Chapter Two
Jessica sighed with happiness as she stepped out of the airport terminal and into the British summer. It was one o’clock in the afternoon and twenty-two degrees Celsius. The perfect antidote to the New York heat.
She gave herself twenty minutes in the sun with a coffee, and then hopped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington before catching the train to Bowerbridge, the little town where her parents as well as her brother, Andrew, and his family lived.
By the time she walked along the road from the train station, Jessica was somewhat regretting her decision to surprise her parents. If they’d known she was arriving, her mum or dad would have insisted upon coming to pick her up from the airport and she wouldn’t be dragging her luggage along behind her now. But it would be so lovely to see the excitement on their faces when they opened their front door to find her outside. She hoped they were in. Her dad might be at work — he ran the local estate agent’s, and had done for over thirty-five years. Her mum was a teacher at the town’s primary school, so she was on summer holidays. If no one was home, Jessica knew where they kept their spare key so she could let herself in and wait for them, or wander down to her dad’s office and surprise him there. Her mum sometimes popped in to lend a hand during the holidays so Jessica might find her there too.
She turned the corner into the cul-de-sac. Their cars were in the driveway so that was a good sign. Jessica stood across the street from her family’s home for a moment. The house was red brick and perfectly symmetrical at the front, like a doll’s house, with a window on either side of the front door, and three windows evenly spaced along the upstairs.
This was the house she’d lived in until she’d moved to America, though she’d been away during term time at dance school in London for two years before that. She’d been so desperate to leave the little town which had no professional ballet academy, so intent upon following her dream — a dream she’d have had to put on hold if she’d stayed at home and taken Alevels at the local sixth-form college. Her parents had been amazing, though she knew they missed her terribly.
Jessica took a deep breath and went to cross the road, but stopped when she heard a voice calling, “Jessica Stone, well I never!” She turned and hoped she’d managed to hide the dismay she felt at the sight of the enormous grey-haired figure of Mrs Edith White hurrying along the pavement towards her. Mrs White, as anyone under the age of sixty referred to her, considered herself the matriarch of the town. She’d lived there her whole life and knew everyone, and was on so many committees that Jessica doubted even she remembered all of them. Basically, if you lived in Bowerbridge and wanted to do so much as put new Christmas lights on the tree outside your property, you’d better check with Mrs White first.
“Good afternoon, Mrs White,” Jessica said, dutifully.
“So, you’ve finally been able to manage a visit!” Mrs White proclaimed. “Thank goodness your parents have your brother, is all I can say. I don’t know how they’d manage without him.”
Jessica’s mum and dad were only in their late fifties, and in good health. She knew they didn’t rely on her brother to look after them, but that didn’t mean Mrs White’s words didn’t rankle.
“He’s a wonderful son,” Jessica replied through gritted teeth.
“So, will you be staying for long?” Mrs White asked nosily.
“No. It’s just a flying visit. I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Oh, yes. The dancing.” She said it like she was sure Jessica was secretly a stripper or a pole dancer.
“That’s right. Anyway, lovely to see you again, but I really must go. Mum and Dad are waiting for me,” Jessica fibbed.
“Do give them my regards,” Mrs White said, and she bustled off down the road.
Jessica would have liked to have taken a few moments to compose herself again — an encounter with Mrs White was always unsettling — but her mum chose that moment to open the front door and come out with a bag of rubbish for the bin. Sarah looked up and spotted her daughter. “Jessica?! What are you doing here, darling?” She dropped the garbage in order to rush to greet her daughter with a hug. Sarah was the same height as Jessica, and slim, but not to ballerina standards. She’d also had black hair, but it was heavily peppered with silver now.
“I wanted to surprise you!” Jessica said, pushing Mrs White firmly to the back of her mind.
“Well, you’ve certainly done that!”
Jessica spotted a troubled look pass over her mother’s face.
“Is everything all right, Mum?” she asked.
“Yes, of course. It’s wonderful to see you. It’s just... well, why don’t you come in and see. Let me take your case for you.”
Puzzled, Jessica followed her mum through her parents’ colourful little front garden and into the house. She was greeted enthusiastically by a large golden retriever.
“Who’s this?” Jessica asked, laughing as the dog did its best to lick her anywhere it could.
“This is Monty,” Sarah said. “We adopted him a few weeks ago. Your dad saw a photo of him on the local dog rescue’s Facebook page and it was love at first sight.”
“Wow! I thought you didn’t want a dog...”
“Your dad wore me down,” Sarah admitted. “Monty’s going to go into the office with him when I’m back at work. We were going to introduce you to him the next time we FaceTimed.”
Jessica looked around her and realised the floor of the hallway was covered in packed suitcases.
Jessica turned to her mum. “What’s going on?”
“We’re going on holiday,” Sarah said. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”
“Oh no!” cried Jessica.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. If we’d known you were coming, we never would have booked it.”
“It’s not your fault. It was all so last-minute. I wanted to surprise you!”
“It was a lovely surprise,” said Sarah, pulling her daughter in for another hug. “Your dad’s going to be thrilled to see you.”
