Chapter 12
Twelve
S teph began to stir and as she opened her eyes she smiled to find Jon leaning over her.
“The concert is now over,” he announced, laughing.
She laughed out of embarrassment as she realised that she had fallen asleep in the mid-afternoon sun. “I didn’t snore, did I?” Her voice was no more than a whisper.
“Really badly and the woman next to you actually asked if I could put something over your face to muffle it,” he said seriously.
“Oh God! Really?” She shook her head at herself.
He was laughing again now. “No, of course not. I was joking, but I hope you’re not going to try and blame me for keeping you awake last night, because as I recall you were the one that kept suggesting, ‘just once more’.”
“Then maybe it’s still your fault for being so good at it. And you gave me champagne in the middle of the day,” she protested.
“You’re not too shabby yourself, darling, and I wasn’t complaining, just putting my defence forward and you could have said no to champagne, but we should go before we’re asked to leave by security.”
They were back at the car before Steph put her phone back on and saw missed calls from Lauren, her dad, and a text from Simon.
She called Lauren back as they sat in the queue to get off the car park and put her on speaker so that Jon could hear what she had to say.
“Hi, Lauren, it’s Steph.”
“Hi, babe, you were right that something was going on with Simon,” she teased.
“Go on,” said Steph eagerly.
“The secretary he was shagging behind your back is very pregnant, but she’s unsure whether it’s her husband’s or Simon’s so they have to wait til after it’s born to get a DNA, but she has said that she thinks it’s best if they stop seeing each other because her husband, who doesn’t have a clue, will be a better provider for her and the kid. He is a head teacher at another school so is on better money than Simon.”
“Wow. Poor Simon, he always wanted a family and I can’t see him just rolling over and letting her and her husband play happy families if the baby is his.”
“My friend said he has said as much and she has gone on maternity leave now and Simon is all over the place and I’m not saying this to hurt you but apparently the secretary wasn’t the first,” said Lauren gently.
Steph said nothing for a few seconds as she absorbed all the information being shared with her. Her and Simon had broken up six months before and while she had no designs on any kind of reconciliation, coming face-to-face with undeniable evidence that the lies, deceit and cheating was far greater and had gone on longer than she’d been aware of hurt her. Hurt and angered her. No matter what had been wrong in their relationship, surely she hadn’t deserved his treatment of her, had she?
“Steph, you still there?”
“Sorry, yes. I guessed as much,” she admitted. “So, why the bloody hell is he making a nuisance of himself now?” She didn’t expect an answer but got one anyway.
“Look, this is hearsay, but my friend who is seeing one of the other PE teachers said that Simon had told her bloke that he realised he should have stayed with you and kept her as a bit on the side and that you’d be only too happy to take him back and accept the kid if it’s his. And as you’ve got a good job you could help him out financially to get access and pay maintenance. Sorry Steph.” Lauren sounded genuinely sad at the hurt her words might cause.
“No, that’s fine, he’s probably right, or at least he was until a while ago,” she admitted smiling at Jon. “But he’s onto a loser now.”
“That is entirely up to you, and of course I’d support you in telling him where to go, but there is more,” Lauren said hesitantly.
“Go on.” Steph released a long sigh. What more could there be to this whole affair?
“He reckons he won’t stop until he’s got you back and that your dad is already helping him out and that he is going to get your best friend on side too. If he means Linds she’ll tell him to sod off.”
“I think I may need to be more proactive in my dealings with Simon,” she said as Jon mouthed to her, we , making her smile.
“I’m not sure that our lovely, newly married and smugly happy Lindsay won’t get drawn in though, Lauren. You know what she’s like if she thinks there’s an opportunity to match make.” Steph was wary of her friend becoming involved, although at least Lindsay’s dislike of Simon over the last year or so might make that less likely.
“Mmm, you have a point. She text me yesterday with the name and number of some waiter she’d met and thought he might be my type.”
Steph laughed. “I might need to speak to Charlie. He never liked Simon and he will rein Linds in if anyone can.”
“Yeah, Charlie is your best bet, especially as you still have him wrapped around your little finger and if all else fails, Charlie will slug him one for you like he did that time on your birthday,” said Lauren seriously, revealing a little more than Steph had wanted her to while Jon was listening. In fairness, Lauren didn’t know anyone else was listening.
Thinking that Jon’s face was changing into one of confusion and irritation, Steph decided to try and draw the conversation to a close before Lauren said anything else that might spoil the mood of the weekend that up to this point had been pretty perfect.
“Yeah, thanks again, Lauren, and I assume when the happy couple return we will be subjected to the grand unveiling of the photos,” laughed Steph with Lauren.
