Tasha sighed out loud. Jim had already changed back to the less stable, more volatile version of himself that he became when they were apart, apart properly. Separated by an ocean. He really did need her to be with him, in his house and in his bed. She replied with a simple and honest response.
Chapter 2
Tasha had just boarded the flight to L.A. and her stomach was doing somersaults; this was it, her first step towards moving to L.A. to be with a man that she’d known for a month. A man she’d agreed to marry and spend the rest of her life with. The same man whose birthday she had been unaware of until his daughter had told her.
In her own mind Tasha considered James to be the crazy one, but surely she was as mad as him to even be considering this. She had made a feeble excuse that she may be out of reach today as she was doing some interviews and spending time with Pippa, which she’d done on Sunday. He’d accepted this and assured her he had a busy day planned himself so would text her later in the evening.
Once settled in her seat, Tasha hoped she would be able to nap. She was tired due to her inability to sleep soundly since Jim had returned home and the flight was no different, with sleep still proving elusive. Her mind was in overdrive with her thoughts consumed by her past, her future, everything. Angie had warned her there had been a few calls from various tabloids looking for stories about her and Jim and her continuing family feud, which seemed to have gone very quiet, for which she was grateful.
She’d contacted Jim who had been dismissive of any stories that may appear, but had contacted P.R. to monitor any potential situations and deal with them accordingly. She had immediately felt reassured by his swift and authoritative control of the situation. She’d pre-warned her grandparents that there was potential for more stories to hit the newsstands. Her granddad was as dismissive as Jim had been and had been full of praise for Jim’s dealing of the situation. Her grandmother had been less dismissive and was concerned that Pippa and Dan could get dragged into the tabloids. She was also worried about Tasha having more stories written about her, stories sold by her own parents. Tasha had taken her grandparents to one side and revealed a very brief and edited overview of her relationship with Liam, which had made her grandmother cry, whilst her grandfather had reacted much like Jim; with outrage, disgust and threats of violence.
She’d been surprised when her grandfather had asked if she would be coming back from America. Almost as surprised as he was when she assured him that she would be. She’d told him she intended to spend as much time out there with Jim as she could which had prompted him to ask if Jim was thereal thing. She’d assured him he was and even went so far as to point out that she thought she may even marry him. Paul had expressed his approval, as had Celia, although with a warning to be careful as he was older than her and she still felt Tasha was looking for a father figure, a positive one this time. She understood that thought process and had missed that figure in her life at times, but her grandfather was a wonderfully positive male role model and whilst Jim did support, guide and help her to set boundaries, he was not a surrogate father for her.
Whilst spending some time with Pippa she had explained that the rich, old guy title made him uncomfortable and showed a lack of respect for him and her. Pippa had promised to stop even though she didn’t see it as being disrespectful when it was only ever intended to be a joke. Dan was still uncomfortable with her since Deb’s presence in his life had been revealed, but after spending the day with them all, including Deb, Tasha had actually realised that her brother’s girlfriend shared the same qualities she’d first found in Kara and apologised to her and Dan for her behaviour the previous week, but stopped short of extending the invitation to L.A. as far as Deb.
Her thoughts moved back to her arrival in L.A. She’d text Juan and Philip the night before, the latter was meeting her at the airport where she’d text Jim and find out what time he would be done, then she would surprise him. She had also decided they should revert back to their Q&A sessions over dinner in order for her to find out more about his past and for him to understand where the boundaries of his questioning lay because although he had made all of the right noises she wasn’t convinced that he fully understood how and when he overstepped the mark.
When Tasha finally landed at LAX she was exhausted and realised her body was almost at bedtime, although L.A. was only on late afternoon. Philip was waiting for her in the arrivals lounge where he propelled himself towards her and as he spun her around, he kissed her.
“Thank God you are here! The old man is a pain in the ass and thoroughly miserable. I do believe he has finally fallen in love,” said Philip. “Oh, and we’ve all missed you too. Lizzie doesn’t know you’re back today because I didn’t think she could be trusted not to blab. Juan is working so couldn’t come and he is monitoring the old man’s every move via Amanda.”
“You are very resourceful and a little deceitful, Philip, I like that.” She laughed as they headed to the car park where Philip’s yellow VW Beetle convertible waited for them.
“You went for a butch car then?” asked Tasha with a hip bump for Philip.
“Oh yeah, I am just one big stereotypical gay hairdresser.” He laughed and continued to discuss his car. “It was a birthday present from Dad and when he went to order it he took Juan, the salesman thought Dad was Juan’s sugar daddy and the car was for him.”
They both laughed at the awkwardness and embarrassment both Jim and Juan must have experienced, although Tasha suspected the younger man’s might have been greater.
“Whereas he is actually my sugar daddy.” She shuddered at the notion of it.
“It really bothers you to think he may be viewed like that, doesn’t it?”
“It does, and he spends money like it is going out of fashion making it look even more like that,” she replied honestly.
“You will have to get over that because he is very generous with the people he loves and I reckon you are at the top of that list, with me, Lizzie and the oldies.” Tasha nodded and was grateful that Philip’s response was as honest as hers had been. “Now text him and make sure he hasn’t slipped under Amanda’s radar and is already on his way home.” She pulled her phone out, preparing to text Jim.
Philip fished his own phone out of his pocket, then briefly looked across at Tasha. “I was going to suggest cooking dinner for us all at ours, and Lizzie, but Juan reckons the two of you won’t leave the bedroom until tomorrow.”
“You are assuming that we will make it as far as the bedroom.” She immediately apologised to Philip who was mimicking vomiting. “Sorry,” she repeated as he paused to rest against the roof of his car.
“I was joking. I like to see him this happy and I may ask for a raise to my allowance in the morning as he will be in such a good mood.” He grinned and again she thought how much like his dad he was.
She composed a quick message.
