Jenna’s phone rang and she took it from the pocket of her jeans and glanced at it. It was Joel.
Immediately her heart began to thud and her pulse started racing. She handed the basket of eggs to Hallie.
‘Can you finish off here, please? I’ve got to take this call,’ she said.
The twins were perfectly happy to get on with the job alone, so Jenna hurried over to the gate which led out onto the grazing land and answered the call, even though part of her didn’t want to. She had a feeling she knew what this was about. Tomorrow it would be two weeks since his last call, when he’d given her notice that he wanted them home within a fortnight. No doubt he wanted to know if she was bringing the girls home today.
‘Joel,’ she said, hoping her voice sounded normal and not at all as if she was in a state of heightened anxiety.
‘I want to see the girls,’ he said, with no preamble.
‘I told you,’ she said, trying not to betray how nervous she felt, ‘I’m not coming home. We’re here for the summer holidays. If you want to see them you’re welcome to, but we’re staying?—’
‘Yes, whatever,’ he said dismissively. ‘I’m not interested in you coming home. If you want to stay in that godforsaken dump, feel free. Nevertheless, I want to see them. Can you bring them to meet me in my lunch hour?’
Jenna gazed over at Jamie Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, who were lazily tugging at the grass in their field, without a care in the world. How she envied them. ‘When?’
‘Today of course.’
‘Today?’ She glanced at her watch. Eight thirty. She had plenty of time, but even so, he was being a bit presumptuous.
‘It’s the least you can do, given that you’ve taken them away from me,’ he reminded her sharply.
Jenna’s mouth went dry as she realised he was probably on his way into work – and thatshewould probably be in the car beside him. Somehow, she managed to breathe while croaking, ‘Where do you want to meet us?’
‘I was thinking Gillan’s. You know, the burger place in Princes Quay? They do great deals at lunchtime, and there are children’s meals.’
Jenna hadn’t ever been to Gillan’s, although she sometimes shopped in Princes Quay, the great glass shopping centre that sat on stilts over the old dock in Hull’s city centre. She couldn’t help wondering why Joel sounded so familiar with it, and a knot of jealousy formed in her stomach. Had he takenherthere? Is that where they spent their lunchtimes? All cosied up in some burger bar, gazing into each other’s eyes?
She wanted to ask him but knew it would only lead to another row, and if they got into an argument, he might start making demands again about her taking the children home. Besides, she didn’t want that woman to know she was upset. She could imagine her sitting next to him in the car, craning her neck as she strained to hear what was being said, smugly believing that Jenna was still in the dark about their tacky affair.
She breathed deeply, calming herself down. ‘Okay. What time?’
‘Twelve fifteen. I’ll be free until one thirty. See you then.’
The phone went dead and she shoved it angrily back in her pocket. Wow, so he was going to spare his children a whole hour and fifteen minutes! How very gracious of him.
Then she realised with a sickening lurch that she hadn’t asked him if he was going to be alone. What if he broughtherwith him?
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she muttered. He was hardly likely to bring Annette to meet his children, was he? Not when he hadn’t even admitted to seeing someone. Besides, she and Joel hadn’t discussed when – or if – to tell the girls that they’d separated. She was still hoping that if she could put it off for long enough, they need never know.
‘Today? Bit short notice, isn’t it?’ Mum asked, after Jenna had ushered the girls back into the kitchen of Watersmeet, carrying the basket of eggs that they’d collected from the henhouse, and told her the news while the twins went to wash their hands. ‘What’s the hurry, all of a sudden?’
Jenna tried to sound nonchalant. ‘Guess he finally had some free time so wanted to make the most of it.’
‘Hmm. So it seems. Well, it’s a good thing, I suppose. The girls must have missed him.’
The twins were certainly excited at the idea of going into town and having burgers at Gillan’s, even though they had no real idea what Gillan’s was.
Jenna made sure they weren’t wearing shorts and T-shirts, but were dressed neatly in cotton summer dresses, with their hair brushed and tied up in ponytails. She hated herself for doing it, but she changed into a skirt and top, straightened her hair and applied make-up and perfume, muttering curses to herself as she did so.
She was trembling as she fastened the girls into their car seats. Mum watched her through narrowed eyes.
‘Everything’s okay, isn’t it?’ she asked, as Jenna gave an exasperated cry at having failed to clip the straps on Ada’s seat properly for the second time. ‘Do you need a hand?’
‘No honestly, I’m fine.’
Thankfully, both girls were finally secure in their car seats and Jenna dropped a kiss on her mum’s cheek.
