Page 63 of Finding Jacob
My stomach clenched and I chuckled. I hoped my desire for him wasn’t just hormones. I couldn’t get enough of him, and I wanted that to continue.
I brushed my hair and splashed some cold water on my face. I didn’t put any makeup on and slipped on underwear. I still hadn’t unpacked the bag I’d brought with me; it was sitting on the floor under the window.
I pulled on a creased pair of linen trousers that I couldn’t do up, and a floaty top to hide that.It was time to invest in some maternity clothes,I thought.
When I joined the boys, they were sitting outside holding cold bottles of beer. Something smelled delicious on the barbecue, and my mouth watered.
“Here she is,” Jacob said, jumping up to pull the chair out for me. “What do you want to drink?”
“A beer?” I asked, knowing Jacob had some zero-alcohol beer in the fridge.
Instead of giving me the bottle, he poured the drink into a tall cold glass.
“Any news on Hannah’s calls?” I asked Nathan.
“I just told Jacob, nothing yet. Did you see the statement the Palace put out?”
I hadn’t, I knew about it, but didn’t want to read it. “Total bullshit, I guess?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yep. Sends his condolences and all that. Denies a relationship, it was just a friendship.”
I rolled my eyes. “Typical. Do you still think Jules didn’t kill herself?”
“I do. More so now. Toxicology found heroin in her system. Never had she taken that. She was dumb in some aspects of her life, for sure, but she never jacked up, no track marks on her body anywhere.”
“Blimey,” I said, not as convinced as Nathan that she wouldn’t have taken heroin. “Could that have been the first time she tried it?” I asked gently.
“Sure, but I don’t believe it.” He was adamant.
“So, what’s next?” I asked, sipping my beer.
“We’ll see if anyone shows up at the funeral who looks out of place,” Jacob added. Again, it was thewe.
“Anyway, how are you?” Nathan asked, he seemed to peer at me.
“Tired,” I replied, chuckling.
“How long now?”
“Another four months yet. Feels like a lifetime away.” I laughed and placed my hands on my bump.
“I saw Julie yesterday. She wasn’t her usual,take me to bedself,” he said.
“I haven’t heard from her for a few weeks. I feel like I’ve fallen out of favour somewhat,” I confessed.
I caught Jacob up on my list of friends and how we’d meet weekly, but that seemed to have tailed off.
“Why not have a girls’ weekend here? I can have someone set up a spa for you. Combine your baby shower and it’s on your terms then.”
It sounded like a cracking idea and since I hadn’t heard anything from Dory about a shower, it seemed a perfect idea. “I’ll text Dory later.”
We chatted and Jacob continued to cook. It wasn’t long before he laid a dressed salad, minted potatoes, and grilled fish on the table with a plate of various meats off the barbecue. Nathan tucked into the meat, I opted just for the salad and fish.
The boys joked with each other, then told me stories of their days in the army, some of the funny things they got up to. The bond between them was tangible, and wonderful. I smiled as I watched them interact. They laughed, slapped each other on the back, clinked bottles as they drank more beer, and they could have been brothers, such was their relationship.
“That time we got caught sneaking those girls into the dorm in Gib, remember that?” Jacob asked. Nathan roared with laughter.
It appeared that, when a popular soap had just started back in the 1980s, the boys had been stationed in Gibraltar. They had met with a couple of English girls, probably way younger than they’d said, they thought, who wanted to watch the soap. The boys snuck them in their barracks and to their dorm so they could watch the television. The boys hoped there might be athank-you, but the girls were caught, and the boys court-martialled.
