The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (82 page)

  
Jane nodded. ‘I honestly
think I was. Jon’s being supportive and concerned, like a loving brother should
be. I told you I’ve got an over active imagination. Fancy me thinking something
like that about my own kids. She was in such a state. Ed was worried to death.’

  
Sammy gave her a hug.
‘Give her time and lots of support. I’ll get back to work and I’ll see you at
the airport tomorrow. You and Ed take the Jeep, I’ll take the BMW and Mum and
Tom will take their car, too. Pat and Tim will have loads of luggage, so we’ll
need as much boot space as possible.’

  
Jane nodded excitedly. ‘I
really can’t wait. It’s so nice to have something good to look forward to after
the last few weeks.’
 

  
Sammy linked her arm
through Jane’s as they walked across to
Roy
and Jess.
 

  
‘Ready, Sam?’
Roy
smiled.

  
‘I am.’ She took his hand
and squeezed it. ‘See you two tomorrow.’ She waved as Jane and Jess made their
way arm in arm towards Nick’s grave.
   

***

Jess was dozing, the holiday brochures on the floor beside her bed
when Jon knocked on the door.
    

  
‘Come in.’ She struggled
to sit up and he was immediately by her side, lifting her easily and plumping
up her pillows. He sat beside her taking her hand.

  
‘Hi,’ he smiled.

  
‘Hi, yourself,’ she
replied with a wistful grin as he leant in to kiss her.

  
‘I love you, Jess,’ he
said, stroking a straying lock of hair from her face.

  
Jess felt her stomach
flip as she gazed into his eyes. ‘I love you, too.’

  
‘So what happened today?’

  
‘I lost the plot.
Everything crowded in on me. Nick’s death and what’s happening between us. It
was all too much.’ She stroked his cheek. ‘And also I just needed to know that
you really love me.’

  
‘Oh, Jess, you fool. Of
course I do. That’s the whole point. Last night wouldn’t have happened at all
if I
didn’t
love you. I’ve thought
about nothing else all day. I want us to be a couple. Driving home tonight,
I’ve been wracking my brains, trying to work out how the hell we can do it. I
think I’ve come up with a solution. I don’t know what you’ll think of my idea,
and we don’t have to do it yet, but its there for the future.’

  
‘What?’ she asked
intrigued. Jess hadn’t considered that she and Jon could
ever
have a future.
 

  
‘Well,’ he began, ‘the
way I see it, the only way we can do it is to move away. We could flat share.
It’s not uncommon for brothers and sisters to move away from home together. If
we got a two bed-roomed flat, it would look like we’re innocently sharing the
rent and bills etcetera. What do you think? We’ll have to get new jobs of
course, but I’ve got the bulk of my inheritance from Celia to tide us over and
you’ve still got a fair bit of yours.’
  

  
Jess stared at him. What
he said made perfect sense; they could be together. ‘Let’s do it. But we’ll
wait until after Christmas and plan it properly. It’s best if we’re around this
year, for Sammy, Roy and Jason and it’s Pat and Tim’s first Christmas home,
too.’

  
Jon hugged her. ‘Okay.
There’s something I have to tell you though. Sean overheard my conversation
with you this morning. I told him what had happened. He more or less guessed
anyway and I had to tell someone, the guilt was killing me. He won’t say
anything, but
Roy
told him Mum spoke to Sammy about us and she suspects there’s
something going on.’

  
‘No!’ Jess was shocked.
‘She can’t possibly. Why on earth would they suggest we go away to
Spain
on our own if Mum thought that?
Roy and Sammy were at the graveyard earlier when Mum and I took a plant for
Nick. Then
Roy
was here with Dad when we arrived home with the brochures. No one
said a word to me that would suggest they’d any suspicions along those lines.
Whatever
Roy
told Sean, it can’t have been
that.’

  
Jon shrugged. ‘Well,
whatever, we have to be very careful from now on.’

  
Jess smiled. ‘I know.’

  
‘Listen, Jess, we can’t
go on this holiday. It’s not that I don’t want to, because believe me, there’s
nothing I’d like better than to spend a whole week just loving you. But it
wouldn’t be right, Dad paying for it and everything.’

  
She nodded. ‘Now all we
have to do is convince Mum and Dad,’ she said as Mum called upstairs to tell
them dinner was ready.

***

Over dinner, Eddie had his own suggestion to help relieve Sean’s
staffing problems when Jon told him he couldn’t be spared at work.

  
‘I
could do your job for a week. I’ve done it before and it would
be a nice change,’ he enthused.

  
‘Ed, you can’t,’ Jane
protested. ‘Who’d collect the kids from school? No, if Jon can’t take time off,
then they can’t go and that’s that.’

