He followed the curve of the driveaway and parked alongside Jamie’s car.
He sat for a moment and turned off the engine. “You want me by your side. As a friend.”
“Yes, of course as a friend.”
But now she was thinking of the way he’d looked when he’d walked out of the shower. The width of his shoulders. The swell of hard muscle. The intense blue of his eyes.
Her mouth went dry.
She sneaked a look at him and saw him nod.
“Of course I’ll come in with you. No problem.”
She should have felt instant relief and she did, but that relief was threaded with something else. Something she didn’t recognize or understand.
Something that made her wonder if, maybe, his presence wasn’t going to make things easier after all.
Chapter14
Jenny
Jenny pulled a tray of mince pies from the oven and put them on the rack to cool. She and her mother, with help from Rosie, had been cooking since breakfast for the party, while Jamie and Declan had balanced on ladders stringing lights around the trees in the back garden that Roy the roofer hadn’t had time to do.
It was a cosy family moment, or would have been if it hadn’t been for Hayley, who was fiddling self-consciously with a half-drunk cup of coffee as she watched Jenny and Rosie roll out pastry and assemble mince pies. When Jenny had asked earlier if she’d like to help, Hayley had shaken her head.I’m not much of a cook. I’ll probably ruin them and poison everyone.
Jenny had carried on chatting, keeping the conversation neutral, but now she made a decision. No matter that she occasionally wished secretly that everything could just stay the same for five minutes and not change, that was never going to happen. And she was honest enough with herself to know that if that did happen, she’d be worried because she wanted her children to have love in their lives, even if it changed the shape of their family.
She’d always considered herself to be the glue that held them all together. She was the conductor of the family orchestra, drawing all the individuals together, making them aware of each other. When the children were young, she’d refereed their fights, taught them to listen and pay attention to each other, and help each other when they could. That had continued to a lesser extent even after they’d left home. She knew they were busy and sometimes the effort of keeping connections going slipped to the bottom of the priority list, so she sent them small reminders.
Have you remembered Granny’s birthday?
Don’t forget to wish Rosie luck for the performance tonight.
She’d once sent Rosie across London to check on Jamie, who had been ill with flu and wasn’t answering his phone. Rosie had ended up looking after him for three days and she’d never let her brother forget it.
And now it was time for her to draw Hayley in.
It was up to her to accommodate this new version of her family.
Yes, she was upset that Hayley and Jamie had married in secret, but that was history. Even she could see this was one of those moments when you had to step over your own feelings and move on. And she had to admit she’d never seen Jamie so relaxed and happy. Watching him smiling at Hayley and exchanging anecdotes had gone a long way to healing the hurt in her chest.
For better or worse, Hayley was now part of the family, and Jenny could see she was anxious about it. She kept glancing out of the window at Jamie, as if wondering when he was going to rescue her.
Jenny thought back to the Christmas movie she’d watched (admittedly on fast-forward, because she’d been very short on time). It had included a scene just like this one, where three generations of the same family were baking together in thekitchen, so she’d been hoping this would tick one of the boxes on Hayley’s “Dream Christmas” bucket list. But that wouldn’t happen if Hayley was a spectator. Being on the fringes of something was awkward. It gave you time to focus on all the things you were anxious about. It was important that she felt included.
“Hayley?” She decided to be more proactive. “It would be a great help if you could make cinnamon spice biscuits? They’re a family favourite.” She saw a flicker of panic in Hayley’s eyes.
“I have no idea how. I’ve never baked anything.”
“Never?” Rosie looked intrigued. “What do you do when you’re stressed?”
“I do a workout. I run.” Hayley’s cheeks were pink. “I use exercise, basically.”
“Well, that’s a lot healthier, but nothing beats the comfort of baking,” Rosie said.
Hayley shook her head. “I’d ruin them.”
“You wouldn’t.” Jenny intervened. “And it wouldn’t matter if you did. We’ve all had disasters in the kitchen. Like the time Rosie forgot to put sugar in my birthday cake. Remember that?”
