‘Mum’s sussed where I spent the night.’
‘Oh fuck!’ Jess chewed her lower lip. ‘Well if that’s the case we’ll just have to brazen it out if she says anything.’
‘Oh, she’ll say something,’ Nick said. ‘Making love isn’t a hang-able offence though, is it?’
‘Who knows?’ Jess shrugged and squeezed his hand. ‘Don’t worry, Nick, we’ll be fine.’
***
‘What is it?’ Jane gazed at Sammy over the pile of washing up. ‘Don’t tell me, I can guess. Well, it’s not as if it’s a casual fling. At the end of the day, we were all guilty of the same crime.’
Sammy pursed her lips. ‘Yes, I know, but not in front of our parents, so to speak. We wouldn’t have dared. Take your coffee into the lounge; we’ll talk it over with Roy and Ed. Nick can stew for a while. It serves him right for being so bloody sneaky right under our noses.’
‘What’s up?’ Roy looked up as Sammy and Jane strolled in and sat down on the sofa.
‘I found Nick’s clothes in Jess’s room,’ Sammy told him. ‘He spent the night with her.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Roy said, and lit his third cigarette since breakfast. ‘Granted, he was probably in with her earlier. Maybe he forgot to pick them up before he left.’
‘He did spend the night with Jess. His sleeping bag’s still rolled up on the camp bed and both you and I know he isn’t that tidy he would have rolled it up as soon as he got out of it. I warned him about behaving before we left home. He never listens to a bloody word I say.’
‘Oh come on, Sam,’ Roy said. ‘You can’t treat him like a child. They’re past the age of consent. They know what they’re doing.’
‘Age has nothing to do with it. It’s the sneaking about that annoys me. Winking at Jess over breakfast. Asking her if she’d slept well, knowing full well how she’d slept, if indeed she slept at all. Randy little git! He must think we’re all bloody stupid.’
Jane and Eddie laughed at Sammy’s indignant expression.
‘You sound almost jealous, Sam,’ Eddie said. ‘I'll call them down; we’ll talk to them. They don’t need to sneak about. Why are we making a mountain out of a molehill?’
‘You don’t mind them sharing a room?’ Sammy asked.
‘I don’t mind,’ Jane said. ‘You obviously don’t have a problem with it, Ed?’
‘Have you forgotten what it was like to be young, Sam?’ he asked. ‘At least we know who she’s with and where he comes from. But we’ll have a bit of fun, make ’em sweat first.’
He shouted up the stairs. ‘Jess, Nick, get your arses down here, now.’
Two anxious faces peered over the banister rail.
‘Coming,’ Jess said, sticking her chin out with determination.
***
As she and Nick walked into the lounge her dad stared so disapprovingly that Jess’s heart sank to her boots and she grabbed Nick’s hand.
‘You wanted to speak to us, Dad?’
‘Sit down, Jess. You, too, Nick, over there.’ He pointed to chairs on opposite sides of the room.
‘Where did you sleep last night, Nick?’ He came straight to the point.
‘Jess’s room,’ Nick said lowering his gaze.
‘And whose idea was that?’ Eddie continued.
‘Mine,’ Nick said. ‘I borrowed Jon’s alarm clock. It was supposed to go off at six but it didn’t.’
‘So, that was the plan, was it?’ Roy asked. ‘You were going to sneak back to your room and no one would have been any the wiser.’
‘Yes, Dad. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,’ Nick muttered, staring down at his feet.
‘Too bloody right it won’t. You’re a guest in this house; you don’t do as you please. Remember what your mother told you the other night?’
‘Yes, Dad, I’m sorry, Mum.’ Nick hung his head.
‘And you, young lady, what have you got to say for yourself?’ Eddie switched his gaze to Jess.
She stared defiantly back at him, arms folded. ‘You’re a hypocrite, Dad.’
‘Jess. Don’t you dare speak to your father like that.’
‘Well it’s true, Mum, he is,’ Jess said. ‘You all are. It’s one set of rules for you and another for us. At least Nick and I have got some morals, for what they’re
worth. Not like you lot!’
‘Jess, that’s quite enough,’ her mum said. ‘Now you apologise at once.’
But Jess was on her high horse and hadn’t finished. ‘I won’t get pregnant until I want to. I know for a fact that Dad knocked Angie up before he married her, and you, too, Mum. Nick was on the way before Roy married Sammy. What sort of an example is that to set your kids?’ She jumped up and stormed out of the room, slamming the front door behind her.
‘Go after her, Ed,’ Jane urged. ‘You can’t let her go like that.’
He flopped down on the sofa and shook his head. ‘No, she won’t want me. You go, Nick, bring her back.’
Nick, white faced, stood up and left the room.
***
Eddie turned to Jane, who had an expression of shock on her face. ‘I didn’t realise she had such a low opinion of us,’ he said. ‘She makes it sound like we’ve the morals of alley cats. My first marriage has never been discussed with the kids, apart from telling Jon about his mum. So how the hell did she know that Angie was pregnant?’
‘Maybe she and Jon talk about these things between themselves,’ Jane said. ‘Let’s face it; not many get married from choice at eighteen, do they? They’ve worked it out, they’re not daft.’
Sammy sighed. ‘What do we say to them now, when Nick finds her, I mean?’
Roy shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting her to turn the tables on us. She’s a feisty little piece.’
‘She’s never, ever spoken to me like that before,’ Eddie said. In spite of her wayward ways, his precious daughter meant the world to him. He hated falling out with her over anything. This was the worst row they’d had. They usually argued over minor things, like borrowing money and never paying it back. With shaking hands he lit a cigarette and drew on it as Jon and Jason strolled into the lounge.
‘What was all that shouting about?’ Jason asked.
‘You know damn well what it was, Jason. You both knew Nick was in Jess’s room, so don’t come the innocent with me,’ Roy said.
‘Don’t take it out on Jason,’ Sammy said. ‘He might not have been aware what they were up to.’
Roy raised his eyebrows. ‘For fuck’s sake, Sammy, of course he knew.’