Jessie Slaymaker's Non-Existent Love Life (The Jessie Slaymaker Series) (8 page)

Although she hadn’t completely admitted as much to him, he’d inferred that Jack had stayed the night. Tom didn’t like that thought one bit. The thought of Jessie with Jack made his blood… not exactly boil, but it definitely increased in temperature. What was it about this Jack that he didn’t like? He didn’t even know the guy. Tom had made no bones about the fact that he disliked Charlie, but seeing Jack in her house had made him feel utterly lost when it came to his feelings for Jessie.

As selfish as it sounded, he wanted her to go back to just liking Charlie instead.

‘But why?’ Tom asked himself aloud as he sped home. There were things about Jessie’s image of Charlie which were just figments of her imagination. Yes, he was a real person, but Jessie had romanticised the idea of being with him for so long that her perception of him now bordered on the fantastical. When Tom had seen Charlie’s obvious lack of interest in Jessie in the flesh, he’d regarded him as unattainable. A safe option. There was no danger of Jessie being taken away from him if she lusted after someone who barely noticed her existence.

But he did want her to be happy, didn’t he? He’d told her that often enough. He just didn’t want her to be shagging around with some guy she’d only known for five minutes.

Tom was jealous.

‘I’m gay, though,’ Tom declared staunchly to his rearview mirror. He knew he couldn’t expect her to be celibate for the rest of her life just so he could have all the companionship he ever wanted with her. That wasn’t fair to Jessie. Of course Tom loved her emotionally, but he knew he couldn’t love her in a physical way. He knew he couldn’t offer her a complete relationship in a traditional sense.

Could he? Did he want to?

Tom thought about that for a moment. The thought of touching a woman’s body. Of kissing and touching. The thought had repulsed him once upon a time. It still did, he realised. No, he definitely didn’t want to be doing those kind of things with women.

As he slowed down to make a right turn, Tom noticed a man walking his dog on the pavement. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second and Tom noticed how attractive the dog-walker was.

‘I’m still gay then,’ he said, smiling to himself, feeling reassured. He had started to wonder for a second there.

Tom returned to imagining kissing a woman, just to be sure he was still as gay as he thought he was. Then he started imagining kissing Jessie, and he wasn’t nearly as repulsed as he thought he would have been. In fact, it was quite a pleasant fantasy, and he drove the rest of the distance home enjoying himself. It was only when he parked up in his parking space that he realised, he couldn’t remember anything on the road after he’d seen the man walking his dog.

‘Oh shit,’ Tom said, grasping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

Chapter 25

Thankfully, work seemed to ease up at the bank the following week, allowing everyone to get back to normal working hours and catch up on their beauty sleep. The seemingly extra time people had succeeded in putting everyone in a better mood, and people realised they could actually do other things besides work, like have a social life and go out.
Even go out on dates
.

Jessie was in the communal pantry area, enjoying the luxury of being able to grab a coffee, when Charlie went marching past. He seemed to clock her at the last second as he was just about past her, then turned around and returned to the pantry to talk to her. Charlie had deviated from his path. To come and talk to
her
. Jessie was honoured.

Charlie came and leaned against the kitchen counter and slowly folded his arms across his chest.

‘Would you like one?’ Jessie asked, pointing at her own mug.

‘No thanks. So Jessie, I’ve been thinking about something.’ Jessie inhaled as she waited for a fresh truckload of work to be dumped on her desk.

‘I meant to ask a while ago,’ he continued, ‘but things just got so crazy here. Would you like to go out for dinner on Friday?’

‘Yes, sure, that would be great,’ she replied so eagerly that she sloshed coffee over the sides of her mug, barely missing herself. She willed herself to calm down and play it cooler as she shook her hands, spraying little coffee droplets everywhere.

‘Great,’ Charlie said, pretending not to notice the spillage she’d made.

‘But Friday’s tomorrow,’ she said, half as a statement and half as a question. That was quite short notice, especially considering she didn’t have the foggiest idea what she was going to wear.

‘Yes, is that a problem?’ he asked.

‘No, no, not at all.’

‘Great, I’ll get a table sorted for eight-thirty at that new tapas place opposite the station, okay?’

