by Jill Mansell
“Has she missed me?” Tiff looked pleased.
“Absolutely. We’ve all missed you.” Jake smoothed a lock of Tiff’s hair back from his forehead. “Nuala and Maddy are looking after your mum’s shop. When I went over to tell them you were getting better, they both cried.” Jake shook his head in disgust. “What a bunch of girls.”
“Mum did too.” Grinning, Tiff said, “Did you cry?”
“Watch your language. We’re men,” said Jake. “We never cry.”
“It’s because we have willies,” Tiff agreed, indicating Juliet with a knowing nod of his head. “And they don’t.”
* * *
Jake stayed with Tiff while Juliet showered and changed into clean clothes. She put on the long turquoise dress and lilac cardigan Jake had brought along for her—not perfect, but it could have been a lot worse—and applied lipstick and mascara almost as if the nightmare of the last week had never happened.
“Now, are you sure this is OK?” Juliet asked Tiff for the hundredth time, ten minutes later.
“It’s OK,” Tiff patiently repeated. “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep in a minute. When I’m asleep, you and Jake are going out for something to eat, so if I wake up you won’t be here. But Mel will be here,” he went on, beaming at his favorite nurse, “so it doesn’t matter. She’ll be like my babysitter.”
Cheerily, Mel said, “Better still, I’m free!”
Juliet wondered if all the nurses regarded her as a selfish, hopelessly neglectful mother, waltzing off to a restaurant, leaving her fragile seven-year-old son all alone in his hospital bed.
“Oh, please,” Mel tut-tutted good-naturedly, catching her look of anguish. “Don’t even think it. We’re sick of the sight of you! Off you go.”
“And Mel’s the boss,” said Jake, whose idea it had been. “Do as she says or she’ll zap you with a defibrillator.”
“Jake will have his phone with him,” Juliet told Tiff. “If you want me, all they have to do is ring us. We can be back here in five minutes.”
“Night, Mum.”
“And we’ll be back in two hours, whatever happens.”
“K,” mumbled Tiff.
Oh God, how could she do this to him? How could she heartlessly abandon him? “Look,” Juliet said in desperation. “If you’d rather we stayed—”
“Mum?”
“What, darling? What is it?”
“Could you not make so much noise?” Tiff murmured. “I’m trying to go to sleep.”
Chapter 48
“I can’t believe it. Posh plates,” Juliet marveled. “Wineglasses made out of real glass. Cutlery that isn’t plastic.”
“And candles,” said Jake. “Major health and safety hazard if ever I saw one. It’s playing with fire, having candles at a table.”
Juliet smiled. He’d brought her to Romano’s, an Italian restaurant around the corner from Pulteney Bridge with a good reputation for food and an atmosphere lively and buzzy enough to allow them to talk without being overheard. She didn’t know if Jake had chosen it for this reason, but she was glad to be here.
“Speaking of playing with fire,” Jake went on, “do you feel like telling me how it all happened?”
Juliet nodded. She owed him that much at least. If she was honest, she’d wanted to tell Jake for years.
“I met Oliver when I was twenty-five. I was working for a catering company, providing directors’ lunches in the city. I thought he was wonderful,” Juliet said simply. “I also thought he was single. But he swept me off my feet, and by the time I found out he was married, I was already pregnant.”
“Carry on,” Jake prompted.
Juliet pulled a face. “Well, if this were a film, I’d be the plucky pregnant single woman telling Oliver to take a running jump and soldiering on without him. Except I wasn’t that plucky. I’m not proud of this, but at the time I was scared witless. I had a threatened miscarriage at five months, which meant the catering company couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. After Tiff was born, my landlord refused to renew the lease on my apartment. When Oliver came up with his plan, I honestly didn’t feel I had any other choice. I was so grateful, I just went along with it.”
“So he brought you down to Ashcombe,” said Jake. “Bought the delicatessen and set you up, so that he’d have his mistress and his child living just down the road from his wife.”
