‘Oh, wait, you do know that there are two bookshops on this street?’ said Lucy and pointed out the door. We followed her to look out on to the busy street. ‘The other one is right down at the other end of this road.’
Oh no, I thought as Stephanie checked her watch.
‘It’s midday now. If we get a taxi, we’ll only be a bit late,’ she said.
We all ran out onto the pavement and looked for a taxi. I couldn’t see one and even if there had been an empty one, I could see that the traffic was at a standstill due to the roadworks that had caused delays earlier.
‘How far?’ I asked Lucy.
‘Ten minutes if you run,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry, I only have my bike so I can’t give you a lift.’
I glanced at Stephanie.
‘I’m game if you are,’ she said.
We pelted off at full speed down the road and finally could see the second bookshop – I just hoped it was the right one this time.
‘Just a sec,’ said Stephanie. ‘I have to catch my breath.’
We stopped for a while and waited until we’d stopped panting. Stephanie started laughing. ‘Bet you never imagined this when you took the job,’ she said.
I shook my head. ‘Not exactly. I’m so sorry, I should have checked.’
Stephanie waved a hand as if dismissing what I was saying. ‘Not your fault. You weren’t to know. Anyway, you know my mottos by now – each day brings a new challenge? You can either freak out or flow with it.’
I laughed. I really liked her attitude to life. She wasn’t at all diva-like. She smoothed her hair and walked into the shop, cool as a cucumber, as if she’d just stepped out of an air-conditioned limo. She was such a pro.
There were loads of people waiting inside and they cheered when they saw Stephanie. She apologised for the delay then got stuck in to the signing. It was a great turn-out with around three hundred people in the queue, so the next few hours flew past. When it finally looked like it was winding down, I noticed a blond boy hovering in the shadows of the shelves. When Stephanie was engaged in talking to one of her fans, the boy beckoned me towards him. He was tall and tanned with little round glasses and had a red paisley scarf knotted over his head. He had the look of someone who had been travelling. As I went over, I thought that he looked vaguely familiar.
He pulled me out of sight behind the shelves and I was about to protest when I realised where I knew his face from.
‘Hey, you’re Dylan, Stephanie’s son.’
He flashed me a smile. ‘I am. And you must be Jess.’
‘How did you know?’
He tapped his nose. ‘Bethany. I asked her where Mom was. She told me where she’d be today and that you were accompanying her.’
‘Your mum is going to be so pleased to see you.’
‘Hope so. I wanted to surprise her.’
‘Come on out, then. She’s almost finished.’
Dylan held back. ‘I’ll wait a moment till she’s really finished. I know my mom at these events. There’s always another person to talk to on the way out.’
I nodded. It was true. Stephanie was very generous with her time.
Dylan grinned. ‘Hey, I’m supposed to spy on you,’ he said.
‘Spy? For who?’
‘Bethany, of course.’
‘You’d make a rubbish spy, then,’ I said. ‘You’re supposed to keep the mission secret.’
Dylan cracked up. ‘I can see why Mom hired you. I can report back favourably back to Bethany.’
‘But you’ve only just met me.’
He stood back and gave me another long look. ‘I go by instinct and you look OK.’
I laughed. He had a nice open face and I thought he looked OK too. Not in a fancying him kind of way, but like he’d be an interesting person to get to know. ‘You’re like your mum, then. She goes by what she feels too. Are you staying in Scotland? What are your plans?’
‘I don’t usually do plans. Let it flow, that’s my motto.’
‘That’s one of your mum’s too.’
He smiled again. ‘You don’t grow up in a house with someone like her without some of that “go with your heart and let the universe speak to you” stuff rubbing off. So plans, yeah, I thought I’d come and catch up with Mom then see how it goes. But I might come back to London for a while.’
‘Cool. She’ll like that.’
I glanced at Stephanie who looked like she had finished. ‘Shall I let her know you’re here?’
Dylan nodded so I went over to Stephanie. ‘I have one last person who wants to have a word,’ I said.
