“How did you find out then?” Luke asked.
“I hired a private investigator. He found her over a year ago. So, when we had the Christmas tour break I went to see her mum.” Jake leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. “I have never been so nervous in all my life.”
“Christ buddy, how did she take it, you turning up like that? In fact how did she take it being you – Jake Hughes?” Jake smiled, remembering how tongue tied Abbie’s mum had been when she opened the door. “She was okay, but she had no idea that Abbie and I shared the same father. When I told her why I was there, she was shocked. Shocked at not only who my dad was, but also that I had no idea who my sister was.”
“Did her name not ring a bell?” Martha asked.
Jake shook his head. “No, because I was looking for Abigail Humblekirk; Sinclair is just a stage name.”
Luke laughed. “No wonder she changed her name.”
“So did her mum tell you who she was straight away?”
“No, not straight away. I told her that I wanted to meet Abigail and help them out financially because I was damn sure my dad hadn’t given any child support over the years.
“What did she say to that?” Luke asked, still with a bewildered frown.
“She politely refused the offer. Although, I have to admit when I saw where they lived I kind of got the impression they didn’t need it,” Jake replied. “They live in a huge house and aren’t exactly on the poverty line.”
“But was she okay about you turning up like that?” Luke rubbed a hand across his head. “Because personally, I don’t know how I’d feel if some long lost brother of Betty’s turned up.”
Martha took his hand and squeezed it. She knew that Luke thought of Betty as his own, but sometimes worried about her real father turning up.
“She was fine about it,” Jake continued. “Abbie knows her dad isn’t her dad. When she was sixteen, Abbie heard them discussing whether to tell her or not.”
“So she already had Abbie when she met her husband then.” Martha said as she poured more tea.
Jake shook his head. “Oh no, she was married to him when she met my dad. Let’s just say Mr Humblekirk is one very forgiving man.”
“Shit!” Luke gasped. “No way.”
“Yeah. Pretty amazing man eh?”
Luke and Martha both nodded in unison.
“So, that’s one of the reasons that Abbie didn’t want it to get out in the media. To respect Mr Humblekirk, and also because he’s standing for Mayor of the town where they live.”
“And obviously the fact that his wife had an affair wouldn’t help his campaign,” Martha stated.
“No my little cherub, it wouldn’t. It’s not a very liberal thinking town by all accounts.” Jake sighed and took a drink of his tea. “Anyway, he didn’t want people bad mouthing Abbie’s mum either, so that’s why we’ve not commented in the media about our relationship.”
“Why be so public about it then?” Luke asked. “I mean, you know the deal Jake. What the press don’t know they’ll make up, or Photoshop.”
Jake thought carefully about whether he should tell his friends everything. But he knew deep down he ought to. Although it wasn’t exactly his place, he knew that Abbie wouldn’t mind. They’d already discussed it and agreed that if she was going to get past her problems then she would need all the support she could get.
“Okay,” Jake said through a sigh. “The thing is Abbie was in rehab the first time I met her, and for the following six months.”
“Rehab?” Martha echoed.
Jake nodded. “Yep, crack is her drug of choice, that and sleeping pills.”
Jake glanced at Luke whose face had blanched. “Crack?”
“Yeah,” Jake replied. “She had a pretty bad habit. She got out just over seven months ago, and I figured after what we’d experienced with Skins, I could help.”
“So that’s why you went over there after Amber left?” Luke said.
Jake swallowed and nodded. The mere mention of Amber made his heart skip.
“It’s been a long hard road to recovery,” he said. “The press frenzy first started when I picked her up from rehab and we were spotted going into her apartment by a National Enquirer reporter. After that they just wouldn’t leave us alone.”
“So why didn’t you just come home, Jake. You could have brought her here.” Martha reached for Jake’s hand. “We’re your family, we’d have helped.”
