Twenty-seven
‘Mum?’ Savannah said, standing on the other side of her bedroom doorway. ‘Seriously? You let him leave thinking you believed something disgusting just happened? Him andme? You think I’ddosomething like that?’
Jenny saw her daughter’s worried face and felt her stomach drop. What was she doing? Why hadn’t her first reaction been to acknowledge the embarrassing mistake for what it was? Why had she practically accused Nick and Savannah of … The idea was preposterous. She was an idiot.
‘No. No, I don’t. I don’t,’ Jenny said, crossing the room to reach her daughter. ‘I don’t know what just happened. I … Of course I don’t think you’d do anything like that. It just … I wasn’t expecting to walk in on … that.’
‘Well, welcome to the club—it was somewhat of a rude shock to me too … but it was an accident. I slipped over andhe saved me from breaking my neck. Of course, now I have to live with the mortification of my mother’s boyfriend having seen me buck naked. Luckily I still have my psychiatrist on speed dial.’
‘Oh my God. I don’t know what I was thinking,’ Jenny said, burying her face in her hands. ‘I’m so ashamed.’
‘Well, in your defence, it would have been the last thing you’d be expecting to see … Still, what the hell, Mum? Idohave standards, you know. If I was going to make a play for some guy, it wouldn’t be my mother’s seconds. Please,’ she said disdainfully, ‘give me a little credit.’
Jenny’s head was spinning. She replayed the entire horrible experience and cringed. Why hadn’t she told Nick that she knew he wasn’t capable of something like that? Why hadthatbeen her first reaction? She wouldn’t blame him if he never spoke to her again.
‘Just go and talk to him,’ Savannah said gently.
‘I can’t,’ Jenny said, shaking her head. ‘I feel like such an idiot.’
‘The same way he’s probably feeling. You have to sort it out. It’s only going to get weirder the longer you leave it.’
Savannah was right, of course, but the sting of humiliation still marked Jenny’s cheeks, the skin hot beneath her palms. She just wished they could erase the whole horrible morning and start again.
Jenny sat in the car and took a few deep breaths. Nick deserved an apology, but she was scared he wouldn’t want to see her. What if he threw her out of the pub in front of everyone?
Telling herself not to be so dramatic, she wrestled her nerves under control and climbed out of the car.Just get it over and done with.
Lifting a hand, she smiled weakly at Cassie before climbing the staircase and heading for the office. When she reached the top, she saw that the door wasn’t open as was Nick’s normal practice. That didn’t bode well at all. Nervously, Jenny lifted her hand, giving the timber door a quick rap and holding her breath as she waited for him to answer.
When he eventually did, Jenny found herself swallowing hard. ‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted, biting her lip uncertainly as he stared at her. ‘It caught me by surprise.’
‘No shit, Jenny,’ he growled.
‘Well, put yourself in my shoes. It looked—’
‘Bad. Yeah. I get it. But come on … it was your daughter. I was embarrassed enough without having you look at me like I was some kind of—’
‘I know, I know,’ Jenny groaned, closing her eyes briefly. ‘I don’t know why it happened … it’s just that Austin had been in my head about the age gap before, worried about the girls living under the same roof—’
‘Wait. Hold up,’ Nick said, cutting in. ‘Austin?’
‘My ex-husband,’ Jenny said slowly.
‘I knowwhohe is,’ Nick said impatiently. ‘But what the hell does he have to do with jumping to the conclusion that I’m some kind of sleazebag waiting to prey on your kids?’
‘It was just something he mentioned ages ago at the party. Although I don’t think he meant—’
‘What exactlydidhe mean?’
Jenny detected the dangerously soft tone of his voice and knew she’d just made everything a million times worse. ‘He made a comment about his daughters living under the same roof with you … It was before we even got together—he was hitting back at me because he saw us kissing … It was stupid—I didn’t take any notice of it … It’s just that it was somehow the first thing that flashed through my head this morning and I have no idea why. If you hadn’t walked out, I would have come to my senses and explained.’
‘Sorry if having the woman I love stare at me like I was just violating one of her kids was a tad too much to handle.’
The woman he loved …
‘Just forget it,’ Nick snapped.
‘Wait. No. You’re right,’ Jenny said, shaking off the distraction quickly. ‘It was unforgivable. You had every right to be angry.Of courseI don’t believe anything was going on … it was a shock and then everything kind of just imploded. Can we please just stop and talk rationally about it now?’
