“Good morning, darling.”
Jeanie squinted against the bright sunlight and pushed herself upright as Norma threw back the curtains.
“What time is it?”
“Late. I decided to let you sleep in. You needed it. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
As fine as anyone can be when their heart is broken.
She pushed her hair back from her face, blinking furiously as she tried to make her gritty, swollen eyes focus.
“What are your plans today?”
Norma had a quizzical expression on her face — the one Jeanie knew said her grandmother already had the answer and if she didn’t agree, it was bad luck.
“I thought I would check up on the orders and make sure everything in the office was under control and then give you the opportunity to catch up on some luxury time. Maybe get your hair done or have lunch with Wilma.” Jeanie craved normal, a chance to collect her shattered wits and get back into the swing of things.
“Sounds like an excellent idea. I’ll take you up on the offer and see if I can make an appointment for my hair and it’ll keep me out of your hair.”
Jeanie had played this game before she knew Norma had something up her sleeve and the sooner she got to the bottom of it the better. “Gran?”
“Yes, my darling.”
“What’s happening?”
“Happening? Not a lot.” Norma paused and fiddled with the curtains, unnecessarily adjusting the pleats against the windowsill, rubbing at an imaginary spot of dirt on the glass with the pad of her thumb.
Now there was no doubt in Jeanie’s mind, something had happened. She mentally ticked off the possibilities. Nothing could be going on downstairs at the café, it was more than Norma’s life was worth to miss out on anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps she did need some time to herself. She certainly deserved it. Jeanie shrugged her shoulders and snuggled back down into the covers, tempted to spend the day there — at least then she wouldn’t have to face the barrage of questions about Sydney, the magazines, and her brush with fame.
Propping herself up on her elbow she studied her grandmother. Norma was fidgeting, definitely fidgeting. Plucking clothes from the chair and folding them, closing and opening drawers and all the while shooting surreptitious glances from her beady eyes. Something was going on.
“Gran?” The silence hung for a long moment in the air as Jeanie raised her eyebrow at her grandmother.
Finally Norma said, “Xander rang.”
Jeanie kicked the covers off the bed and sat up straight. “And?”
“He’ll be here this afternoon after lunch. He wants to talk to you.”
Jeanie wrapped her arms around her body and hugged herself tightly, trying to control the rush of adrenaline coursing through her body — and then she caught sight of Norma’s shuttered face. “Why does he want to come and talk to me?” She’d told him she never wanted to speak to him again. What had they got to say to each other? Nothing except goodbye and they’d done that already. Quivering with the effort of trying to control herself, she said, “Gran, did he ask to speak to me when he phoned?”
“Yes, he did.”
Closing her eyes she covered her mouth with her hand, trapping the huge sigh. She didn’t know whether it was relief or pain. He did want to talk to her but to tell her what? To tell her what he should have told her right from the beginning — his friend, his business partner, was the one person that she never wanted to see again in her life, the one person who she simply couldn’t be near.
“He said he wanted to show you the sheets or something because he promised.” Norma appeared distinctly uncomfortable, her fingers playing an imaginary piano on her pinny and a soft pink glow filling her face.
Try as she might Jeanie couldn’t help it; she let out a disgusted snort. She’d already seen the sheets and she had no intention of getting tangled up in them again.
“Oh, I wasn’t meaning I thought you wanted to do any funny business, just … ” Norma’s words tapered off.
“It’s fine, Gran. I expect he said he wanted to show me the proof sheets. The pictures from the shoot before he sends them to the magazine.”
“I didn’t mean … it’s just he’s a handsome man and it’s time you … put the past behind you … ”
“Gran, Xander and I have a business relationship, nothing else. I told you. It was just a fling. He’s way out of my league. And his life … I can’t do it. I can’t be around Billy Westward.”
But I wish I didn’t have to choose.
“I’ve seen the way he gazes at you and I heard him on the phone almost as muddled up as you are.”
“He gazes at me with a photographer’s eye, through the lens of a camera, that’s all. You wait and see. He’ll show me the proof sheets and head back to Sydney and everything will be back to normal.”
A Day in the Life of a Wannabe.
“Nothing more, nothing less.”
Norma stood wringing her hands like Lady Macbeth. “As long as he doesn’t upset you. Do you want me to stay here?”
“No, Gran; it’ll be fine. I better get up and have a shower. What am I going to wear?” It was more of a rhetorical question than one Jeanie expected Norma to answer but it fired her grandmother with enthusiasm.
“Trousers and your black jumper and one of those nice scarves and maybe those shoes will be fine. The heels give your calves a lovely line. A girl should always have good calves.”
“Gran, he’s not interested in my legs.”
Unfortunately.
Truth be known, she’d rather he was interested in other parts of her anatomy if the result was going to be anything like the other night. She pushed the thought away, determined not to allow herself to be sucked back into the vortex of self-pity.
“You never know. Wait and see.”
Hoping Norma wasn’t reading her mind this time she got out of bed.
“What do you do wear to make someone who spends most of his time watching supermodels take their clothes off notice you?” Norma said with a wink as she disappeared out of the door.
“Shower,” Jeanie called to her retreating back, throwing her hands up in despair and then dancing around the room, bubbles of excitement exploding inside her like a shaken can of soft drink. It was impossible, no matter how much she wanted to see Xander there was no future because there could be no future that included Billy Westward and her past mistakes.
Jeanie let the shower run colder than usual, making her skin tingle and her blood pump. Afterwards, she toweled herself dry and stood peering critically at her body in the long mirror. It wasn’t something she made a habit of and she was surprised to see that her skin seemed fresh and rosy with the hint of a tan. Her wet hair looked thick and healthy, the highlights the hairdresser had put through it made her eyes appear a little brighter. She was still well covered, as Gran liked to say, but somehow her curves seemed a little more voluptuous, womanly, and a little less Miss Piggy.
But what about Billy?
Why did she have to keep reminding herself? Had he told Xander about her? It was the one overriding fact she couldn’t get past.
She slipped on her new underwear and walked to the closet discarding her black jumper and reaching for one of the figure hugging tops she’d bought in Sydney.
To hell with it.
She would let Xander see what he and Billy Westward were missing out on.
Turning in front of the mirror, she gazed back at her reflection, liking what she saw, comfortable in her own skin and determined, very determined.
A shiver of anticipation shot through her, lingering just for a moment to make her knees seem weak, then continued right down to her toes. She knew she had to get her act together, let him know she wasn’t about to fall at his feet again. Sydney had just been a bit of a fling, just the kind of thing he was undoubtedly used to — a little side platter, an extra. A one night stand. She could handle that. Just because she was a small town girl, didn’t mean she had unrealistic expectations. She wasn’t about to ask or expect anything from him.