‘Thank you kindly.’
All too soon, the class was over. The feedback was extremely positive with most attendees saying they’d come to future meetings and several saying they’d love to attend a course run by Jed.
‘What do you think about running courses?’ Skye asked Jed as we cleared away.
‘I have to say, I’ve loved tonight. I’ve only taught my kids before and I liked having a bigger audience so I’m not averse to it, but there’s a lot of family stuff going on at the moment so it’s not something I could consider now.’
‘You’re an amazing teacher,’ Skye said, ‘so I hope that chance does come up somewhere down the line. In the meantime, you’ve inspired me to pick up my paintbrushes again so thank you for including me in this.’
‘Had Skye stopped painting?’ I asked Jed after Carly and Skye left.
‘Yes. Her jewellery was selling well but her paintings weren’t shifting so she got a bit despondent with the art and focused her attention on what was making her some money. I’m glad she’s feeling inspired again. I’ll be interested to see what she produces. If her style complements mine and Anastasia’s I might stock some of her paintings in the gallery too.’
‘I hope you get a chance to run some courses when things settle,’ I said, slipping my arms round his waist and gazing up at him. ‘I might have to enrol myself. I like you in sexy tutor mode.’
His eyes sparkled as he laughed. ‘Sexy tutor? Really?’
‘Oh, yeah! Very sexy.’ I melted into a kiss.
‘I wish I could saylet’s continue this upstairs,’ I said, reluctantly pulling away. ‘But my parents are waiting for me and hopefully still speaking to each other. It was tense earlier.’
Jed didn’t want to slope off without saying helloto Mum and Dad so I briefly outlined their reactions as I led him up to the flat, keen for him to be prepared in case there was an atmosphere. Fortunately, I found them sitting close together on the sofa with Hercules sprawled across their laps, laughing at a reality TV show involving naked people. I didn’t like to ask what it was.
‘I won’t stay long as I know you’ve got things to discuss,’ Jed said as Dad pressed mute on the remote control.
‘You don’t have to leave,’ Mum said. ‘This involves Tara so it involves you too.’
It transpired that, after I left, they’d had a heart-to-heart and had both concluded that they were goingto meet Leanne but they were going to ask her for proof that she was pregnant. The scan photo wasn’t sufficient as it could be someone else’s or even faked so they were going to invite Leanne to attend a private scan at their expense and see for themselves. If she refused, it would likely indicate a lie. If she acted offended by the request for proof, they’d remind her of all the times she’d let them down before. And if it turned out she was pregnant, they’d take it from there.
‘We don’t want to get into a conversation with her on the phone,’ Dad said. ‘Would you mind contacting Krystal and setting up a meeting for us? Your mum has a hospital appointment tomorrow so we’ll go to Claybridge and meet her in the Judge and Quill at noon on Friday.’
‘The Judge and Quill?’ I asked. ‘Is that a real pub?’
Mum rolled her eyes. ‘It is. Your dad’s sick sense of humour.’
I couldn’t help laughing. ‘Okay, I’ll make the arrangements.’ I wasn’t happy about it but I thought they were being very fair in the way they were handling it. Only time would tell whether Leanne was out to dupe them again.
35
JED
The following morning, Anastasia’s prints and cards arrived and I needed to step into her marketing shoes, taking photos and videos of her unboxing everything and displaying her cards in the racks and her prints in the displays. Even though she hated having her photo taken, she’d accepted that it was a special moment which she’d never experience for the first time again.
By lunchtime, we’d already sold a couple of her prints and I felt so privileged that I’d been able to make her dreams come true. But as the day wore on, she kept glancing at her phone, a frown on her face.
‘Is everything okay?’ I asked, catching her doing it again.
Her cheeks flushed. ‘Sorry, I’ll put it away.’
‘I don’t mind. I’m just worried about you. You look fed up.’
‘I am and I’m annoyed with myself about it. Truth is, I clicked with someone at The Friendship Pod last night – Colin – and he asked for my number. I don’t normally do things like that but I felt this instant connection with him so I typed my number into his phone and he said he’d be in touch today but I still haven’t heard from him. I knowtodayhasn’t ended and perhaps hemeant this evening. I just hope he’s not going to play it cool and take five days to get in touch. I don’t like it when people say one thing and do another.’
‘Does he know you work here?’
‘Yes.’
‘That could be it. Lots of retailers ban personal phones during business hours so he could well be waiting until you’re finished for the day.’
