Chapter Forty-Six
JESS
It’s three o’clock before Luke walks back through our front door, and still there’s no sign of his sister. That’s half the day gone!
‘Ow!’ he yells from somewhere in the hallway.
A few seconds later, he appears in the doorway to the kitchen holding up a small plastic figure, which he brandishes at his niece, who is colouring at our kitchen table.
Well, I say ‘at’ the kitchen table, but it’s more like ‘on’ the kitchen table, as most of her efforts with the crayons are shooting right off the edge of the paper. ‘Your work, I presume?’
Edie just giggles.
‘Oops, sorry! Thought I’d found all the bits strewn around the ground floor.’ I take it from him and give him a kiss on the lips.
He looks around. ‘Where’s Cassie?’
My smile fades. ‘She said two hours when she left Edie here this morning, but it’s been one delay after another and now it’s been just over four.’
He shrugs one shoulder. ‘Cassie never was great with time-keeping.’
He might be prepared to let this drop, but I’m not.
For my sake, and for his. Keeping an eye on Edie, I walk over to the kitchen area on the other side of the room, and motion for him to follow.
‘She didn’t even ask, Luke,’ I say in a low voice.
‘She just rocked up with Edie in tow, dumped her down and buggered off.’
He frowns. ‘I’m sure I heard her ask, didn’t I?’
‘No, she just assumed. On our anniversary, too!’
‘She probably forgot.’
I know he’s not doing this on purpose, but I can feel my hackles rising.
Old Jess would have reacted to this, but new, time-travelling Jess manages to keep a lid on her irritation.
‘But if she’d asked,’ I say, making sure my tone isn’t getting strident, ‘she would have known. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her we weren’t available. ’
He leans across and flicks the switch on the kettle. ‘You’re right. She did kind of dump it on us.’
‘And not only that, you knew you were about to head out of the house – I didn’t, because we hadn’t had a chance to have that conversation yet. So not only did Cassie foist babysitting duty on us as a couple, you then left me to it on my own.’
He comes over and puts his arms around me. ‘Oh, God, I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Jess. I just didn’t think … ’
I squeeze him back. ‘That’s because you’re running around like a headless chicken most days, with hardly any time to do anything but react to stuff as it happens. You could do with slowing down a bit.’
‘I know,’ he says, sighing, but we’re prevented from discussing it any further by a ring on the doorbell.
Cassie breezes in as if she hasn’t been AWOL for most of the day.
She’s even an extra half an hour late from the time she gave me last time I spoke to her.
She kisses Luke on the cheek but then bypasses me entirely when she spots Edie and goes to scoop her up, resulting in lots of kisses and giggles on both sides.
When she’s finished, she pops Edie down and turns to Luke and me, smiling. ‘So, sorry! You know what it’s like when you finally get a day to yourself and get a chance to chat to grown-ups and feel like a human being again.’
‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ I mutter. A day to myself where I finally got a chance to chat to my grown-up husband was exactly what I had planned today.
Only, it seems my comment wasn’t as quiet as I thought, because Cassie frowns. ‘What was that? Is something wrong?’
I’m so tired, I’m tempted to do a Luke and sweep all of this under the rug to deal with another day.
I mean, if I don’t make the most of the next seven or eight hours before midnight rolls around, or whatever, and I jump forward another year, babysitting Edie in future years may not be a problem.
For me, anyway. Not if Luke and I go our separate ways.
‘No, it’s—’ I begin to say, but Luke starts speaking at the same time.
‘Actually, Cass … You know we love you, but we’d rather you didn’t just turn up with Edie in tow and make babysitting a fait accompli.’
She looks a little offended. ‘I didn’t “just turn up”. I called you first.’
‘About two minutes beforehand! You must have been sitting in the car outside.’
Cassie has the grace to flush. ‘You always said you were happy to help.’
‘We are!’ I say, starting to feel uncomfortable now.
‘We are,’ Luke echoes, putting a hand on my arm to let me know he’s got this. ‘And of course we will help out when we can, even if it’s at short notice, but you have to give us a bit more warning. Actually asking would be nice, rather than just assuming. We had plans today.’
I’m warmed to hear my words coming out of his mouth.
‘You didn’t say,’ Cassie says, folding her arms, and pulling a face very much like her daughter does when she’s about to have a sulk.
‘We didn’t really get a chance, did we? And, by the way, you haven’t even a) thanked Jess for looking after Edie for most of the day or b) properly apologized for being so late. I’d like you to do that now.’
Wow. Okay. He really went there. Part of me is crawling with second-hand embarrassment at Cassie being made to say sorry to me, but another part is soaring. Luke drew a line in the sand with his family. For me. Boy, is he going to get lucky tonight.
‘Well, of course I’m sorry I was late,’ Cassie says, arms still folded, and not looking particularly repentant.
