The journey home was almost silent and as she pulled into her parking bay her phone beeped again. She checked it quickly and saw a message from Lucy.
Chapter 46
Letting them into the flat, Tasha said, “Lucy and Ryan won’t be back for another hour.”
She stood in the kitchen resting her hands on the counter top while Jim stood behind her.
“Are you okay now? Deb seemed kinda nice.”
“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “Thank you for inviting Dan and Pippa to stay,” she added, hoping to move on from all things Deb, Gerry and Kara.
“If you’re going to share my house you should have your family around too. What’s the story with Lottie? The name you had chosen?” He sounded confused and irritated and wasn’t ready to change topic, yet.
“Gerry and I talked, in theory, about having children, in the future and he had some weird suggestions for names, all very arty. I’m a bit more traditional with names and when I said I liked the name Charlotte, Lottie for short, he liked it too and it stuck. That was all it ever was though, talk.”
“But you told me you weren’t sure you wanted children, or is that just with me, the rich, old guy?” he asked, reusing Pippa’s phrase, but sounded sad, worried at the rehashed words.
“No. I still don’t know if I want kids, but I assumed I would and I assumed they’d be with Gerry as we were living together.”
“So, my age isn’t an issue for you?” he asked cautiously.
“No. In fact, forty is the new thirty and you are in better condition than a lot of twenties I know,” she said reassuringly as she turned to face him.
“Good, but Lottie doesn’t float my boat, baby. Can you imagine a Lizzie and a Lottie?” he asked, gently stroking her cheek, tracing a line along her jaw until he was cupping her face.
“Are you still pissed with me?” she asked bluntly, assuming after her tantrum and his chastisement of it he probably would be.
“A little. I understand your annoyance and frustration this afternoon, but you need to learn how to deal with situations like an adult rather than a sulky teenager,” he told her honestly and she couldn’t really disagree with him. “Otherwise you will very quickly get a reputation as a diva in Hollywood.”
She nodded. “Your charm offensive worked well.”
“On who?” he asked, massaging her shoulders.
“Everyone, and my grandparents don’t warm easily.” She moved back into his fingers manipulating her shoulders.
“What about you?”
“Your charm always works on me and as you know I warm very easily for you.”
“You are very tense, Tasha,” he said, working on a knot in her shoulder, making her cry out. “Are you warm for me now, honey?” He lowered his mouth to her shoulders he’d pushed her dress off.
“Maybe you should charm me out of my pants again and check,” she suggested. “It may relieve some of my tension.”
“Or not. You told me to keep out of it this afternoon and pissed me off with your petulant teenager routine, and then you were going to send a kiss to your friend, Jerome. Maybe I will just keep you wanton.”
“I was upset and I send everyone a kiss.” It was the truth, she always ended messages and often emails with a kiss. Maybe it was a generation thing. She was so used to an age of messaging rather than speaking and liking and following in a way Jim and his generation probably weren’t.
“Not anymore you don’t. If you wouldn’t kiss them for real don’t put it on a text,” he said firmly. “And we keep coming back to appropriateness; Mr Stewart is your family’s legal representative and as such is a formal relationship. He is not your friend and you are not his.”
“And yet you insist on calling him my friend.” Tasha knew this would be viewed by Jim as further evidence of petulance and maybe it was, but he couldn’t have this both ways. He was or he wasn’t her friend and Jim needed to decide which he was.
“Really? You want to play it that way? Do you want him to be your friend, Tasha?”
He had removed contact from her shoulders and taken a step back but still observed her closely, maybe too close for comfort. She’d started this so she might as well air it aloud.
“No, I don’t, not like you infer when you refer to him or anyone else asmy friend. However, I don’t see the need to keep everyone of the opposite sex in a secure box of friend, lover or necessary evil in my life.”
