‘Hey, babe, thanks for coming,’ he said quietly as he drew her to him for a hug. ‘I know you’ve had a huge shift, and I feel like a jerk asking, but I just wanted you here.’
‘It’s okay,’ she assured him gently, breathing in his warm smell of fresh laundry powder and woodsy deodorant and snuggled a little closer, happy that she’d stopped by after all. She’d missed him; it was somewhat pathetic how much sometimes, but no matter how often they saw each other, whenever Jenny was away from him all she wanted to do was be backwith him again. If it didn’t take so much effort, she’d have rolled her eyes at how corny it sounded, but it was true.
‘Come on, let’s get this over with,’ Nick whispered, before stepping back and taking her hand to tug her towards the common room.
Susie was perched on the edge of a wingback armchair and as they came in Jenny felt the weight of the woman’s inspection. Jenny recognised Nick’s sister from the photos she’d seen occasionally in magazines, of course, but in person, she looked a little different. There was less gloss, although nothing that took away from the fact she looked like she’d just stepped off a private jet after a Paris fashion show. She wore her honey blonde hair in an elegant chignon pinned neatly at the nape of her neck. Jenny resisted the urge to reach up and smooth her own hair, which she’d pretty much left it to do its own thing that morning.
‘Jenny, this is my sister, Susie,’ Nick said, his hand warm on Jenny’s back. Comforting.
‘Oh,’ the blonde woman said, blinking as Jenny extended her hand. ‘You’reJenny?’
‘I am,’ Jenny said, forcing a smile. Something about the woman’s unchecked surprise reinforced her earlier discomfort.
‘Nick. Phone,’ a young man called, sticking his head in through the doorway.
‘Take a message,’ Nick told him.
‘I was going to but they said it was urgent.’
‘Damn it. Okay. Be there in a sec.’ Nick sighed irritably. ‘Sorry, I’m going to have to deal with this. I’ll be right back,’he said, taking his hand away, leaving Jenny feeling extremely vulnerable.
She breathed out imperceptibly and summoned a brave smile. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you. Nick’s told me all about you.’
The woman across from her kinked an eyebrow as she held Jenny’s gaze coolly before tilting her head. ‘You’re … not what I expected.’
Jenny’s smile wavered. She felt awkward as the meticulously made-up woman seemed to openly dissect her. ‘Well, I hope that’s a good thing,’ she said with false cheer. She took in the woman’s expensive outfit and ridiculously high heels, her eyes falling on the unmistakable double G logo on the cream and gold handbag. That one item probably cost more than Jenny made in a month.
‘Is this your first trip out to Barkley?’ Jenny asked.
‘Yes,’ Susie said, glancing about the room without much enthusiasm.
‘You’ll have to take a look around town while you’re here. There are some lovely little shops. Very quirky,’ she said.
‘Quirky,’ Susie repeated doubtfully.
‘But maybe that’s not your thing.’ Jenny wondered why she was so on edge with this woman. She dealt with all kinds of people in her job without allowing them to intimidate her in any way, yet Susie had her feeling inadequate and stupid all within the first five minutes of meeting her.
‘No. Not really,’ she said dismissively.
Jenny sent a glance towards the door Nick had vanished through earlier, urging him to reappear. ‘We have some niceboutiques, too,’ Jenny said, beginning to ramble. ‘My daughters rave about them.’
‘You have children?’ Susie asked, her attention firmly back on her.
‘Yes. I have three.’
‘I can’t imagine Nick with young children,’ she said, and kinked an eyebrow in a superior kind of way that irritated Jenny more than her patronising tone.
‘My eldest is nearly twenty-eight,’ Jenny told her bluntly. ‘They aren’t exactly young children.’
This time the woman’s expression mirrored something akin to horror. ‘You have a nearly twenty-eight-year-old? How is that—’
‘I started young,’ Jenny shrugged, trying her best to dampen her growing irritation.
‘So you must be—’
‘Older than Nick. Yes,’ Jenny said abruptly.
‘Goodness.’
