The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (90 page)

  
‘Come on, Tim, I’ll drop Jess
and the gear back at The Lodge and you at Sammy’s,’ Eddie said. ‘Then I’ll go
and see
Roy
. He’s still very cut up over losing Nick and
the least little thing upsets him.’

  
‘Will Livvy be okay, Sean?’ Jess
asked. ‘Would you like me to talk to her?’

  
‘Don’t worry, Jess. Jon can take
a break and go and sit with her for ten minutes after I’ve helped your dad load
the car.’

  
‘Can you manage the stairs,
Jess?’

  
‘Yes, Dad, but you lot go down
first and I’ll meet you at the front door in a couple of minutes.’
 

***

Jess held Jon’s gaze as their dad led the way downstairs. The record
department was customer free as Jon took her in his arms and kissed her
tenderly.

  
‘I love you, Jess, but
everything’s a bloody
mes
s.
All these dilemmas.’
 

  
‘Well
we’ll
be okay,’ she
replied, smiling reassuringly.

 
 
‘But
we’re
having an incestuous relationship. We’ve got to get away after Christmas.’

  
She nodded. ‘I’d better go.
Dad’ll be waiting. I’ll see you later, Jon.’ She touched his cheek gently and
went downstairs.

***

Jon knocked on the staffroom door. Livvy opened it a crack.

  
‘Come on out,’ he said.

  
‘Have they gone?’ Her bottom lip
wobbled slightly as she looked at him. ‘He still loves her, doesn’t he? It’s
not going to go away, baby or no baby. He’d go back to her tomorrow if she’d
have him.’

  
‘Well you’ve known that all
along. He never told you anything different. He’s loved Sam from the day they
met and they were inseparable, until
you.’

  
‘So what do I do now?’

  
‘I don’t know. Wait for him to
calm down I suppose. Sammy won’t have him back; she’s made that perfectly
clear. All
you
can do is hang in and see what happens. Were you supposed
to be staying with him tonight?’

  
She nodded. ‘I was, but I’m
gonna go straight home. He can call me if he wants me.’

  
‘Very wise,’ Jon agreed. ‘Give
him a chance to get his head around the Stuart thing.’

  
‘I guess I need the patience of
a saint where
Roy
’s concerned.’

  
‘I guess you do,’ Jon replied.

***

‘Come in, Ed. Do you want a drink?’

  
‘Please.’ Eddie followed
Roy
into the lounge. ‘A small one.’ He sat down
on an armchair. ‘What was all that about earlier?’

  
Roy
poured a glass of single malt and passed it
over. ‘I can’t stand the thought of Sammy with Stuart. She’s mine, she’s always
been mine.’

  
‘You gave up that right last
weekend.’

  
Roy
let his head fall back against the sofa. He
stared at the ceiling, his eyes burning with unshed tears. ‘I know, and it
hurts like hell.’

  
‘I see Livvy’s been busy,’ Eddie
said, looking at the pink and cream cushions, which matched the pink and cream
Chinese rug in front of the fire.
 

  
Roy
nodded. ‘She has. Pink’s her favourite
colour, although
I
could live with a bit less of it. The red roses on
the table are my touch, in case you’re wondering. Romantic bastard that I am!’

  
‘She’s doing her best,
Roy
. You have to give her a chance. You can’t
keep lifting her up then letting her down.’

  
‘Do you think if I went down on
bended knee, Sammy would forgive me?’

  
‘Not this time, mate. I wish I
could say differently. Anyway, Livvy and the baby aren’t going to go away.’

  
‘I’ve made a right fucking pig’s
ear of everything. I’d better give her a call before I lose her, too. I
do
love her, but not half as much as I love Sammy.’ He refilled his glass and
topped up Eddie’s. ‘If I ask you a question, Ed, will you be absolutely honest
with me?’

  
‘Ask away,’ Eddie replied,
slugging back his whisky.

  
‘Is Stuart shagging Sammy?’

  
‘Not that I know of. She would
have told Jane, and as a rule, Jane tells me everything. Sammy’s only been out
with him the once when all’s said and done. Anyway, she wouldn’t rush headlong
into a relationship without first weighing up the pros and cons. You should
know that,
Roy
.’

  
Roy
nodded. ‘This has been the worst three
months of my life. It’s an effort to get up each morning and I feel so
depressed.’

  
‘You seem happy enough when
you’re with Livvy.’

  
‘Well yeah, most of the time I
am. I just have to get on with it and make the best of a bad job.’

  
Eddie drained his glass and
stood up. ‘The sooner we get the band organised the better. Get you out in
front of a screaming audience again. That’ll take your mind off your problems.’

  
‘I can’t bloody wait.’

***

Jane drove home from work, her mind going over the previous night’s
conversation with Pat and Sammy. They’d both urged her to speak to Ed about her
worries over Jon and Jess. She felt sick at the thought. If she was mistaken
and Ed tackled the pair, it could destroy the family closeness. But on the
other hand, if she chose to stay quiet and the pair
were
in a
relationship, then what? The family closeness would still be destroyed. Ed
would have to come clean about Jon’s parentage and then Jon may lose all the
trust he has in the family.
  

  
Whichever path she chose would
be a nightmare. And then there was tomorrow night when she and Ed would be out
again and Jon and Jess would be alone once more.

