At this point Pippa came over and whispered to Jo that Josh was a fantastic actor and if she hadn’t overheard the conversation he’d had with Dick in the kitchen earlier and he hadn’t been so obnoxious to Jo, she’d have thought he was one of the sweetest, most vulnerable men she’d ever met. At which point Jo realized she’d completely forgotten how much she hated him.
“Look at that!” hissed Josh suddenly, pointing in the distance. “He’s got his arm round her!”
“Well it’s a date, isn’t it?” said Gerry, looking at Jo.
As they approached the end of the wide but dark Princes Avenue, which took them on to busy Muswell Hill Broadway, Toby and his young lady friend stopped. Then Nick, Pippa, and Gerry stopped. Then Josh and Jo stopped. Then they realized that Toby was talking to someone who had been loitering behind the pub in an alleyway.
“Oh look!” cried Pippa suddenly. “Someone’s about to beat Toby up.”
Sure enough, three tall lads were approaching Toby. Anastasia Smith, clearly a girl of some perspicacity as well as tight little tummy muscles, was moving slowly away toward the Broadway.
“Right,” said Nick. “Wait for him to pounce.”
Jo heard a soft whimper come from Josh.
And then Todd Carter pounced, Josh moaned, and Jo grasped his hand.
“Right,” said Nick. “Let’s go!”
Nick and Gerry legged it toward the group of boys, who were concentrating so hard on menacing Toby—whom they found strangely fearless—that they didn’t hear anything until it was too late. By the time Pippa, Josh, and Jo had reached the group, Nick had one boy in a stranglehold against a wall and Gerry had two lads on the floor. The boys were sobbing in shock and terror.
“Jesus,” whispered Josh and half-shielded Jo with his body. She peered out from behind his shoulder.
“Are you upsetting our friend?” Gerry whispered into the ear of the biggest boy. The biggest boy shook his head violently.
“’Cos we look out for our Toby,” he whispered.
The boys continued to sob, while Toby ran ahead to look for his girlfriend.
Josh quickly turned to face Jo. “I can’t look,” he whispered. “Tell me when they’ve finished.”
“Now,” said Jo, giggling, as Gerry and Nick let the boys go.
Josh swiveled round to face them and seeing all was clear, gave Jo a little grin. “Just trying to make you laugh there,” he confided. “Keep you relaxed.”
“Thanks,” she said through a smile.
“Don’t let us ever see you anywhere near him, you hear?” said Nick. “Or we might have to find you again.”
“Yeah,” said Gerry. “We don’t like bullies. Awright?”
The three schoolboys, by then looking like three small thirteen-year-olds, nodded firmly while holding back the tears.
“Well. What you waiting for? Piss off,” concluded Nick, and the boys scarpered.
Nick and Gerry looked over at Pippa, Jo, and Josh. Pippa was the only one not wondering when she could run away.
“You’re just big bullies, aren’t you?” whispered Jo from behind Josh.
“Yum-my.” Pippa sighed.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” said Josh. “But perhaps I could start by offering you my weekly pocket money.”
Just then Toby came running back down the street.
“I can’t find Ana!” he cried. “She’s vanished!”
“So would I if I thought these thugs were your mates,” answered Jo. “What made you think she’d be braver than Todd Carter?”
“Oh no!” said Toby, panicking for the first time all evening. “What if she tells her mum?”
“Come on, mate,” said Josh, rushing forward to his brother. “Let’s go look for her. She’s probably gone straight on to the nightclub.”
He turned to Nick and Gerry.
“Thanks, guys. You were amazing. It was worth getting the shit kicked out of me for that.” He turned to Jo and gave her a wide, warm grin. “Enjoy your evening. Thanks for calming me down.” And he put his arm round his kid brother and left her in the cold with the others.
By the time Jo got home, it was midnight. She and Gerry had gone to a pub with Nick and Pippa and then Nick and Pippa had vanished indiscreetly to Nick’s place after twenty minutes. Jo then painstakingly told Gerry all about Shaun and tried to ignore the sensation that she was creating a fictional character. Gerry had nodded thoughtfully throughout.
