‘I’d love one, but I really must get on.’
‘Shame.’ Henry turned away from me, reaching for a mug. ‘Oh, sorry, you wanted to meet Kateryna and have my contact number?’ He glanced out of the window. ‘I think Kateryna has headed off somewhere. She said she was going to pick up my dry cleaning. But, look, I can see you need to get off.’ He found a pad, quickly wrote down a number and handed it to me with a smile. ‘There, does that make you feel a bit better?’
It did. I nodded.
‘The thing is, Jessica, it’s good for Ruby to have friends round, and your daughter seems to be a good influence on her.’
Lola was? Well, that made me feel very proud. Lola might be an absolute pain in the backside at home, but she was apparently on her best behaviour here. Shades of Kevin and Perry, I reckoned.
‘Ruby can be a bit of a handful at times, Jessica. Sometimes I don’t think I’m getting it a bit right. And now she’s eleven – thinks she’s at least fifteen – this is when she needs a strong female influence to keep her on the right track.’
‘Look,’ I said, ‘if there’s anything I can do to help?’ Goodness, this man was rather lovely. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand as he patted my arm.
‘Jessica, that’s so kind.’
‘I must go,’ I said reluctantly. Much as I wanted to be up at The White House with Fabian and Kamran, I would love to have sat here, in this wonderful kitchen, drinking coffee and finding out more about Henry CB.
‘Listen, Jessica…’ He hesitated. ‘I don’t suppose… I mean, have you made plans for this evening? You probably have… You’re probably busy?’ Henry appeared shy. How could an intelligent, gorgeous man like this be shy? ‘Sorry, forget it…’
‘I’m not doing anything.’ I smiled at him.
‘Look, I shouldn’t ask, but I need to sort Ruby – and your daughter of course – with food. I was going to cook them something here – try out a new recipe I’ve found for mac and cheese.’
‘Isn’t mac and cheese, well, mac and cheese? You know, however you make it?’ I laughed in order to hide the huge surge of disappointment I was feeling. The man just wanted me to cook; a replacement housekeeper now this Kateryna woman didn’t appear to be around.You are ridiculous, Jessica, I censured myself, the smile still fixed on my face.
‘Suppose.’ Henry gave a rueful laugh himself. ‘Don’t forget, I have nowhere near your expertise with cooking. All very experimental, I’m afraid.’ He stared at me then, running a hand through his blond hair, holding my eye. ‘The thing is, I really would love to spend some time with you, Jessica. Get to know you… Oh dear…’ Henry paused, obviously embarrassed. ‘I hope you don’t think I’m being too forward. The thing is, from the moment I met you, I felt, you know…?’ He trailed off. ‘Look, Jessica, I’d love you to join me for supper. Would you…? I mean, if you’ve nothing else planned. Sorry, shouldn’t have asked…’
This man was gorgeous. And he was inviting me round for me! Forme, and not just to feed his daughter.
‘Why not?’ I smiled back. ‘That would be really, really lovely!’
27
Kamran certainly knew how to get things done. There must have been twenty men working on and around the huge diggers and tarmacking vehicles creating the new entrance and road from the country lane above The White House. We’d discussed, weeks earlier, how we’d imagined the entrance and, although Kamran had wanted something a little jazzier, both Fabian and I had voted for a simple design for the restaurant signage board up on the lane, as well as hanging outside the actual building itself.
I’d parked the van in the care home car park, leaving a delighted Arthur with his equally delighted fan club eagerly awaiting his arrival. The majority of the residents loved having Arthur there, each determined that he should favour only them with his presence, cocking a snook at a rival when Arthur made his decision to lie at the feet of whoever he liked the most. Or whoever had the best treats hidden up a sleeve or in a cardigan pocket.
I walked up through the care home’s grounds where a band of landscape gardeners was already hard at work clearing years of neglect. There were at least two acres of overgrown rose bushes, vegetable gardens gone to seed and fruit trees desperately in need of pruning and attention. I paused momentarily before continuing on to the newly laid road winding round The White House itself where I made the decision to carry on up to the lane above to see the work in progress there.
‘Wow!’ I said the word out loud, just gazing at the simple black signage which was in the process of being hung by two lackeys up a couple of ladders. All black, with gold lettering. Having got our own way with everything else, Fabian and I had conceded Kamran the gold rather than the white we’d wanted. A small pencil sketch of The White House was the only thing to break up the black and gold. And it worked. Goodness, did it work.
‘You all right?’ one of the men shouted down at me as I continued to just gaze skywards. ‘Bit windy up here though,’ he added conversationally when I didn’t reply.
‘I love it. Absolutely love it.’ I found myself grinning like some sort of demented loon, just taking it all in, gazing at the signage that was proof, if proof were needed, that the restaurant,myrestaurant, was actually about to happen.
‘You all right, love?’ the man said again, looking a bit worried. ‘The place isn’t open yet, you know. You looking for a job down there?’
‘I already have one,’ I shouted in the man’s direction. Honestly, could life get any better?
‘So, you’ve finally accepted you’re going to be involved here then?’ I turned to find Robyn standing behind me, gazing up at the new sign. ‘I followed you up, but you didn’t hear me calling.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m going for it. I can do this.’
‘Of course you can.’ Robyn squeezed my arm, but continued to watch the workmen as they adjusted the angle of the sign. ‘We’ve been telling you this forever.’
‘So, what areyoudoing up there?’
‘I called round at yours to see Joel – and you and Lola of course – but the place was deserted. Where’s Joel?’ She looked round. ‘And Lola? Who’s looking after Lola?’
