‘Absolutely. I’ll love you and leave you then because I need to have a shower and find something nice to wear. Not that I brought much with me, other than jeans and jumpers. The last thing I expected to be doing here was going out on a date.’
‘You look fabulous in anything, but call him first. Nothing worse than getting dressed up and finding there is nowhere to go. Have fun. Oh. And get your bloody internet connection sorted out. I miss seeing your face.’
‘I miss you too. It’s at the top of my list. See you soon.’
Lara rang off and was about to call Jasper but the doorbell rang before she had a chance.
‘Who can that be?’ she asked Nicodemus who had just gone to his new cat tray and was tossing the cat litter all over the place trying to find the perfect spot to do whatever was necessary.
Lara hoped it might be Jasper at the door, but silently told herself not to be disappointed if it wasn’t. But who else would be ringing her doorbell this evening?
‘Hello,’ she said, hoping she didn’t sound quite as pleased to see him as she felt.
‘Hello,’ he replied, the huge smile on his face indicating he might be equally pleased to see her. ‘Gramps sends his love, and there’s good news. I was wondering if … well, if you’d like a drink.’ He held up a bottle from a local vineyard famed for its award-winning sparkling wine. ‘A celebratory drink. Gramps will be coming home tomorrow.’
‘That soon? Gosh. That is good news. Come in.’
If only she had gone to have that shower before he had arrived. At least she wasn’t wearing her purple unicorn PJs, although she was still wearing the clothes she had worn all day. Perhaps she could nip upstairs and spritz a bit of perfume on without him noticing.
‘The results are all good and there’s no damage done from the bump on his head. Gramps says that’s because he’s got a thick skull.’ Jasper looked and sounded happier than he had when Lara had last seen him as he stepped inside. ‘I think I agree.’
‘I’m just glad he’s fine, and that he’ll be coming home,’ she said, leading him into the kitchen.
‘Me too. I’m going to be staying with him for a while. Until we decide what to do. I’ve taken time off work. My employers are good about things like this.’
‘Decide what to do?’ Lara took two glasses from one of the cupboards and placed them on the worktop. ‘You’re not thinking about Tom going into a home or something, are you? I know it’s none of my business but he’d hate that, wouldn’t he?’
Jasper laughed. ‘He’d go crazy. And so would they. No. I wouldn’t do that to him just because he had one dizzy spell. But he does need someone to take care of him. Or at least someone to check on him on a regular basis. Someone who lives closer to him than I do.’
‘That’s a good idea.’
Jasper popped the cork like an expert and poured the sparkling wine. He handed one glass to Lara and took the other one himself and raised it in the air.
‘To Gramps,’ he said.
‘To Tom,’ said Lara, raising her own glass.
‘And to you,’ Jasper added, raising his glass a fraction higher.
‘I’ll drink to that,’ she said, taking a sip of her wine. ‘Ooh, that’s nice.’
Jasper took a drink from his glass, and nodded appreciatively. ‘It is, isn’t it? I can only have one glass, unfortunately, as I’ll be driving to the hospital tomorrow morning to get Gramps. He was adamant that he could come back with me this evening but they wanted to keep him in for one more night. Just in case.’
‘Just in case of what?’
Jasper shrugged. ‘Search me.’
Lara had an urge to take him up on that. She’d rather like to run her hands all over that gorgeous body. She took a big gulp of wine and tried to dismiss the images playing out in her mind’s eye.
When she finally cleared her head she saw that Jasper was giving her an odd look. As if he could read her mind. Obviously he couldn’t, but even so. She shivered a little at the thought of that.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked.
‘I do feel a little chilly,’ she lied. This was the perfect excuse to go upstairs and spritz that perfume. ‘I might go and get a warmer jumper.’
‘Do you have heating? I know the plumber was here all day. It feels warm in here to me but then I’ve just arrived.’
‘The heating’s done. But it hasn’t been on for long. Colin left less than an hour ago and the front and back doors and several windows have been open all day. Bob, the electrician, is allergic to cats. Colin and his son are back tomorrow to replace the shower, and all the taps on the sinks.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘That’s got nothing to do with the heating so I don’t know why I mentioned that. Why don’t we go into the sitting room?’