“No worries,” he said, sipping at his pint. “We can still be friends. Can’t we?”
“Of course!”
“And if it ever develops into something else, so be it.”
“I-I don’t think it will. Because of Shaun. My boyfriend. It can’t, you see.”
“No worries,” said Gerry, shrugging. “If it does, it does.”
When she returned home, all the lights at the front of the house were off. She was glad. She was exhausted. But when she opened the kitchen door, she found Josh and Toby giggling over some beer. They looked up and greeted her like a long-lost friend. “Here she is!” cried Josh drunkenly. “Our savior!”
Jo laughed. “You’re drunk.”
“Yep,” said Josh, pinching Toby’s cheek. “And Tobe’s got another date.”
“Jo-osh,” said Toby, trying not to grin.
“Well, what’s wrong with telling Jo? She won’t tell anyone will she? She’s a mate.”
They both looked up at her a bit shamefaced. Jo told herself it was the drink that was making Josh’s eyes all warm again. Perhaps he should drink more.
“Thanks, Jo,” said Toby.
“Pleasure,” said Jo. “Anytime you want heavies, you know where to come.” Josh pulled out a chair for her to join them. She hesitated, and saw Josh look quickly away. She sat down and took a beer. Josh and Toby grinned at each other, lifted beers, clinked them against hers and made a toast to “Jo’s Heavies.” And suddenly, Jo no longer felt a stranger.
Ironic that it should happen in the company of the family’s two interlopers, but then, that’s exactly what she was, wasn’t it? She was as external a part of the privileged, inner circle of the Fitzgerald family as they were. She suddenly felt that it didn’t matter what had gone on between her and Josh before—all of that was water under the bridge. They were mates again.
“So, tell us Joanne—Joanna? Blimey,” said Josh, “—just realized I don’t know your name.”
“Josephine. After Jo from Little Women.”
Josh raised his eyebrows.
“Wow! Josephine. Nice name. Josie. Jose. Josefina.”
“Jo.”
“Right. So tell us Jo. How was the rest of your evening?”
She pulled a face. “Not sure he got the message, to be honest.”
“Oh dear. Were you too subtle?”
“I told him I didn’t want to go out with him.”
Josh nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off her. “Nope,” he said softly. “You weren’t too subtle.”
“And he took it really well and then kept saying, sort of, ‘if it happens, it happens.’”
“Oh.”
“I’ve got an idea!” cried Toby suddenly. “Why don’t you two go out with each other?”
There was a crippling silence.
“Nice try, Mr. Matchmaker,” said Josh. “Josephine from Little Women has an extremely good-looking boyfriend at home.”
“Jo,” she smiled.
“As good-looking as you?” Toby asked his brother.
“I don’t know,” answered Josh merrily, turning to Jo. “I’ve never asked her.”
They looked at each other, Jo at a loss for words.
Just then her phone rang.
“Saved by the bell,” murmured Josh into his beer.
Jo looked at the number on the screen.
“Oh dear,” she sighed. “It’s home. Mum wants to tell me that Dad hasn’t eaten enough vegetables.”
They watched her answer her phone.
“Hello?”
“Can I speak to Josephine Green?” came a male voice.
“Dad!” cried Jo. “It’s me. What’s up?”
“It’s Mum.”
“What’s Mum?”
“She’s had a stroke. Can you come home?”
Chapter 18
Jo was awake before six. She stared at Mickey and wondered why on earth she should be witnessing his arms in those positions. For one thing he looked like he was performing something unspeakable, and for another, she should be too fast asleep to notice. Then she realized she was still fully dressed. Then she remembered her father’s call. And then she heard someone beside her on her bed. She stared at Josh, lying next to her, stirring. He opened his eyes, and they looked in befuddled shock at each other.
“Alright?” he croaked.
