She stared at him and nodded. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“We don’t have to get married in Vegas, Tasha. Wherever you want is fine by me,” he said far too seriously.
“I told you before, you’ve never asked me to marry you.”
“I suppose I haven’t asked, but that would give you the option of saying no, and you will be marrying me. It’s a done deal, baby,” he said. “Look, we obviously need to talk about this properly, but until you acknowledge that it’s going to happen, we can’t discuss details.”
She looked at him with a feeling of shock, not because of what he’d said, but the fact that he was spot on. It was a done deal, she would marry him, but she wasn’t ready to admit that to him, not yet.
“We’ll talk about the name change then too,” he added as he put the last of his dinner in his mouth.
“Gerry said that Lenny has been emailing him on a daily basis about the items he wants to buy,” said Tasha, changing the subject to something more neutral.
“Yes, he called me before I flew out here to ask me to make sure that Gerry didn’t sell it to someone else before he has completed the purchase.”
“Gerry wouldn’t do that, he is very honest,” said Tasha with total belief in her defence of her ex-boyfriend.
“Is that why he slept with your best friend? Because he is honest,” said Jim seriously, proving that the topic of Gerry was anything butneutralfor Jim.
“Fair point. But he was stupid, rather than dishonest I think. Should we change the subject?”
“Good idea. What happened with your dad last week?” he asked more gently.
“I did tell you the main points.”
“I think you told me bare facts with a few of the main points relating to you, so now tell me what happened.”
She pushed her plate away and accepted another glass of wine.
“Dan called me to say Dad was losing it completely with Mum and he was scared for himself and Pippa. Lucy insisted on driving so we both went. You could hear them all the way down the street and some of the neighbours were out, including Gerry’s parents who had called him and the police, which I didn’t know at the time. I went in and he was going berserk at my mum and Pippa and Dan were huddled together on the opposite side of the room. They looked so little and scared so I knew I had to do something to get them out. I intervened with my mouth amongst other things. He lost it with me too, but that created enough of a diversion that I could safely send Pippa and Dan out with Lucy and told her to call the police.”
The waiter returned and cleared their plates.
“What did you say to him?” Jim asked.
She took a deep breath. ”For some reason my dad had made a deal with Liam to settle some debt by offering my mum’s services, shall we say.”
Jim stared at her, wildly shaking his head.
“It gets better, or worse. It appears that my mum, who is not always a faithful wife had picked up some, erm, disease and passed it on to Liam, although that could have come from my dad.” She laughed, a little embarrassed and continued. “Liam reinstated the debt and charged interest. Dad was saying things about me and my mum being whores, and that kind of thing, but then he said that at least I hadn’t given Liam anything as I had been a virgin. I decided to tell him quite bluntly that I had slept with Gerry before Liam and then he hit me. He told me I had to give him twenty-thousand for Liam or pay off the debt with my body, so I told him to go and screw himself and that was it then; he hit me a couple of times and then off came the belt. I think I only felt the first couple because the next thing I knew Lucy was on the floor with me and the police were there and Gerry. He took Dan and Pippa back to mine and Lucy followed the ambulance to the hospital, but my mum just kept saying that he didn’t mean it and that Ipush his buttons.”
“Shit, Tasha, had I known the whole story I would have come straight over even with your objections. He is a complete bastard. Why would you want anybody to be with your wife or child like that? To pay offhisdebts!”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want you to change your plans, you are very busy and have far more important things to do than rush to my rescue.”
“No, I don’t, Tasha. There is nothing more important to me than you. When will you realise that?”
She shrugged again and said positively, “But it’s sorted now, over.”
“But he came back, that night outside of your apartment. You said you’d tell me what happened, face to face,” Jim said, still sounding remarkably calm.
“Now?” she asked, checking the time on the restaurant clock.
Jim checked his watch. “We’ll get the bill and you can tell me on the way to the gallery.”
Once outside Tasha said, “We can get a cab to the gallery, or take the underground?”
“Cab,” replied Jim as he hailed one to a standstill.
