Page 83 of Love Me Till Wednesday

They drove on in silence. Brad had a point. After all, it was exactly what Nick had thought the night he discovered Jim existed. If he was completely honest with himself, his behaviour in his personal life had been less than exemplary for most of his twenties and thirties. And she’d told him thatJim wasn’t interested in who his father was when he was old enough to make a decision.

Nick didn’t want to leave things with Lisa like this.You bloody idiot, Nixon. Fix it now before it’s too late.‘Can we go back to Lisa’s, please?’

Brad silently made a U-turn and headed back towards Paradise Crescent.

39

Lisa dried her eyes. That was it now. No more men. Ever.

She went upstairs to the guest room to check on Sophie. She was fast asleep, snuggled up to her new giraffe, bless her. At least some good things had come out of Lisa’s relationship with Nick.

Lisa stood at the top of the landing, wondering what to do. She’d been threatening to go through the books in her study, ready for the house move. That would take her mind off Nick, and she’d be far enough away from Sophie for any noise not to wake her.

She arrived in the hallway just as the doorbell rang. Who the hell was that? She wasn’t in the mood for visitors. Perhaps Pete had come back from Andy’s and forgotten his keys. She looked through the spy hole. Nick! Why was he there?

‘Come back to have another go at me?’ she said as she opened the door.

‘No, I want to say sorry. I love you, Lisa Jones.’

Lisa didn’t know what to think. ’Even though I deprived you of being involved in your son’s childhood?’

‘I understand why you did that. It just got to me earlier. I felt overwhelmed. I am truly sorry.’

At least he was prepared to admit when he was wrong. ‘What changed your mind?’ she asked.

‘Brad gave me a talking to. He made me see sense.’

‘I didn’t know Brad said much.’

‘He doesn’t unless I’m being a complete fucking idiot.’

‘You realise, I vowed never to have a man in my life again,’ Lisa said as they lay in bed in one another’s arms later that night.

Nick pulled her closer to him. ‘I’m so happy I persuaded you to change your mind.’

’It didn’t take much. I’ve always found you irresistible,’ she said.

‘Have you? You did a pretty good job of resisting me on Friday evening.’

‘I was scared of getting hurt again.’

’I love you. I promise I won’t leave you.’

‘Says he who’s off to LA in a few hours.’

‘You know what I mean. I can’t get out of filming. You could come with me?’ he said, looking at her hopefully.

‘I’d love to, but there are two problems. 1 - I’m looking after Sophie until I drop her at holiday club tomorrow. And 2 - I have to go to work. Apart from that, it’s an excellent suggestion.’

‘I’m going to miss you. I don’t want this to be like the last time I left you in the middle of the night.’ He kissed her forehead.

‘We’ve got mobile phones to keep in touch with one another now,’ she said.

‘And no psycho friend determined to break us up.’

‘Don’t remind me about that. I’ve got to deal with the lovely Mel later.’

‘I wish I could stay to support you with that.’

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