“And the video.” Lauren said making Steph laugh harder until she added, “Although that could just convince my mum about you and Charlie’s best man because she was sure that there was something going on, especially when he danced with you.”
“I think he had been given orders by Lindsay to look after me for the day because he was a complete and utter arsehole at the hen night.” Steph smiled at Jon who was staring and shaking his head at her now, not that her opinion should have been a surprise as she’d been honest with him about her initial thoughts.
“He did seem as though he had a poker stuck up his arse that night,” Lauren agreed making Steph laugh almost hysterically now. “Look, I have to go, but I hope you sort the stuff with Simon out soon, bye.”
“A complete and utter arsehole was I, and a poker stuck up my arse?” Jon’s expression softened as he laughed after Steph hung up and began to check her text message from Simon. “I think we may both have been forced to rethink our initial impressions of each other. What’s he say?”
“That he still loves and misses me and that my dad is worried about me being alone.” She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “And he thinks we should meet up for a drink and a chat about our future. He suggests coming to mine one night, maybe tonight?” She laughed a little sadly. “I’m glad I’m out if he’s turning up again.”
“He is seriously deluded, isn’t he? He treats you the way he did and now thinks he has enough charm to win you over just by turning up.”
“I probably would have been charmed and felt honoured that he had come back had he done this a few months ago, but not any longer. I can see that over time he made me unhappy and downtrodden. I was totally bereft of a single shred of self-esteem by the time he eventually left,” she admitted to Jon and herself as she returned her attention to the text message.
Jon’s eyes seemed fixed on her, unsure what to say or do at her admission. The one thing he was certain of was that Simon was a dickhead of the highest order and if he didn’t crawl back under his rock he might have to give him an incentive to.
“Anyway, he also says that my dad has invited him to lunch and hopes I will join them.”
She stared at Jon now and shook her head, “Dad must be playing matchmaker too, but he doesn’t have a clue what went on between me and Simon. He would have worried himself to death had he known.”
“Maybe you should tell him now, so he will be glad you’re out of it and stop his match making efforts,” suggested Jon, concerned at the exact details of what had gone on between them.
“Maybe, or I could at least share a few details with Janice to pass on,” said Steph thinking aloud.
“Who’s Janice?”
“His girlfriend.”
“What about your mum?”
“She died about six years ago, cancer,” said Steph sadly.
“I’m sorry.” Jon was already taking her hand in his.
“Yeah, well, shit happens, doesn’t it?”
They had just made their way back onto the road.
“Call your dad back and tell him we’ll come for lunch tomorrow,” said Jon seriously.
“What? I can’t introduce you to my dad! Hi, Daddy, this is Jon and he’s my married lover,” she cried. “The shock of that alone might just give him a stroke or heart failure.” She’d gone for a deliberate sense of irony but she actually meant it.
“No, but you can introduce me to him as Jon and he has already decided I’m your boyfriend so maybe he will stop matchmaking for Simon if he sees that you’ve moved on.”
“What if Simon’s there?” In so many ways that concerned her more than her dad discovering she had a married lover.
“Same for him, but I will also be close enough to punch him if he so much as looks at you the wrong way.” Jon was completely serious and meant every word he said. He didn’t even know Simon, but from what he’d heard up until this point he didn’t like him, not one little bit.
“Great, can’t wait.” She made no attempt to hide her sarcasm before she called her dad back and agreed to lunch the following day. She had flushed when telling him that her ‘friend’ Jon would be joining them which seemed to take him by surprise.
It was late Sunday morning when Steph woke up alone in Jon’s bed and could hear his voice and as the conversation was totally one sided, she assumed he was on the phone.
She found him sitting on the sofa with his laptop open and his phone in his hand. He closed the laptop when he saw her which she assumed meant that he was doing business she didn’t need to be privy to, so made her way to the kitchen where she put on the kettle.
“No, no, don’t worry about that. I’m only interested in the areas I’ve specified. Yeah, email them to me and I will email back any I think are suitable and then I can meet with you next week to decide. Thanks for doing this on a Sunday, Roy, I do appreciate it.” He hung up.
Steph liked that he was still grateful for people’s efforts when he probably didn’t have to be.
“Good morning.” Jon sidled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Good morning to you too, but unlike yesterday I do hold you responsible for my fatigue today because you didn’t even say ‘just once more’ you just kept starting again.”
“Is that a complaint?” He kissed the back of her neck, bringing the skin to life in a succession of goose bumps and shudders.
“Not as such, but I think you have to accept responsibility for your actions, Mr Brooker.”
He laughed as he spun her around to face him. “I am happy to accept responsibility for mine, but what about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Looking all hot and sexy. You’re the one that makes me do these things.” His hands were already making their way to her waist where he began to untuck the white vest she had put on with striped pyjama bottoms.