“Ex-mistress,” Juliet said firmly. “Our relationship ended the day I found out he was married. We haven’t been sneakily seeing each other, if that’s what you think.”
Jake shrugged and broke open a warm bread roll. “I don’t think anything. I’m just waiting for you to tell me.”
“OK.” Slowly Juliet exhaled. “Oliver didn’t want Estelle to find out, but he really wanted to be able to see Tiff growing up. I was desperate for somewhere to live. It seemed like the perfect answer. I loved Ashcombe from the word go. As long as Oliver’s family didn’t know about Tiff, where was the harm in it? We were all happy.”
And put that way, it sounded perfectly reasonable. But Juliet sensed that something else was bothering Jake.
“And in seven years, there’s never been anybody else,” he said evenly. “Seven years is a long time. So, all part of the agreement, was it?”
There was no point in trying to deny it. Facing him, Juliet said bluntly, “Yes, it was. Oliver didn’t want to see some other bloke moving into the apartment he’d bought for me. Maybe it wasn’t fair of him, but at the time I was more than happy to go along with it. The last thing I needed, or wanted, was to get involved with anyone else. My number one priority was Tiff.”
Jake was incredulous. “And in all that time, you’ve never met another man you’d be interested in getting together with? You’ve never even been tempted?”
“Never seriously.” Shaking her head, Juliet said, “Of course, there have been times when I’ve been…um, tempted. But not getting involved has always worked out for the best.”
“I get it. Now it all makes sense.” Jake paused as the waiter arrived to clear their plates away, and this time Juliet knew exactly what he was remembering. “That first Christmas after you arrived in Ashcombe. I walked you home on Boxing Night from one of Marcella’s parties.”
Juliet nodded. How could she ever forget?
“I tried to kiss you good night,” Jake went on. “You were wearing a blue scarf with silver glittery bits woven into it. And it was really icy outside. Your nose was pink with cold. You wouldn’t let me give you a kiss.”
“Wouldn’t I?” asked Juliet, and Jake shot her a don’t-try-to-bullshit-me look.
“Then I asked you out and you turned me down flat.”
Oh heck. “Did I?”
“Now I know why. Because it was in the tenancy agreement. All part of the bargain you’d struck with Oliver. I really liked you,” said Jake.
Juliet realized that it was her own rapid breathing causing the candles to flicker madly on the table between them.
“I really liked you too,” she told Jake, busily pleating the crimson tablecloth between her fingers. “Which is why I’m extra glad I turned you down.”
Jake’s eyes glittered. “Speak English.”
“Oh, come on, you know what you’re like! Goldfish have a longer attention span than you. I’ve spent the last five years watching you go out with girls and dump them before they’ve had time to tell you their surnames—What?” Juliet demanded heatedly. “Why are you looking at me like that? You know there’s no point in denying it, because it’s true.”
Jake waved away the waiter, approaching with the dessert menus.
“Of course it’s true. I’m not denying it. But has it occurred to you for one second to wonder why it’s true?”
“That’s like wondering why snow is cold. It just is. And you’re the way you are because you’re you.” Juliet prayed she was making sen
se. The intensity of Jake’s gaze was making it hard to think straight.
“OK. Estelle’s found out about you and Oliver.” Jake swiftly changed tack. “She’s left him. So, what now?”
“What d’you mean?”
“I mean, is it happy families time? You, Oliver, and Tiff?”
Juliet shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m completely over Oliver.”
“But you let him rule your whole life!” Jake exploded, causing the group of women at the next table to jump and nudge each other.
“You aren’t listening to me,” Juliet shot back. “I haven’t met anyone else I want to be with.”
“Haven’t you? Haven’t you?” There was a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Defiantly Juliet said, “Nobody who’d make me happy.”
“But how do you know that?” Jake was becoming more and more exasperated. “How can you possibly know that when you’ve never even given anyone a chance?”
“Because I’m not stupid,” Juliet cried. “Because I’ve got eyes in my head. Because I know a heartbreaker when I see one, and I don’t want my heart broken again. Plus there’s Tiff to consider—oof, what are you doing?”
