16. Leah
16
Leah
I wake wondering where I am. Then realisation slams into me that I’m in Jenson’s bed as his spicy smell hits my nostrils. I reach out my arm but meet cold sheets.
What?
Sitting up quickly, I see that I’m alone. He and Amelia have gone on their trip. I spot the note on the bedside table and a key.
Leah,
You looked far too content to wake up.
Here’s the spare key.
Stay as long as you like. Feel free to stay here while we’re away and eat anything left in the fridge!
I’ve not left yet and I’m already missing you.
J x
I run my fingers over his words. Stay as long as I like. I think I’d quite like to stay forever. God, he’d think I was a nutcase if I said that to him after these few days together.
I feel a pang in my chest at the thought I won’t see him or Amelia for five days. Sunday evening is a long way off.
It feels strange being in the house without them, so I hurry to leave and get back to my parents’ house. Today I intend to paint the kitchen. There really isn’t much left to do and while I’m hesitant for all the family memories and Jenson reasons to sell, the letter I find posted through the door makes me more eager than ever to be done with it.
It’s from the ‘company’ and I use that term loosely, who now want to collect on their debt. They want me to ring them with a progress report. Yeah, well they can wait. I stuff the letter in my handbag and throw myself into decorating.
* * *
By Friday, I’m desperate for Jenson and Amelia to return. It feels like they’ve been away forever. Just not hearing Amelia’s shouts and giggles from the garden next door is strange. I’ve been going in quickly each morning just to check the house is still in good repair but other than that, I’ve continued to hurry to complete the decorating.
The estate agent visits that afternoon. The house is ready for the market. They take photos and measurements. On Monday the house goes up for sale. I’ve spent the last two evenings applying for jobs up and down the country, although more of them were local to here than I want to admit to myself.
And to add to my loneliness, Carl finished yesterday, so there’s been no banter with him today. He has however forced me to meet them all tonight and where are we meeting? InHale, although apparently he’s been warned by Suki that if he thinks he’s getting free drinks he can fuck off cos she’s ‘onto a good thing there’.
* * *
I walk into the restaurant and Scott comes rushing over. “Boss know you’re out on the town?” He winks. “Thought he’d have you chained up in the basement while he was away.”
“We did that before he left.” I throw back. Scott fans his face.
“You let me know if things don’t work out there.” he yells after me as I walk to the others.
“Get back in your kennel, Scott.” Suki snaps at him as she walks past.
“What’s up, sugar? Is it because I’ve not let you have a taste of this fine body?”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t care for the flavour of mutt.” She gestures to a corner of the restaurant. “They’re all sat over there and I’ve told my cousin, next time can he arrange to go out when I’m not working so I can join in the fun instead of serving it up.”
“The only fun you can serve up is a fun-ghi pizza.” Scott says snidely as he brings drinks to the table.
“What is going on with you two?” I ask Suki.
“He’s a dickhead manwhore. Can’t be doing with his type who think they’re God’s gift. And he can’t understand why I’m not falling for his so-called charms.”
I decide I might have to mention to Jenson about checking the rota so these two aren’t on the same shifts too often.
I end up having a great evening once more and I’m more than a little merry when I reach my house but I change my mind and walk up the path instead into Jenson’s. I crawl beneath his sheets and pull his pillow to my nose breathing him in deep. God, I miss him so much. Does he feel the same way? I need to know. I decide that when he comes home I’m going to tell him how I feel and see if the feeling is reciprocated. Then I can try to find somewhere local to live. I fall asleep and dream happy thoughts of living in Jenson’s house and being Amelia’s stepmum.
* * *
Of course once I’m sober the next morning I lay wondering what the hell I was thinking letting myself into my lover’s house and sleeping in his bed like frikking Goldilocks. What a nutjob. However, while I don’t have much to do today, I decide to strip the bedding off and wash it and do a few household chores so Jenson can come back to a clean and tidy home. Tidying Amelia’s room, I spot a photo frame lying on its side at the back of her desk. Picking it up I gasp as I see Jenson standing next to a tall brunette. A baby Amelia is in his arms. The brunette is giving her all to the camera. The ex-wife.
