Page 56 of Beg, Borrow or Steal
Although this was annoying, the truly upsetting aspect of the day was Jamie’s older nephew’s new reaction to her. Something had changed for the sixteen-year-old. He could no longer meet her eyes when he greeted her, he made no comment on herStar WarsT-shirt: all signs of open friendliness were a thing of the past. When she spoke to him he blushed and moved away. Libby was only in his company for ten minutes when she realised thathe knew. He wasn’t being deliberately rude to her, but it was obvious she terrified him and he didn’t know what to make of her.
She wiped her face with the hand towel and took a deep breath. One more hour tops and she could leave. If Jamie wouldn’t drive her she’d call a taxi. Any more silent disapproval from Jamie’s dad or embarrassment from his nephew and she thought she would scream. A knock on the door made her jump and she clutched her chest before she turned to open it, revealing a concerned Amy just outside.
‘You okay?’ Amy asked, smiling as she walked into the bathroom. ‘I thought you might have fallen down the bog or something.’
Libby forced a smile. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Got lost on the trek over here.’
Amy laughed. ‘I know, right? This place is super intimidating at first but you’ll soon get used to it. Come on, I’ll walk you back so you can find the way.’ Amy linked her arm through Libby’s to pull her along the corridor and back out to the garden, chattering happily about Seb and Rosie and how well they got on, and how Libby was a saint for putting up with ‘The Beast’ for the last two weeks. Libby wasn’t sure whether Amy meant her brother-in-law or the dog.
‘When are you planning on moving out of Jamie’s house, Libby?’ Giles’s voice cut across Amy’s chatter as they rejoined the group and Libby stopped in her tracks.
‘I – ’ she started, but Jamie turned around from his position at the barbeque to glare at his father.
‘Dad, when, or if, Libby moves out is between me and her.’
Giles shrugged his broad shoulders as if he didn’t care either way, but his shrewd gaze was fixed on Libby. He was slightly shorter than his sons, but still well over six foot, with a full head of grey hair. ‘It just seems to me that things have moved on awfully quickly. I mean, you haven’t even been seeing each other that long, have you?’
‘Libby was sick, Dad,’ Jamie said through gritted teeth. Libby noticed that his knuckles were white where he was gripping the barbeque tongs.
‘Ah yes, you were taken ill at work I understand. Jamie was quite the knight is shining armour by all accounts.’
‘Yes,’ Libby said warily, ‘yes, Jamie’s been really kind.’
‘No family or somebody moreappropriateto take you in after this conveniently timed illness.’ There was a loud clatter as the tongs fell onto the tiles of the patio and Jamie took a step towards his father.
‘Dad!’
‘Giles!’
Jamie and his mother shouted out together, but Giles just grinned and held both his hands up in surrender.
‘Okay, okay. Calm down you lot. Just saying things how I see them. I’m sure Libby here appreciates a little honesty.’
Libby was staring down the immaculate lawn at her daughter and Seb taking turns down the slide from the huge climbing frame, to be showered with copious Shih Tzu and mutt-dog beast drool at the bottom. She straightened her spine. All this beauty and wealth didn’t make you a better person. Maybe it made you lucky to be born into a rich family, maybe it made you shrewd and cutthroat in business. But the man in front of her implying that she was a gold-digger wasn’t any better than her. She realised that she was done defending herself to men who were too pig ignorant and judgemental to get their facts straight. Giles Grantham could believe what he wanted about her.
‘Thank you so much for the offer of lunch,’ Libby said to Bunty, who was staring furiously at her husband and looked ready to rip his head off. ‘I’m sorry but Rosie and I have got to go. A friend is coming to help us move back to my flat today and I told her I’d be ready by three.’ She took a step away and then stopped mid stride to turn back to Dan and Amy. ‘Your son knows I work as a stripper by the way,’ she told Dan, and wasn’t surprised by all the shocked gasps around them. Will was out of earshot over the goddamnstone balustrade(the minute Libby had seen that around the patio she should have known she was out of her depth). ‘I don’t know if you told him or he overheard but he knows. It might be a good idea to talk to him about it, but I’ll leave that up to you.’
*****
‘For fuck’s sake, Dad,’ Jamie whisper-shouted once Libby moved off down the garden. To his frustration his dad was still staring after Libby in shock with his mouth slightly open.
‘She’s astripper?’ he asked, and Jamie stepped into his line of sight.
‘No, Dad,’ he snapped. ‘She’s a medical student and a single mother, and she had to fund her own degree. Stripping is a means to an end. And anyway it’s more like, I don’t know, gymnastics meets burlesque meets modern dance in your underwear – and she’s bloody fantastic at it.’ As Jamie said the words he realised that it was true. Shewasbloody fantastic up on that stage.
‘I’ll second that,’ muttered Dan, earning a scowl from Jamie.
‘Dad! You’veseenher dancing?’ Will had rejoined the group and his wide eyes were fixed on his father. ‘Am I theonlyone who hasn’t seen her dance? You know that’s totally unfair, don’t you?’ He was all six foot of bristling teenage injustice.
‘Stop being weird around her, Will,’ Jamie snapped. ‘She doesn’t wear any less than she would to swim, and it’s all gymnastics stuff with a few pole spins thrown in, all right?’
Will’s eyes went slightly unfocused. ‘Poles,’ he muttered into the middle distance, lost in his own thoughts.
‘And you.’ Jamie pointed at his brother. ‘Why did you tell him about it? Wasn’t that a bit unneces – ’
‘I overheardyou,Uncle Jamie,’ Will snapped out of his trance to interrupt. ‘When you and Dad were arguing, you weren’t exactly subtle.’
‘Right … well …’ Jamie trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Can you just be normal around her, okay? Talk to her aboutGames of ThronesorStar Trekor something. She’s still the same nerd she was before you found out what she does to earn money for university.’