  
‘I need a few days off in
November to visit Grandma,’ Jon reminded them. ‘Jess will be coming with me so
it will be a nice little break for us.’

  
Jess nodded. ‘I wouldn’t
be able to swim or anything if we were abroad and my wrist and ankle would miss
out on physiotherapy for a week. Better if we leave it until next year.’

  
Her dad smiled and patted
her hand. ‘It’s okay, I don’t mind. I just thought it would do you both good.
Actually, you could do me a favour while you’re down in
Hastings
.’

  
‘What’s that?’ Jon asked,
tucking into his lasagne.

  
‘Drive over to
Brighton
and check on Celia’s place. Make
sure the agent’s doing his job properly. I’ll treat you to a night or two in a
hotel. The Ship Inn’s nice. It’s right on the front opposite the pier. The band
always stayed there when we played The Pavilion.’

  
‘Brilliant, Dad,’ Jon
said. ‘We’ll spend a couple of days with Grandma and then a day or two in
Brighton
. Is that okay with you, Jess?’

  
‘Perfect,’ she replied.

  
‘When are you going to
take the house off the market, Dad?’ Jon asked. ‘All you’ve had are silly
offers.’

  
‘I don’t know. I signed a
contract on a no sale, no fee basis. But the property had to be on for a full
six months. I’ll get the paperwork out later and have a look what date I signed
it. You can go and see the agent, ask how the property market’s doing. If it
doesn’t sell soon I’ll keep it, have some work done and let it for the holiday
season.’

  
Katie and Dominic, who
had been having tea with their grandparents, arrived back at that moment, with
Lennon on their heels, creating a noisy diversion.

  
‘Right, you kids, bath
and bed,’ Jane ordered, getting up from the table. ‘Will you clear up, Ed and
load the dishwasher, please?’

  
‘Yeah, sure. Do you two
fancy a bit of a jam session?’ he asked Jon and Jess. ‘Give your wrist a bit of
exercise, Jess.’

  
They nodded
enthusiastically.

  
‘Right then, give me a
hand with the dishes and we’ll go and rock!’

***

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Lying in the bubbles, Livvy
reflected on Roy’s visit to the
shop. Initially upset, as the day wore on her feelings were replaced by anger,
and his refusal to allow her a contact number really hurt.

  
What the heck did he think she’d do? If she wanted to make a nuisance of
herself she could call his home. Anyway, until he moved into his flat he’d be
easy enough to track down if the hotel he was staying in was local. The more
she tossed the idea around, the more she liked it. Now she’d had all afternoon
to mull things over there were things she wished she’d said to him. Clambering
out of the bath she wrapped a towel around her middle and made for the lounge.

  
She grabbed the Yellow Pages from under the coffee table and turned to
hotels. Ruling out the larger establishments near the airport she concentrated
on smaller, but exclusive, hotels where Roy
might seek more privacy. She tried two without success, but when the
receptionist at The Grand in Westlow offered to put her through to Mr
Cantello’s room, she hung up, smiling.

  
She hurried to her bedroom, carefully applied her makeup and pinned her
hair up on top, leaving a few curly tendrils round her face. She pulled on
black lacy knickers and a matching bra, then, having second thoughts, took the
bra off. She slipped into a black, below the knee dress with a seductive side
slit. Silky hold up stockings and black high-heels finished the look.

  
She checked her appearance in the full-length mirror. Another week or
two and she’d be unable to wear this dress. It clung to every curve,
accentuating her baby bump, and the low cut neckline showed off her new cleavage
to perfection. Picturing Roy’s face
when he set eyes on her, she grabbed her car keys and handbag and before her
nerve deserted her, dashed out to the car and drove the few miles to Westlow.

  
She could see Roy’s car
halfway down the car park. A quick glance round told her Sammy’s Porsche wasn’t
here. She parked her Mini at the bottom behind a van. If by any chance Sammy
arrived later, the car would be out of sight. Sammy would have no forewarning
of her presence and may even find her and Roy together at the bar. On the other
hand, what if Sammy was already here? Roy
might have picked her up. She may even have arrived by taxi. They could be
having dinner together right now in the hotel restaurant. ‘Stop being a wimp,
Liv,’ she muttered as she climbed out of the car. She smoothed her dress over
her bump and went inside. A round-faced redhead on reception eyed her up and
down.

  
‘Good evening. Can I help you?’

  
‘Yes, I’m looking for Roy Cantello.’
 

  
‘Mr Cantello’s in the bar.’ The girl pointed to double glass doors
opposite the desk.

