by Nancy Barone
He turned to me and smiled a faint smile, somewhere between sad and hopeful. ‘Well, Nina, at least you and I can now speak for both sides with our movie.’
Perhaps he was right. Even men suffered for love. Look at Jack. Clarissa had made a dog’s dinner of his life. And he compensated by protecting himself from a new relationship. Different people fought back in different ways.
It was becoming clear to me now, bit by bit, that Luke didn’t actually want to deride my heroine, but put her into a different context. One where she wasn’t the only one suffering. Fair enough.
‘Whatever. How about a truce? I’m totally exhausted tonight, Nina,’ Luke said as he put his tablet down for the day. ‘Let’s go for dinner, just you and me. We can call a babysitter.’
‘Dinner?’
He grinned that sexy, open-mouthed grin at me, the one I’d seen him give Marnie Jones in the final scene of Burning Hearts as, with a flick of his head, he tells her to get on his Harley Davidson and then they drive down that hill in San Francisco.
‘Yeah, dinner. Give you a break from cooking.’
‘And you’d, uhm, entrust Jess to a babysitter?’
‘One that you picked, yes. You know I trust you completely, Nina…’
Damn, this man could make me blush with just one look. He was a time bomb, ready to destroy all the walls I’d put up against the opposite sex. I had to defuse him with a show of indifference. ‘A break sounds good to me.’
He cocked his head to one side, peering closely at me.
‘What?’ I said. What had he seen now? It seemed I was always under his scrutiny.
‘You’ve got the cutest little beauty mark on the bridge of your nose. How have I never seen that before?’
I felt myself go hot. ‘It’s hidden by the glasses.’
He got up and nuzzled my neck. ‘Hmm, you smell amazing…’
‘It’s the fried onions,’ I answered and he chuckled.
‘No, I don’t think so.’
He pulled me into his arms and I looked up at him through my glasses that were slowly fogging up as the temperature rose. ‘Take these damn things off,’ he said, gently reaching for them.
‘But I can’t see without them, Luke…’
‘That’s good…’
‘What do you mean?’
He chuckled and leaned in, his breath on the side of my face. ‘Because you might not want to see what I’m going to do to you…’
26
No Sex Please, We’re British
Was two months too early to sleep with a bloke without betraying my self-image of responsible, single mother of two?
Let me rephrase that. Luke and I were attracted to each other; we were both single and both consenting adults, although I was a bunch of nerves. I hadn’t been with anyone since Phil, nor had I ever felt the desire to. I had guessed I was just, well, dead, down there. But now, after all the good things that had happened to me, wasn’t it time to start looking at life differently? Didn’t I deserve to return among the living?
If it went well and our relationship developed, great. And if it didn’t, we’d always have the movie deal. It was a win-win situation, although you might think that is a bit cynical of me. Perhaps it is. I have always put my family’s wellbeing first, and of course I’d risk my own happiness for my children. What woman wouldn’t?
So – we had the motive for the sex, and we had the suspects. All we needed now was the time and place. So I decided to go for it. Tonight. I would farm the kids off to Alice who was in Cornwall for her two days a month, and consequences be damned.
‘Alice? I need a favour.’
‘Anything, doll.’
‘Can you come over and stay with the kids tonight? Luke and I are going out.’
‘Oh, you naughty girl! Good for you!’
I blushed despite myself. Did that make me sordid, or calculating? Weren’t these things supposed to happen naturally, without planning?
‘Have you prepped?’ she asked.
‘Of course, there’s loads of home-made stuff in the freezer. All you have to do is nuke it.’
She laughed. ‘I didn’t mean food, Nina.’
‘What do you mean, then?’
‘Oh God, what would you do without me? Are you prepped as in waxed, and all?’
Oh? Oh!
‘I didn’t think so,’ she said, chuckling. ‘Have you got a racy little number to wear in bed?’
I thought about my lime green fleece pyjamas. ‘Uhm, no.’