Jessica felt completely deflated. How stupid of her to think she could just turn up and her whole family wouldn’t have any plans in the middle of the summer holidays.
“We’re going to the Lake District with Andrew, Molly and the kids. We’ve rented a cabin for ten nights. Maybe we could fit you in as well? It’s two bedrooms so Andrew and Molly are going to have Peter in their room and Emily and Sophie are going to sleep on sofa beds in the sitting room. Maybe they could squish on one and you could sleep on the other?”
As much as Jessica wanted to spend some time with her family, ten nights in a tiny cabin with all seven of them, combined with the idea of sharing a room with her two nieces and sleeping on a sofa bed did not really appeal. She was formulating a polite response when the telephone rang.
“Just a minute, love,” Sarah said, and she went into the kitchen to answer it.
Jessica stroked Monty absent-mindedly as she looked around her family home. The last time she’d been here, she now remembered, was when she was performing at Sadler’s Wells for a couple of weeks and she’d visited her parents for the weekend. The house was still reassuringly very similar to when she’d lived there, though the addition of Monty was a definite surprise. She supposed it had been quite a while since she’d taken the time to check in with her family, and she tended to dissuade them from calling her as she was usually so busy. She could kick herself for not at least ensuring they’d be around during her visit.
Sarah rejoined her. “That was the dog-sitter we had booked — she’s ill and can’t take Monty while we’re away. This is exactly the type of thing I warned would happen if we got a dog!” she said, exasperated. “Your dad was only happy with Monty going to her because he’s been taking Monty to visit her house every other day to get him familiar with it and he knows Monty gets on with her dogs. There’s no time to get Monty used to another place now and we booked the cabin months and months ago, before Monty, so it didn’t bother us that they had a strict no-dog policy.”
“Do you think Monty would be happy staying with me here?” Jessica asked.
“You can’t stay here by yourself for ten nights!” Sarah said immediately. “The cabins were fully booked before, but maybe they’ve had a cancellation for a one-bedroom one...” Her forehead furrowed.
“I’ll be fine,” Jessica reassured her. “It will be nice to be able to relax at home and unwind, and I can take Monty for lots of walks. I’ll have this evening with you and then a few days when you get back and before I have to leave.”
“Andrew and Molly could go by themselves and we could stay with you—”
“I don’t want you to miss your holiday, and the kids would be disappointed. They will have been looking forward to going away with you,” Jessica reasoned. She really didn’t want the family holiday to be cancelled because of her. It wasn’t like her mum and dad got away much at all; she was sure they’d have been looking forward to it for months. “And I bet you’ve promised Andrew and Molly that you’ll babysit at least one evening so they can go out together.”
“But it’s so lovely to have you here! I want to make the most of it!”
Jessica noticed her mum’s eyes were wet with unshed tears and put her arm around her. “I know, so do I. But I’m honestly happy to stay with Monty. I’ll look after the house — I know how Dad worries about leaving it empty — and then we’ll have a great time together when you get back. We can take the children out for the day together, maybe.”
“That would be lovely. Are you absolutely sure? It would be a big help having you look after Monty and the house.”
“Absolutely, Mum.”
“Well, thank you, darling,” said Sarah, giving her daughter another hug. “I still can’t believe you’re here! I must call your dad and tell him!”
“No, don’t do that. I’ll wander down to the office and surprise him there.” Jessica grinned at the thought. She couldn’t wait to see her dad.
“He’ll love that. Do you want a cup of tea and something to eat before you go?”
“I’m fine, thanks, Mum. I ate on the plane.” Jessica reflected that it would take her a while to readjust to the amount of tea drinking that went on in her family home. Her mum never knowingly allowed the kettle to cool down while she was in the house.
“All right, he should be nearly done for the day by the time you get there.”
Jessica headed back out again, relishing the gentle warmth of the sun. She must have walked to her dad’s estate agency hundreds of times as a child. She used to love to go in and spin on the office chairs and play games on his computer in the back while he talked to prospective clients. She passed by the school her mum taught at and which she had attended until she was eleven. The Victorian building looked just the same, with the original ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ entrances and rows of large windows, except that it had a fancy new sign outside. It was a small school, with less than two hundred pupils. Everyone had known that Mrs Stone, who taught Year4, was her mum. Having her mother as a teacher for a year hadn’t actually been as bad as Jessica had worried it would be. Jessica had behaved, knowing she’d be in trouble when she got home if she didn’t, even if her mum wouldn’t tell her off properly in front of her schoolmates.
She continued on, and noticed a man of about her age on the other side of the road. A springer spaniel trotted alongside him on a lead. He was speaking into his phone — and was very good-looking. He must have been at least six foot two with short dark hair and the sort of chiselled jaw seen in commercials for shaving foam. The jeans and T-shirt he wore hinted at a strong body underneath. Something about him was familiar. She just wished she could place what it was. He caught her gaze and smiled, a look of semi-recognition passing over his face. Jessica couldn’t seem to stop herself from smiling back, but swiftly averted her eyes, embarrassed at being caught staring at a stranger in the street.
