Page 42 of Beg, Borrow or Steal
‘I have the final payment for Brian’s repairs –’ she held up her hands and started counting off on her fingers ‘– a term of swimming lessons to pay for, another month of nursery fees to find, an electricity bill to pay, and do you know how much I have in my current account, Jamie? Do you?’
‘Libby, I – ’
‘I have exactly eighty-eight pounds and seventy-five pence in my current account. And I have to pay for these thingsnext week. I have to sort it outnow. Not in two weeks’ time or whenever I can be bothered. This shit is relentless. Mylifeis relentless. You have no bloody idea what it’s – ’
‘I could give you the money,’ Jamie threw out in desperation, and then swore under his breath as Libby’s jaw clenched tight and her face flushed red.
‘If youevermake that type of suggestion again,’ she hissed. ‘I will punch you right in your arrogant face.’
Jamie groaned. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just can’t stand the thought of you …’ He broke off. What he really couldn’t stand was her working there, wearing her underwear and being ogled by hundreds of men. But he knew that any objections along those lines would be met with hostility. ‘It’s too much for you. You need to concentrate on your degree and have more time for Rosie.’
‘I don’t have a choice,’ she said, her voice breaking before she cleared her throat to carry on. ‘I do what I have to do to look after my daughter, to get her a brighter future. You can tell your mother exactly why I’m not at the family barbeque. I’m sure that would make for a relaxed lunch convo – how you’re dating a single mum-slash-stripper, and how the lady in question can’t make it because she’s got to shake her tits and arse for some random blokes so she can afford her kid’s nursery fees. I’m sure Mummy Dearest will beclamouringto meet me.’
Any reply Jamie could have made was luckily interrupted by the arrival of the bill. He received another glare from Libby as he paid on his credit card without letting her see the amount, despite her protests. After he was done he stood up, walked to her side of the table, reached for her hand and pulled her to standing, then prowled out of the restaurant with her in tow.
Once outside she stumbled in her heels and he caught her before she went down. ‘Can we maybe make it home without me breaking an ankle?’ She shook off his hold and took a step back, eyeing him warily, and if he was honest he wasn’t surprised. He was acting like a lunatic – but the whole stripping thing, coupled with the fact he had so obviously lost control of the way the date was supposed to go, had made him a little crazy.
‘Right,’ he said, one hand going to the back of his neck, the other to rest on his hip. He looked down at the pavement for a moment, then back up at her wary eyes. ‘Can we rewind twenty minutes? Could you forget what I said about the family barbeque and your work and … well … the thing is … I’m sorry. And if you don’t forgive me, again, then my penis is going to end up as badger food.’
Chapter 19
Women have needs
‘Hey girls,’ Jamie called as he let himself into the flat. Once inside and after a brief kiss and hug for Rosie (who was too busy for a longer greeting due to some sort of woodlouse emergency), he dumped the latest bunch of flowers on the side, crossed his arms over his chest and glared over at Libby in the kitchen. ‘The door was open.’
Libby rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, I got one of your bossy little texts; I knew you were on your way over, so I left it ajar. You’re lucky I didn’t lock my new deadbolt.’
Jamie smiled and moved to her, leaving the flowers where they were. Over the last three weeks since date night he had brought her something nearly every day; either leaving it in her pigeonhole at the hospital or ferrying it over to her flat. Sometimes it was bits of geeky memorabilia he knew she’d like, sometimes flowers. And yes, he was gradually wearing her down. His private parts were safe from the badgers for now, and he’d promised faithfully to keep his opinions about her work to himself.
That didn’t stop him from being his normal dictatorial self, especially about her and Rosie’s safety. He wouldn’t let them take the bus after dark, didn’t trust Brian ‘the death trap on wheels’, and was always on at Libby about the flat’s security.
He raised his eyebrows and Libby bit her lip to suppress a smile, before she wiped her hands dry on a dishcloth and walked across to him. ‘Don’t be cross,’ she said as she slipped her arms around his middle, kissed the underside of his jaw and then laid her head against his chest.
It was the first bit of spontaneous affection Libby had ever initiated with him. She felt him stiffen in shock before he engulfed her in his big arms, pressing her body to his almost fiercely.
‘Lock the door when you’re here alone,’ he said into her hair. ‘Or at least bloody wellclosethe door. You’ve not used the keychain or the peephole once.’
‘Mm-hm,’ Libby muttered against his chest, breathing in the delicious smell of washing powder and Jamie combined.
Of course he was a fantastic cuddler.
That much she knew already.
After the awkward end of what could have been a fantastic first date (had he not put his foot in it and Libby not lost her formidable temper), Jamie had not been deterred. He’d come round the next night with Beauty and a peace offering (this being a Mother of DragonsGame of Thronesmug) and stayed for macaroni cheese.
Rosie had watched them during the meal and seen Jamie kiss Libby on the temple when he thanked her. Libby wasn’t sure how Rosie was going to react but when they were settling on the sofa after supper, Rosie told Jamie that ‘Mummy likes kisses and cuddlesall the time.’ This was accompanied by a way-too-advanced-for-her-age eye-roll before she went on to say: ‘It’s good you can help. SometimesI’mtoo busy.’
Libby had laughed at the implication that Rosie’s schedule, which, other than nursery and her swimming and ballet lessons, mostly involved dancing attendance on her woodlice, did not allow for copious cuddles – but her laughter had died at Jamie’s reply.
‘Well that’s okay,’ he’d told Rosie, pulling Libby down onto the sofa next to him and tucking her into his side, ‘because I’mverygood at cuddles and kisses, so we’re all set.’ He’d smiled at Rosie and then given Libby a smaller but vastly different kind of smile accompanied by a wink, which for some reason she felt shoot through her body down to her toes.
Rosie and Beauty both fell asleep on Rosie’s bed again, and Jamie prised out of Libby her entire life story – acting as if various holidays her family had been on to Skegness were just as interesting as his adventures around the world.
After the Thai Restaurant Argument, he’d avoided the subject of her work and simply planned on seeing her and Rosie around her schedule, but she knew he was still bothered by it. The way his jaw would get tight when he saw her bags packed ready to go, or the way he’d scowl at her phone whenever someone connected from the club rang (she had Lady Marmalade as her ringtone for work which he’d figured early on), would suggest that he hadn’t changed his opinion of the way she earned her money, but was smart enough not to bring it up again.
To be honest Libby was glad. She enjoyed being with this more relaxed Jamie who made her laugh, was kind to her daughter, and was so handsome that he still sometimes made her catch her breath when he smiled, and she didn’t want to have to fight him the whole time about the unfortunate hard facts of her life: that she had to earn money and still have time for Rosie, her study, and survival.
In fact she liked Jamie so much it had started to scare her a little. He drove her home, all the way home, from work most days. The unreliable Brian had been semi-retired. All four of them (including Beauty) spent the majority of their evenings together at her flat (Rosie’s bedtime was seven and Libby didn’t want to confuse her by putting her to bed at Jamie’s house), and after Rosie was in bed Jamie would set out to prove his ‘cuddling’ abilities. Libby had revision to do but he seemed content to read whilst she studied, both of them curled up on the sofa together.
