Page 5 of Last Dance, Second Chance

“Hello, Jessica! How lovely to see you. How have you been?”

“I’m good. Is my dad still overworking you?”

“Wouldn’t seem right if he wasn’t!” Meryl laughed. “Joe, why don’t you head off with Jessica? We don’t have any more bookings today and I can handle any walk-ins.”

“I think I will,” said Joe. “Thanks, Meryl.”

* * *

An hour later, Jessica and her mum sat at the kitchen table while her dad prepared supper for them all. He’d insisted on popping to the supermarket on the way home to pick up salmon because it was Jessica’s favourite, and he knew, while she’d relish a few of the crispy potatoes he’d roast to go alongside, it was salad that would fill most of Jessica’s plate. She also didn’t join her parents in having a glass of wine, sticking to water instead. She only usually had a small glass of alcohol at functions organised by her company when it would be awkward not to. It affected her dancing performance the next day too much for her to want to drink it any more often.

As Monty slept by her feet, her mum and dad filled her in on all the local gossip. “Oh, and there’s a new doctor down at the surgery. He’s very nice, even Mrs White approves of him. His family used to live here but moved away. I taught him. Actually, I think he might have been in your class—”

Sarah was interrupted by a ring at the doorbell. “I wonder who that can be?” asked Joe, with a glint in his eye. “Why don’t you go and see, Jess?”

Jessica smiled; her dad was so obvious. She went into the hallway, opened the front door and found herself enveloped by her brother, Andrew, his wife, Molly, and their children, Peter, Emily and Sophie.

“Hey, sis! Mum called and told us you were here. Great timing for a visit!” Andrew teased. Andrew was a bear of a man, taller than their father by a good six inches at least, with wild black hair, and a growing belly thanks to his wife’s good cooking and his rather sedentary day job as an accountant. “I know. I can’t believe it. It’s not like they go away a lot!” Jessica replied.

“It’s good to see you,” Molly said, scooping up little Sophie so she didn’t get crushed under everyone. Like her husband, Molly was still wearing the suit she wore to work as a fellow partner in their accountancy firm. She was tall and slim and her blonde hair was in a no-nonsense high ponytail. Jessica imagined Molly could be very serious when it came to business, but when she was with her family, she let all that slide and devoted herself to them completely.

“Come through, come through,” called Joe from the kitchen.

Everyone trooped in, the children gazing up at Jessica like she was a world-famous film star.

“We can’t stay for long, but we wanted to pop in and say hi to Auntie Jessica, didn’t we guys?” said Molly.

“We watched you on the television, Auntie Jessica,” Emily, who was six, said, looking up at her auntie with wide eyes. “You were beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Jessica said, smiling.

“Your company’s The Nutcracker was on the BBC last Christmas. The girls were completely enamoured,” Molly explained.

“I’m glad they enjoyed it.” She wished her brother had told her. She’d had no idea they’d watched her performance.

“I’d love to dance like you,” whispered Sophie.

“It takes a lot of hard work,” Jessica said.

“And doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else,” muttered Andrew, which earned him a glare from Sarah. Jessica chose to ignore his comment.

“Anyway, we’d better go,” said Molly. “We were just on our way home from picking Peter up from football, and we need to get an early night.”

“We’re going on holiday with Nanny and Grandad tomorrow, Auntie Jessica,” Sophie explained. “Are you coming as well?”

“No. I’m going to look after Monty here, but I’ll see you all when you get back.”

“I’m glad someone’s looking after Monty,” Peter said. “I was worried about him.”

“He’ll be fine with me.” Jessica gave him a reassuring smile. She couldn’t believe how much the children had grown, especially Peter. At almost eight and a half he’d soon be as tall as his aunt.

Andrew and his family left in a whirlwind, making the kitchen seem quite empty afterwards.

Jessica enjoyed her supper and stayed up as long as she could to chat with her parents but was eventually forced to excuse herself. She was exhausted from travelling and desperate to go to bed.

Climbing up the stairs of her parents’ house, hearing her mum and dad chatting away downstairs as they settled down to watch some television together, made her feel like a teenager again. The bathroom seemed strange without her and her brother’s toothbrushes next to the sink, and there was a new blind up at the window. Every time she visited there seemed to be something different about her childhood home. But her old bedroom was exactly the same as when she’d lived in the house. She settled into her old single bed underneath a poster from the English National Ballet and fell fast asleep.

Chapter Three

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