‘Great, sounds perfect. I’m already looking forward to it.’ Jessie beamed at his back as he went back on his way. She knew she was far from playing it cool, but she didn’t care. She was overjoyed to be going out on a date with Charlie.
At last
. At long fucking last. She wasn’t going to leave him with any doubts about her interest in him. She was too old to play coy.

Jessie practically skipped back to her desk and grabbed her phone.

‘Hey Tom, how’s things?’

‘Good. What can I do for you?’ he asked.

‘We have a wardrobe emergency and I need you tonight at my place. You on?’

‘Okay,’ he said, a little warily.

‘Great.’

Chapter 26

‘Please, Jack. I need you to be my wingman. Nick’s gone and got himself married, and at this short notice no one whose company I can stand is still available.’

‘Gee, thanks,’ Jack said, stifling a chuckle.

‘You know what I mean. You’re good company. Great company, even. I’ve been after this Nadia chick since the wedding. She’s finally agreed to go out with me, as long as it’s a double date. Like I said, I need you. Plus, you look like you need cheering up. You’ve been moping around the place for days now,’ Charlie added, knowing full well he’d get his way in the end.

‘Okay, okay. I’ll come. What’s her friend like?’ Jack asked, cocking an eyebrow.

‘No idea. She bailed yesterday, so I’ve found a replacement, or else Nadia would have cancelled the whole thing,’ Charlie said, rifling through his work bag distractedly.

‘Who’s the replacement then?’ Jack prodded when his brother didn’t enlighten him further.

‘A girl from work, named Jessie. She was at the wedding, maybe you met her there?’ Charlie said vaguely.

‘Yes, I remember Jessie. We were all talking for awhile. Don’t you remember?’ Jack asked, a little concerned at his brother’s short-term memory.

‘Not really. I was in a right state that night. Plus, I was trying to get into Nadia then and she was messing with my head.’

‘Sounds like a nice girl,’ Jack added sarcastically.

‘Hands off,’ Charlie said, smiling. ‘Jessie’s a nice girl…well, woman. She must be knocking on a bit now. She’s the kind of person who’ll go out of her way to help you.’ Charlie continued reflecting, as though for the first time, on Jessie’s character and attributes, as he wandered off towards the fridge.

‘So you’re on then?’ Charlie confirmed, slamming the fridge door closed.

‘You twisted my arm,’ Jack replied as he disappeared to put on a clean shirt.

Jack had been in a foul mood all week. Jessie hadn’t been in touch, and he was damned if he was going to initiate things
again
with her. He had
some
pride. Maybe this double-date thing wasn’t such a bad idea. It would be nice to see Jessie squirm a little. She was obviously up for dating other people, if she had agreed to go out on a double date with Charlie, but not specifically as Charlie’s date. Jack felt a little hurt that she would do that. He knew they’d only spent a short amount of time together, but he’d thought they’d had a connection—as well as some great sex. It had been special. It had been for him, anyway.

Jack knew Charlie wouldn’t bother telling Jessie who her date was going to be. As he splashed on aftershave, he smiled at the thought of how surprised she’d be to see him sitting across from her. Tonight was going to be fun.

Chapter 27

With Tom’s help, Jessie had come up with what she hoped was a winning outfit combination—one that would hopefully seal the deal once and for all with Charlie. Tom hadn’t been quite as enthusiastic as she’d been about the impending Charlie date, but after a couple of glasses of wine, he’d softened somewhat, and actually seemed to think it would be a good idea for her to go on it. He mentioned something about going after her first choice rather than settling on the little brother. Jessie had let that slide; she was too excited and nervous about seeing Charlie to worry about a snide little remark from Tom about Jack.

Jack. She hadn’t called him. But then, he hadn’t called her either, or shown up again this week. It’s not that she didn’t like him, or hadn’t thought about him. She did and she had. She just didn’t really know what to do about him. Whether to pursue him or not. And now that she had this date with Charlie, she owed it to herself—and to all the many years of pining after him—to go through with it and see how things panned out. She knew she’d always regret it if she didn’t go.

‘Shit, I’m late,’ she said as she stumbled out of the cab trying to juggle change and her phone at the same time. She took a moment to compose herself and straighten herself up. Tonight she’d gone for full-on grown-up glamour. A short, tight, black long-sleeved dress teamed with impossibly high black stilettos and some serious smokey-eye action. Tom had said she looked sophisticated and in control when they’d rehearsed the previous evening. Jessie thought the look might be a bit strong for a first date, but she wanted to exude strength and confidence—and ultimately sexiness—tonight, rather than being pretty and demure.

