AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, maybe your mum’s smarter than you think,” offered Billie. “And you need to run along now, go on, off you go.”
Agatha ran off, leaving Billie feeling as exhausted as she always did after a conversation with the child. She was about to collect the papers and colored pencils off the desks when she heard her phone vibrate on her desk.
Busy after school?
Her heart lifted and the world seemed lighter as she typed back a reply.
No, what did you have in mind?
Jules’s response was a winking emoji that made Billie laugh and made the rest of her day fly by. Not a one night stand then. That was one hurdle cleared.
Chapter Twenty Six
“You don’t have to do this,” Jules said.
She was feeling guilty now. What had seemed like a good idea suddenly seemed like not such a good idea. Granddad Jim was a shrewd judge of character, but he could also be short, needlessly judgmental, and, if Jules was honest, slightly less than politically correct.
“No, I want to,” Billie said.
“Listen, he might be… difficult,” said Jules as they walked up the driveway to the home. “He’s an old man and he’s not senile yet, but he’s a bit set in his ways.”
“Understood,” said Billie.
Jules looked at her out of the corner of her eye and saw that she was smiling, which made Jules smile. Which made her grin actually. Because she might have cracked this. She might have accidentally fallen for exactly the right person whilst trying to impress someone else, and the irony really wasn’t lost on her.
Whatever this was, it had happened fast and hard. Jules hadn’t been intending to call Billie today. She’d thought that she’d sit back and let last night settle and give them both time to think. Except by lunchtime she was itching to talk to Billie, itching to see her, to feel her, to taste her, and she’d broken down and messaged anyway.
Now here they were, going to visit Granddad Jim which had been the first excuse that Jules could think of. Alright, it wasn’t romantic. But Billie would have to meet him sooner or later, and sooner was probably better. Less to dread that way.
“You really don’t have to do this,” Jules said again. She’d brought a girlfriend home once when she was seventeen and Jim had scared her so badly that she’d never seen the girl again. Hannah, her name was. Jules could remember the uncomfortable dinner during which Jim had grilled Hannah and Hannah had almost burst into tears.
“I want to,” Billie said again. Her fingers brushed against Jules’s.
Jules’s heart swelled in size. She caught Billie’s hand in her own. “So, um, we’re…” She puffed out a breath, not sure where the sentence was leading.
“We’re… yes,” Billie said slowly. “Unless…”
Jules cleared her throat. “Unless? I, um, I don’t think there’s any unless. Unless you do?”
“Oh, um, no.”
Jules tightened her fingers around Billie’s and grinned so hard her face hurt. “I, um, I’m glad.”
Billie sniffed and Jules could see her grinning too, a grin that Billie wiped off as soon as Jules turned to her. “Don’t think that this is going to be a general thing,” Billie said.
“What?” asked Jules, wiggling her fingers to drop Billie’s hand, her heart starting to pound. She’d gotten the wrong end of the stick somehow.
“This,” Billie said, capturing Jules’s hand again. “Skipping practice. You don’t become a musician by going on jaunts. It takes practice and dedication.”
Jesus Christ. Jules let her heart settle back into place. “Right, yes. We’ll get right back to it once we get back to your place.”
“We’re going back to my place, are we?” Billie asked tartly.
Jules snorted. “Unless you want me to take you in the fields on the way home.”
“In the fields…” It wasn’t a question and Billie’s voice cracked a little.
“Up to you,” Jules said, stopping and turning so that she was right in front of Billie and Billie had to stop too. “I can—”