‘Jesus, Nina. Give me an hour to get everything we need and we’ll sort you out.’
‘Uhm…’
‘Be there soon,’ she said and rang off. Sort me out? I had a feeling it was going to be a very long afternoon.
*
‘Yeowwh…’ I hissed under my breath so the kids wouldn’t hear us as Alice yanked off the wax strips. ‘What are you trying to do, skin me?’
She laughed. ‘I’ll give you a lotion to lessen the redness and swelling. You should be okay by tonight. Oh, Nina, I’m so happy for you!’
I blushed. ‘Maybe we’re making such a big deal out of nothing. Maybe I should wait.’
‘Are you nuts, Nina?’ she barked. ‘This is a one-time opportunity, and you mustn’t let him escape!’
‘Do you think he might want to?’ I hadn’t thought of that. And if I couldn’t keep my own husband, what right did I have to try to hang on to someone I’d only just met?
‘Of course, Nina. He’s absolutely smitten with you. Who wouldn’t be? You are gorgeous. A little rough around the edges, granted, but lovely all the same.’
‘Gosh, don’t smother me in kindness,’ I play-scoffed.
‘Come here, let me tweeze those eyebrows now.’
‘I’d rather not,’ I said. ‘I’ve never tweezed before…’
‘Relax, just a few stray hairs. You don’t want him noticing them when he looks deep into your eyes, do you?’
‘Ouch!’ I yelped as she plucked away. ‘No, but I don’t want him noticing I’m missing a piece of my eye, either.’
‘Silly, we’re done. And now, for the pièce de résistance,’ she said, whipping out an array of barely there baby doll nighties. ‘Feast your eyes on the lingerie!’
‘Where is it? All I see is two tiny pieces of confetti and a postage stamp connected with strings.’
She giggled. ‘You cheeky cow. But I can guarantee it has worked wonders.’
‘On who, The Invisible Woman?’
‘Just try it on, already.’
‘Uh, I don’t really think I’d feel comfortable in that, Alice. But thanks anyway.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not supposed to feel comfortable, Nina. You’re supposed to give him a coronary, or so to speak.’
‘I don’t know, Alice. I’m not actually sure that in this case less is more.’
She studied me. ‘You know what,’ she said, throwing them onto the bed. ‘Maybe you’re right. It isn’t you. You don’t need ornaments to dazzle men.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Please, I never dazzle men.’ Maybe, when I was younger, but now?
‘Of course you do.’
‘Alice, I know you love me, but that’s just not true. I haven’t had a man look at me in years. Maybe every now and then on the high street, but that’s just the traffic controllers to make sure I don’t double park.’
‘Listen to yourself. You’re oblivious. Fine, have it your way. But I will tell you this. Luke is a keeper.’
‘We’ll see,’ I said. I really hoped so, but I wasn’t about to just assume anything anymore.
*
When Luke and I left Alice to babysit that evening, I closed the door behind me and realised I was shaking like a leaf.
Luke’s arms immediately circled me from behind and I managed not to jump in panic.
‘Jesus, Nina,’ he said as we got into his rental. ‘You are going to kill me tonight, I just know it.’
‘Or the other way around,’ I corrected him.
/> ‘I’ve booked at a gorgeous hotel in Marazion.’
Marazion? Good. No one knew me there.
‘Nina? Are you okay? You seem kind of scared.’
‘Who, me? I’m fine.’ If you didn’t count that I was about to pass out.
He leaned in and kissed me. It felt… deliciously naughty. And terribly exciting to get away from my rubber marigolds for once in my life.
27
Morning Glory
While the heat of the moment was one thing, the cold light of day was another.
Luke lay next to me, dead to the world, with his arm around my waist. I hadn’t removed my make-up last night, and my hair was a rat’s nest after all the acrobatics.
Luke was a considerate lover. Kind, respectful and fun. Not like the old Phil-anderer up in Truro. If the sex was anything to go by, we were definitely carburetting. And then I stifled a giggle of elation. After three years of celibacy, I was back in business!
