Page 99 of Wish You Were Her

Jonah raised his smartphone, showing her his list in progress. “I’m cooking her dinner.”

Jasper formed an “O” in delighted surprise. “You are, indeed.”

“I’ll make enough for all of us,” he added hastily. “But most of it for her. Maybe a lamb ragu, something that’ll stick to the bones. But I’ll get some bread and eggs and cheese and spinach and stuff, all she has in here are bananas and oatmeal. I can do a veggie omelette or a grilled cheese, if ragu is too heavy right now. And Tylenol, she needs Tylenol.”

Jasper still wore a small smile as she watched him type. “Okay.”

“I don’t know how deliveries will work in this building, it’s pretty airtight and I don’t want randoms knowing she lives here so I’ll go down and get it when it’s here.”

“I’ll keep guard.”

He knew she was teasing but he nodded anyway. “Thanks.”

If she had any opinion about his prepping, she didn’t express it. When the bags of groceries arrived, he fetched them from the lobby and thanked Mohammad for quizzing the delivery driver on entry. He took the brown bags back to the apartment and, after locking the door securely behind him, he got to work.

“Jasper, I know you’re working and I hate to, like, use you, but could you ask her what she would like to eat? I can order in more if nothing here speaks to her.”

Jasper’s smile widened as she obediently rose to her feet, with the grace of an ex-ballerina, and made her way across the apartment to Allegra’s room where Jonah heard her speaking softly. She returned after a few moments.

“She says an omelette sounds amazing but you don’t have to.”

“I do,” Jonah said quietly. “I’m on it.”

“I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I know some basics.”

Jasper sat back down. “Arthur and I are both useless, we go out way too often to eat.”

“My mum’s great at baking but she can’t cook. It’s too unpredictable for her, she likes to say. She likes measuring cups and stuff. I had to learn at twelve how to cook for two when I couldn’t take it anymore.”

There was silence from Jasper as he started to crack eggs into a bowl.

“That can’t have been easy,” she finally said.

He shrugged, focused on cooking for Allegra. “She feltso bad but we couldn’t keep eating overly well done—sorry,burned—lamb chops and brisket.”

Jasper’s phone rang, giving him an excuse to cook in comfortable silence.

“Hey, baby.” She was speaking to Arthur. The endearment was telling enough, and Jonah could hear the low murmurings of the cinema manager on the other end of the line. He threw a quick glance toward Jasper. She was leaning against the kitchen wall, smiling as she listened to whatever Arthur was saying. As her smile grew, Jonah felt a painful pang.

He wanted Allegra to look like Jasper did when he called her. He wanted her to light up and answer on the first ring. He wanted to make her feel as loved as Jasper felt. That intimacy, the quiet luxury of private love.

“I’m off the clock soon, but I’m also Jonah’s ride home,” she told Arthur.

“That’s okay,” Jonah told her, whispering in that way that people did when they were speaking to someone who was already on the phone. “I can get the last bus or something.”

“Uh-huh,” Jasper said, spluttering out a laugh. “Sure. I’m your chaperone as well, young man.”

A voice spoke to them both from the doorway. “No paps on the twelfth floor, don’t worry. This building is super secure and off the grid. Even my most obsessive fans don’t know about it.”

Both Jonah and Jasper turned to see a very weak looking Allegra.

“You shouldn’t be up, you need rest,” Jonah said. “Get back to bed.”

Her eyes danced with amusement. “No. I’m watching you cook.”

“Back to bed, Allegra.”