“Getting you out of here.” Having flung a handful of notes down on the table and grabbed Juliet by the arm, Jake hauled her to her feet.
“Oh, don’t go,” protested one of the plump women at the next table. “It’s just getting good.”
“So sorry.” Jake spoke through gritted teeth as he propelled Juliet toward the door.
“She might have wanted a dessert.” The woman, who was drunk, clutched the back of Jake’s shirt and tried to pull him back. “You can’t drag your girlfriend out of a restaurant before she’s had her dessert!”
“She isn’t my girlfriend.” Jake’s tone was brusque as he wrenched his shirt free. “You’re drunk. And if you didn’t have so many desserts, maybe you wouldn’t be so fat.”
“That was rude.” Juliet gasped when he’d bundled her outside, leaving the rest of the women at the table squawking with indignation.
“Do I look as if I care?” Jake, his green eyes glittering with intent, pushed Juliet up against the Bath-stone wall of the restaurant and kissed her.
Properly. Thrillingly. So completely thrillingly that Juliet quite forgot to put up a fight and push him away. Her body was too busy zinging with desire.
“I’ve waited five years for that,” Jake murmured, his breath warm on her temple.
Juliet’s mouth was tingling. In fact, all of her was tingling. She wanted to hit him, because it was all so hopeless.
“I love you,” said Jake.
Tears sprang to her eyes. “And your point is?”
“You didn’t answer my question earlier. I said why do I go from one girl to the next, never bothering to get to know them properly or settle down.” Jake raised her chin, forcing Juliet to look at him. “Do you still not see? It’s because there’s only been one girl I’ve wanted to settle down with, and she wasn’t interested in me. She turned me down.” He paused. “So I did the next best thing and became her best friend instead. Well, pretended to be her best friend.”
“You’re just saying that,” Juliet whispered. She was right, wasn’t she? This was how Jake operated, how he seduced all the other girls in his life, by sweet-talking them into bed, telling them whatever they longed to hear. Of course she wanted to believe him, but what if all he was doing was spinning her a line?
“I love you,” Jake said again, “and I love Tiff as if he were mine. What would Oliver do if you told him we were a couple? Take the deli away from you and kick you out of the apartment?”
Flummoxed, Juliet said, “Well…I, um, maybe…”
“Fine.” Jake shrugged. “No problem. Leave it with me.”
Leaning back against the wall, Juliet felt the smooth stone against her shoulders. For five long years, she’d suppressed her feelings for this man and now they were refusing to stay suppressed a moment longer. Her mouth curving into an unstoppable smile, she pulled Jake back toward her until their bodies were pressed hard against each other, then cupped his face in her hands and—
“Whoa, not so fast.” Deftly sidestepping her, Jake tapped his watch. “It’s gone eight.”
“We don’t have to be back until half past.” Juliet smiled, feeling deliciously wanton, though what they could get up to in broad daylight in the center of Bath in twenty minutes flat, she couldn’t imagine.
“I want to see Tiff.”
Struck afresh by the fear that she was being a neglectful mother, Juliet said, “To check he’s all right?”
“To tell him everything and get him on my side.” Jake looked pleased with himself. “And to tell him that his mother has spent the last five years being a complete durr-brain.”
“Oh well,” said Juliet. “He’s seven years old. He already knows that.”
Chapter 49
The next morning Oliver phoned the unit to find out how Tiff was. Juliet took the call and reassured him that everything was fine.
“He’s doing brilliantly.” She paused. “Are you coming in to see him today?”
Oliver cleared his throat. “Well, er, no. As long as he’s doing well, that’s the main thing. I’ve got a lot on, as you can imagine… Um, give him my best wishes…”
Best wishes. Poor Oliver. He did love Tiff, in his own way.
“I’ll do that.” Juliet nodded, doing her best to keep the smile out of her voice. “I’ll tell him the other thing as well, shall I?”
