The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (81 page)

  
Jon gasped at Sean’s
directness. ‘No, she hasn’t even got a boyfriend.’

  
‘Is something going on
between you and Jess?’ Sean persisted.

  
Jon looked down at his
shoes. How on earth could he admit the truth to Sean?

  
‘Jon,’ Sean said gently,
‘what’s the matter?’

  
Jon closed his eyes. The
guilt was eating away and he needed to unload. He glanced around. The shop was
empty. He took a deep breath. ‘I slept with Jess last night.’

  
Sean’s jaw dropped. ‘For
fuck’s sake, she’s your sister!’

  
‘Half-sister,’ Jon said.
‘She’s my half-sister.’

  
‘Well that doesn’t make
it right. You’re still blood related.’

  
‘I’m in love with her.’

  
‘Oh fuck, have
you
got problems!’

  
‘I’ve an even bigger one.
I didn’t use anything, thought she was on the pill.’

  
‘Sounds like shades of
Livvy.’ Sean rolled his eyes. ‘You dozy sod!’

  
‘I know.’ Jon
shrugged.
 
‘All we can do is hope for a
miracle.’

***

Jess flung down the phone. She sobbed into her dad’s pillow and
that’s how he found her ten minutes later.

  
As he struggled into the
kitchen with loaded bags he heard cries of anguish and followed the sounds into
the bedroom.

  
‘Jess, darling,
whatever’s wrong?’ He knelt beside the bed and stroked her hair. She looked at
his kind, gentle eyes and concerned expression and wanted to confess
everything.
    

  
‘Hey, hey, love, come on.
Nothing can possibly be this bad, surely?’

  
She sat up, tears
streaming down her cheeks.

  
‘What is it, Jess? Tell
me, please.’

  
‘It’s nothing,’ she shuddered.

  
‘Of course it’s
something. You don’t cry like this for nothing. Are you missing Nick?’

  
At the mention of Nick
she went completely to pieces. She sobbed, screamed and tore at her hair. Eddie
picked up the phone and called Jane at the factory. He asked her to come home
right away. He’d no idea what to do with Jess. Even directly following Nick’s
death her emotions had never been so out of control. He sat and held her until
Jane arrived.
  

  
Taking one look at her
hysterical daughter, Jane took her in her arms and hugged her. Jess was
incoherent and neither Jane nor Eddie could understand a word she was saying,
except what sounded like, ‘Nick, Jon and I’m really sorry!’

  
‘What do you think’s
wrong?’ Eddie asked worriedly.

  
‘Not a clue,’ Jane said.
‘But it’s something to do with Nick. She’s obviously missing him a lot more
than we realise.’
 

  
As Jess’s sobs subsided,
Jane laid her back on the pillows and covered her with the duvet. Jess closed
her eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

***

‘Let’s go downstairs and have a cup of tea,’ Jane suggested.
‘She’ll be okay now. I think she’s overtired. God knows where she and Jon got
to last night after they left Jason, but they weren’t home until half-twelve.’

  
‘Must have met up with
some mates,’ Eddie said as they left the room. ‘I think they could do with a
holiday, Jess especially. A week in the sun,
Spain
maybe, would do them both good.’

  
‘Well
we
can’t go away at the moment,’ Jane
said, following him into the kitchen. ‘Not with Tim and Pat back on Saturday
and I don’t want to take the kids out of school mid-term.’
 

  
‘I didn’t mean us,’ Eddie
said. ‘They can go on their own. Jess will be fine with Jon. He’ll look after
her. We’ll discuss it with them tonight.’

  
Jane turned away as she
brewed a pot of tea. She’d obviously been mistaken about Jess and Jon. Jess
being so inconsolable about Nick just proved there was nothing going on other
than sibling support.
 

***

Jess searched her dad’s face for evidence that he might have
guessed her guilty secret. Maybe she’d yelled it out during her hysteria
attack. But there was nothing other than a concerned smile as he handed her a
cup of tea and sat down on the bed next to her.

  
‘Thanks, Dad,’ she said.
‘Gran’s cure all!’

  
‘Feeling better now,’ he
asked, smoothing her hair from her face and gently stroking her cheek.

  
‘Yes, thank you,’ she
nodded, his gesture bringing a lump to her throat.

  
‘Your mum and I think you
need a holiday. When Jon gets home from work we’ll have a chat about sending you
off to
Spain
for a week. How do you feel about
that?’

  
Jess stared at him wide
eyed. They couldn’t possibly go away together, but she nodded her agreement as
Mum walked into the room looking anxiously at her.
   

  
‘Are you feeling better,
love?’

  
‘Yes thank you, Mum, much
better.’

  
‘Well I
was
going
to finish work early anyway. Would you like to go shopping, maybe into
Pickford? We could have afternoon tea at Tiffin Time.’

  
Jess smiled and licked
her lips. ‘Their cakes are wonderful. Could we buy a plant or something and
take it to Nick’s grave. I’m ready to go and visit him now.’

  
‘Of course. Sammy and Roy
are going today, too.
They
say they
feel ready now. You all need to take things one step at a time.’

  
‘Maybe we could pick up
some travel brochures while we’re in Pickford. Jon and I can browse through
them later, see if there’s anything we fancy,’ Jess said, thinking it was best
to play along with her dad’s suggestion for now, until she had a chance to
speak to Jon.

  
‘It’s a deal,’ Mum said.
‘Finish your tea and I’ll help you get dressed.’