  
Maybe she could feign illness
halfway through the meal and have Ed drive her home. She shook her head and
mumbled, ‘Not a very good idea, Jane. What if we caught them at it? All hell
would break loose and I couldn’t handle that.’ She glanced across to the
stationary driver beside her at the lights. The woman turned her head and
smiled as she caught Jane’s eye. Jane smiled back. ‘I bet
she’s
going home to a perfectly normal family,’ she muttered,
envious of the unflustered looking woman with the friendly smile. The lights
changed and Jane roared away, leaving the little car and the woman with the
normal life behind.

  
As she turned into the private
lane she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and switched on her
glad-to-be-home smile. She walked indoors where Eddie and Jess were seated at
the kitchen table, passing a cigarette to and froe. Jane frowned at Jess’s
welcoming smile. ‘Jess, you know I don’t like you smoking. I thought you’d
given up? Ed, you shouldn’t encourage her.’

  
Jess rolled her eyes. ‘Mum, I’m
stressed out. I just fancied a quick drag.’

  
‘Well you were okay over the
weekend. You didn’t appear to be stressed out then,’ Jane said, aware that she
was being unreasonable, but unable to stop.

  
‘Jane, that’s not a very nice
thing to say after everything she’s been through. What’s the matter with you?’
Eddie frowned as Jess’s face crumpled and she fought to blink back tears.

  
Jane sighed and shook her head. ‘Sorry,
Jess, just ignore me. It’s been a funny day all round.’

  
‘We know all about funny days,
don’t we, Jess? We’ve had one ourselves,’ Eddie said.
 

  
‘Oh, why’s that?’ Jane helped
herself to a glass of red wine and sat down beside him, kicking off her shoes.

  
Roy
threw a wobbler about Sammy seeing Stuart,’
Jess replied.

  
Jane listened as Eddie told her
the events of the afternoon.

  
‘I could bang
Roy
and Sammy’s bloody heads together,’ she
snapped. ‘Today Sammy was concerned that he wouldn’t have a clue what type of
linen to buy etcetera, and she’s worrying how he’ll manage on his own.’

  
‘Livvy’s been shopping with him
and sorted him out on that score,’ Eddie replied.

  
‘It’s not taken
her
long to get her feet under his
table. So,
is
he all right, Ed?’

  
‘No, he’s not. He’s depressed
and hitting the bottle again. I just don’t see what more I can do to help,
other than get him concentrating on
The
Raiders
.’

  
Jane nodded and sniffed the air
appreciatively. ‘Lasagne?’

  
‘And garlic bread,’ Jess said.

  
‘Oh, wonderful, I’m starving.’

  
Eddie went to the oven and
checked his lasagne. ‘Done to perfection. Jon shouldn’t be long now then we can
eat.’

  
Jess wobbled to her feet. ‘I’m
going to the loo.’

  
‘Sammy’s going away to
London
with Stu next month,’ Jane said as Jess left
the kitchen. ‘He’s arranged to take her to a textile exhibition at Earl’s
Court.’

  
‘Oh shit! Is she? That’ll upset
Roy
. When you say, going away with him, you mean
staying together in a hotel?’ he asked, running his hands agitatedly through
his hair, leaving it standing on end.

  
Jane reached up and smoothed his
locks down with her fingers. ‘Well, he’s booked separate rooms, but you only
have to observe the way he looks at Sammy to know that he wants to take things
further.’

  
‘I obviously don’t notice these
things, being a mere male,’ he grinned. ‘Pour me a glass of wine, Jane will
you, while I set the table.’

  
The phone rang out as Jane
picked up the bottle and she grabbed the receiver.

  
‘Oh, hello, Mrs Turner.’ She
raised her eyebrows at Eddie who turned and frowned. ‘Jon isn’t home from work
yet. He shouldn’t be too long. – Okay, well I’ll get him to call you. Goodbye.’
Eddie stared at her as she hung up. ‘She wants to speak to Jonathon.’

  
‘I wonder what the old battleaxe
wants. Call your Mum and ask her to send the kids home. Jon’s here now, I can
hear his car on the drive.’

  
It was a noisy family dinner,
during which Jane tried to observe Jon and Jess’s reactions to one another. But
she couldn’t pinpoint anything untoward.

  
‘So, did Grandma say anything
other than that she wanted to speak to me?’ Jon asked, helping himself to a
chunk of garlic bread.

  
‘No, just that,’ Jane replied.

  
‘I’ll call her later then, when
the kitchen’s quiet.’

  
‘If you want some peace, use the
phone in our room,’ Eddie suggested.

  
‘Okay, thanks. But make sure you
save me some seconds, don’t let greedy Katie finish all the garlic bread.’ Jon
stood up and teasingly pulled on Katie’s pigtails.

  
‘I’m not as greedy as you and Dad,’
she said, glaring at Jon.

  
‘Yes you are,’ he laughed,
ducking out of the way as she hurled her Barbie doll at him. It hit the dresser
with a thud, knocking one of Jane’s antique plates on the floor where it
shattered into small pieces.

  
‘Katie, Jon, behave yourselves,’
Jane yelled. ‘Now look what you’ve done. That was one of my favourite plates.’
She knelt to retrieve the pieces and Jon knelt beside her to help.

  
‘Sorry, Mum,’ he apologised.
‘I’ll buy you another, I promise.’

  
She smiled at his worried
expression. ‘You’ll have a job. That was a one off, hand painted that I found
in a French flea market years ago. It doesn’t matter, go and call your Grandma
before I box your ears.’

  
Jon’s eyes sparkled. ‘You
haven’t done that for years.’

  
‘Only because I can’t reach! But
you’re the right height while you’re down on your knees, so you watch your
step, my lad!’

  
He leapt up, grinning. ‘I’ll be
back in a minute.’