Summer in the City: The perfect feel-good summer romance

by Emma Jackson

  ‘That doesn’t sound so mythological.’

  ‘No. It doesn’t. It should be the norm shouldn’t it? But it’s not. I’ve cohabited with two men – briefly – and both of them thought that working from home meant I was available to pick up all the chores and run errands for them. You look at most families you know, and you’ll see how the division of family labour falls. It’s not equal in the majority of cases despite women working just as hard at their jobs.’ I sighed. ‘I want to be a mom, but I don’t want to be wholly responsible, trying to look after a kid, and write, and inevitably fail at one of them because it’s too much, y’know? I need to write, and I’ve worked so hard to reach this point in my career. So, I’m just…letting that take priority at the moment.’

  His dark eyes flickered over my face, intense and sincere when he said, ‘Maybe you’re right to be so careful then. I’m sure my mum wished she had been before getting involved with my father and ending up a single parent. I hope the male population doesn’t let you down when you do get back out there. It’d be a shame not to have a bunch of little Noelles running around terrorising everyone one day.’

  ‘Plenty of nieces and nephews though. You were right there.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He was swaying a little now and Brigid’s eyes were closing. He was getting it. He was a natural. ‘I suppose I might get a couple soon enough myself.’

  I blinked. ‘Do you know something you’re not telling me about Beth and Nick?’

  ‘Like what?’ He attempted to look perplexed.

  ‘Is she…?’

  ‘No. Not that I know of anyway…although it might explain the rush—’ He cut off and pressed his lips together.

  ‘Oh my God. He’s going to propose, isn’t he?’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘If I say nothing, you’re never going to stop trying to find out are you?’

  I shook my head, lacing my fingers together in front of my face like I was praying for the answer I wanted to hear.

  ‘Fine. Yes. He’s thinking about proposing…I think it’s too soon.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s too soon.’

  ‘It’s only been six months.’

  ‘That’s longer than a lot of people. When you know, you know.’

  ‘That’s what he said too.’ A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. ‘But how do you know? Do you have an epiphany? Is there a secret message that gets sent to your phone or their name appears tattooed on your ar— bottom?’

  I laughed at the cute way he avoided swearing around the baby. ‘I may not have experienced that moment myself, but I’ve spoken to enough happy couples to believe that when they find the person who suits them best on a biological and psychological level, it just feels right.’

  ‘Hmm…’ he grunted.

  ‘Hang on. You’re not thinking of dissuading him, are you?’

  ‘No. I mean. I’ve spoken to him about it, but I can’t stop him—’

  ‘No. You can’t. Don’t you dare try and put any spanners in the works, d’you hear me?’

  He stood up straighter, stepping back from beside me. ‘Look, you were right to do what you did at Christmas. I’m pleased you got involved and they’re still together. But he’s my first priority, Noelle. He’s my brother and I’ll do what I think is best for him. Always.’

  ‘What’s best is that he proposes to the woman he loves, and they are left to live happily ever after without your interference,’ I said, but my tone was softer. Maybe Beth had been right after all. Maybe he’d just interfered because he read the situation wrong and wanted to look after his little brother. ‘Take it from me, I have a lot of siblings: no good ever comes of thinking you know what’s best for them, and he won’t thank you for it.’

  ‘It’s not that I don’t want the happily ever after for him. Of course, I do. I just…’

  ‘You worry.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Yes. You do. You worry and you try and protect him. But he’s a grown man, Stephen.’

  We lapsed into silence. The baby was asleep despite the tension in our conversation. What spell had she just put over us anyhow? This little bundle of fluff had just had us spilling all kinds of deep and meaningful secrets. She was dangerous.

  ‘When Lucy comes back, we’ll go talk to my dad.’

  ‘Is Lucy coming back?’

  ‘Yeah, she’s probably just kicking Quinn’s ass for being useless about something.’

  ‘Will that take long?’

  ‘You want me to take the baby?’

  ‘No. Better not disturb her, I mean.’ His arms tightened a little, cradling the baby in close and my belly flipped.