  
‘Thank you.’ Livvy turned and walked towards the doors, feeling the
girl’s eyes burning into her. Dare she go in? She hesitated momentarily. Sod
it! Why shouldn’t she? As far as
she
was
concerned, there was unfinished business between her and Roy. She pushed open
the doors and strolled boldly through.

***

She spotted Roy
immediately. He was sitting alone on a small sofa reading a newspaper. He had
his back to her, giving her an advantage. She saw him reach out to the table in
front and pick up a glass. She waited until he’d taken a sip and returned the
glass before she approached him.

  
She tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he spun round, frowning.

  
His eyes widened with shock. ‘How the hell did you find me?’

  
‘I let my fingers do the walking!’
 

  
‘Huh?’
  

  
‘Yellow pages –’

  
‘Oh. Right. But why? I thought I covered everything this morning.’

  
‘You might have had
your
say, but
I
didn’t. Do you mind if
I sit down?’

  
‘Feel free.’ He moved over and made room.

  
Heart pounding, she sat beside him, crossing her legs. Her slit skirt
revealed a lacy stocking top, which, she observed, didn’t go unnoticed.

  
‘Would you like a drink?’ He knocked back the remainder of his brandy.
‘I
could do with another of these.’

  
‘Orange juice, please.’

  
He frowned. ‘Oh, of course, no alcohol. Well at least you’re looking
after the baby.’

  
Her eyes followed him as he walked to the bar. He looked good in smart
black trousers and a cream shirt. Her palms were sweating and she wiped them on
the plush velvet pile of the sofa. She smiled as he came back, placed the
drinks on the table and sat down besides her, draping his arm across the back
of the sofa.

  
He touched the loose tendrils of hair on the nape of her neck.

  
‘It’s a bloody good job Sammy’s not here tonight!’

  
‘If her car had been outside I would have gone straight home,’ she said.

  
He nodded and stared at her cleavage. ‘You look nice, all round and
womanly. So - have your drink, tell me what you want to say and then you’d
better go, just in case Sam
does
decide to turn up.’

  
She leant forward to pick up her drink. Her breasts jiggled with the
movement and she could feel her nipples stiffening as they rubbed against the
fabric of her dress.

  
‘Is that likely?’

  
He shrugged. ‘Probably not, but you never know.’

  
‘I’ll take my chance.’

  
‘Suit yourself.’ He peeled his eyes away from her, picked up his drink
and knocked it back. ‘Should have got a double. I’ll get another.’

  
As he went back to the bar she took a sip of her drink. He was nervous,
she could tell, but
she
was feeling
braver by the minute.

  
‘Come on then,’ he said as he sat back down. ‘What is it you want to
say?’

  
‘You upset me today,’ she began, forcing a tear. ‘I can’t believe you
don’t want to see me again after everything we’ve been to one another.’ She
took a tissue from her bag and dabbed her eyes. ‘I’m carrying your child, Roy.
Doesn’t it count for anything?’ She watched as he gulped down a mouthful of
brandy and twiddled the stem of his glass.

  
‘Of course it does. But I’m terrified of losing Sam and Jason, and
everything I’ve worked for. It’s over between us. It has to be.’

  
‘But I don’t want it to be over.’ She took another sip of orange juice.
She could see beads of sweat forming on his top lip.

  
He was silent for a few seconds before replying. ‘Well it is. I’ve
nothing more to say.’ He finished his drink and stood up. ‘Come on, I’ll walk
you to your car then I’m having dinner and an early night.’
  

  
‘I
haven’t eaten yet,’ she
said, fanning herself with her hand. ‘I feel quite faint. It must be the stress
of coming here.’ She forced more tears as he helped her to her feet.

  
‘You need some fresh air,’ he said, leading her towards the door, but
she pulled back.

  
‘It’s food I need, not fresh air.’ She shrugged his hands away and
watched his face as his jaw tightened.
 

  
‘Go home then and get something to eat. You shouldn’t have come here.
Like I told you, it’s over, there’s nothing more to say.’

  
She glanced around. The bar was fairly crowded and people were watching
them. Perfect, he wouldn’t want a scene in public.

  
‘How can you treat me this way?’ she wailed. ‘The least you can do is
buy me dinner.’
 

  
Roy eyes darkened and he
pushed his hands in his pockets. ‘No - I can’t. Please go home.’

  
‘I’m hungry,’ she said, raising her voice. ‘One meal - I’m not asking
for much.’ She lowered her voice slightly. ‘After all, thanks to
you
I’m feeding two!’ She patted her
bump.