His computer pinged making her laugh as he looked across at it.
“You do whatever it is you’re doing and I will make tea.”
Jon was still working on his laptop when Steph gave him a cup of tea and went to shower before returning dressed in a blue, floral, knee length tea dress and a pair of blue wedged sandals.
“What time are we due at your dad’s?”
“Two o’clock.”
He looked at the clock on his screen. “Okay, just let me send this email and then I will get showered and dressed and we’ll go. What should I wear?”
“Whatever you want. My dad is a modern kind of man so jeans and a t-shirt, whatever you want will be fine,” she said reassuringly.
“Okay. That’s me done then.” He closed his laptop. Getting to his feet he kissed her gently on the lips. “Under no circumstances should you follow me into the shower because we will be late if you do.”
“Then I will wait here.”
“Shame.” He smirked as he disappeared into the bedroom, alone.
“Is there anything I should know about your family? Anything I shouldn’t say?” asked Jon as they were about halfway to her childhood home.
“No, not that I can think of, but I did think that it may not be a good idea to tell him you’re the CEO of Brookers or that you’re my company’s big, new contract or that you have a wife stashed somewhere.” Steph was at serious risk of rambling.
“Agreed, although you and I need to discuss my wife at some point I think,” said Jon seriously.
“I’m not thrilled about her existence, Jon, but that is most disrespectful, ‘that whole discuss my wife’ thing. Although I suppose shagging me all weekend isn’t exactly what most people consider to be respectful to her.”
“Stephanie, will you please stop talking. Especially about my wife,” he snapped.
“Sorry,” she said sincerely and thought that if she was going to be a successful mistress she would need to stop thinking about Mrs Brooker and apparently stop talking about her too.
“Let’s talk, later, okay?” he asked more gently now.
“Continue with our negotiations?”
“Yes, if you like,” he said as he left the dual carriageway and headed into the heavily populated residential area where her home was.
“Down here on the left, in front of the black car,” she told him as Jon pulled in across the driveway of the fairly standard 1930’s semi-detached house in a typically middle-class looking street.
Steph let herself in through the front door, followed by Jon and called, “Hello.”
Her dad, a man in his late fifties, with a full head of cropped brown hair and big brown eyes appeared before them and hugged her tightly.
“Hello, pumpkin, how are you? You look well.” He almost answered his own question.
A short, pretty, slim woman of about fifty appeared behind him with a blonde ponytail bobbing around on the top of her head. She hugged Steph, who appeared to be a little reluctant to reciprocate.
After releasing herself from her embrace Steph turned to Jon. “Jon, this is my dad and his girlfriend Janice; Dad, Janice, this is Jon.”
They all exchanged pleasantries before Janice shepherded them into the lounge at the front of the house where she began ordering her boyfriend around. “Roger, get Steph and Jon a drink, why don’t you?”
“Yes, of course. What’s your poison?” Roger asked Jon.
“Just a soft drink please, Mr Pryor,” replied Jon.
“Coke? And please call me Roger. Mr Pryor makes me feel very old.” He laughed as he got Jon his drink.
“That’s because you are very old, Daddy.” Steph picked the old, fat, black and white cat up off the sofa.
“And you are very cheeky.” He grinned at his daughter.
“Is Simon joining us still?” she asked bluntly as Janice reappeared.
“I told your dad to stay out of it and to tell Simon to bugger off.”
“I felt sorry for him. He told me that he still loved you and missed you and he never wanted things to end . . .” said Roger as if offering a defence.
“Is that what he said?” Steph shook her head disbelievingly. “I ended things because he had been seeing someone else and I didn’t believe she was the first, but I think she was the first one he got pregnant. That was all in the past and we had both moved on, or so I thought until last week it would seem. So, is he joining us?” asked Steph again.
“No,” said Janice bluntly. “I got your dad to call him and suggest it wasn’t really a good idea.”
“Good.” Steph sat next to Jon who smiled at her reassuringly.
Over lunch, Roger did his best attempt at tactfully extracting information from Jon, but it was obvious to everyone what he was doing. Jon was totally compliant and answered his questions and explained that he had bought shares during his time at university. He had left with a degree in business management and had obtained enough shares to have a controlling interest in a very small company. He had proceeded to break up the company, sold off parts of it for profit and still ran his original company, which was technically true, but that company was now a multi-million pound business with contacts in every field, which he omitted to add.
“Where did you two meet?” asked Janice.
“At Lindsay’s wedding, well, her hen night actually. Jon is a friend of Charlie’s,” she explained.
“Isn’t that a bit odd?” asked Roger as Janice glared at him. Taking her prompt to shut down this line of conversation he refilled everyone’s glasses.