The Broken Hearts Book Club (17 page)

Chapter Fifteen

There are many benefits to having someone to sleep next to. For a start, spooning is just about the greatest pleasure on Earth, especially when it’s cold at night (it always is in Luna Bay). Also, they’re a quiet reminder that you aren’t alone in the world. If, like me, you lie awake at night and ponder the huge questions of the universe – do dolphins have bellybuttons, what will I have for dinner tomorrow – then it’s nice to know there’s someone you can wake up to discuss these things with if need be.

However, I soon discovered that sleeping beside Jake was no picnic. Not only did he starfish the bed and steal most of the covers, he also had a snore that couldn’t be kicked into submission and shouted in his sleep too.

‘No Sid, I told you it’s
that
way! Silly shit.’ He turned over, taking more of the duvet with him, and flailed his legs out for no apparent reason.

I had no idea who Sid was, but I couldn’t blame him for taking a different route in Jake’s dream. Probably knew what a terrible sleeper he was. I checked the time on my phone: three in the morning. Maybe I could ever so quietly sneak out and either kip on the couch or go back to Mum and Dad’s place. Jake was so busy having it out with Sid, whoever he was, that he probably wouldn’t notice I was gone.

I edged a leg off the bed and felt him stir beside me. He shuffled onto his right side so he was facing me and I was struck by how peaceful he looked. It was as though he’d finally found a place to lie and although he was still snoring like a water buffalo, he looked angelic with his lips puffed out a bit and one side of his face squashed against the pillow. There was no way I was going anywhere. I was staying right here with him. I slid under the duvet, which had made its way over to my side of the bed, and curled up beside him. Running away was the furthest thing from my mind.

At what can only be described as silly o’clock in the morning, I woke up to an empty bed. I was disappointed that Jake wasn’t there; I’d been looking forward to waking up next to him. I heard Maya crying, so I got up and went through to her room to get her. She was lying in her cot, screaming, so I scooped her up into my arms.

‘Hey, what’s wrong with you?’ I whispered. ‘Are you hungry? Let’s go and see if we can find that dad of yours eh?’

I gently rocked her in my arms to see if that would do any good. It didn’t. If anything, it made her cry more.

‘Sorry, sorry…’

I took her through to the living room so we could go to the kitchen and get her a bottle of milk. On my way to the fridge, I caught sight of a sleeping Jake on the couch, surrounded by piles of paper. His daughter’s crying woke him up and he looked confused to see me standing there with her.

‘Wha…? Oh sorry, did she wake you?’ He rubbed his eyes and came to take her from me.

‘I was just dozing anyway,’ I lied. ‘What are you doing through here?’

Jake looked at me to acknowledge I’d said something, but didn’t answer my question. Instead, he focused on his crying daughter.

‘Come on Princess, let’s get you some milk eh?’ He went to the fridge, got out a bottle and put it in the bottle warmer. While they waited, he moved her onto his hip and lightly jiggled her around.

‘Must’ve been something important that you decided to sleep through here,’ I said, trying to bring the focus back to what I’d asked him.

‘Here we go Maya-moo!’ He took the newly warmed bottle out of the bottle warmer and gave it to her. Her chubby little hands grasped it and she began guzzling the milk down.

‘Jake.’

‘What?’ His voice was irritable and I could see from his heavy eyes how tired he was. A little voice in my head whispered to me that something was very wrong indeed.

‘How come you were through here and not in bed?’ I asked.

Maya had now calmed down and was close to sleeping. He took her back through to bed then joined me in the living room.

‘If you must know, I was looking at the pub’s finances. I was trying to see if we were doing any better, maybe even turning a profit, but we aren’t. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be homeless and jobless in a couple of months and I’ll be back to square one creating a good life for Maya.’

‘No you won’t, you’ve got all sorts of ideas for getting more people to come to the pub. What about the cocktail night? If that works, we can plan loads more events too. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.’

He walked over to the papers and threw a pile in the air. ‘We’re haemorrhaging money Lucy and I don’t know how to stop it. The events will probably end up costing more money than they’ll make. I’ve been staring at the incomings and outgoings trying to see where I can save money and thinking of ways to pull more punters in, but I can’t. I’ve made a right pig’s ear of this.’