“I know,” Jake replied, giving her a grateful smile. “But there were a few reasons why I didn’t come back. For one, it was part of her release conditions that she did community work twice a week for four months, and it had to be in California State. Plus…well plus, after what happened to Luke when Skins OD’d I didn’t think it was fair to bring that to your door again.”
Jake looked down at the table, not wanting them to see the hurt in his eyes. Because the third reason was that being away from here meant he didn’t hurt so much about Freckles. Having to concentrate on getting Abbie better had kept him occupied, and kept his mind from wandering – from remembering.
Luke gently scuffed the top of Jake’s head. “This is different, dude. Plus I’m different, I’ve got Martha now.” Luke’s voice broke as he remembered how he’d shut off his emotions when his best friend was going through a nightmare. So much so that it had caused him to have chronic stage fright, only getting over it when Martha came into his life.
“I know,” Jake replied almost in a whisper. “But she’s my little sister and I wanted to help her, to be there for her. And obviously her addiction had to be kept out of the press, so them pursuing the idea we were a couple seemed to divert them from the real issue.”
“And now?” Luke asked.
“Well now I kick Andy’s arse, get my sodding house finished and then Abbie is going to stay with me for a while. She needs to be out of L.A. and away from her vulture of a manager.”
“He’s no good for her?”
“She Luke, she’s no good for her. Pretty much fed Abbie’s habit by organising to put her dealer on the payroll. Bitch!” he spat, his face contorted in anger. “Anyway, Abbie’s happy to take a break from films for a while; in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t give up totally.”
Luke shifted in his seat. “Well I don’t want to be rude buddy, but her films do pretty much suck.”
Jake turned and glared at Luke. “What did you say?”
Luke held his hands up. “I’m sorry, but they do.”
Jake’s face broke into a smile. “Yeah I know,” he said. “But please don’t tell her that, although I’m pretty sure she is aware there are no classics in her portfolio. She’s talked about going back to college and training to be a drama teacher, but she’s not sure.”
“Well she has plenty of time,” Martha replied standing up. “But in the meantime, you go and get unpacked and chill out for a while, and you,” she said pointing at Luke, “go and get your son up while I go and pick your mum up from the station.”
“Hey yeah,” Jake cried. “Where is my favourite woman?”
Luke and Martha eyed each other warily.
“What?” Jake asked, noticing the shifty looks.
“Well, she’s been staying with Auntie Thelma for a couple of days.” Luke didn’t look at Jake as he picked the mugs up from the table.
“Oh, right. Freckles’ mum, Thelma, right?”
“Yeah, right,” Luke replied.
“So how is Freckles, is she doing okay?”
“Yes, I think so,” Martha said also without making eye contact with Jake. “We don’t really hear much of her to be honest.”
“No, how come?” Jake felt as though his heart was hammering in his throat. He hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed until they’d started talking about her.
Martha shrugged. “We just don’t.”
“Still with Douchebag Daniel then?”
Martha gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded.
Jake took in a deep breath and wondered at that moment whether he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by coming back.
Chapter 29
Jake couldn’t sleep. He’d tossed and turned for hours and was no nearer closing his eyes. Thoughts tossed around his mind like bricks in a washing machine. He couldn’t stop thinking about Amber; wondering what on earth she was doing with Daniel, and what he might have done differently when they were together.
And that was what stumped him. As far as Jake was concerned he’d tried to be the perfect boyfriend, and it hadn’t even been a chore for him. Cherishing her, treating her like a princess had come so naturally, so easily because she had deserved it, and he had enjoyed every minute of it.
Then before he knew it she was gone. Back to Douchebag Daniel without even leaving a decent ‘Dear John’ letter. None of it made any sense, especially as the day before, according to Martha, Amber had been angry enough to give her knee a swift and powerful introduction to his family jewels.
Jake huffed out a breath and rearranged his pillows for the twentieth time, but still it did not help. “Fuck this,” he groaned, and swung his legs out of bed.
