Jess ignored him. Yes, he had seen her dishevelled a million times in the past, notably one night when she was eighteen and he’d been back from university, having broken up with yet another small blonde called Mickey. He had turned up at her mother’s house and they had watched two horror movies in a row, making their way through several bags of crisps and a bottle of wine. By then the childish adoration and the teenage infatuation had coalesced into something altogether more dangerous.
She changed fast. Suddenly self-conscious about her new and improved figure, she donned some old sweats and an extremely baggy jumper. She would have tied her hair back but he was right, she’d changed her hair along with everything else.
Instead of long and utterly unruly, it was now shoulder-length and more or less manageable. Tying it back was no longer an option.
She paused, looked at herself in the mirror. Still way too tall but the shorter hair suited her, framed her face, and it was nice not wearing specs. Her eyes were an unusual shade of deep, navy blue. No specs made the most of them.
She took a deep breath and returned to the kitchen to find him halfway through one of the doughnuts, having pushed back his chair so that he could stretch his long legs out at an angle.
‘Aren’t you going to have a doughnut?’ He nodded to the box and she shook her head.
‘Maybe later.’
He’d kicked off the loafers and she tried not to stare at his feet as she moved to make them coffee.
Her nervous system was all over the place and she hated the fact that he could show up here and after all this time, after all her strenuous efforts to move on from limbo land, couldstillmanage to have such a dramatic effect on her.
It was as though his larger than life presence had sucked the oxygen out of the air, leaving it difficult for her to breathe and she was so acutely conscious of his eyes on her as she stirred the boiling water into the coffee. Her entire body felt weird and prickly.
Before, she had been aware of him. Before, he had got under her skin, made her blush, sent her thoughts into disarray. But now that she had decided that he was forbidden fruit he was having an even more devastating effect on her senses and she knew that she had to control her reactions. He wasn’t going to be around for long. She would urge him out just as soon as he’d finished his cup of coffee and then she would perhaps think about going to see her mum.
Or maybe not. Would that be a little too close to running away?
Certainly she would be letting his godfather down because she had promised to do two days with William working on his memoirs. It was a labour of love he had begun when he’d retired from lecturing and she helped transcribe them once a week, using it as an opportunity to have a chat and some dinner with him, make sure he was okay because she knew he was lonely at times.
‘So...have you been avoiding me, Jessica Carr?’ Curtis sipped his coffee, looked at her over the rim of the mug, his green eyes amused and questioning.
‘Don’t be crazy. Why would I avoid you, Curtis?’
‘No idea, but I’m open to suggestions...’
‘I’ve been busy. There’s been a lot of fundraising at the school to help pay for the new wing and computer equipment. I’ve had a lot on my plate.’
‘I know. Seems there’s been a lot on your plate every time I’ve tried to arrange to see you when I’ve been here... You know what they say about all work and no play. But no...wait... I hear through the grapevine that life hasn’t been a case of all work for you of late...’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Dropped by yesterday evening on the way to William but you weren’t in. Hot date, I gather?’ He grinned, his keen green eyes pinned to her face.
‘You’re so nosy.’ She looked at him impatiently but the weight of history between them... How could she not respond to the teasing in his voice? She smiled and rolled her eyes. ‘Youdoknow that my private life is none of your business, Curtis.’
‘If it’s not my business, then whose is it? So? How did it go? Where did you meet him?’
‘A friend of a friend and yes, thank you, it went very well. He’s a teacher, like me, so we have a lot in common.’
‘Sounds dull. Don’t they say that opposites attract?’
‘How do you find your godfather?’ She changed the subject before she could become immersed in a conversation instinct told her to avoid. ‘He seemed a little subdued when I saw him a week ago.’
‘Subdued? How? He’s always upbeat when I talk to him on the phone.’
‘He doesn’t want to worry you, Curtis.’
‘Why would he think that he would worry me by being honest about anything that might be bothering him?’ There was impatience and bemusement in his voice.
‘Why do you think?’
He frowned and tilted his head to one side. ‘Am I sensing an atmosphere between us?’
