Page 11 of Love Is…?

“I would never.”

“I know.” Jayde leaned over and patted the slipper-clad foot of his good leg. “I’m a little bit nervous about this, which I suppose is normal. I mean, I know I can do it. That’s not a problem, but her agent seemed annoyed about the number of interviews.” She flicked her hand over. “Then said it’s lucky that Ms Taylor.” Jayde smirked at her father’s long blink. “Yeah.Ms Taylor.” They shared a smile. The cultural differences between the two countries were sometimes stark. Honorifics? Ha! “Anyway, it’s lucky that Abigail is in Melbourne for such a long period of time this year because otherwise they’d have a US-based journalist write the profile.”

“Oh! No, that wouldn’t be right. You were meant for this job.” The intensity in his gaze, the faith he had in her, was overwhelming sometimes. She felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

“Thanks, Dad.” She lifted from the chair, leaned over to feel the temperature of the hot water bottle—not hot at all, so she plucked it up and walked into the kitchen, flicking on the jug to refill the rubber sack.

“There’s something karmic in the topic, though,” her father said, projecting his voice over the soft burbling of the water.

Jayde grumbled softly, but clearly loud enough for her father to hear. He chuckled.

“Sweetie, you scowl duringLove, Actually.”

“So?”

“It’s a movie about love. You’re supposed to love that it’s about love. I get mushy and miss your mum and think of flowers and sing along to the songs and you grump about how uncomfortable the couch is.”

Jayde couldn’t help but laugh at the truth of that.

“I know. I’m hopeless. I get it.” She tipped out the cold water from the hot water bottle and refilled it, delivering it to her father and reclaiming her seat. “I’m an unromantic grump whoprefers to avoid the exigencies required to love one woman.” She sighed dramatically, then, after a moment of silence, looked up into her father’s sympathetic eyes.

“Jayde, hon. I know I always get my words muddled.” He tilted his head. “But I do know how to say this.” He held up his hand to pause Jayde’s protest. “You should look forward. The past is done. It was your mum’s decision to leave for whatever reason she had?—”

Jayde scoffed. “It was all too hard,” she muttered under her breath. Her father inhaled deeply. They’d discussed the topic like the world’s longest tennis rally for eleven years after her mother had walked out.

He continued. “Yes, I held a candle for a very long time. But that’s my candle, not yours.” Jayde rolled her lips to stave off the tears that always accompanied this conversation. Her father rubbed his injured leg. “I do hope that one day love smacks you in the face because I think that’s the only way you’ll take notice.”

Jayde leaned away and wrinkled her brow. “If that’s your way of saying?—”

“Sometimes I don’t know what I’m saying. You know that.” He beckoned Jayde over to sit on the arm of his chair, and she leant into his shoulder. “But I’m trying to say something now. Give me a moment.”

“Take all the time you need, Dad,” Jayde whispered into his grey hair.

He hummed. “I’m saying you should stay being you. It’ll happen. You won’t be sceptical because that person will wipe away the history and help you create a future. You’ll work it out.” He sighed. “Or not. It doesn’t matter. There are no rules.” He lifted his chin so he could look Jayde in the eye. “Now, listen. I never ever want you to move out of our home just because you feel like you’re imposing or somehow obligated to be my carer orthat you need to replace the space that your mum left, because you feel like your ideas don’t match mine.”

Jayde stiffened, and her father turned more to face her, grimacing as his leg twisted. She scooted around and knelt in front of his chair so he could settle himself.

“For a bloke who reckons he’s hopeless at words, you’re?—”

Her father laughed softly. “They come and go. But I know all of that is what you think. I enjoymyown company, Jayde, hon, and I enjoyyourcompany. I don’t need a carer but it’s nice to know that you’re around if I do. You’re my daughter and this is our home, okay? Ours. And you don’t need to spend time holding on to something your mum did. It shouldn’t taint your search for your person.”

Jayde sighed. “I know all this.” She wasn’t going to admit that giving someone her heart scared her to death. Look what happened to her father. So she pivoted the conversation. “Sometimes I think that girlfriends, not that they last long enough to really qualify for that status, reckon that me living at home is still a bit…” She tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. “I get what you’re saying. I love living here. But sometimes I think…I don’t know. Gah. Words! You wouldn’t think I use them for a living.” Her father smiled. “Society reckons that living at home at my age is ridiculous, juvenile, and I hate that assumption. And yeah, you’re right with all those reasons. And the important one which is that I love you and I like living next to my dad, even though society says I shouldn’t because I’m thirty.” She stared at her father, whose lips twitched. He stuck out his hand.

“Happy to meet you, Thirty. I’m Oliver.”

Jayde groaned, then huffed a laugh, and sat back on her heels. “Dad, that’s a shocker, even for you.”

He beamed. “Excellent. I’ll add it to the book.”

Abigail’squick pat on Jayde’s shoulder, accompanied by her wide smile, reinforced her comment that she was enjoying the interviews immensely.

Which boded well because they’d only completed one. Jayde whispered a congratulatory “Yes” under her breath.

“Come out to the kitchen,” Abigail said, in that husky, astonishingly sexy voice. Jayde assumed that an entire suburb’s worth of breaths were caught in throats when people heard the woman speak. How anyone functioned on set was beyond her.

The kitchen, as in many homes, seemed to be the hub for all meetings, comings and goings, and deep and meaningful chats. Jayde pulled out a stool, leant her backpack against the island bench, and folded her arms on the counter.

Tessa appeared around the corner, and stopped short. She flashed a quick smile at Jayde, then turned to Abigail.

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