He pulled on a t-shirt and some sweat pants and padded through the quiet darkness of the house, making his way downstairs and wondering if a drink would help him sleep. As he moved across the hall towards the dining room, and Luke’s Jack Daniel’s stash, he noticed a light under the kitchen door. Someone else couldn’t sleep. The slap of his bare feet on the wood block floor the only sound, Jake went to investigate.
As he pushed the door open he saw Lucia standing at the cooker in her dressing gown, boiling something in a pan.
“Hey Mamma,” Jake whispered, careful not to scare her.
“Oh, hi Jake.’ She beamed at him. “You can’t sleep either?”
Jake shook his head. “Nope. And it’s driving me mad. What you cooking?”
“Hot chocolate, would you like some? It’ll help, I promise.” Without waiting for Jake’s reply, Lucia reached over and took another mug from the cupboard. “Sit down, I’ll bring it over.”
A few minutes later, they were both sipping away, enjoying a warm, comfortable blanket of silence.
“So,” Lucia finally spoke. “How are you really doing? I know at dinner you said everything was good, but I can sense that you’re not very happy.”
Jake raised his eyebrows and laughed. “What makes you say that?” he asked.
“Oh Jake, I’ve known you a long time dear. You’re like a son to me, so what sort of mamma would I be if I didn’t know when one of my boys was hurting, hmm?”
“I’m okay, seriously. What?” he said as Lucia now arched an eyebrow at him. “I am.”
“Jake, please don’t try and fool me. And I’ve figured out it’s to do with my niece.”
Jake shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and lifted his mug to avoid having to speak.
“I can wait Jake, after all neither of us can sleep,” Lucia sighed.
“Okay, okay,” Jake replied. “I miss her, alright?”
“So, do something about it.” Lucia blew on her drink as she eyed Jake over the rim of her mug. “Go and find her and bring her home.”
“Well the fact that she’s with Daniel kind of puts the kybosh on that one Mamma.”
“That’s if she really is with him,” Lucia scoffed. “I don’t believe that story one bit.”
Jake put his mug down and leaned closer. “What do you mean? Last time she spoke to Martha she said she was. Why would she lie about something like that?”
“Oh Jake, you have a lot to learn about women.”
“I do?” Jake smirked, thinking about all the things he had learned about women over the years – but maybe Lucia wasn’t thinking on the same lines.
“Yes you do. For starters, Thelma was very cagey about the whole thing.”
“In what way?” Jake asked, intrigued.
“One minute she said she’d visited Amber, and then the next conversation we had she told me she hadn’t been to London in years. But, that’s where Amber and Daniel live.”
“Maybe Amber went to her?”
Lucia shook her head. “No, she definitely told me she went to see Amber at her flat.
Jake thought about what Lucia was saying. She could be right, Thelma may have been lying. “They could have moved.”
“Oh no, Thelma definitely said they were living in the same apartment; in London.”
Jake rubbed at his temples. It was all giving him a headache.
“I have another theory anyway,” Lucia added.
“What’s that, Mamma?” Jake sighed.
“You’re a rock star who can have any women he desires, and Amber is a young woman who was rejected, had her heart broken and her confidence shattered.”
Jake nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, but that’s no reason to lie about Daniel, or leave in the first place. We were getting on really well.”
Lucia smiled and patted Jake’s hand. “I know dear, according to Martha you were doing the whole boyfriend thing very well.”
Jake grinned. “One does one’s best,” he joked.
“So, maybe she’d actually fallen in love with you…”
“But…”Jake started to speak, but Lucia held up her hand.
“Ah, let me finish. I’ll tell you when you can ask questions. So, as I said maybe she’d fallen in love with you. Then Amber sees Daniel, he says something to upset her, and she reacts violently.”
Jake grinned as he thought of Daniel clutching his family jewels.