***

Jon parked himself on a bench in St Peter’s Square, chain smoking
and wondering what the hell he would do if Jess was up the duff. He should call
her from a phone box before he went back to the shop. She’d sounded really
upset earlier and with hindsight he realised he hadn’t been very reassuring.
Checking his watch he realised he would be late back to work if he stopped to
call her now. There was a phone in the staff room out of Sean and Livvy’s earshot.
He’d use that to tell Jess he loved her and they’d talk tonight.

  
He ground out the butt
end of his cigarette and stood up. So absorbed in his thoughts, he’d been
oblivious to the fine drizzle which had soaked his hair and was trickling down
the neck of his leather jacket. Turning up his collar, he thrust his hands deep
into his pockets and headed back to work.

***

Sean looked up from serving a customer and smiled at Jon. He
followed him into the staff room, telling Livvy to hold the fort for a minute.
He closed the door and told Jon to sit down.

  
‘While you were out,
Roy
called. I asked him to find out if
you had a problem at home. This was before your earlier confession.’

  
‘And?’ Jon frowned.

  
‘
Roy
’s spoken to Sammy and she told him
your mum half suspects something’s going on between you and Jess.’

  
‘Fucking hell! You didn’t
tell
Roy
what we’ve done?’

  
‘Don’t be daft. I
wouldn’t betray your confidence, you should know that. But you and Jess are
going to have to be very careful from now on, because Jane may be watching your
every move.’

  
Jon shook his head. ‘I
can’t believe this. I’ve really fucked up! It’s my fault entirely, not Jess’s.
I should have listened to her when she said no. I’m gonna call her. I need to
know she’s okay. She was upset earlier and I wasn’t very reassuring.’

  
‘You do that and I’ll
keep Livvy out of the way for a few minutes.’

  
‘Thanks, Sean, and thanks
for not blowing us out to
Roy
.’

  
‘Well, that’s what mates
are for. I don’t for one minute condone what you’ve done. But I understand how
feelings get in the way of common sense. I’ve been there myself, although I
might add,
not
with my sister!’

***

Jess wasn’t home. Dad told Jon that Mum had taken her shopping.
Jon listened, feeling even guiltier as Dad explained how Jess had been
hysterical. He also told him that he thought a week in
Spain
might do the pair of them the
world of good. Jon, his mind in a whirl, agreed, said goodbye and hung up.
Reeling, he strolled into the shop and looked at Sean.

  
‘We need to talk,’ he
mouthed over Livvy’s head.

  
‘Leave us alone for a few
minutes, Liv,’ Sean said. ‘Go and help Ian in instruments. What’s wrong,’ he
asked as she left.

  
‘You’re not going to
believe this. Mum and Dad want to send me and Jess to
Spain
for a week. They think it will do
us both good. Jess had a hysteria attack. Mum’s taken her shopping and to pick
up travel brochures. It doesn’t make sense after what
Roy
told you.’

  
Sean stared open mouthed.
‘Jon, you can’t possibly go away together. You’ll have to think of a good
excuse not to.’

  
‘Yeah, but what?’

  
‘Tell them you can’t take
time off. You’ve had two full weeks off for
France
and that week in
Brighton
.’

  
Jon nodded. ‘I’ll need a
few days off in November too when I go and visit Grandma. I’ll tell them I’ve
used most of my annual leave; that should do it.’

  
‘Well you have, more or
less. You wouldn’t get paid if you took any extra time off this year. Mind you,
that wouldn’t matter to your dad, would it? He’d make sure you weren’t out of
pocket.’

  
‘True, but he also knows
I like to be independent. I’ll try and explain tonight, see how it goes.’

  
‘Tell him I can’t spare
you because Livvy needs time off for her antenatal clinics and stuff. You’ll
think of something convincing, I’m sure,’ Sean replied.

***

Sammy knelt beside Nick’s grave and removed the wilting flowers
from the marble urn.
Roy
’s parents were regular attendees and they’d brought fresh flowers
each week until she and Roy were able to do it themselves. The marble headstone
had been removed so that Nick’s name could be added alongside
Roy
’s Italian grandparents. At least
Nick wasn’t totally alone, she thought, as she arranged the fresh flowers in
the urn and topped it up with water. She glanced at Roy who was kneeling beside
her and saw his face crumple. She put her arms around him as he sobbed
heartbrokenly on her shoulder.

  
‘It’s not getting any
easier,’ he sniffed, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

  
‘Not really,’ she said.
‘I can go for a few minutes without him on my mind and then wham; it hits me
that I’ll never see him again.’

  
They walked slowly back
to the car park, their arms around one another.

  
‘Are you going back to
the factory, or are you going home?’ he asked.

  
‘Back to the factory. I
told Jane to take time off to spend with Jess, so she’ll be waiting to go.
Drive me back to the hotel to get my car then take yourself off to see Ed.

  
As they approached
Roy
’s car, Jane’s black Porsche swung
into view. They watched as Jane leapt out and helped Jess up from the passenger
seat. Jess carried a potted plant and smiled as she limped towards them.

  
Jane took Sammy on one
side as
Roy
greeted Jess with a hug. Sammy
listened as Jane told her about the hysteria attack and how Eddie had decided
that Jess and Jon should take a short holiday. Sammy nodded, looking at
Roy
and Jess who were talking.

  
‘Poor kid. It takes time.
Roy
’s just broken down, too. So, do
you reckon now that you were definitely mistaken about her and Jon?’