She’s extremely attractive on the outside, I’ll give her that. Insane feelings of jealousy burn through me and I become increasingly annoyed that she had Jenson and Amelia, a gorgeous family, and she left them.
There are two sides to every story. I remind myself. You don’t know why she left. I mean what would cause a woman to leave her own child?
For the first time, I get a slight pang of doubt. I really don’t know Jenson that well. What will he think to me tidying his house, being around his things? Yes, he left me a key but not for snooping. I put the photo back exactly as I found it and I take the bedding with me back home.
* * *
When Sunday morning comes around, I head straight for the local supermarket where I grab a copy of The Sunday Times. With the paper spread across my countertop I drink a hot coffee and read the amazing review of InHale and the interview with the ‘charismatic’ owner. There’s an accompanying photograph of Jenson. The black and white shot shows the shadows under his cheekbones, the intensity of his gaze. He’s a beautiful man. I decide to try and make my own version of a chilli sauce so that when they get home this evening I have something for us all to eat. It occupies my time.
* * *
Though Jenson sent an ‘arrived safely’ text, I’d asked him not to text me often, but to take lots of photos and to focus on having the most amazing time with Amelia while they were away.
It’s six pm when my phone dings.
Delayed at Charles de Gaulle. ETA unknown.
Disappointed, I sit back on the sofa and try to distract myself with the television although I feel like I’m watching the clock tick second by second, just waiting for another message.
It’s dark outside when I remember I haven’t put the bedding back on Jenson’s bed and that it’s still on the line in my garden. I dash outside and feel it, glad it’s yet to get that damp horrible feel of an evening when the sun has gone. Throwing the pegs down on the countertop I rush next door, remake the beds and then I open a few windows a little to let some fresh air into the too warm house.
I’m sending a text as I walk back to mine asking Jenson if he’s making progress so I don’t realise there’s a man standing outside my house until I smack right into his chest. I let out a small scream but turning my head there’s no one around on the street.
“Hey, darlin’,” the man drawls. He’s not as tall as Jenson but he’s twice as wide with muscles on muscles. It was like colliding with cement.
“W- what do y- you want?” I manage to stutter out.
“I’m from Dellaby Enterprises. Just checking on our investment.” He looks me up and down and my heart thuds hard in my chest.
“The house goes up for sale tomorrow. You’ll have your money soon.”
“Good.” He leans in closer to me. “Because otherwise we’ll need to add to the invoice. I’d be happy to take payment in another way.” He strokes his hand up my face. I can’t move.
He laughs and begins to walk down the path.
“Be seeing you soon, darlin’.”
As the guy gets in his car and drives away, I realise that while I was distracted, a taxi must have pulled up further down the street, because outside his house is Jenson with a fast-asleep Amelia in his arms.
“Well, you didn’t waste much time.” His eyes narrow as he shoots his venom at me.
“No.” I realise what Jenson would have seen, the man with his hand down my cheek. “It’s not what you—”
“Yeah, that’s what my ex-wife said when I found her in the arms of our ma?tre d'. Save it. I thought you were different.” He turns to go into his house.
“Jenson, let me explain. I need your help. That was—”
“I need to get my daughter to bed. If you need help give your new boyfriend a ring.” With that Jenson puts his key in the lock, opens the door and walks inside with Amelia. I watch a few minutes later as he goes back to the top of the path to collect their cases. He doesn’t even look at me and then he closes his door firmly behind him. If it wasn’t for Amelia, I guessed he’d have slammed it.
The reality of the last ten minutes hits me. The threats and then Jenson’s mistaken assumption that I’d been seeing someone else. Tremors hit my body and I struggle to get my shaking limbs back into my house. I check the door is locked three times and then make sure every window in the house is firmly closed. I barely sleep, thinking every noise is the guy coming back. By the time dawn breaks on Monday, I know that I can’t stay in this house on my own another night.
But where can I go?