I walked up to him and put my hands on his shoulders. ‘No you haven’t, but you aren’t going to solve any financial problems at stupid o’clock in the morning. Come back to bed, have a sleep and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. You’re doing an amazing thing Jake, trying to build something great for you and Maya. You’ve just got to remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.’

He gave me a wry smile and hugged me. ‘No, but I bet the bank wasn’t threatening to repossess Rome were they?’

Yikes, things were worse than I thought.

‘No,’ I admitted, trying to keep a calm façade up, ‘they probably weren’t. There’s always a way though and you’ll find it. Thing will be fine, you’ll see.’

‘You’re incredible, Lucy Harper, you know that?’

‘I’ve heard rumours about that, yeah.’

Jake bent his head low and gave me a slow, lazy kiss. His hands caressed my curves, tracing every line with a tenderness I’d never experienced before. His kisses moved in a sleek curve from my lips to my jawline to my collarbone, then down to my breasts. He greedily took in every inch of me and I could feel him smile as he kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled us upwards in the direction of the bedroom.

‘Come on Hartley, show me what you’re made of.’

And he did.

***

When we woke up properly, later on in the morning, it was my turn to act like a loved-up teenager. I was woken up by Jake climbing back into bed and greeting me with a kiss.

‘So last night happened,’ he said with a wolfish grin.

‘Yeah, it’s safe to say I wasn’t expecting
that
when I came round for a barney!’

‘What can I say, I’m full of surprises!’ His voice and facial expression turned serious. ‘Look, I know last night was amazing but we don’t have to rush anything if you don’t want to. We can just take our time figuring out what this is.’

My shoulders slumped with relief. Instead of talking about the future and making plans I was nowhere near ready to commit to, he was happy to take things slowly – oh happy day!

‘That sounds good to me.’

He brought me close to him and rested his chin on my shoulder. ‘Fancy staying here all day? I’ve got Maya until tomorrow, so we can start educating her on classic children’s TV shows. None of this 3D nonsense. I was thinking we could start with
Charlie Chalk.
Then later on we could do a little bit of what we did last night.’

I spun myself round and kissed him. ‘Can’t do all day I’m afraid, I’ve got to go round and do some stuff at Rose Cottage. Another time though, definitely. I’ll see if I’ve got any of my old
Postman Pat
or
Fireman Sam
tapes in the house.’

Just then, Maya started to cry again. Jake heaved himself out of bed, went through to her room and came back with her. She nestled perfectly in the middle of the bed beside us. Her fine brown hair was sticking up at odd angles from where she’d been sleeping and she looked tired. Jake laid her on his chest so her head could rest on his shoulder. She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes, made cute gurgling noises and her pudgy little hand reached out to grab my hair.

‘Hey Maya-moo, that’s not yours!’ He giggled and put his arms around her to lift her away.

I chuckled and shook my head. ‘Don’t worry about it, pass her over here.’ I held my arms out. ‘Pass her over here.’

He looked pleasantly surprised and a little doubtful when he heard me say that. His mouth couldn’t decide whether to smile or not.

‘Really?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah, I could do with a cuddle.’

‘OK then. I guess I’ll go and make us all something to eat.’ Jake allowed his face to relax into a smile and handed Maya to me. Then he headed off to the kitchen to cook bacon and other lovely things.

I got myself comfortable and cuddled her close to me. Her lemon sleepsuit smelled of babies and fabric softener and I could feel her soft skin against mine. She made little snuffly noises and moved around in my arms to find a comfy place to lie. I stroked her hair and kissed her head. She was absolutely adorable. As I held her, I was given a snapshot of what life with Jake could hold for me: living above the pub or somewhere nearby, kids of our own, totally crazy about each other…
Utter bliss
.

‘Look at you,’ I whispered, ‘aren’t you perfect?’

She stirred and started to cry. My lack of experience with babies came to the fore and I started to panic.

‘Oh no, I’m sorry! D-don’t cry!’

Just then, Jake appeared in the doorway. ‘Is everything OK?’

‘She started crying and I wasn’t sure what to do,’ I admitted.

He smiled and scooped her up in his strong arms. ‘Ah she’s just being fussy. Aren’t you Maya-moo?’

