Second Time Around (22 page)

‘Katie,’ she said, hoping her friend somehow sensed she needed her. Going back into the hall, Jess retrieved her phone from her jacket pocket, still lying on the floor along with her
bag where she’d dropped it when he’d grabbed her. She looked at her messages and saw it was from Louis.

Jess didn’t want to dwell on exactly what it was that he wanted to do again. He’d missed her. He couldn’t wait to make love to her. She could almost see Katie’s lip curl
at her describing what had just happened as making love. But he’d wanted her, desperately. That’s all it was. She shouldn’t have fought him. That was why she had this bruising. He
hadn’t meant to hurt her.

Calmer, Jess went into the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee and settled at the kitchen table with her laptop and started researching the planned changes to the secondary school curriculum and the
arguments for and against, noting her sources and following up links.

An hour into it, the phone rang.

She looked at the display before putting the phone to her ear. ‘Hey, Shaz.’

‘You were supposed to call me.’ Her sister was reproachful. ‘How did it go?’

Jess hadn’t a clue what she was talking about and then remembered she’d promised to call Sharon and let her know how the first week had gone. ‘I do work for a living and have
deadlines to meet,’ she snapped.

‘Sorry. I was just anxious to hear if Mum behaved herself.’

‘Everything went fine, Sharon. Mum didn’t whack Bobby and he was as good as gold,’ Jess lied as they had all agreed they would.

Sharon laughed. ‘I’m his mother, Jess, and I love him dearly, but even I wouldn’t describe him as “good as gold”.’

Jess smiled. ‘The point is, we coped quite well. Mum managed to keep her temper under control, Noel played online games with him, he did lots of colouring and I taught him a few card
games. He’s going to be a shark if he ever takes up poker.’

‘He is quite a sharp little cookie, isn’t he?’ Sharon said, proudly.

‘Yeah, so stop worrying.’

‘It’s just that he’s whiny when he gets home and Keith had trouble settling him this evening. I suppose it will take him a while to adjust to the new routine.’

‘Of course it will,’ Jess soothed. ‘And remember, he’s used to being with you all the time. He’s bound to have missed you.’

‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Sharon said, sounding relieved. ‘Thanks, Jess.’ There was a wail in the background and Sharon sighed. ‘And that’s my cue to
hang up. Bye.’

‘See ya.’ Jess fetched a bottle of water and was just settling back to work when the phone rang again, making her jump. She hesitated when she saw Cal’s name. She wanted to
talk to him but after what had just happened . . .

‘Jess?’

‘Hey, Cal. Sorry, I know I should have called.’

‘Don’t worry about it. Noel told me that you all have your hands full. Are you working?’

‘Trying to but not getting very far,’ she admitted.

‘Fancy taking a break? I thought we could go for a walk along the seafront and catch up.’

Jess peeked out of the window. It had been windy and overcast earlier, but the sky was clear now and the wind seemed to have died down. Maybe a walk was exactly what she needed to settle her, to
make her feel normal again.

‘You’re on,’ she said. ‘I’ll meet you outside The Sheds.’

As she rounded the corner on to the seafront, Jess saw him leaning on the railing, his back to the beach as he looked left and right. Two girls jogged past him and gave him
the once-over before carrying on, pulling faces and giggling. Jess smiled. He was a good-looking guy and she could understand him catching their eye. When he spotted her, Cal waved. She waved back
and waited for a break in the traffic before crossing to join him.

‘Hey.’ He bent to give her a quick hug, and she froze. Sensing it, he stepped back, his eyes searching her face. ‘Jess? Is everything okay?’

Swallowing back tears at the concern in his voice, Jess nodded. ‘It’s been a tough week.’

Cal took her hand and led her towards the promenade, and Jess fell into step beside him, conscious of his fingers laced through hers. She stared down at them, contrasting them with the fingers
that had dragged at her clothes earlier. She shivered and forced herself to take a slow, deep breath of sea air.

‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Cal paused, glancing over at her.

Jess ached for him to hold her in his arms and make everything go away, but she forced a nod and a fake smile. ‘Yes, you were right, this was a great idea. I’ll be good for another
couple of hours after this.’

‘It’s almost nine o’clock,’ Cal said. ‘Are you planning on pulling an all-nighter?’