But if he woke up and saw me like this… he’d run a mile. Not the right way to start a, ehm, relationship? Was that what this was: the beginning of a normal, mature relationship? Was I even ready for one, at this point of my life? I had to be, sooner or later, and judging by the way everything else was going, and that I was finally going places, maybe it was time to surrender to life as part of a couple after all.
So I slid out of bed as quietly as I could given how every muscle in my body was screaming at me Why don’t you do this more often? and tiptoed to the en suite where I showered and lathered my hair, all the while trying to make sense of what had just happened. How had it felt? Like someone else, as if another woman had inhabited my body and taken it on a very, very pleasant trip.
And I was now myself again, ready to take on the world. Months back, I would never have contemplated sleeping with anyone, but now I liked the idea of waking up to someone that I had slowly grown to like very much indeed. But how we were going to have a repeat in the future – assuming Luke wanted one – without the entire world knowing was another story.
I had no idea how things worked in Hollywood, but in my world, sleeping together was pretty much a deal-sealer. Did he really want to be a part of my life? And if so, how would it even work, with him in California and me in Cornwall? I wish I could talk to Em about it, but I somehow felt she wouldn’t understand. Nor would Jack, who had never really made an effort towards Luke aside from the day at Predannack Wollas. Knowing Jack, he obviously considered Luke a fake.
In fairness, any man compared to Jack would seem fake, because he was the epitome of the male protector. Anything dear to him was always safe: his dog Mac, his fellow villagers, Emma, Chanel, my children and me. I only hoped I wouldn’t have to choose one day between his friendship and Luke, because Jack was a huge part of my life. He was my friend; part of my insides.
I would never forget the day Jack took us into his home while our caravan slowly crackled away, leaving only a shell. The day Phil had left us was the day Jack had officially proclaimed himself our protector. I remembered silently crying myself to sleep as Ben and Chloe lay on either side of me in Jack’s enormous bed, while he slept in one of the guest rooms. I remembered him cooking us a feast of a breakfast the next morning, and telling me he would rebuild my house and make it liveable as best he could, but in the meantime, his home was ours.
It had been a great comfort to have him there for us at a time like that, and I would cherish his presence in my life forever, especially now that I needed support.
Continuing to lather up, I jumped and nearly fell over in the shower as, undetected, Luke had slipped into the shower and slid his arms around my waist. It was such an unfamiliar feeling, so intimate. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched me, as if I belonged to them.
‘Easy…’ he soothed into my ear as the water continued to pour down my hair. ‘You okay?’
I nodded, but I was shaking. ‘Aren’t you full of surprises?’
‘I have even more for you,’ he whispered as his lips found mine again as the water poured down on us.
*
As Luke was checking us out of the hotel, wearing shades like the superstar he was, I stood near the exit, watching the morning traffic go by, absolutely out of place in my best evening dress and high-heeled shoes and feeling for all the world like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, i.e. half hungover and empty-headed, but impeccably dressed.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to have breakfast?’ Luke asked.
‘Uhm, I’d rather get back to the kids, if that’s okay.’
‘Sure,’ he said with a grin, kissing me on the lips in broad daylight. ‘But you’ve made me ravenous now.’
I smiled. ‘Let’s go home. I’ll cook you a huge breakfast. I hope Alice can stay a little longer.’
‘She’ll probably want the details if I know her,’ he said.
I smiled up at him. ‘I never kiss and tell.’
‘Good girl. Our business is our business. Ready to go?’
‘Ready,’ I said and, his arm still around me, we walked through the hotel doors and out into the morning sun.
And that was when I saw him. Jack, hands in his pockets, talking to a circle of people in suits. He laughed at something and casually looked my way, doing a double take, and our eyes locked.
It didn’t take rocket science to figure out what Luke and I were doing in front of a hotel in our evening wear at nine in the morning, especially with Luke’s arm wrapped around me.