Stephanie sighed and looked at her watch. ‘We ought to be getting back to the airport,’ she said.
‘I think you might want to see this person,’ I said. ‘He’s over by the shelf to your left.’
Stephanie glanced up and her face lit up when she saw Dylan step out. I felt a real tug in my heart as he gave his mum a huge hug and my eyes filled with tears. I would give anything to see my mum one more time. I brushed my tears away as Stephanie introduced us, then realised that we’d just met.
‘But we have to go soon,’ I told them. ‘We have a flight booked back to London.’
‘I’ll come with you in the car to the airport,’ said Dylan.
‘Can’t you come back to London with us?’ asked Stephanie.
Dylan shook his head. ‘I want to have a look around while I’m up here but I promise I’ll visit you in London some time.’
On the flight back, Stephanie was quieter than usual. I didn’t disturb her because I could see that she was sad to have seen Dylan for such a short time, then to have left him in Scotland.
When we got into the limo taking us back to Porchester Park, she got out her laptop.
‘I’m going to Skype the US,’ she said.
‘You can do that from a car?’ I asked.
She nodded and turned on her machine. ‘Yes, it has wi-fi, didn’t you know?’ Moments later, she had Skyped Mrs Lewis. They chatted for a while and I heard her say something about Dylan always doing his own thing, how she’d been just the same at his age and how he’d been a free spirit since he came out as gay when he was sixteen. I smiled to myself. So much for Pia plotting a love affair between us when she’d seen his picture online. That so wasn’t going to happen. I looked out of the window and reflected on the day. It had been fun meeting Dylan.
Stephanie nudged me. ‘Someone wants to say hello,’ she said.
I glanced at her screen expecting to see Mrs Lewis and my heart skipped a beat when I saw it was JJ.
‘Ohmigod! I was just thinking about you,’ I said.
‘And here I am,’ he said.
‘Unbelievable,’ I said. ‘I’m in a car!’
JJ laughed. He looked better than he had in recent days, more rested and like his old self as he chatted away. It felt so sophisticated to be gliding through the streets of London and talking to someone on the other side of the world. We chatted for a while and I told him a bit about the tour but I didn’t say anything about how much I’d been missing him because I was aware that Stephanie was sitting beside me and felt a little shy of talking about feelings in front of her.
‘I’m glad to hear you’re happy and have been busy,’ said JJ. ‘And remember what I said in our last conversation?’
I nodded.
‘Don’t let anything hold you back,’ he said. ‘I meant what I said.’
I wondered if Stephanie had mentioned to Mrs Lewis that Connor was travelling with us and she had maybe passed that on to JJ. ‘You too,’ I said, although it hurt to say it. The thought of JJ with someone else was too painful but maybe he had met someone over in the States. If he had, I didn’t want to know.
As we drew up outside Porchester Park, I said goodbye to JJ and felt sad. It was good to talk to him but it had also reminded me of the reality that we were in different countries with no idea if we might ever see each other again apart from in cyberspace.
‘See you soon,’ said Stepha
nie as she gathered her things. ‘And thanks for your company today.’
She leant towards me to give me a hug. As I hugged her back, I noticed a group of girls on the other side of the street and my mood changed in a second. Keira was standing in a doorway with two other girls. She put her index and middle finger up to her eyes then pointed the same fingers at me, as if to say, ‘I’m watching you’.
I turned away quickly. As Stephanie went inside, Yoram came over to me.
‘You know those girls?’ he asked me. He didn’t look in Keira’s direction but I knew he was talking about Keira and her companions.
‘Sort of. I wish I didn’t,’ I said.
Yoram nodded. ‘I’ve seen her hanging about here a few times lately,’ he said. As always, his expression gave little away and I hoped that he wasn’t notching Keira and her mates as another thing to add to his disapproval list about me.
‘She’s not a friend,’ I said, to make it clear that I didn’t want her around Porchester Park any more than he did.
With a gentle shove, Yoram pushed me towards the side entrance. ‘You go on in.’