  ‘Oh yeah, sure.’ I stroked my hand over Brigid’s hair once more and stole another glance at Stephen.

  I really hoped Dad would help him out, because he deserved to resolve this for himself and his mother’s memory. But also because then there’d be no excuse for me to keep seeing him. I wasn’t sure I could keep spending time with him and not end up doing something self-destructive, like kissing him.

  Noelle’s sister Lucy finally returned, holding a baby bottle, but her shoulders slumped when she saw Brigid was asleep. ‘Dammit.’

  ‘Sorry.’ I winced. ‘Did you not want her to sleep?’

  ‘Hey, it’s not your fault. If Quinn hadn’t been distracted in the kitchen, I would’ve been able to get the bottle into her first. Instead, he’s the one who’s had too many bottles.’ She put it on the table and opened her arms for me to pass the baby over. ‘You did well to get her off without a feed. He’s good with the little ones eh?’ She winked at Noelle, who only gave a half-smile. ‘Oooh, how’s this for an idea? Why don’t you two babysit together tonight? You’re over this way anyhow and you’ll have some company. What d’you say Noelley? Pur-lease?’ Lucy batted her eyelashes at Noelle.

  ‘Fine. I’ll babysit, but that’s it for the rest of the month. I have work to do you know.’ I saw the tension creep in around her forehead and lips when she spoke about her book. She’d said a lot about her helping her family and them helping her back, but all I’d seen today was her running around doing jobs and catching up with people. I knew that spending one afternoon with them didn’t make me an expert but between that and what she said about the men in her life who didn’t respect her career, I suspected this was more of an issue than she was prepared to admit to me.

  ‘Of course.’ Lucy grinned. ‘Great. Thank you! What about you, Stephen?’

  ‘You don’t have to—’ Noelle started.

  ‘It’d be my pleasure.’

  Noelle pressed her lips together for a second and then nodded her head. ‘Okay, if you say so. C’mon, let’s go find Dad.’

  She seemed pissed off at me for offering to help with the babysitting, but I was just doing what she’d told me to – be charming. Also, part of me didn’t want this day to end. The warmth of their house that had nothing to do with it being summer, the ease with which they’d invited me in, and the way Noelle was letting her guard down with me – it was like spending a day acting out someone else’s life. A life I’d never dared hope for. When I went back to my apartment and headed back into the office, I had a feeling it was all going to recede, and the security of my everyday existence wasn’t going to feel the same.

  I half expected her dad to be polishing a gun. He was much quieter than most of her family, taking everyone in with the same shrewd focus Noelle had. But we found him in a small room, half asleep with a fishing magazine over his face as he leaned back on his office chair.

  ‘Sorry to wake you, Dad.’ Noelle spoke softly and shut the door over to the office behind us.

  ‘Why are you waking me then?’ he grumbled but sat up and threw the magazine on the desk next to him.

  ‘I have a favour to ask. A favour for me, for Stephen.’

  ‘Is that so? I figured you weren’t just here to sample an authentic US barbecue.’

  ‘No, but it was much appreciated,’ I thanked him. ‘As it will be if you could do this favour for me,
sir.’

  ‘All right, all right, quit the sweet talk.’

  ‘He’s just built that way, Dad – he’s British.’ Noelle waved her hand dismissively.

  ‘If you say so. Go on, Noelle, why don’t you leave me to talk to him?’

  ‘Without me?’

  ‘I’m not gonna get out the thumb screws, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

  ‘That isn’t what I’m worrying about,’ she said dryly under her breath but backed towards the door. ‘You’ll be okay?’

  ‘He’ll be fine, darling,’ her dad answered and gestured for me to take a seat opposite him as she left. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she stayed out there with her ear to the door though. ‘Tell me what you need then and why.’

  I explained about my mother passing and my father absconding and all we’d found out from the search calmly and succinctly, because I was certain this was a man who appreciated brevity.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear about your mother.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘And you genuinely just want to pass on details to him? There’s no…ill will you feel towards him that will end up in trouble? I can’t be responsible for someone ending up in the hospital.’