  
Roy steered her out to reception.
‘What the hell are you playing at?’ he said, shaking her arm. ‘Everybody’s
looking at us.’

  
‘I’m not playing at anything,’ she cried. ‘Nobody heard me. Anyway,
they’ll probably all think you’re my dad!’

  
‘Hardly,’ he replied. ‘People know who I am and that I don’t have a
daughter. It’ll be all round bloody Westlow tomorrow. That’s not going to do
much for Sammy and Jason, is it?’

  
‘Sorry. But I’m hungry.’ She could see the redheaded receptionist
staring at them as Roy ran his
hands through his hair. ‘Would it kill you to eat with me? If anyone asks you
can say I’m the daughter of a friend.’

  
‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Just calm down. We’ll eat and
then
you go. Right?’

  
She smiled through her tears. ‘I’ll pop to the ladies and tidy my face.
Will you wait here for me?’

  
‘No. I’ll be in the restaurant. Join me when you’re ready.’

  
She nodded as he went through the swing doors. She turned to the
redhead. ‘Ladies room?’

  
The girl pointed towards a corridor. ‘Two doors down on the right.’

  
‘Thank you.’ Livvy said and hurried away.

***

Livvy looked around and smiled.
The ladies was plush with marble sinks, soft pink towels and fresh flowers. She
could get used this. She dabbed her cheeks to remove the mascara smudges and
touched up her lipstick. She pulled down a few more curly tendrils and adjusted
her cleavage, pleased that she’d chosen to wear her best dress. A quick spray
of perfume, a deep breath and she was ready to join him.

***

Roy
ordered their food while Livvy gazed at her surroundings, taking in the
elegantly dressed windows and rich patterned carpet. The restaurant was fairly
quiet and they were seated in a private alcove. She turned to Roy, who was
staring at her. There was something in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what, but he
seemed more relaxed now than he’d been in the bar.

  
‘You okay?’ he asked.

  
She nodded. ‘I’ve never been anywhere this posh before. Have you?’

  
‘Frequently,’ he replied. ‘When the band was at the height of its fame
we stayed in some of the best hotels in the world. It’s boring after the first
half dozen or so. Hotel living can be very lonely.’

  
‘Poor Roy,’ she said,
reaching for his hand. ‘It’s my fault you’re here.’

  
He jerked his hand away as the waiter brought over a bottle of wine.

  
‘Madam?’

  
‘A drop, please,’ she replied. The waiter half filled her glass and
turned to Roy who nodded.

  
‘Fill it up. Don’t worry about me,’ he said to her as the waiter walked
away. ‘I’m a big boy now; I can look after myself. How’s work been today? Are
Sean and Jon still being supportive?’
  

  
She nodded as another waiter placed a prawn and melon starter in front
of her.

  
‘Jon’s been a bit on edge today about something. Sean kept sending me
out of the way, so I couldn’t find out what was going on. Jess called Jon this
morning and after that he seemed worse.’

  
‘Really?’ Roy raised an
eyebrow. ‘Perhaps he and Jess had a falling out. You know what siblings are
like.’

  
‘Actually, I don’t. I’m an only child.’

  
‘Of course. Sorry, I forgot. Is there no one at all you can turn to
besides me?’
 

  
‘You know there isn’t,’ she replied. ‘You’re so bothered about losing
everything, but me, well - I’ve
nothing
to lose.’ She toyed with her starter, poking it around the plate.

  
‘Thought you were hungry,’ he said. ‘Better get stuck in.’ He knocked
back his wine and picked up the bottle. ‘Want another drop?’

  
She shook her head.

  
‘All the more for me then.
 

  
After the main course, Roy
finished the last of the wine and ordered coffees and a double brandy.

  
Livvy glanced at her watch. It was after ten. He’d hardly said a word
during the meal, but was mellow and smiling now. He lit a cigarette and looked
at her through a cloud of smoke. His eyes spoke volumes.

  
‘I suppose I’d better go,’ she said and pushed her chair back.

  
Roy nodded and stood up.
‘I’ll walk you to your car.’
  

  
She sighed as he took her arm and led her outside. He seemed distant
again as he strolled beside her. Tonight wasn’t going to end the way she was
hoping it would. She unlocked the car door and stood on tiptoe to kiss his
cheek.

  
‘Is that all I get,’ he teased as she moved away.

  
‘It’s all you deserve.’

  
He sighed and pulled her into his arms. He held her close and spoke into
her hair.

  
‘I’m sorry. I know I’ve hurt you. But I don’t know what else to do.’ He
tilted her chin and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

  
She seized her moment and kissed him hard. She clung to him as his hands
ran down her back and he grabbed her buttocks, pulling her close.