Yours Truly (33 page)

“
Oh no. Busted,
”
Jasper says in a mock shaky voice. A wayward chuckle escapes my mouth.

“
Mr Hobbs,
”
Mrs Grimes sniffs, her bottom lip wobbling.
“
It is not appropriate for you to be here.
”

Jasper looks at me, eyebrows raised, before smiling toothily at Mrs Grimes.

“
Oh come on, Edna. It all looks like such fun.
You've done a marvellous job.
I’ve only come for one teeny tiny little beer.
”

“
But this event is only on because of you,
”
Mrs Grimes replies, putting her hands onto her narrow hips.
“
Because of your dastardly plans to take over our pub. It’s
you
we’re trying to stop. You’ve got a flaming nerve, young man.
”

“
It’s a board decision, Edna. It’s not entirely my fault.
”
Jasper holds up his palms, the universal signal of innocence.

“
It’s Mrs Grimes. That charm won’t work on me, Jasper, lad. Believe me. I’m immune.
”

“
Really? I always thought you were rather fond of us Hobbs men.
”

At this Mrs Grimes flushes and seethes.

Meg, having spotted Jasper, hurries over, beaming.

“
Hello Jasper!
”
she says fluttering her false eyelashes.

“
Meg!
”
he kisses her on both cheeks, equally delighted to see her.
“
What an utter pleasure to see you, and looking so beautiful too.
”

Meg spins around in her dress, leaning over slightly so that her boobs look as big as possible.

“
I think you should leave,
”
Mrs Grimes says to Jasper, studiously ignoring Meg’s escaping bosom.

Jasper rolls his eyes comically, putting his hand to his chest.

“
Mrs Grimes, you are
breaking
my heart. Let’s see. How about if I donate one thousand pounds to your cause. Would you let me stay then?
”

Mrs Grimes looks as confused as I feel. Why on earth would he donate a thousand pounds to the very cause that is opposing his plans to buy out The Old Whimsy.

“
But why -
“
I begin, before it hits me.

Of course. He knows that a thousand pounds or however much money raised tonight isn’t really going to change anything. It isn’t going to make a dent in the cost of keeping the pub open. A thousand pounds is nothing to him. He’s pretty much mocking the whole event. He knows that he’s going to take over the pub no matter what happens.

Mrs Grimes appears to struggle with the offer, frowning and twisting her hands together in distress.

“
Oh go on, Mrs Grimes,
”
Meg pleads.
“
He only wants one beer!
”

“
Two thousand pounds. And one drink,
”
Mrs Grimes says eventually, lifting her chin up and glaring at Jasper through her spectacles.

Jasper chuckles and pulls out a chequebook from the inside pocket of his suit ja
cket, as if this is the early ninetie
s and people carry around cheque books on nights out. I wait, expecting him to produce a Filofax too. He doesn't, of course.
“
You drive a hard bargain, Edna. Father always said you were a feisty lady.
”

“
Oh I know what you’re doing, Sonny Jim,
”
Mrs Grimes spits.
“
But if you want to throw your money away then that’s fine by me. And don’t think it won’t make a difference to our cause, because it will. We’ll save The Old Whimsy. Don’t you worry about that.
”

“
Whatever you say, Edna,
”
Jasper grins, handing over the cheque to Mrs Grimes who snatches it and stalks off.

“
Wow!
”
Meg says, looking at Jasper with reluctant admiration.

I have to admit, it is kind of exciting, the way he just paid that much money for a bottle of beer. But also, I don’t know, a bit vulgar.

Jasper swigs from his beer, eyeing the room. His gaze rests on Dionne and Honey, who oblivious to anything else that is going on are now grinding dirtily in the middle of the dance floor.

Meg follows his gaze and frowns.

“
Come dance with Natalie and me!
”
she says suddenly, grabbing his hand and then mine and dragging us to the dance floor.

She gives me a look, her grip on my arm tighter than Russell Brand's trousers. I have no choice but to follow.

I’m not a particularly good dancer. All right, I’m properly shit. So shit, in fact, that I got kicked out of ballet school as a kid for having a sickle foot and ‘about as much natural grace as an over
boiled broccoli’. So while Meg is shaking her bum at Jasper, and Jasper is half dancing and watching Meg’s bum, I’m sort of hopping from side to side and clapping in time to the music. I look like a PE teacher.

Suddenly the tempo of the music changes and the band begin to play
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
by T
he Shirelles.

Meg makes a swift move towards Jasper in an attempt to get a slow dance, her eyes alight at the very thought of getting up close and personal. But before she can reach him Uncle Alan appears, grabs a hold of her hand and starts to spin her around the dance floor. As he waltzes her off into the crowd I’m pretty sure I see her crying out. It looks like she’s saying ‘Nooooooo’.

