Chapter 15
Film Night
Liv started to work on Saturdays while Jake and the boys played football. She stayed later into the afternoon, relishing her time at the flat rather than the park. As she wrote, she looked down at all the people milling around the market stalls in the streets below. Many of them were likely to be Georgia Rory fans.
She imagined dropped jaws, hands pressed to mouths and sobbing when the news emerged that Essie Starling had died. She knew she’d also relive it again, and she channelled her heightened feelings into her work. Her desire to craft the perfect ending to Georgia’s book, and ultimately the series, pushed her on through the next couple of weeks. Time was ticking away.
One Saturday, she arrived home and felt stripped of energy. She had never thought writing could be so physically and mentally draining. She’d acted out more scenes, cried, laughed, and developed a stiff neck and even sore knees from sitting at the desk. She longed to flop on the sofa and zone out in front of the TV. Each Saturday night, the Green family got together to watch a film and she wondered whose turn it was to choose.
Liv liked comedies the most. Jake was a thriller kind of guy and Johnny enjoyed action movies.Mack had developed a worrying taste for killer clowns that no one else shared. Liv worried they’d all have to sit through blood, gore and greasepaint.
As she took off her shoes and shrugged off her blazer in the hallway, she froze and wondered if she’d entered the wrong house. This one had no music blaring, or shouting going on. ‘Um, hello?’ she called out and stuck her head around the living-room door.
Jake sat on the sofa alone. The TV was on low volume and all the cushions were placed neatly on the sofa, instead of lying on the floor where the boys usually left them. ‘Had a good day?’ he said.
She arched an eyebrow at how tidy the room looked. ‘Is everything okay?’ she said.
‘Yep, all’s fine. You shouldn’t be working at the weekend, though.’ He patted the seat next to him. ‘Fancy a sit-down. The boys have gone out.’
‘Both of them?’
Jake grinned. ‘I may have bribed them with pizza vouchers. They were free in a newspaper.’
It was then Liv noticed the scented candle flickering on the coffee table, even though it was bright outside. Rather than his weekend jeans and T-shirt, Jake wore trousers and a smart blue sweater, his date night attire. Usually, she’d feel a gush of tenderness towards him, but she was so tired her bones felt like they’d been replaced with mashed potato.
‘I thought we could watch a film together,’ he said. ‘Just you and me.’
Upstairs, Liv took off her floral dress and tie, and put on her black dress and pink socks instead.
When she slumped next to Jake on the sofa, he took hold of her hand and stroked it, as if it was a pet gerbil.
‘I thought we could watch something, um…’ He gave her a coy shrug. ‘Romantic.’
Something inside Liv slid like an avalanche. All she wanted to do was stare at the TV screen. ‘Sure,’ she said blankly.
‘We’ve both been working so hard. We could do with relaxing and forgetting everything else for a while.’
It was something she’d been imploring him to do over the years, and which he’d ignored. There were many things they could be doing instead right now, talking about the mounting bills on their worktop, Johnny’s forthcoming student accommodation and the Paperpress finances. But he was right, they both needed this little oasis of time together.
Jake reached an arm around her shoulder. The brush of his bicep against her neck made her stomach ripple unexpectedly. A trickle of heat slowly radiated throughout her body, overtaking the tiredness. She had grown used to summoning up the feeling at will when she wrote about Georgia, but hadn’t experienced it with Jake for quite some time.
Her muscle memory kicked in, and she remembered the sensation of how her bare skin felt next to his. When Jake leaned over to kiss her, his lips were soft and tasted of cinnamon. Liv found herself sinking into him, becoming a little giddier as she imagined their evening together.
‘Shall we watchTitanic?’ he said, which made her feel even more attracted to him.
She curled her legs on top of his. When the movie started they cuddled even closer, and Jake ran his thumb along her thigh and back again. They kept glancing shyly at each other, sharing smiles and small kisses.
As Kate Winslet stood at the bow of the ship with outstretched arms and the wind in her hair,Jake’s phone buzzed on the coffee table. Katrina’s name lit up the screen.
Liv thought about kicking it out of sight. ‘Don’t answer it,’ she whispered as Leonardo DiCaprio sang into Kate’s ear, and they entwined fingers. ‘Call her back later.’
Jake stared at the TV. His phone stopped vibrating and he held his palm to his chest.
Liv was proud of his resistance. She took hold of his other hand and kissed his fingertips, one by one. ‘Perhaps it’s time for an interval,’ she said seductively.
Jake grinned. ‘I don’t think we have any ice cream.’
‘We don’t need it.’ Liv climbed onto his lap. She brushed a hand over the face she’d loved for over twenty years and their eyes met greedily. She pressed her mouth against his and pushed a hand under his sweater. She imagined she was Georgia.
