Jake held up two hands. ‘Look, I didn’t ask, okay? One day she just started talking about the grandfather that she rarely sees, and I guess she must have overheard some adult conversations she shouldn’t have.’
Faye leaned back in her chair to look through the open doorway into the hall, expecting to see Natty sitting on the stair, listening. Of course, she wasn’t there; she was tucked up in bed, fast asleep. All the same, the next time she spoke, Faye lowered her voice. ‘I didn’t tell her the truth, you know.’
‘About her father?’
Faye nodded. ‘I did leave her father, it’s true.’ She paused. ‘Her grandfather got on really well with him.’
‘Oh, I see – so your father sort of sided with him when you broke up?’
‘Yeah, he couldn’t understand why I’d ditch such a lovely bloke, but our relationship, it just wasn’t working out. We wanted different things. It was just as well we never married. He was a foreign student over here doing a PhD at a London university. We met when I was doing my Master’s in education. I got pregnant. He kept asking to marry me.’
‘He was a foreign student?’
‘From the Middle East; Oman. He wanted me and Natty tolive with him in his country. But my life was here. Perhaps if we hadn’t had a baby together, we’d have parted ways a lot sooner.’
Jake nodded. ‘I’m so sorry to hear things didn’t work out.’
Faye smiled. ‘I wouldn’t change a thing, because I have a beautiful little girl. As you’ve gathered, she takes after my ex in the looks department, with those big brown eyes, glossy dark hair, and olive skin.’
‘But she’s got her mother’s features, and she’s going to break some hearts someday,’ Jake blurted.
Faye stared at him.
In the awkward silence that followed, she noticed him looking around the room, avoiding eye contact, until his attention settled on a cushion beside him on the sofa. She watched him pick it up, put it on his lap, and examine the pattern intensely. He seemed embarrassed; she thought he was probably wondering what on earth had made him say such a thing.
She imagined he was beginning to feel that it had been a bad idea to crash at hers. She suddenly felt self-conscious in her silk pyjamas, with her blonde bob, normally straightened, all askew. He’d never seen her in casual clothes before, let alone in her pyjamas. She always looked professional, choosing to wear suits for work, even when she attended her evening classes.
‘Now that sounded like a really bad chat-up line,’ Faye joked.
Jake looked up and smiled weakly. She caught him looking at his watch, which reminded her that if she returned to bed straight away, she might get an extra hour before Natty woke up.
Chapter 2
Faye decided she did fancy another hour in bed, although she imagined she wouldn’t get back to sleep.
‘Where are you going?’ Jake asked.
‘Back to bed.’
‘Faye. Tell me what happened between you and your father.’
Faye struggled with indecision. She shouldn’t tell him. She was breaking her own rules, and she knew she would regret it. Once the precedent was set, once the door was closed on a purely professional relationship, she didn’t know where it would lead and how it would affect their working relationship. But had that line already been crossed when she had let him into her private life to babysit? Of course it had. Completely against her better judgement, Faye sat down. ‘She’s only got her grandfather, you know.’
‘I know,’ Jake tossed the cushion to one side.
Faye looked at him a long moment. ‘I guess she tells you everything.’
‘Pretty much.’ Jake shrugged. ‘She …’
‘… talks a lot.’ Faye glanced at him. ‘I suppose you’re wondering why my dad and I can’t get along enough so that she can at least see him.’
Jake listened.
Faye studied her fingernails intently. ‘My father, Patrick, thinks I should let Natty’s father see her. He doesn’t agree with my decision to cut him out of our lives completely.’ Faye wondered what Jake would think of that.
‘So, this is his rather grown-up way of emphasising that point, is it – shutting you out of his life?’ Jake shook his head. ‘The stupidity of some people. Sorry, I shouldn’t call your father stupid. I don’t even know the man. But I know one thing – he has a fantastic daughter, and granddaughter, and he should take you in his arms, and hold you both tight, because you never know—’ Jake stopped and swallowed.
‘Jake?’
