Page 29 of Last Dance, Second Chance

“My parents are good, thank you. They’re away on holiday at the moment with my brother and his family. I’m usually a ballet dancer. I dance with a company in New York, but I’m a bit laid up at the moment.” She lifted up her plastered foot to illustrate her point.

“That is unfortunate.”

“Your son has very kindly been taking care of me and Monty while my parents are away. I broke my foot the first day they were gone,” Jessica explained. As the realisation dawned on Nathan’s mum that Jessica and Nathan weren’t an item, she seemed to relax a little.

“Would you like to stay for a cup of tea, Mum?”

“If you’re sure I’m not disturbing anything,” she said, looking at them both in turn.

“You’re honestly not,” said Jessica, quickly. “In fact, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a shower and get dressed.”

“Of course. It was lovely to see you again, Jessica.”

“You too, Mrs Townsend.”

“Oh, call me Annie, please.”

Jessica scurried to her room as quickly as she could with a broken foot. That was embarrassing. Nathan’s mum had clearly thought there was something going on between Jessica and Nathan, and for whatever reason, she hadn’t been happy about it. Though what business it was of his mother’s who her 32-year-old son chose to date, Jessica didn’t know. And why wouldn’t his mother approve of Jessica? She was a catch! Any mother should be thrilled if her son was lucky enough to date her!

She guessed she could at least see where his mother’s confusion lay: the whole scene had looked pretty cosy. But as handsome as Nathan was, the last thing Jessica needed was to complicate her life with thoughts of romance. She was going to be back to New York soon. Though how she was going to manage going up and down the stairs to her apartment, she had no idea.

She took her time showering and getting dressed so that Nathan could have some time with his mum. She was done and preparing to go and be sociable again when she heard them coming back down the hallway and opening the front door.

“Does Claire know about your house guest?” Jessica heard Annie ask.

Who on earth was Claire? Jessica pressed her ear against the bedroom door to better hear the reply, but the pair had gone out of the house, and she couldn’t make out anything. She went over to the window, which looked out onto the street at the front of the house, and peeked around the edge of the blinds. Nathan and his mum were chatting by what was presumably her car. After a minute, Annie opened the boot and Nathan lifted out a large cardboard box. Jessica moved away from the window as he began walking towards the house.

It would look strange if she didn’t come out to say goodbye, so she forced herself to come out of her bedroom. Nathan was heading back in with a second box and smiled at her as he passed. His mum was closing up the boot of her car.

“Goodbye, Annie,” Jessica called out and received a stiff wave in return. It seemed Nathan’s mother wasn’t completely convinced of the platonic nature of her and Nathan’s relationship.

* * *

Nathan was back a couple of minutes later.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “One of the perils of having your mother live only a twenty-minute drive away.”

“Don’t be daft,” Jessica replied. “It’s your house — you should be able to have anyone you want to visit. It’s nothing to do with me. I just wish I hadn’t been in my pyjamas, but that was my fault.”

“You feel free to be in your pyjamas as much as you like. I’m quite fond of them.”

Was Nathan flirting with her? Jessica smiled awkwardly.

“Would you like to take the dogs out for a walk with me again today? We could drive somewhere nice.”

“Would you mind if I bowed out? My foot’s still hurting from yesterday,” Jessica said. Her foot was possibly aching a tiny bit more since yesterday’s walk, but only an hour ago she would have jumped at the chance of going out with Nathan again. Now she felt she needed some time to think.

“Not at all. You rest your foot, and I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“OK, thank you.”

Jessica breathed a little sigh of relief when Nathan and the dogs left. What was happening here?

* * *

As Jessica wasn’t coming, Nathan decided not to bother taking the car. He was in the mood for walking rather than driving. He took a familiar route past the spot where Jessica had been injured. He couldn’t help glaring down at Dennis and Monty as they passed it. They’d caused a lot of trouble.

He was inordinately put out with his mum as well. Which was stupid, as it was his own fault she’d turned up out of the blue. He’d been having so much fun with Jessica, he hadn’t even thought to charge his phone or check it.

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