“We don’t know what he said to her,” Lucia continued. “So, maybe he said something to make her doubt how you felt about her. Therefore, in Amber’s mind the best option was to leave before you broke her heart, and what better way to maintain her pride than to tell you she’d gone back to Daniel? Right,” Lucia said triumphantly, “you may now ask questions.”
Jake pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes and groaned. “God when did relationships turn so complicated?”
“When love is involved. Next question?”
“Whoa, who said anything about love?” Jake held his hands up in the air.
“Jake, please,” Lucia tutted. “Why do I have to keep telling you boys, I’m old, not stupid? So do you think Amber might have felt insecure?”
Jake dropped his head into his hands and sighed. “No,” he finally replied. “I didn’t give her any reason to, she had my full attention. Anyway, she’d have said something if she wasn’t sure about my feelings. Freckles was never one to play nice with me just for the sake of it.”
“But you were hiding your relationship with Abbie from her, Jake.” Lucia replied. “I know you kept it from everyone, but maybe Amber realised that you were keeping something from her. Plus if Daniel did say something, then it would have made her more insecure.”
Jake thought back to the day that she’d left. It had been the day he’d heard that Abbie was coming out of rehab, and needed him in L.A.
“I was a bit moody that day,” he conceded. “I’d just found out that had to go to L.A. She did pick up on that, and asked me if I was okay.”
“There you go,” Lucia said with a nod. “That must be it. I’d bet my life she’s not with Daniel.”
Jake cocked his head. “You can’t be certain that’s it, surely?”
“No, I can’t, but I wouldn’t mind betting on it.”
He frowned. There was something about Lucia’s argument that was starting to convince him. Maybe it was because he wanted to be convinced; being without Freckles was horrible. Even after all these months there was a constant ache in the pit of his stomach and around his heart. In fact he had actually bought some of her perfume while in L.A., just to be reminded of her smell.
Banging his palms on the table, Jake pushed his chair back and stood up. “Right,” he said, “you’ve convinced me, Mamma. I’m going to see Thelma and she’s going to tell me exactly where her bloody daughter is.”
Chapter 30
> Jake banged on Thelma’s door one more time, but there was still no reply. He had been there for almost ten minutes and was at the point of breaking the damn thing down. Now that he’d got it into his head that Amber had to come home, as was typically Jake, it had to happen immediately. Thelma obviously knew where he could find her, and his patience was wearing thinner than cheap toilet paper.
“Thelma isn’t there,” a voice from the garden to the left shouted. “She’s gone out for the day.”
Jake looked across the neat postage stamp lawn towards the voice. A short, rotund man was leaning against the fence. “You know what time she’ll be back?” Jake asked.
“I do as a matter of fact,” the little man said with a smug grin.
Jake waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, Jake waved him on. “And?” he said. “What time will she be back?”
The man looked thoughtfully upwards. “Well,” he began. “My wife, Deidre is on the same trip, you see. They’ve gone to Leeds Castle for the day. It’s a coach trip with the flower arranging club and…”
Jake sucked his impatience loudly through his nose. He cleared his throat. “Look, I’m sorry to be rude but this is important. When will they be back?”
“Oh,” the man said. He looked slightly offended, and then continued in his nasal, reedy whine. “Well, the coach is due back in town at eighteen thirty, and it’s a ten minute walk from the bus station so I would estimate that…”
“Twenty to seven,” Jake finished for him. “Great. Thanks.”
He started to walk back down the garden path to where he’d parked his car.
“Who shall I say called?” the man shouted.
“Santa Claus.” Jake lifted his hand to gesture his goodbye before getting into the car and slamming the door shut.
“Fuck!” he cursed as he hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. Jake was now at a loss as to what to do. He had to find Freckles today. He had no idea of where she might be and couldn’t wait for Thelma to come home. Then he had an idea. He jumped out of the car and ran to Thelma’s neighbour’s garden gate. Before he even had chance to lift up its latch, the front door opened and the neighbour appeared.
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