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‘I need to know what’s going on.’
‘She’ll tell you when she’s ready. Right …’ Jack stood. ‘I’m going to drive back.’ They headed out to the hall. ‘Will you be all right without a car?’
‘I don’t have a car anyway.’ Nina smiled. ‘I’m sure I can work out how to call for a taxi.’
‘I’m sure you can.’ He gave her a kiss, but not a long one as it really was terribly late now. ‘I’ll pick you up on Sunday afternoon.’
‘We’re taking up all your weekend,’ Nina apologised, her hands loosely together behind his neck.
Jack wasn’t quite so tired now. ‘You could take up a bit more.’
He watched the smile at the edges of her mouth.
‘I don’t want you freezing …’ Jack moved to her ear.
‘It is terribly cold,’ Nina admitted.
‘Then it’s the least I can do.’ Jack smiled.
They had never undressed more quickly, though Nina kept her underwear and T-shirt on to take off once they were in bed and they dived under the covers. Jack turned to her.
‘You smell of garlic.’
‘It was supposed to be a deterrent.’
‘Not for me.’
She wriggled away, but he pulled her back. ‘We have to keep warm.’ He pulled at her T-shirt. ‘Skin on skin,’
Jack said, and he peeled off all her clothing. ‘That’s how you prevent hypothermia. I did mountain rescue once.’
She laughed.
‘I didn’t really,’ he admitted.
But it was exactly how it felt.
As if they were happily trapped on a ledge, waiting, while not wanting the cavalry to arrive, freezing cold and staying warm by the favourite method of all. Afterwards she thanked him for his help with her family and for how he’d handled things tonight.
‘I know I try too hard with them,’ Nina said. ‘You know what it’s like with family …’ Then she remembered their earlier conversation. ‘I thought you all got on?’
‘That’s what they want people to think,’ Jack said. ‘We’re hardly going to air everything in public but, no, I really couldn’t care less about them.’
And he said it so easily, was just so matter-of-fact as he dismissed his entire family, and just a few moments later Nina realised he was asleep. She lay there half the night thinking about the wonderful family he cared so little about and fully realised the impossibility of him ever really caring for hers.
CHAPTER TEN (#u74af242e-9572-5bff-9d60-46eaeba111b8)
‘DO YOU COME here a lot?’ They lay in bed in the morning, before the day had started, and she looked at the man who had brought her family here, who had given them a chance to get away from things properly.
He turned and gave her that devilish smile. ‘It depends what this morning brings.’ And she simply smiled, except Jack did not. He didn’t really want to talk about his time here, but realising all she had trusted him with last night, maybe it was fair to be a bit more open than he would be usually.
‘I came on holiday here when I was younger, stayed in a house close to here.’ He didn’t actually tell her it was the same house.
‘Do your family have a property here too, then?’
‘They have a property nearby but, no, I came here with a school friend and I stayed with his family.’
‘Good?’ Nina asked.
‘It was great,’ Jack said. ‘Best summer of my life. We didn’t do much really—just the beach most days. I bought this place last year when it came on the market and I thought it was too good to pass up. I’m getting plans drawn up. I want to build up and get the view …’
‘And get heating.’
‘Oh, yes.’ They lay in silence for a moment and then Jack turned and looked at her very serious face, could almost hear her worrying about what to say to Janey, how to approach things with her sister. ‘You need to relax.’
‘I know.’
‘You get too tense.’
‘Thanks, Jack,’ she snapped, but she knew he was right. ‘I don’t know what to do today—I mean, she’s hardly going to want to build a snowman.’
‘There’s loads to do here.’
‘Like what?’
‘Outdoor ice skating,’ Jack said, ‘and there’s a whale tour, it’s supposed to be fantastic.’
‘How do you know?’
Jack would rather face the freezing morning than deal with that topic. He’d already said far too much, way more than he usually would, and so he pulled back the blankets and climbed out. ‘I’m going to get the fire in the lounge going and then sort out breakfast.’ He shook his head as she went to climb out. ‘Stay there,’ he offered. ‘I’ll bring you in a coffee.’
Jack set to work building the fire and then he headed off to make coffee, and as he returned with two mugs, he nodded to Janey, who was huddled on the couch. ‘Still here? I thought you’d be out the window.’
Janey gave a reluctant half-smile. ‘Yeah, well, I didn’t fancy freezing to death.’
‘Did you want a coffee?’ Jack asked. ‘I just made some.’
Another shrug and then a nod and when she told him she took it the same as Nina he handed her Nina’s mug and then went and made a fresh one, then headed back into the bedroom.
‘Janey’s up, but not Blake.’
‘She’s up …’ Nina went to pull back the blankets, but Jack very deliberately sat down on her side of the bed.
‘Leave her.’
‘But it might be a good chance to talk to her, before Blake gets up.’
‘Which is why she’s probably sitting on that couch waiting for the door to open,’ Jack said. ‘She was waiting for a lecture from me or an, oh, so casual talk from you. Just let her relax …’
‘It’s so hard, though.’
‘Which is why it’s good you’ve got the whole weekend. Look, I’ll head back soon and you guys can just have some time—she’ll talk when she wants to, Nina.’
‘And if she doesn’t?’
‘Then she was never going to.’
He’d been working with children a long time and was actually very good with adolescents, his slightly aloof, completely unshockable stance giving them confidence. More than most, Jack understood that things weren’t always as they seemed—was never blindsided by the persuasive words of the parents.
They drank their coffee and then headed out, only to be met by the delicious smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen. Nina realised that had she got out of bed the minute Jack had told her that Janey was up, had she dashed to the living room for the essential talk, then this might never have happened. Blake and Janey, standing in the kitchen and serving up a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausages and eggs from the ingedients that Nina had bought from the store last night.
‘This looks lovely.’
‘I’m starving,’ Jack said, and watching Janey serve up he reminded her that Nina was a vegetarian. ‘No sausages for your sister.’
‘It’s …’ She felt Jack’s hand squeeze hers, realised she must not make too much of a fuss. ‘I’ll set the table.’
Jack helped, and not just with the cutlery.
‘Janey is nearly sixteen,’ he pointed out. ‘She should be making breakfast, Nina.’
‘And she is.’
‘And you should be allowed to say you’re a vegetarian and that you don’t eat sausages.’ He looked at her. ‘You would have eaten them, wouldn’t you?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Liar.’ Jack grinned. ‘You’d go against every one of your principles just to please her. You don’t have to be her mum.’
‘I know that. But she needs more than just a big sister.’
‘No,’ Jack said. ‘She just needs you to be you and she needs to take on some of the responsibility too. What were you doing at that age?’
He left her for a moment to ponder and when he returned with orange juice and glasses she answered his question, because at fifteen years old her part-time job in the hardware store had made a vital contribution to the family.
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