When I got home, I went straight up to my room to send Bethany an update on the day.
I wrote: A wonderful visit to Edinburgh today where we managed to fit in visits to two bookshops instead of one.
I smiled as I shut my computer. She didn’t need to know that one of the bookshops was a total mistake!
Happiness is:
Talking on Skype to someone you care about (especially when doing it in the back of a limo!).
16
Connor
The time out on tour had flown by so fast and Edinburgh was the last stop. However, my job wasn’t over yet because although the travelling part of the tour was done, Stephanie wanted to employ Connor and I for a few more days to write up the highlights of our trips so that she could post them on her blog and Facebook page along with some of the photos that Connor had taken. I was very happy about this because it meant that I could spend more time with Connor. After my conversation with JJ, I felt I needed some cheering up and reassurance that life could go on without him. All through the week on the road, I’d felt that something was starting to happen between Connor and I. I’d often caught him looking at me and, the last time, he didn’t look away and neither did I. Being on the rebound for either of us or not, it was a totally delicious sensation that went right down to my toes. I know he felt it too because he smiled and raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘Yeah, me too’.
He arrived for our first meeting with his camera which I connected up to my laptop on the breakfast bar in our kitchen, living area. We’d already agreed that Connor wouldn’t bring Raffy to the house in case Dave freaked out – he didn’t like dogs, especially not in his inner sanctum – so Connor left Raffy with Pia who took him for a walk with Henry in Hyde Park. Sorted. Everyone happy.
The plan was to go through all the shots that Connor had taken in the various places we’d been, so once everything was set up, we hopped onto the stools by the bar and he scrolled through the photos. It was then that I noticed he’d also taken some shots of me. Really fabulous shots.
‘What do you think?’ he asked as we both bent over to look.
‘You’ve made me look really good,’ I said.
‘Only captured what’s there,’ he said, turning away from the screen and looking into my eyes.
I held his gaze and could feel the heat between us. The intensity of it made me blush. He had beautiful eyes, the colour of dark honey. Not taking his eyes away, he took my hand, then leant towards me. I moved towards him and our lips met. I reached up to put my hand on the back of his head when there was a noise at the front door. Someone was coming in. Thinking that it would be my dad, we both leapt apart.
‘Charlie!’ I said when I saw who it was.
He looked quizzically at Connor and gave him a nod to say hi. Typical Charlie. He’s so laid-back, I could be sitting with a gorilla and he wouldn’t question it. ‘Hey, sis,’ he said and came over to give me a hug. He looked fabulous, relaxed and happy with sunkissed hair and a great tan. I introduced him to Connor and we spent the next fifteen minutes catching up, drinking coffees and, in Charlie’s case, eating a huge cheese sandwich. I was so glad to hear that he’d had a great time and, as I’d known he would, had experienced a world full of luxury, not that Charlie was the least bit bothered about the linen he slept in or the standard of five-star accommodation. What he’d enjoyed was the sports, swimming, hiking and just hanging out with his mates.
When Charlie went upstairs to unpack, Connor and I went back to the laptop. He glanced over at me and gave me a cheeky grin. ‘I suppose we’d better get on, hadn’t we?’
I nodded. We were there to work, not have a snogging session, but I took his hand and squeezed it to let him know that I was happy to pick up later where we’d left off.
We decided to send five photographs of Stephanie to her for approval, then we set about writing up the highlights of the trip.
‘Hey, you’re good at this,’ said Connor when he saw the piece I’d written about the Edinburgh trip.
‘Thanks. Actually this whole experience has made me think about writing, you know, doing it at university.’
‘What kind of writing? Journalism?’
‘Oh. I don’t know yet. I just know I like writing. Putting together the words.’
‘I thought about writing for a while myself before I settled on photography. One of the hardest decisions about writing can be working out where you fit, like detective stories or sci-fi? Literary or commercial? Poetry or writing for TV? Magazines or newspapers? The list is endless, and then you have to decide who you want to write for – kids, adults, teenagers . . .’