‘I might.’ Jess shrugged. ‘Tomorrow is the one day that I get to sleep in.’

‘You’ve had a tough few months and just when it looked like life was back to normal, you find yourself babysitting too. Don’t push yourself too hard. Your work will suffer for
it.’

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ Jess conceded, although she figured if she did have an early night, she would just lie there dwelling on what Louis had done to her. She stopped in her
tracks. Done
to
her? Not done
with
her? She couldn’t gloss over this. Louis Healy hadn’t made love to her: he’d assaulted her.
He had— No. She would not use
that
word. She hated the way it kept popping into her head. This was the man who’d held her while she cried over her mum. But
something about Cal’s straightforward, honest and respectful manner made everything about Louis seem sordid and evil.

Jess had been so determined to keep him at bay but he’d taken her off-guard. Taken her – yes, he’d certainly done that. She thought of Cal’s affectionate hug when they
met. Had Louis ever held her like that? With affection and respect? Or was it all just about sex, as Mum said? He’d seemed crazy for her and had often told her how hot and sexy she was. Jess
was usually naked within minutes of their meeting. Louis said he couldn’t keep his hands off her. But he’d never behaved as he had today. What had happened? Had she done something to
make him treat her like that?

‘Jess? Jess, are you okay?’

She started as Cal turned her to face him and rested his arms on her shoulders. She looked up to find him staring down at her, looking seriously worried. ‘Sorry!’ She shook her head
as she tried to think of some way of explaining her silence. ‘I, eh, I just panicked. I thought I’d forgotten to email my latest piece to the Sunday newspaper,’ she said, knowing
that sounded lame. ‘I’m all over the place at the moment, to be honest, Cal.’

‘Right.’ He studied her for a moment, his expression making it clear he didn’t swallow her explanation for an instant.

Jess struggled to think of a way of distracting him and then remembered her conversation with Noel this morning. Dear God! Had it only been this morning? She gave Cal a bright smile.

‘Now, do you want to hear some good news for a change?’ She took his hand and tugged him along.

He allowed her to divert him and she told him of her chat with Noel. ‘Mystery solved,’ she said when she’d finished telling him of Noel’s dabble with sedatives.

Cal kept walking but said nothing.

‘Well?’

‘I don’t buy it.’

Jess frowned. ‘Why not? He had the pills in his pocket, he used Mum’s prescription for himself—’

‘I get that. It’s the reason why that doesn’t make sense. Noel’s been through plenty of exams and they never bothered him to that extent before.’

That was true. ‘Maybe he’s nervous about leaving the security of university life and going out into the big bad world. He hasn’t turned twenty-one yet so he’s the baby of
the family and spoiled rotten.’

Cal shrugged. ‘Sorry, I still don’t buy it.’

Fed up and tearful, Jess stopped and scowled up at him. ‘Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you read a little too much into things, Cal?’

He gave her a sad, knowing smile and shook his head. ‘No, I can’t say it has.’

She looked away from the intensity of his gaze and started walking again, her hands dug deep into her pockets. ‘So, Doctor, what do you think is bothering him?’

Cal sighed, the expression on his face one of frustration mixed with concern. ‘Look, Jess, I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m just worried about a mate.’

Feeling ashamed, Jess put a hand on his arm. ‘Sorry. That was out of order.’

He shrugged off the apology. ‘I can understand you wanting to believe his act, but, believe me, that’s all it is, an act.’

Jess felt a shiver of fear run through her, her thoughts for the first time diverted from Louis. What if he was right? What if her brother was in trouble of some kind and she’d missed it?
She couldn’t take that chance. She’d spent all that time by her mother’s bed wondering whether there was something she could have done to prevent her injury, which was completely
irrational. But, if Cal’s instincts told him something was wrong with Noel and she did nothing, she would never be able to forgive herself. This was the first time he had ever come to her for
help, and he wasn’t just a trained psychologist: he was Noel’s best friend.

Jess drew him to a halt and stepped in front of him to look up into his eyes. ‘I believe you and I trust you. What do we do?’

He looked relieved and, draped his arms loosely over her shoulders again. It was such a casual, non-threatening gesture, yet a strangely intimate one. Again, Jess couldn’t but draw
comparisons between the rough way Louis had manhandled her and Cal’s gentleness.