  I shook my head and wondered if there was something wrong with me. Should I have been planning to punch Trevor in the mouth when I finally found him? Maybe that was something I’d locked up in the box too.

  ‘I’ll run a check for you then, but I could do with a little more information. Don’t get your hopes up. I can’t say when I’ll get the chance either, so you might want to follow up with your legal team anyway.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘And you can’t mention to anyone you found out this way.’

  ‘It goes without saying.’

  I wrote out the addresses we had, the places he’d worked and jobs he’d had and passed it over.

  He nodded. ‘And when you’ve found him, will you and Noelle be parting ways, or will I be seeing you again?’

  My mouth opened and closed. I didn’t know what to say to that. I knew what I should say – but I didn’t want to commit myself to not seeing Noelle again. The idea left a clawing feeling in my chest. ‘That’s up to her,’ I finally responded.

  ‘I think I’ll see you again then.’ He folded the piece of paper and tucked it in his shirt pocket. ‘Noelle knows this isn’t something I do for just anyone and would only ask if it was important to her – so you must be important to her. Treat her with the respect she deserves.’

  ‘Of course. Thank you again.’ We shook hands and I left the room feeling jumbled up inside. If her dad ran the check and found a current address, my search could be at an end. But what about my time with Noelle?

  She didn’t want a relationship unless it gave her everything. A supportive long-term partnership, a future with kids – it was no wonder she didn’t want to get messed up with me – that’s what I knew, despite what her dad said about me being important to her. But she was becoming important to me. I knew that now and I didn’t want this to be the end of the road for us – even though it most likely had to be.

  ‘I didn’t expect it to be quite this close,’ Stephen commented as we walked two streets from my parents’ and stopped in front of my sister and Quinn’s house.

  ‘Convenient, hey?’ I knocked on the door. ‘Tim lives just around the corner too. All the others still live at home.’

  ‘How come you chose to move into the city then?’

  I shrugged my shoulder. ‘I like the city and – well—’

  ‘You wouldn’t get anything done if you were too close, would you?’

  My lips parted with surprise. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘I saw how many jobs you were given in one afternoon. Is that why you chose to come to England at Christmas?’

  ‘Well, I had research to do to finish my book, and a deadline…’ I lifted one shoulder. ‘They don’t mean to. We all fall into roles within our family, don’t we?’

  He was about to speak when Lucy opened the door. She’d changed out of her day clothes, she was wearing a nice top with some cropped leggings and fastening a pair of dangling earrings as she welcomed us in.

  ‘She’ll probably wake up at about eleven for a bottle, but we’ll be heading back by then, so if she doesn’t get off to sleep don’t worry. She’s gone down easy, so all you guys need to do is keep an ear out and watch some TV, or, y’know, whatever you want to keep you entertained.’ She dropped a big wink in my direction. As I was the Queen of Unsubtle, I just gave her an unimpressed stare.

  They shuffled around fussing about where diapers were and the formula and the number for the paediatrician for another ten minutes. She caught me again at the door, whispering to me. ‘Seriously, Noelle, c’mon, you’re only young once. Have a bit of fun with him.’

  ‘That’s all it’d be though. Short-term fun.’ I kept my voice low as well.

  ‘How do you know? He’s just spent all day with our family. Why would he do that if he wasn’t expecting to see them again?’

  ‘He was just doing what I told him. To make sure we got Dad on side.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m not convinced anyone could put up with watching the twins acting out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern without deeper motivation than that. But even if that is the case – Lord, Noelle, do it for me okay?’

  ‘That is wrong on so many levels.’

  ‘I never got to run around dating like you. I love Quinn but we met so young, y’know. Make the most of it and have fun.’

  She kissed my cheek and the door closed behind them. I understood what she was talking about; I could appreciate settling down so early made it feel like she’d missed out, but if she thought getting my hopes up and then dashed over and over again was fun she wasn’t really considering of it from my perspective. But that was nothing new. With so many people trying to offer me advice on my love life, it was no wonder I didn’t have a clue what to do. I knew what I wanted to do, but that didn’t mean I should.