“
Dance with me.
”
Jasper holds out his hand.

I glance up at the band and see Riley eyeing us while he strums his guitar.

Oh. So he’s paying attention now, is he?

My logic is likely probably skewed because of all the alcohol, and despite the fact that I find this man to be arrogant and a bit smug, I smile back at him and say
:

“
I’d love to dance with you.
”

As we move across the dance floor, passing Dionne who is slow dancing with an elderly local and Honey, whose eyes linger on us for a curiously long time, we reach Meg and Alan spinning wildly on the floor. She catches my eye and grimaces before Alan twirls her off into dance floor oblivion.

“
You think I’m a prat, don’t you?
”
Jasper announces out of nowhere, his plummy voice at odds with the broad northern accents I can hear conversing around me.

The forceful fizzing in my tummy u
rges me to answer his question.

“
Yes. I mean. I think what you
’
r
e doing is
prattish. The whole hostile takeover of The Old Whimsy. It’s uncalled for, I think.
”

He looks delighted with my straight up honesty but then it occurs to him what I’ve
just said and he pulls a face.

“
You know, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Natalie
”

“
No?
”

“
Not at all. Riley is behind on every one of his bills -
”

“
How do you know?
”

He smirks.
“
Oh, I have ways. And fra
nkly, if I don’t force the take
over, his obstinacy means he’ll go bankrupt.
”

God. That’s awful.

“
But why can’t you just keep the place as a pub? Why do you have to turn it into offices?
”

Jasper considers for a moment.

“
I did offer. I offered to buy The Old Whimsy and give Riley a job as the manager. He turned it down flat.
”

I can’t believe it.

Riley said nothing to me about this. In fact, I doubt he’s said anything to anyone about this.

“
He’s very stubborn,
”
Jasper continues.
“
He blames me for what happened with Mary, his mother. He’d rather go bust than let me help.
”

“
But if you don’t like him then why do you want to help him?
”

“
It’s important to my father. He was very close to Mary. Father doesn’t wish to see Riley lose everything because of downright mulishness.
”

I think about this new information, trying to process it through the wine induced haze.

“
So… why don’t you just buy the pub and, I don’t know, give it back to him?
”

Jasper laughs.
“
Because that’s bad business, darling. If Riley is refusing to manage the pub then I need to recoup on the investment somehow, and the best way to do that is to use the building for offices. It’s quite simple.
”

So Riley lied. He was offered a way to save the pub. He’s just too stubborn to take it.

“
Everyone thinks he’s a saint,
”
Jasper is saying now.
“
But I’ve known him for years, and after hearing what you said on the radio -
”

I blush.

“
I think you should know that he has quite the temper on him.
”

Riley, with a temper?

“
I don’t believe that.
”
I shake my head.

“
I’ll show you,
”
Jasper says strangely, a small smile on his face. And before I can ask him what he’s on about he pulls me to him and plants his mouth onto mine.

Is this real? What the hell is he doing? I yank away from him sharpish, untangling his arms from their grasp on my waist

“
What the holy focaccia do you think you are doing?
”
I hiss, my face aflame. Jeez.

Jasper doesn’t seem at all perturbed by my rejection. He stands back and folds his arms as if he’s waiting for something. Suddenly the music stops and Riley is at our side.

“
You’ve had your beer, Jasper,
”
he says in a strange steely voice.
“
Time to leave.
”

I stand back as Meg hurries over, confusion all over her face.

Jasper holds up his bottle, seeming to enjoy the swift quiet that has taken over the party.
“
I still have a little left, Riley,
”
he says putting the bottle to his mouth.

Riley steps closer and takes the bottle from Jasper’ grasp.

“
I think you’re finished. Now leave.
”

Jasper looks around at the crowd and rolls his eyes.

“
All right, all right, don’t
make such a fuss about nothing.
”
And then ever so quietly, so quiet that I’m not sure I hear correctly
,
he leans towards Riley and whispers
“
again
.
”

Before it even registers with me that he’s referr
ing to the car accident
,
Riley has dropped the bottle onto the floor and has dived at Jasper, pushing his fist into his face with an almighty thwack.

A cry goes up around the room as the two of them get into a brawl, wrestling on the barn floor.

The men from the band and a few locals leap forward, trying desperately to pull them apart, but it’s all going so fast they don’t seem able to do much.

“
Get off him!
”
Honey cries floating over at speed.
“
Get off my boyfriend!
”

“
Stop it!
”
I join in, tempted to wade in a try to pull them apart, but deciding against it for fear of my life.

They continue to tumble around, cursing at each other, and grunting, their faces dark red with fury.

“
Make them stop!
”
Meg cries out.

I look around at the locals, each of them trying their best to pull the men apart but none of them able to. Wow. They really hate each other.

“
This is your fault,
”
Honey hisses at me, tears running down her face.