‘And, yes, thank you, Jess.’ And then she turns to her daughter.
‘Come on, monster. Time to go.’ Then she picks Edie up and bustles out the front door with hardly a backwards glance.
Luke follows her to the door but returns only seconds after it bangs behind her.
‘Well, that went well,’ I say.
‘It needed to be said. You’re right – while we’re happy to be supportive, it doesn’t mean she should walk all over us. Well, you, today. Sorry about that.’ He comes and puts his arms around me again and I lean into him, grateful for his solid warmth.
‘Thank you for standing up for me,’ I whisper into his chest.
‘Always,’ he mumbles into my hair. We stay that way for a few moments, but then he starts nuzzling into my neck as his hands scoot under my T-shirt.
I laugh softly. He’s not as fresh as he could be after a day of rushing around hauling paving slabs. ‘Why don’t you have a shower, and then we’ll revisit that thought. In the meantime, I’ll make you a cup of tea and bring it up.’
‘Cheeky minx,’ he says and then sniffs his armpit. ‘Oh, wow. See what you mean. I’d better go and … ’
‘Yes, you’d better!’ I slap him playfully on the bum as he turns and heads out the door and before he can beat me to it, I add, ‘And, yes, I know I shouldn’t touch what I can’t afford!’
After Luke is rested and showered, we decide to go out for a drink before grabbing a casual dinner.
It’s a lovely evening and warm enough to sit in the large garden of a pub within walking distance.
I lean back in an oak garden chair, a glass of Pinot Grigio in my hand, and let the golden rays of the setting sun warm my face.
Luke’s phone goes and he pulls it out of his pocket to check it. ‘It’s Cassie. She sent me an apology – for not being more thoughtful, but also because she realized it was our anniversary.’
‘Well, that’s good, isn’t it?’
Luke sighs. ‘I hope so. I just don’t want things to be awkward.’
I sit up straighter and put my wine glass down on the table between us.
‘Luke, we can’t avoid saying what we need to because we don’t want things to be awkward.
’ This makes me realize that what Cassie did today isn’t the problem; it’s just the symptom of a larger issue.
‘Maybe it’s time to set some boundaries with your family in general? ’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that they rely on you quite heavily for a lot of things.’
He takes a sip of his beer. ‘That’s the problem of being a builder, I reckon. It was the same with my dad.’
‘Yes, but Zach and Nick are also in the trade and it’s not as if Matthew is incompetent. Your dad made sure that all of you, including Cassie, can manage the basics. Anyway, it’s not just DIY stuff, is it? Today’s situation being a case in point.’
Luke goes quiet for a while. ‘Why do I feel as if you’re having a go at me for how I interact with my family?’
I reach over to touch him, just to make contact so he knows I’m on his side. ‘I’m honestly not. I’m just trying to look out for you. I see how overloaded you are, and I get the feeling that … that maybe you don’t enjoy working at Harris I’m just surprised he didn’t do it sooner.
And it’s not about the babysitting or the putting up of shelves or the money lent. It actually wouldn’t matter what the argument was about. It’s the way I used to deal with it, as if everything was a personal attack. Probably because, at the time, it felt that way.
When he returns, I wait until I catch his eye and I say, ‘I just want you to be happy.’
He hands me another glass of wine and puts a bottle of beer on the table for himself. ‘I know that. It’s just … I love my family.’
‘That’s one of the things I love most about you, how committed you are, how loyal, but sometimes I think your family take advantage of that, that’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying you have to cut them off or anything like that.’
He nods. ‘Okay.’
‘I just don’t want you to spend your whole life making them happy while forgetting about doing the same for yourself.’
The look he gives me lets me know my words have touched him, that he appreciates me looking out for him too, which gives me courage to raise my next point. I open my mouth, but Luke jumps in before I’ve got more than half a word out.
‘I know what you’re going to say, but I’m not going to jack it in and do property developing full-time. Dad has only just fully retired and it would break his heart if I sold the company.’
‘Would you have to sell? Couldn’t someone else be in charge of the day-to-day stuff?’
‘Hiring a manager would eat into the profits, and the only other candidate is Warren. After today, even you can’t suggest that would be a good idea!’
I laugh softly. I have to give him that. ‘Okay, okay, I’ll shut up about it.’ For now. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying to make you happy.’
He blinks at me, a slow lowering and opening of his eyelids, and somehow that one tiny gesture, combined with the gentle smile, is full of more love than a dozen bouquets of red roses or expensive jewellery. ‘You’re all right, you know?’ he tells me.
‘I know,’ I say, smiling. ‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
I reach out and hold his hand across the table and the diamond and emerald eternity ring glints as the sun catches it. We are going to be happy, I promise both it and Luke, and then myself, too. We are.