He was closer now, looking down at me. ‘It’s either that or go in the robe. Your choice. I’ll make you a coffee. Come on, Ned.’
The dog followed him immediately, a solid, black shadow.
‘Right,’ I said to myself quietly and took Jesse’s place at the table. The sky was a vivid blue, washed clean by last night’s storm, the earliest budding trees hinting at the oncoming spring and the faintest hint of warmth in the air. Jesse’s garden was large and exquisitely planned, with colour still in some of the borders and a good structural base with something of interest all year round, if its current appearance was anything to go by. I’d once dated a three-times Chelsea gold winner – it was hard not to pick up tips by osmosis. Of course, then he’d designed a garden in Tuscany for a lord and consequently met Lady whatever-her-name-was, heiress to an absolute fortune, and I’d suddenly been a weed in the beautiful garden of his life and consequently dispensed with.
‘Out there or in here?’ Jesse’s head peering around the back door pulled me sharply back to the present.
‘Oh! Sorry. I’ll come in.’
Jesse remained at the door, opening it wider for me. As I passed, I caught a subtle whiff of something earthy and woody with just a hint of spice. It suited him.
‘You really ought to eat something.’ Jesse reiterated the advice once I was sitting in the sunny breakfast nook, sipping on rich, dark coffee that sent much-needed caffeine spiking into my system. ‘I’ve got granola and can probably rustle up an avocado if you want that?’
‘What are you having?’
‘Bacon roll.’
‘I’ll have one of those, then, please, if it’s not too much trouble?’
‘Not at all.’ He pulled open the fridge. ‘You sure? I don’t mind doing the avo toast. It’s probably healthier.’
He had a point and it was what I normally chose each day. Even if I had started eating it because all my friends were, the fact remained that avocados were full of good fats and very good for you. But now that he’d planted the seed of a bacon roll, my mouth was watering. I shook my head.
He laid the rashers in the pan and the sizzle teased all my senses. I’d tried being vegan a couple of years ago but I couldn’t get past the odd late-night bacon sandwich. Jesse placed the roll, stuffed with thick bacon and melting butter, in front of me. ‘Get that down you. Breakfast of champions,’ he said, pulling out the seat next to me and biting into his own roll.
‘Not sure I qualify for that particular breakfast,’ I thought, then froze with the bun halfway to my mouth. ‘Shit. I said that out loud, didn’t I?’
Jesse chewed a couple of times, swallowed, then nodded. ‘Yep.’
‘Could you please disregard that last statement?’ And yes, I did go out with a barrister.
‘Nope.’ He took another bite.
‘What do you mean, no?’
‘I heard it. You can’t just disregard something you’ve already heard.’
I always knew that was a scam by lawyers to get the information across to the jury!
‘Well, if you could just try and forget it.’
‘Why?’
I looked round and met his eyes, swallowing a mouthful of the heavenly breakfast. ‘Why what?’
‘Why do you want me to forget it?’
‘Because…’
Because it makes me look weak and that is unacceptable.
He waited.
‘Knock knock! Anyone home?’ Julie’s voice saved me from answering but the look Jesse gave me told me that he most definitely wasn’t forgetting it.
‘In here, Jules,’ he called.
Her smiling face popped into view, a large paper carrier bag in her hand. ‘Hi! Oh my God, are you OK?’ she said, hurrying towards me and giving me a most unexpected hug. ‘When Jesse told me about the tree, oh God, I feared the worst.’
