Page 16 of Poles Apart
They arrived back at the house and were welcomed in by Colin. “I don’t know what you said to her, but she’s been mumbling for the past half an hour about romantic dates, cinemas and skydiving, for Pete’s sake. Want to explain what’s happening and why I’m cooking dinner for four?”
“Abby, help Colin with dinner. I’ll go see Lindsay, see what she’s got for me.”
“So unfair. I wanted to see what Lindsay was doing.” Abby picked up a knife and a potato and started peeling, a pout on her face.
“We’ll talk more about it over dinner. You’re not missing anything yet!” Jacob walked back into the lounge and took his seat on the sofa again.
Thomas and Amy were watching something on TV, and Ivy sat in her high chair, eating cheese, grapes and breadsticks.
“So,” Lindsay started, “I’ve put some notes together on what we can do.” She sat with a new notepad and pen in front of her, and Jacob could see a list written on the pad. There was quite a lot on there, and he wondered what on earth she’d written.
Jacob nodded. “OK. Colin mentioned skydiving? Not sure I’m gonna be doing that.” Jacob laughed nervously. He was terrified of heights and was, in no way, shape or form, an adrenaline junkie.
“Pfft, don’t discount anything at this stage. We need to cover all bases. Let’s start with something small, though.” She sat back in the chair and crossed her legs. “When will you be seeing him next?”
Jacob felt like he was being interrogated. “Erm, I’m not sure. We kind of left it open? We were supposed to be sorting out dates today, but then we got side-tracked, and then I walked out. Not sure where we stand at the moment. I asked him to let me know if he still wanted to teach her, but he hasn’t responded.”
Lindsay nodded at him. “I see, I see.” She tapped the pen to her chin, a pensive look on her face. “OK, here’s what we’ll do. When, not if, when he texts back to say he’ll teach Abby, you’ll start with little things. Do you know what coffee he likes?”
“I don’t—”
“Sshh, don’t interrupt. We’ll have to pass on that one for the time being. What about food? Cake maybe?”
“He had carrot cake from Molly’s this afternoon. Fuck it. I left my lemon drizzle cake!” Jacob could have kicked himself. He must have been pissed if he forgot to eat his cake.
“OK. Find out what coffee he likes and take him a cup when you meet up. Or any other drink you see him with. Shows you’re noticing, yes?” She nodded enthusiastically. Jacob was getting a little worried at the maniacal look in her eyes.
He nodded too, thinking it’d be better not to disagree with anything she said at this point.
“Then we can start to move on to bigger things. Flowers, chocolates.” She shook her head, crossing something out on the pad. “No, not chocolates. He’s a dancer, needs to watch his figure.”
Jacob was more than happy to watch Dom’s figure, he thought. All those hard muscles, that shock of white-blond hair, the green eyes, how his skin would feel underneath his touch. He must have zoned out as Lindsay waved her hand in front of his eyes.
“Are you listening to me? You had a weird look on your face. Do you need the toilet?” She looked at him with a frown on her face.
“No. Why would you say that? Jesus, Lindsay. I’m not one of the kids.”
“Sorry, you looked funny for a minute.” She squinted at him. “You sure you don’t need to go?”
“Oh my God, kill me now. I’m almost twenty-seven. I think I know when I need to go. Are we done yet?”
She started to flip through the notebook. “Nowhere near, I’ve still got two pages to get through.” Jacob’s jaw dropped.
“Two pages? Why do we need two pages?”
“Well, we need to be prepared. You know, like the Boy Scouts.” Jacob couldn’t believe this. He’d thought she’d only have a few notes.
Thankfully, Jacob was saved from any more humiliation by Colin calling them both to tell them dinner was ready. He stood up quickly, eager to leave this conversation behind him.
“We’ll carry on with this after dinner. You will get back with him. This is now my personal mission in life.” Lindsay also stood, a smug smile on her lips.
Jacob looked on at her with horror. What had he done? Who was this monster he’d created? Colin was going to kill him!
Chapter Nine
Dom
After dinner, and more Stargate with Jordan, he excused himself and went to his room earlier than usual. His brother had read him the riot act and had told Dom that maybe he needed to give Jacob a chance. In fairness, on his way home from Molly’s, he’d reconsidered how he’d handled Jacob’s words.