A few minutes later, Jessica pushed open the doors to Stone’s Property Agency, to the familiar jingle of the bell signalling the arrival of a customer. The office was empty except for her dad, Joe, and Meryl, who was in charge of lettings and had worked in the agency for nearly as long as her father. Joe looked up from his computer and his mouth fell open at the sight of his daughter. “Jessica!” he cried out and rushed over to her. He bent down to hug her. “Have you got smaller?”
“Nope,” said Jessica laughing.
“Well, I’ve got bigger.” Joe laughed, rubbing his stomach. Her dad loved cooking and eating, and had indeed become rounder since the last time she’d seen him.
“What on earth are you doing here?” he asked.
“I wanted to surprise you with a visit, but I really should have called ahead first! Mum’s filled me in about your holiday.”
“Yes . . .”
“Don’t worry, Mum and I have got it sorted,” she said. “We’ll tell you all about it when we get home. Hello, Meryl!”
“Hello, Jessica! How lovely to see you. How have you been?”
“I’m good. Is my dad still overworking you?”
“Wouldn’t seem right if he wasn’t!” Meryl laughed. “Joe, why don’t you head off with Jessica? We don’t have any more bookings today and I can handle any walk-ins.”
“I think I will,” said Joe. “Thanks, Meryl.”
* * *
An hour later, Jessica and her mum sat at the kitchen table while her dad prepared supper for them all. He’d insisted on popping to the supermarket on the way home to pick up salmon because it was Jessica’s favourite, and he knew, while she’d relish a few of the crispy potatoes he’d roast to go alongside, it was salad that would fill most of Jessica’s plate. She also didn’t join her parents in having a glass of wine, sticking to water instead. She only usually had a small glass of alcohol at functions organised by her company when it would be awkward not to. It affected her dancing performance the next day too much for her to want to drink it any more often.
As Monty slept by her feet, her mum and dad filled her in on all the local gossip. “Oh, and there’s a new doctor down at the surgery. He’s very nice, even Mrs White approves of him. His family used to live here but moved away. I taught him. Actually, I think he might have been in your class—”
Sarah was interrupted by a ring at the doorbell. “I wonder who that can be?” asked Joe, with a glint in his eye. “Why don’t you go and see, Jess?”
Jessica smiled; her dad was so obvious. She went into the hallway, opened the front door and found herself enveloped by her brother, Andrew, his wife, Molly, and their children, Peter, Emily and Sophie.
“Hey, sis! Mum called and told us you were here. Great timing for a visit!” Andrew teased. Andrew was a bear of a man, taller than their father by a good six inches at least, with wild black hair, and a growing belly thanks to his wife’s good cooking and his rather sedentary day job as an accountant. “I know. I can’t believe it. It’s not like they go away a lot!” Jessica replied.
“It’s good to see you,” Molly said, scooping up little Sophie so she didn’t get crushed under everyone. Like her husband, Molly was still wearing the suit she wore to work as a fellow partner in their accountancy firm. She was tall and slim and her blonde hair was in a no-nonsense high ponytail. Jessica imagined Molly could be very serious when it came to business, but when she was with her family, she let all that slide and devoted herself to them completely.
“Come through, come through,” called Joe from the kitchen.
Everyone trooped in, the children gazing up at Jessica like she was a world-famous film star.
“We can’t stay for long, but we wanted to pop in and say hi to Auntie Jessica, didn’t we guys?” said Molly.
“We watched you on the television, Auntie Jessica,” Emily, who was six, said, looking up at her auntie with wide eyes. “You were beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Jessica said, smiling.
“Your company’s The Nutcracker was on the BBC last Christmas. The girls were completely enamoured,” Molly explained.
“I’m glad they enjoyed it.” She wished her brother had told her. She’d had no idea they’d watched her performance.
“I’d love to dance like you,” whispered Sophie.
“It takes a lot of hard work,” Jessica said.
“And doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else,” muttered Andrew, which earned him a glare from Sarah. Jessica chose to ignore his comment.
“Anyway, we’d better go,” said Molly. “We were just on our way home from picking Peter up from football, and we need to get an early night.”
“We’re going on holiday with Nanny and Grandad tomorrow, Auntie Jessica,” Sophie explained. “Are you coming as well?”
“No. I’m going to look after Monty here, but I’ll see you all when you get back.”
“I’m glad someone’s looking after Monty,” Peter said. “I was worried about him.”
“He’ll be fine with me.” Jessica gave him a reassuring smile. She couldn’t believe how much the children had grown, especially Peter. At almost eight and a half he’d soon be as tall as his aunt.
Andrew and his family left in a whirlwind, making the kitchen seem quite empty afterwards.
Jessica enjoyed her supper and stayed up as long as she could to chat with her parents but was eventually forced to excuse herself. She was exhausted from travelling and desperate to go to bed.
Climbing up the stairs of her parents’ house, hearing her mum and dad chatting away downstairs as they settled down to watch some television together, made her feel like a teenager again. The bathroom seemed strange without her and her brother’s toothbrushes next to the sink, and there was a new blind up at the window. Every time she visited there seemed to be something different about her childhood home. But her old bedroom was exactly the same as when she’d lived in the house. She settled into her old single bed underneath a poster from the English National Ballet and fell fast asleep.