‘Wow, yeah. I guess so. I hadn’t thought of all that. Maybe I’ll look into creative writing classes so that I can try a bit of everything and see what I like best.’
‘You might find that you’d like to write the kind of thing you like to read,’ he said. ‘Do you like real-life books or fantasy?’
‘A bit of both. But the idea of writing for a living is the first thing that’s given me any kind of buzz, if you know what I mean.’
Connor nodded again. ‘That’s how I feel about photography. I love it and learning everything I can.’
It felt good to work and chat with Connor. It was so easy being with him. The other thing I liked was that he was from my world. Even though it hadn’t ever been a problem with JJ, I couldn’t help but wonder whether, in time, the differences in our lifestyles would have come between us.
When we’d finished our work, we made a date for the next day to meet up in Highgate near where Connor lived. ‘So we can walk Raffy,’ he said, but I got the feeling it was also so we could be away from brothers and fathers and security men. He arranged to pick up Raffy from Pia and Henry at the park, so I walked him to the side gate that led out of Porchester Park and punched in the security number to let him out.
‘You like living here?’ he asked as the gate slowly began to open.
I shrugged. ‘It’s different. The apartments are stunning, I wish I could show you them. The rooms are as big as tennis courts and some of them have amazing works of art, like, the real thing, a real Picasso, not a poster.’ I knew I shouldn’t really be talking about private details, Dad had drummed it into me enough times, but I knew I could trust Connor.
‘Would you live here if you had the money?’ he said, then laughed. ‘Oh, but you do live here. You know what I mean.’
‘No way. I’d buy somewhere in Cornwall or somewhere with trees,’ I said.
Connor laughed. ‘Yeah, me too.’
He gave me a light kiss, then went through the gate. ‘See you tomorrow,’ he said. Three words but they were loaded.
‘Later,’ I said with a grin and went back in to find Charlie had come downstairs.
‘So, what’s going on there then?’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Connor.’
I grinned. ‘Early days. Nothing’s really happened between us.’
I updated him on the JJ situation and that he would no longer be studying in the UK so felt it would be unfair to tie me down to any commitment. Charlie shrugged and said, ‘Bummer.’ I knew I wouldn’t get much more out of him. He never said much when it came to talking about relationships so I moved on, told him more about the tour and showed him some of the pictures.
He glanced over them politely, but I could tell he wasn’t really concentrating and soon he got up and put his jacket on. He wanted to go over to see Flo. ‘By the way, I saw Keira out front when I arrived home,’ he said. ‘She’s not been giving you a hard time, has she?’
I felt a shiver and wondered just how often she was out there watching my movements. ‘She’s been sending nasty messages again, but I try to ignore them. I don’t like the idea of her hanging about, though. What do you think she wants?’
‘She wants to get a life, that’s what. Have you told Dad? Hanging about outside where we live is weird, even for her.’
‘I haven’t told him. I’ve been really busy and he always is, but I’ll think about it,’ I said. ‘Best rule is don’t engage with nutters, though, don’t you think?’
He shrugged. ‘I guess. But let me know if there’s anything I can do.’
‘Will do.’
Dad came home a few moments later to greet Charlie and I sat and listened as they had their catch-up. I wondered if this was the moment to tell him about Keira.
‘Jess has been fantastic,’ he told Charlie. ‘She’s worked very hard both here at Porchester Park and then for Stephanie. My two wonderful children. I’m so proud of both of you and the way you’ve interacted with the residents since you got here, as friends with some of them and Jess working as a member of staff and then for Stephanie. You have done Porchester Park proud.’
This was not a moment to ruin by telling him that actually a nutjob was hanging around outside. Maybe another time but my feeling was that it was my problem and I wanted to deal with it on my own.
When they’d gone, I thought back to the kiss with Connor. I never expected to feel anything so strongly so soon after JJ leaving but there was no denying it. There was something very special there. If it wasn’t for Keira, life would be almost perfect.
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