‘Your nephew.’

Jess frowned, distracted. ‘Bobby? What about him?’

‘Noel’s been asking my advice, so I thought that I’d suggest the three of us meet up for a chat. Maybe together we can get to the root of what’s really bothering
him.’

‘Sounds good,’ she said with a grateful smile. ‘You could come round to my flat. I’ll talk to him and set it up.’

Cal walked her home, refused coffee, telling her to go to bed and rest, and then turned as he was closing the gate. ‘By the way, I didn’t buy your excuse
either.’

‘What excuse?’ she asked, confused.

‘When you went as white as a sheet and didn’t speak for about five minutes you said it was because you were afraid you’d forgotten to send an email. I don’t buy it. But
don’t worry, you can tell me what really sent you into such a panic when you’re good and ready. Goodnight, Jess.’

She watched his big but graceful figure amble back down the road, marvelling at the man’s insight. And, if he was right about her, then maybe he was right about her brother.

Nora studied Suzie as she waited in line for their coffee, and didn’t like what she saw. It was only a couple of weeks since she’d started looking after her
grandson but it was clearly too much for her. Apart from looking slightly dishevelled, Suzie was cross and making no effort to hide it. She’d nearly snapped Nora’s head off for taking
so long to decide whether she wanted a muffin or croissant. She let Suzie sit down and take a few gulps of her cappuccino before saying anything.

‘Better?’ she asked.

‘A little. I thought I’d never get out of that house.’

‘Who’s with Bobby?’

‘Noel’s there, and Jess will be in later. And Aileen, God bless her, said she’d drop sausage and chips in to them for their tea.’

‘So what are you going to do with your day off?’

Suzie smiled for the first time since they’d met. ‘I’m meeting Doug.’

‘He called? That’s wonderful, Suzie. I’m delighted. Doug, eh?’ she teased. ‘I knew that there was an instant connection between you two.’

Susie’s smile grew wider. ‘There was – is. We talk every night and, to be honest, I don’t think that I’d have gotten through the last couple of weeks without those
calls. I’m so worked up by the time Bobby goes home, but after a chat with Douglas I’m ready to face the next day.’

Nora couldn’t believe her ears. They had become close so fast. ‘How many times have you seen him?’

‘Only once. I’m far too tired by the time Bobby goes home to do anything. Noel basically threw me out of the house today.’

‘Good for him.’

‘Yes. He’s been great, Jess too. Doug won’t be free until one, so that’s why I called you.’

‘Thanks a lot.’ Nora pretended to be offended.

Suzie laughed. ‘Oh, you know what I mean. I know you’re usually in Dublin on Wednesdays and I thought we could have coffee and a natter.’

It was good to know that Douglas was helping Suzie unwind, but Nora couldn’t help wonder what effect looking after such a difficult child was having on her friend’s damaged brain.
She also worried how Suzie was behaving when she was alone with Bobby. ‘Do Keith and Sharon know that you’re having a tough time?’

‘Of course not. That would defeat the purpose, which is to keep Sharon calm.’

‘What happens at the end of term?’ Nora queried. ‘Didn’t you say that Noel will be working at the yacht club? And Jess must be writing for half a dozen publications at
the moment.’

‘Don’t be so bloody negative,’ Suzie said crossly. ‘Yes, it will be a longer day but I won’t pick Bobby up until about eleven. As for Noel, he’s going to
arrange his hours so that he’ll be here for some of the time and Jess says she’ll still pop in and out. She takes that laptop with her wherever she goes. Still, I have to admit, there
are days when I really envy you, Nora.’

‘Me, why?’ Nora asked, startled.

‘Because you’ve no kids to worry about, you’re healthy, you have a job and you’re footloose and fancy-free. Your life is fucking perfect.’

‘As if you’d be without your children,’ Nora teased. ‘Do you know, I’m beginning to see glimpses of the old “you”? Not only did you agree to take on
Bobby without hesitation, now you’re protecting Sharon by not telling her how hard it is. A few weeks ago you would have laid into her and Keith every evening, giving them all the gory
details of what Bobby had got up to. And I don’t care how sick Sharon was or is, you would still have got in a few rubs about how she spoiled her son. Now you’re holding your tongue and
letting off steam afterwards. That’s serious progress, Suzie.’