While I was wondering if Jack was going to acknowledge me, he nodded ever so slightly, looking so disappointed in me that I couldn’t help but cringe.
‘Nina?’ came Luke’s voice. ‘You okay?’
‘Never better,’ I assured him as I straightened and crossed the road on his arm, all the while feeling Jack’s disapproving eyes boring into my back.
28
The Secret Of My Success
‘So, how’s your dad?’ I asked Alice back at the house as she sipped her tea and reached out for a Hobnob. I had slipped back into a pair of jeans, trying to look like I’d been there all night for when the kids woke up, still trying to get over the encounter with Jack. I should have still been overwhelmed by my night with Luke, but all I could think of was how I’d disappointed a friend.
It had saddened me to think that my friends didn’t approve of my choices, especially when I always supported them in theirs. I knew nothing about his new flame, or even Emma’s secret bloke, for that matter, but I didn’t pry or judge. When they were ready to tell me who they had hooked up with, I would happily accept them within our circle in the hope that they would do the same with Luke. I just wanted everyone to be happy, and somehow I felt that it wasn’t like that for Jack and Emma anymore.
‘Never mind my dad, tell me about last night,’ she hissed as Luke wandered around in the front garden, framed by the French windows. He was truly beautiful, with his sandy blond hair and all-American looks. ‘You spent the night with him, and all you can talk about is my ninety-year-old dad?’
I shrugged, feeling myself blush. ‘It’s nice to have someone around the house.’
Alice gawped at me. ‘Nice? Sweetie, you had the most desired man on the planet in bed with you, not to mention living under your roof, and all you can say is nice?’
I shrugged. ‘It was more than that, of course. Luke is a good bloke. He’s a lot of fun, and kind.’
‘But?’
‘There are no buts. It’s just that we don’t know where this is going, nor how long it will last. And I don’t want our whole world to be shattered all over again.’
‘Except for in between the sheets,’ she cackled in delight. ‘What does he say?’
‘I’m taking each day as it comes.’
‘Good girl. You do that. But keep him on a short leash, just in case.’
‘A short leash?’
‘Yeah – make sure he doesn’t go too far or too long without you. You want to be a part of his life now. Do you and his kid get
along?’
‘Jessica? She’s a dream.’
‘Fantastic. You want to make sure she likes you enough to see her as her new mum.’
I shook my head. ‘Alice, you’re going too fast for me. I’ve only just got back on my feet. Technically, I’m not even divorced yet. Plus I don’t know what’s going to happen when the script is finished.’
‘Then write a sequel while he’s in your clutches. God knows you could use the money.’
‘Actually, I’ll be happy if we get to the end of this one without killing each other.’
‘Still having problems?’
I shrugged. ‘He’s extremely headstrong. He’s not easily swayed. This husband’s point of view thing risks changing the story completely.’
‘Don’t you trust his talent?’
‘Oh, he’s a very good storyteller.’
At that, she laughed. ‘I can just see it in the papers: “Luke O’Hara and novelist Nina Conte tie the knot in Cornwall”.’
I snorted coffee through my nose. ‘As if. But please keep this to yourself, Alice…’
‘Mark my words. The only way for Luke to get rid of his bad-boy reputation is to marry a nice girl like you. It would make a perfect story.’
‘Promise me, Alice. Your absolute discretion.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘All right, but I’ll be back on your case very soon. People want to know about Luke’s love life. And it would sky-rocket your book sales, not to mention the movie. Imagine – staid novelist hooks up with the actor who made her book dream come true by turning it into a movie. It just doesn’t get any better, Nina!’
There it was again, the word that described me best, according to everyone. Staid. Which implied that I was incapable of having wild fun. Which, of course, was true. I had already done the wild college thing. And now? Not so much. Now I needed to concentrate on being a good example to my children, and to teach them to believe in themselves at all times. Even if I, I must admit, didn’t practise what I preached. The look in Jack’s eyes was proof of that.
‘What’s he really like? The real Luke?’
