Page 31 of The Lavender Bride

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‘Did you sleep?’ Jack asks the following morning, taking my hand. His glasses are smudged, his hair looks just as it does when he tumbles out of bed and he needs a shave but he looks absolutely glorious to me.

We’re in a storeroom behind the hotel which he’s using part of to store props. On one side are stacks of tables and chairs, and on the other are wooden crates containing champagne bottles, a lethal-looking pickaxe and a selection of strangely glossy fruit. The place smells strongly of detergent and wood chippings.

‘Not really.’ I yawn behind my hand, my breath creating a white plume. I still feel jagged from the confrontation with Rex. And I’ve got to get back to Los Angeles, the list of things that needs doing stretches terrifyingly ahead of me.

Tempting though it was to spend another night with Jack, we couldn’t risk it in this hothouse of a hotel where gossip runs rife. The receptionist didn’t ask any questions when I requested a single room for the night. She also booked me onto the ten thirty flight to Los Angeles. Bruce will pick me up in half an hour to take me to Calgary airport. I left my cases in reception and crept out in the half-light before dawn to meet Jack. ‘Did you?’

He shakes his head. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about you.’ He reaches into the pocket of his plaid jacket and takes out an envelope which he hands to me. ‘I wrote this in the end.’ It’s got my name on the front in tiny, crabbed writing.

‘Thank you.’ I turn it over. Should I open it now? Or would that be?—

‘Open it later. On the plane or when you get home.’ He runs his hand through his hair as I’m learning he does when he’s struggling to find the right words. ‘I wanted you to have something to remind you that this wasn’t all just a crazy dream.’

I laugh at that, take a step closer to him. ‘I know quite a lot about crazy dreams. I chased one all the way across the Atlantic.’ I rest my forehead on his chest. ‘You’re not a dream, Jack Sorenson. You’re 100 per cent real and 100 per cent wonderful.’ My arms come round him. Instantly, he’s hugging me back, holding me tight against his body.

I sigh out a long breath. This is what I needed last night. This is what I yearned for in my narrow single bed as I tossed and turned, worrying about all of the things that need doing to unravel my life from Rex’s.

He chuckles gently. ‘You won’t say that when you know me better. I’ve got all sorts of annoying habits, you know.’

It’s a reminder that we barely know each other. Circumstances have propelled us past the normal stages of a relationship. That was the other thing I worried about when I couldn’t sleep. Will I discover he’s just as flawed as Rex when I really get to know him?

I pull back as a thought hits me and I can’t stop myself from blurting out the question. ‘You don’t drink, do you?’

He blinks behind his glasses, his eyes soft with understanding. ‘I like a beer sometimes, and you know, I don’t say no to a whisky on a cold night.’ He pulls me back to him and cradles the back of my head. ‘But you don’t need to worry about that.’

‘I seem to be worried about everything,’ I murmur against his jacket. ‘Leaving Rex is going to be a lot more complicated than marrying him was.’

Jack raises his head and looks down at me. ‘You need a good lawyer. Someone out of the Hollywood set who doesn’t drink with Dirk or Harry at the Beverly Hills Country Club.’

He’s reminding me that Hollywood is a small town with too many allegiances that run beneath the surface. ‘I’ll ask Ginny. Her father’s a partner in a law firm in Pasadena. I need someone who understands immigration too.’ Because that’s the other thing that kept me awake. ‘I need to find out what happens to my Green Card after I divorce Rex. I’m still worried that if the INS find out about Freddie, they’ll think I’m a subversive.’

Jack frowns. ‘I’d love to be able say you were worrying about nothing but these are crazy times.’

Unexpectedly, it’s reassuring that he doesn’t dismiss my fears. It makes me feel that he treats me as a grown woman capable of dealing with anxieties. Not a child to be coddled and controlled.

I look him straight in the eye as I say, ‘I really don’t want to be sent home.’

Jack tugs my tea cosy hat off and runs his hand over my hair. ‘If I can speak on behalf of the United States of America, I think that would be a terrible waste. Why should Great Britain get to keep the delightful…’ he kisses me, soft as a butterfly’s wing ‘…delicious…’ another kiss with a little more edge this time ‘…Audrey Wade…’ a deeper kiss ‘…when she’s needed here?’

‘Needed?’ I manage to whisper. My head is spinning, my legs starting to feel a little weak. I want to pull him even closer, kiss him even deeper and do all of the things we did in the snow-covered cabin.

‘Don’t doubt that,’ Jack says against my hair.

After that, we don’t speak for quite some time. Only the fact that I’ve a plane to catch forces to me to pull away. I rest my forehead against Jack’s as he rebuttons my jacket.

‘Write to me,’ he says. ‘Let me know you get back to LA okay.’

His concern warms me. It’s been such a long time since anyone cared in that way.

‘I have a roommate, Rick. I think you’ll like him,’ Jack adds before dropping a kiss on my cold nose. ‘Come over when I’m back. I’ll introduce you.’

I smile up at him. ‘That sounds wonderful.’

It’s not just an invitation but a promise. We will be part of each other’s lives. I imagine me meeting Rick, laughing with him and Jack in their yard. Introducing him to Ginny and Rita. And Muffin, of course.

As I step away from the warmth of his body, I add, ‘Do you like dogs?’

It’s going to be a major problem if he doesn’t because Muffin and I are a team.

But Jack grins. ‘Love them.’