“Fine, fine. Far better coming from you. I’ll bring him some presents when he’s had time to get used to the idea.” Oliver’s hearty tone couldn’t quite disguise his awkwardness. Now that Tiff was no longer hovering at death’s door, he didn’t know how to handle the situation.
“They’re moving him to the children’s ward this afternoon,” said Juliet.
“What would he like? LEGOs? Scalextric? How about the new PlayStation?”
“Oliver, you don’t have to do that.” If she left it to him, he’d empty the toy store. “Tiff’s fine. He’s got everything he needs.” He would soon, anyway. Tiff was already counting down the minutes until he could be reunited with Sophie.
* * *
Jake left Sophie, who was in a frenzy of anticipation, with Marcella. Considering it was a fairly momentous thing he was about to do, he felt surprisingly calm as he made his way up Gypsy Lane.
Approaching Dauncey House, he removed his sunglasses. It was just gone midday and Kate was at the Angel beginning her lunchtime shift. Oliver Taylor-Trent’s car, a silver top-of-the-range BMW, was parked on the graveled driveway, looking—as it always did—as if it had just been valeted.
Tucking his sunglasses into his shirt pocket and noticing that the flower-filled stone urns on either side of the front door needed watering, Jake rang the bell.
He heard it jangle inside the house. Finally the door opened. Oliver, back from London and wearing a gray business suit, was on the phone. When he saw Jake on the doorstep he said, “Right, right. Doug, I’m going to have to get back to you. OK, fine, bye.”
“I wonder if anyone’s ever gotten it wrong,” Jake said easily.
Oliver frowned. “What?”
“Busy executive businessman barking instructions over the phone to his assistant. They’re discussing a takeover bid for another company. The conversation ends and he says bye. But the assistant thinks his boss has just said buy, so he rushes off to do as he’s been told. Just a thought.”
Oliver said brusquely, “If he were my assistant, he wouldn’t have the power to buy a company.”
Jake looked disappointed. “Not even a little one?”
“Not even a little one.”
“Not even a company as small as mine?”
“What would I want with a company that supplies painted coffins? And
why are we having this conversation?” demanded Oliver. “Hoping to sell up, are you?”
“No.” Jake shook his head, smiling at the thought of Oliver stripped to the waist in the dusty workshop, painstakingly painting the whiskers of a blue Persian onto the lid of a cat lover’s casket. “But I’d like a word. Can I come in?”
Oliver shrugged and stepped to one side, ushering him through. In the kitchen, he set about boiling the kettle and locating a pair of coffee mugs with the air of someone unfamiliar with such a domestic task.
Jake, waiting for the coffee to get made, leaned against the dresser with his arms crossed, surveying the kitchen. It was vast, almost as big as the entire ground floor of Snow Cottage, but there was a sense of sadness and neglect about the room. Their own kitchen might be minuscule by comparison and it might not boast a gleaming Neff oven, custom-made handcrafted units, and a chrome espresso machine as big as a fridge, but Jake knew where he’d rather live.
It took a while, but finally the coffee was made. Jake stayed standing when Oliver handed him his mug and guessed that Oliver would too. Sitting down at the table would give away his this-is-my-house advantage.
Jake guessed right.
“So,” Oliver said at last. “What’s this all about?”
As if he didn’t already have a pretty good idea.
“Juliet. And Tiff. Juliet and I are a couple now. I love her,” Jake said steadily, “and she loves me. I love Tiff as well. We’ve been like a family for years. Even you must know that. But everything’s changed now. We’re going to live together.”
Oliver’s jaw tightened with annoyance. “How can you say you’ve been like a family for years? I may not always be around, but I hear about what goes on from Marcella and Estelle. You’ve never settled for one girl when half a dozen would do. You, stay faithful to Juliet? Don’t make me laugh.” He gestured dismissively. “The pair of you wouldn’t last five minutes. First you’d break her heart, then you’d break Tiff’s. No, I’m sorry, I can’t allow that to happen.”