“Mm,” she said, and jumped out of bed and into the bathroom. There she tried to rehearse the speech to Vanessa that Josh had helped her with last night, but it was hard to concentrate on the matter in hand.
Josh had been amazing. When she’d started crying, he’d soothed her, calmed her, put his arm round her. Toby had gone off to sleep, and Josh had poured her a stiff brandy and then sat with her, while she’d wept and blamed herself. She cringed in her shower at the memory. And then he’d sat on her bed as she talked, reassuring her until she’d fallen asleep.
When she came back into her room, Josh was lying awake and fully clothed on top of the bedclothes. He looked rough. It suited him.
“The shower’s free,” she whispered. “Do you want a coffee?”
“I’ll do it,” he said. “You tell Vanessa.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yup. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Josh.”
Vanessa was already in the bathroom—she never used the en suite shower in the mornings, it ruined her hair—and Jo tapped on the door. Vanessa opened it a crack. She was brushing her teeth, about to spend her Sunday in the office, making last-minute preparations for tomorrow’s pitch.
“Oh he-o,” she said. “Any-hin wron?”
“My mother’s had a stroke. I’ve got to go home.”
Vanessa stopped brushing her teeth. Toothpaste began to dribble down her chin.
“Ho’d on,” she said, and went to rinse out her mouth.
Jo leaned against the bathroom door.
“Right,” said Vanessa. “Your mum’s not well—”
Jo shook her head and started to cry. Vanessa put her arms round her.
“Come on,” she murmured. “She’ll be fine.”
“I have to look after my dad,” squeaked Jo.
“Of course you do.”
“He’s only got two arteries functioning in his heart.”
“Oh dear.”
Jo sniffed.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
“Don’t even think about that. We’ll get a temporary nanny. It’s not a problem,” said Vanessa, already planning which phone calls she would have to make and which she could delegate to Dick.
“When are you planning on going?”
“Tomorrow—”
“Shit!”
Jo nodded. “My dad needs me,” she squeaked.
“Of course he does,” said Vanessa, hurrying to her bedroom to dress. She turned to Jo at the door. “Good luck.” She shut the bedroom door behind her.
At the sound of the bedroom door slamming, Dick jumped awake.
“Wake up!” Vanessa told him. “Jo’s leaving.”
“What? What did you do this time?
“I didn’t do anything. Her mother’s ill, so she’s going home because her father’s a man.”
“Eh?”
“She has to help him live or something. Wake up.” Vanessa had one foot in her tights and was hopping around the room.
Dick rubbed his eyes. “How come Jo’s mother’s the one who’s had the stroke, Jo’s the one who’s leaving, and yet it’s her father who’s the bad one?”
“For God’s sake, Dick,” snapped Vanessa, falling on to the bed. “I haven’t got time to argue.
“How useful.”
“Of all days for this to happen. I can’t do a thing about it today and tomorrow’s the VC pitch.”
“Oh dear,” said Dick, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “God forbid a family crisis should get in the way of your career climb.”
Vanessa hitched her tights up over her crotch and grabbed a blouse from the wardrobe.
“Sod off, Dick. If we get this, I’ll get a bonus that will keep us in food for the next year. Can’t you shut the shop up next week?” She zipped up her skirt. “Or will your customer mind?”
“How would that help?”
“You could look after the children?”
“No I couldn’t!” shot Dick. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Well you can’t make a worse job of it than you’ve made of the shop,” she said, brushing her hair in the mirror.
“Thank you. Your wifely support is most appreciated.”
Vanessa turned to face him.
“For God’s sake, Dick!” she cried. “Don’t just stand there! Get dressed! You’ve got phone calls to make.”
Downstairs, Josh brought Jo her coffee while she stared at her rucksack.
Josh surveyed her empty room. “How long are you going for?”
“As long as they need me. Maybe for good.”
Josh sat down on her bed and watched.
“Can I do anything to help?” he asked. “Do you need a lift up there?”
Jo turned to face him. “No thanks.”
