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“Let’s all catch up tomorrow.”
He smiles and I note the gratitude in his eyes as he says wearily, “We can’t thank you enough for everything.”
Jessica squeezes my hand a little tighter. “It really was a pleasure; for us, anyway.”
I detect a touch of amusement in her voice and say quickly, “OK. We’ll be heading off to give you some space.”
Suddenly, it dawns on me that we are leaving the two children sleeping upstairs and, for some strange reason, it makes me sad, which surprises me.
As I reach for my keys and head off to retrieve our coats, I hear her sister whisper, “Wow, we really need to talk.”
CHAPTER35
JESSICA
What on earth was I thinking? I just threw myself at Robert with no regard for playing it cool and making him work for it. He must think I’m one of those loose women and he’d be right. I don’t know what came over me and being caught in a compromising position by my sister, who was arrested for the very same thing, didn’t make me feel any better about the whole incident. Not to mention that I’ve now lost all the moral high ground I was going to torture her with.
I’m quiet on the journey back to Robert’s oversized home and the fact he turns on the radio tells me he’s regretting our ‘moment’ as much as I am. Then again, I’m not sure if I am. If anything, I’m more irritated that Sally and Anton came home.
I must be the worst kind of human because I wish they had spent a few more nights in the cells because I was enjoying playing house. It was addictive, making the children smile and the fact Robert was beside me was the icing on the cake.
“What are you thinking?” Robert’s voice comes out of the darkness, and I sigh. “That I’m a despicable human being who wished her sister had spent a few more days at his Majesty’s pleasure.”
To my surprise, Robert’s low chuckle is my answer, followed by a soft, “Me too.”
“What?”
“I was thinking the same thing. It was fun, wasn’t it?” His hand reaches mine and squeezes it gently, and as I gaze down at our entwined fingers, it causes my heart to shake a little. “Jessica.” His voice sounds hesitant, unsure even, and I sense a conversation that could go either way. On the one hand, he may be about to say what I’m longing to hear and on the other, he may be applying the brakes. However, as he opens his mouth to speak, I yell, “Fox!”
He jams on the brakes, and we lurch forward in our seats and as we come to a stop, I see the fox’s tail disappearing into the hedgerow.
“Sorry.” He huffs his apology and I exhale sharply. “Well, at least he’ll live to tell the tale.”
Robert turns, and I watch, mesmerised, as his eyes sparkle in the darkness and he says with a slight hesitation.
“It doesn’t have to end?”
“What doesn’t?”
I’m not sure if I understand what he’s talking about and he leans forward, a hint of excitement lighting up his eyes.
“Let’s spend Christmas together. Decorate the house, shop for food, go carolling. What do you say? I’ve acquired a taste for it, and I want more.”
“OK.” I stare at him, his excitement contagious and I say with enthusiasm, “We could go to one of those places where you can chop your own. I’m sure it would go on the roof of your car like they do on the Christmas channel.”
“We could make mince pies and eggnog.”
“Do you even know what that is?” I’ve heard of it, but I’m not sure I’ve even had it before and he nods. “We’ll google it.”
“No, we won’t.” I frown. “We’ll post a question on, what do you know?”
As we break out into peals of laughter, it doesn’t strike me as odd that we are in the middle of the road in the dead of night, discussing our Christmas arrangements and when Robert stops laughing and I see that spark change in his eye to a different one, I swallow hard. “What are we doing?” My voice sounds husky and unlike me and he reaches out and strokes my face lightly, whispering, “We’re falling in love.”
My breath hitches as my head spins and I stare at him with a mixture of lust, desperation and disbelief, all wrapped up in happily ever after.
“We are.”
I nod because I can’t deny this anymore. I can’t denyusanymore and as our lips meet, this time there are no doubts at all. This is right, and only a fool would disagree.