  The house was silent. I looked at Stephen and he looked at me. Quietly. Steadily. My stomach was doing flips and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the chicken kebab I’d eaten.

  ‘Shall we?’ I pointed him towards the back garden. The shadows were lengthening and there were two chairs in a shady spot. I brought out the baby monitor and debated getting glasses of wine for us but it was already feeling dangerously romantic.

  ‘Where have they gone for their date night?’ Stephen asked.

  ‘The open-air cinema.’

  ‘I didn’t think those existed anymore. I figured it was something from a bygone era. Like in Grease.’

  ‘It’s a rooftop one, not a drive-in. There is a drive-in, an old-fashioned one, which takes about an hour and a half hours to get to, in Warwick. It was a tradition in high school, if anyone had a car to drive out there at Spring Break.’

  ‘Sounds fun. The drive-in I mean, not the rooftop one, obviously.’ He gave a rueful smile.

  ‘Eh.’ I curled my lip. ‘The drive-in was a long journey and a lot of money to pay just to make out in a car.’

  His dark eyes were in shadow, but they were trained on me, unnervingly steady again. ‘You used to go just to make out in the car? Noelle, I’m scandalised.’

  ‘Not me. Oh no. Boys weren’t interested in me in high school.’ I tilted my chin up, showed I wasn’t bothered.

  ‘More fool the boys,’ he murmured, the words silky, caressing over my ego.

  ‘Not really. I mean, I didn’t have contacts then, I tried to hide my big boobs with frumpy clothes, I had a retainer – puberty was not kind.’

  ‘Would you have wanted to go make out at the drive-in, if someone had asked you?’

  ‘What teenager wouldn’t?’ Again, breezy voice. I didn’t want him knowing how hard those years had been. How much I’d longed for some male attention. So much so, I’d ignored my better judgement when the cutest boy at school looked my way. ‘I bet you looked just the same w
hen you were a teenager – life is unfair like that.’

  ‘You think I looked like a man in my thirties when I was a teenager?’ He raised an eyebrow at me.

  ‘You’re right, that would be weird. Go on then. Tell me how awkward-looking you were.’

  ‘I did all right. I had the usual spots – a very difficult year when my voice was breaking, and I grew six inches but gained no extra weight. On the whole, I did okay though.’

  ‘Okay, he says.’ I scoffed under my breath. Even the best-looking boy at my school wouldn’t have held a candle to him. I shook my head. ‘You can go y’know. I don’t mind doing the babysitting by myself. It’ll give me a chance to write.’

  ‘You can write now if you want. I won’t be offended.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course.’ He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs at the ankles. ‘Sitting here with you is more pleasant and more helpful than going home to sit by myself.’ He looked out over the garden, his teeth scraping his lip for a second, like he’d said too much. Was Stephen…lonely? Was that why those strange looks kept creeping over him at my parents’ house? Being in the centre of a crowd of close-knit people was bound to make you feel isolated, even when he was getting so involved – he had so little family left. When I’d seen him at the bar a couple of weeks ago, I’d wanted to figure out who the true Stephen was, like he was a Sudoku puzzle, but I hadn’t thought about the consequences of doing it. I didn’t want to see his hurt and feel this tenderness growing in my chest for him.

  ‘Being able to sit quietly, companionably, with someone is a novelty,’ I said evenly.

  ‘Particularly with you,’ he quipped and I cuffed him around the head on my way to get my notebook. I wanted him to grab my wrist and pull me down into his lap, to kiss me boneless. But that wasn’t going to happen. He’d made it clear the ball was in my court where that was concerned; he was going to respect my wishes and I knew better…didn’t I?

  We sat in the velvety darkness, a set of tea lights along the railing to my sister’s deck while I wrote in my notebook. The stars were overhead, and something was stirring in my mind. I let myself write. Not plan or outline or scratch away at a problem. I just wrote a scene where Kit and Charmaine sat down together and talked, and touched…