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‘At least he tried.’
A short bark of a laugh. ‘You always think the best of people.’
‘Is that such a bad thing?’
He scrubbed his hand across his eyes. ‘Not at all. Just saying.’
Jess’s eye lit on a phrase. ‘Look.’ She laid the book on the table, facing him. ‘See what it says there? “Son is here.” That’s on the previous page, too. He knew you were there for him and that obviously meant something.’
‘Yeah. Although he couldn’t remember my name.’
Enough of this. ‘You know better than that, Greg.’ She sought his gaze and held it. Perhaps she was expecting too much. ‘It’s natural that you should feel that way as his son. As a doctor, it’s my place to tell you that he might not have been able to vocalise his feelings but they were still there.’
‘You’re right. I know. I just can’t feel that way at the moment.’
‘You will, in time. The tumour was obviously affecting the language centres of his brain. It may be that someone with specific expertise in this area would be able to help.’
‘Do you think there’s any point?’
‘I don’t know. I just think that you can’t give up on him now.’ Jess might mistrust John Shaw’s intentions but she loved Greg. If she had to deal with the father to help the son, she’d do it.
He nodded. ‘I just wish he’d been able to give me a few ideas about the right thing to do next.’
‘Maybe he trusted you. He might have reckoned that you’d make the right decisions all on your own.’
Greg stared at her. ‘I… I don’t think… ’ He shrugged, summoning up a smile. ‘I don’t think that’s something that ever occurred to me.’
‘Maybe you should give it some thought.’
‘Maybe.’ Greg closed the book and threw his napkin over it, as if that was an end to it and even looking at the volume was hard for him. ‘Ah. Here’s our pudding.’
One of the waiters appeared out of thin air, where he seemed to have been hovering, waiting for them to finish talking. Laying their plates in front of them, he disappeared again.
‘Where do they go?’ Jess leaned across the table conspiratorially.
Greg laughed. ‘It’s all done with trapdoors and pulleys. Do you like it here?’
‘Yeah, I do, actually.’ If he’d told her about this place before they’d come, she’d have turned it down out of hand. But now that she was here it wasn’t so bad. She felt relaxed, comfortable and the food was wonderful. She probed her chocolate pudding with her spoon. ‘This looks lovely.’
‘Yeah. Wish I’d gone for it.’ He reached out towards her plate and Jess rapped his spoon with hers.
‘Don’t you dare. Anyway, the lemon meringue looks nice too.’
He took a mouthful. ‘Yes. It’s very good. So we’ll come back here some time?’
They were grinning at each other across the table. ‘Yes. Only next week we go to Aldo’s.’ Diners lined up at trestle tables, waiters who tapped their feet and stared at the ceiling if you didn’t order quickly enough, and a good, filling meal.
‘Okay. I like Aldo’s.’ He nodded and left her to tuck into the best chocolate pudding she’d ever tasted.
She woke up in his arms. Jess took a moment to appreciate the novelty of not having to wonder where Greg was, and then stretched a little, just to test whether he was awake or not. His hand wandered sleepily to her stomach and stayed there.
Last night had been perfect. Enough to drive every one of her misgivings from her head, along with every other worry. Taking his hand in hers and pulling it close to her heart, she drifted back to sleep.
When she woke again something was wrong. The room was swimming and almost before her eyes were open properly she was on her feet and running for the bathroom.
‘Are you okay, Jess?’
The vomiting was sudden and violent, but at least it passed as quickly as it had come, and by the time Greg made the bathroom, she was already rinsing her mouth.