The little girl stopped crying and started to gurgle happily as she gazed up at Jake. She looked utterly enchanted by him and judging by the look on his face, the feeling was mutual.

‘Sorry,’ I said with a sheepish smile, ‘I don’t have a lot of experience with kids, being an only child and that! You’re great with her though.’

He sat down, carefully jiggled Maya so she was resting in the crook of his arm and used his free hand to stroke my face.

‘Babies aren’t easy at the best of times. You did fine and the more time you spend with her, the better you’ll get at knowing what she wants.’

Maya decided to contribute to the conversation with a series of happy gurgles. Jake and I laughed and I leaned over to stroke her hair again.

‘You tell her Maya!’ he said with a grin. ‘She’s much better than she thinks, isn’t she?’

We held each other’s gaze and smiled. Although I still had some way to go, I could feel myself beginning to open up for the first time in forever. Maybe I could really belong in this adorable family unit. Maybe there really
was
a place for me in Luna Bay after all.

I left The Purple Partridge just after breakfast and made my way to Rose Cottage. My little slice of heaven was now looking less like a derelict shell and more like a home. The living room was all but finished; all it needed was furniture. The kitchen was more of a work in progress, but it was getting there. At least the ceiling had been repaired. I’d have to get the section of the wall I’d almost knocked down re-skimmed with plaster, but by and large, it was looking pretty good.

As I worked to get the old tile adhesive off, I found myself thinking once again about the Broken Hearts Book Club. Although I’d had a few teething problems with them, they’d taken me in and made me welcome. OK Diane hadn’t, but she had her reasons and I could still soften her up. The rest of them had been warm and welcoming as I’d found my feet as the chairwoman of the club. I’d thought the idea was bonkers at first, but now I was starting to enjoy it.

When they’d walked out of the meeting last night, each of them had carried their own personal tragedy round their neck like a millstone. They deserved a life outside of their grief and it was up to me to help them.

It was official: Operations Broken Hearts Book Club was on!

My first target for Operation Broken Hearts Book Club was Jean. She would be the easiest one to help, I decided. I went to her little knick-knack shop on the high street with Elle, and we watched her through the shop window as she busied herself with putting stock out. She did that a lot in meetings, I’d noticed: kept herself busy with one thing or another, so she didn’t have to talk about her grief.

‘She looks so sad,’ Elle said with a sigh. ‘What happened to her?’

‘Her dog Hobie died recently and she really misses him. She’s such a lovely lady, she deserves to be happy again. Fancy helping me spread a bit of fairy dust?’

‘You’re on!’

Hiya Jean!’ I threw her a sunny smile and a wave and pretended to browse the fridge magnet display.

‘All right flower? Lovely day in’t it?’ I was surprised at her friendliness; she’d been a bit frosty towards me since I’d joined the club. She looked at Elle. ‘Nice to see you back here too Elle! How did Australia treat you?’

Her face lit up. ‘Ooh it was amazing! I started off in Perth then went to Sydney then Melbourne. Saw some amazing places but I’m glad to be back now. Got to put down some roots sometime haven’t I?’

Jean smiled. ‘Indeed you have lass! Haven’t seen you around since you took off all them years ago, but it’s lovely to have you back.’

A smile flickered on Elle’s face. I could tell she still wasn’t wholly comfortable being back in Luna Bay after everything that had happened.

Right on cue, Jean mentioned the weather again. I could’ve kissed her; her timing was so perfect without her even realising it.

‘What a gorgeous day outside eh? Real summery weather.’

‘Yeah, it’s beautiful out… Right dog-walking weather, wouldn’t you say?’

I cast a sideways glance at her to see her reaction. She quickly turned her back on me and went over to do something at the till. Her head was bent low so I couldn’t see her face. Elle and I exchanged worried glances. Had I blown it already?

I wanted to join her, so I picked up a little crystal elephant and took it over to the counter.

‘Is that everything?’ she asked stiffly.

‘I was just saying it’s dog-walking weather today.’ I handed her some money and waited for her reply.

‘I heard what you said, but as you well know I don’t have a dog any more. Therefore, dog-walking weather doesn’t really apply to me.’

‘You must miss Hobie a lot. I had a dog when I was younger – Max, his name was – and we lost him when I was eleven. I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten over that,’ Elle said as she came over to join us.