“I don’t mind,” said Josh, holding her clock. “I could take tomorrow morning off work. I hate work.”
“No, thanks. My dad’s meeting me at the station and taking me straight to the hospital.”
“How long’s your mum going to be there?”
“Hopefully she’s coming home at the weekend. It was only a mild stroke.” Jo steadied her breath. “She’ll have a carer in twice a day, but most of it will be down to my dad.”
“And you.”
Jo opened her rucksack and looked at it. “Yep.”
“Here.” Josh stood up and took the rucksack out of her hands. “You just sit down and tell me what to pack.”
Jo landed heavily on the bed. “Everything,” she said.
There was silence.
“Right,” said Josh. “Everything.”
“Pants, Zak!” screamed Vanessa early Monday morning.
“I don’t want to wear them!”
“Well you can’t go to school without them.”
“Good!” Sometimes his parents were so stupid.
“Zak, sweetie,” coaxed Vanessa. “Mummy’s own Superman. Super-mummy has a very important meeting to get to. Do you want her to have a nervous breakdown?”
Zak shrugged.
“Thank you, darling. So nice to know you’re on my side.”
“Why can’t you stay with us?”
“I will,” said Vanessa. “From tomorrow. I’ll be with you all day.”
Dick had phoned all three nanny agencies they knew. Unsurprisingly, none of them had a spare nanny who needed an indefinite temporary post starting Monday morning. They’d just have to pray for Jo’s mother to make a speedy and full recovery. Until then Vanessa would take time off work.
“But just for today,” she explained again to Zak, “you’re going to have lots of fun with Jo’s friend Pippa and Tallulah’s friend Georgiana.”
“I want Jo. Georgiana’s a prissy cow.”
“I know,” agreed Vanessa, too stressed (and deep down, too impressed) to argue. “But Pippa isn’t, and if you wear your pants like a good boy, she’ll show you her tattoo.”
After lengthy, complex negotiations, Zak wore his navy blue pants (instead of the stupid bright blue pants) with the red skull and crossbones on (instead of the stupid red anchors), and Vanessa was able to leave his room before bedtime.
Ten minutes later Tallulah was crying.
“
Look!” shouted Vanessa. “This one’s pink!”
Tallulah howled so loudly that Vanessa feared she might perforate something. She rushed to the wardrobe and pulled out an even pinker top.
“Ooh, look,” she encouraged. “This one’s even more pink. Mmmm.”
Tallulah froze. Vanessa froze. For an instant Vanessa didn’t know which way this was going to go. And then the instant was over and Tallulah bayed to the child moon with grief and horror.
Cassandra wandered in carrying Tallulah’s Barbie top.
“Are you looking for this?” she asked over the noise. “She left it in my room last night.”
Tallulah rushed to her Barbie top like a mother to her infant, and then, with it safely in her hands, started the slow descent to posttraumatic shock.
“Thanks, Cassie,” said Vanessa. “You clever girl.”
“S’okay,” Cassie said.
By ten to nine that morning, Jo was standing at Paddington Station, staring up at the train timetables, holding a large black coffee, and wearing a rucksack. In the end, Josh had only packed the essentials, and she was now very grateful. She kept having the oddest feeling that she’d left something behind at the Fitzgeralds’. Was it her Mickey Mouse clock? No, she decided firmly, as the timetable flicker-flacked the arrival of her train. She felt she had finally outgrown him. Staring at her feet, she yanked her rucksack up her back and headed for her platform. Perhaps it was time for a mature person’s clock, a clock to show her fully rounded personality. Lisa Simpson, maybe?
She found herself a seat, stored her rucksack, and settled down. She fixed her personal stereo and adjusted the earphones, checking the tape that she’d left in it. She hadn’t listened to Travis for ages—not since before she’d left home. She remembered playing this album on her birthday, the evening she’d met Shaun and the gang in the pub.
As the train glided out of the station and the familiar minor chords struck up in her ears, tears sprang up out of nowhere, and Jo lost control big-time.
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