‘Oh hello,’ came a semi-familiar voice behind her as she walked into the restaurant. Jessie turned to see Nadia from Natalie and Nick’s wedding standing in the doorway.

‘Oh, hi Nadia, how are you?’ Jessie said, unable to resist running her observant eye over Nadia’s clothes. Jessie felt Nadia doing the same thing, and they shared an awkward moment.

‘I’m good, thanks. You?’ replied Nadia.

‘I’m fine, thank you. Are you here for dinner or drinks?’ Jessie asked politely, aware that she sounded like the hostess, but unsure of what else to say.

‘Dinner, silly,’ Nadia said as she pushed past Jessie and headed across the restaurant to a man seated at a table. The man stood up and kissed her. Jessie felt her chin hit the floor. The man doing the kissing was Charlie.
Her
Charlie. What the fuck?

Jessie proceeded to shove past the actual hostess and speed-march her way over to Charlie. She arrived there like a black thunderstorm, staring at them, unable to speak.

‘There you are, Jessie. Are you alright?’ Charlie asked. Even he’d noticed the thundercloud standing there. There was an awkward silence, and then Charlie stepped up and continued.

‘Jessie, you obviously know Nadia,’ he said, giving Nadia’s bottom a pinch, which she giggled at like a naughty school girl. ‘And I think you’ve already met my brother Jack.’

Jack stood up then, and Jessie nearly fainted with shock. He’d deliberately chosen a seat with his back to the door so she wouldn’t have seen him properly until she got close enough.

She tried to compose herself and extended her hand. She hoped nobody would notice it trembling.

‘Nice to seen you again,’ she croaked out.

‘Hello Jessie,’ Jack said formally as he stood and shook her hand gently. She felt a flicker of a spark as he touched her, and she darted her eyes away from his in embarrassment.

‘Let’s not stand on ceremony, I’m starving,’ Nadia declared.

They ordered some drinks and Jessie excused herself to go to the bathroom. She stood looking at herself for a couple of moments in the mirror, feeling hugely embarrassed. She’d obviously grabbed the total wrong end of the stick when Charlie had asked her to dinner. She had
crazily
assumed it would just be the two of them. Jessie hoped her performance out there hadn’t made it too obvious that she had been totally bewildered to see Nadia and Jack there. Especially during the part where Charlie was kissing and pinching Nadia. She feared her facial expressions had told the whole room exactly what she’d really been thinking.

‘Calm and serene,’ she muttered to herself. She looked critically at herself in the mirror. She thought she looked alright. She obviously wasn’t twenty-five anymore, but her face had character and her body was in good shape. Tom would never have let her go out dressed as she was if she didn’t look decent. Nadia, on the other hand, was all peaches and cream in her pastel pink floaty dress and softer, prettier makeup. Jessie looked more like a footballer’s wife, while Nadia was girly and youthful.

‘Should have gone with the first-date look rather than the scary funeral getup,’ Jessie muttered again. Men don’t want a strong woman. Well, judging by the way Charlie had been eyeing Nadia up so far,
Charlie
didn’t want a strong woman, anyway. He just wanted a piece of meat, she thought to herself. Jessie forced herself to hold her head up and push her shoulders back as she braved the restaurant again, and walked slowly back to the table.

Chapter 28

Jack couldn’t help himself. She was mesmerising. Granted, her conversation skills didn’t seem totally up to scratch so far this evening, but she looked amazing. He studied her closely as she walked back from the bathroom, and was unable to take his eyes off her.

‘Let me guess, you scared the other two off already,’ she said, commenting on the empty state of their table.

‘Cigarette break for Nadia I’m afraid, and Charlie went to keep her company,’ Jack replied, rolling his eyes.

‘That old chestnut,’ Jessie said bitterly, rolling her own eyes. She took a big gulp of her wine which had thankfully already arrived.

‘Let me guess. You thought you were having dinner here this evening with Charlie. Just the two of you,’ he said, emphasizing the
just
. ‘You’ve probably been planning tonight for half a lifetime. What you’ll say, what you’ll wear… And now, Nadia and her great big chest have thrown a toolbox of spanners in the works,’ he concluded, taking a sip of his own drink.