Chapter 6

“Maybe, you might be considered a bad girl in some very strict circles,” Junior replied, “but I confess that I quite enjoyed seeing his jaw drop when I walked in and introduced myself as your boyfriend ‘Jeff’. And his eyes were almost bugged out of his head when we kissed downstairs.”

“I think mine were too,” she smiled and, throwing caution to the wind, melted easily into his arms again, “that’s why I had them closed the whole time.”

He lifted her chin and they kissed again. This time it wasn’t a kiss initiated in response to any external influence or show of pretence, but a kiss shared, enjoyed, each lost in the other’s being, until a knock at the door disturbed them.

It was her mother knocking. A few moments earlier, she had pushed the ajar door fully open to be confronted by the couple in an intimate embrace, and knocked afterwards, as it was clear they hadn’t noticed her standing there.

“Oh, I’m sorry, kids, I should have waited before barging in after knocking, do forgive me.”

“Of course, Lisa, it’s not a problem,” ‘Jeff’ smiled easily, “we were a little taken aback by the presence of Scott when we first arrived, but I am glad to say that I can now put a face to the stories about him that I have heard. And I think Jen’s much more comfortable about everything now, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just going to unpack my PJs and go have my hot bath.”

“Give me a shout when you’re done, hon, so I can have a quick shower.”

“Oh, you could shower in our ensuite, Jeff, then you could both come down for some soup together. I’ve popped the rolls in the oven to warm while you are up here. Any preference for soup flavours?”

“You’re a mind reader, Mum, I was just telling Junior that I fancied some soup. Tomato, for me, Mum, if you have it. Oh, and you can call Jeff, Junior, if you like, I think I really prefer Junior much more than ‘Jeff’.”

“Tomato’s fine for me, too, Lisa, if you’ve more than one can. And I always answer to Junior.”

“Should have plenty, I usually buy a pack of four cans at a time. So, your father is a Jeff too?”

“No,” he laughed, “Funnily enough, he isn’t, but he has always called me Junior and it sort of stuck. My parents were never blessed with another baby after me, so I’m an only child.”

“Sorry to hear that, Stephanie downstairs is an only child too, and for a long time only had the one parent. I think that is hard to go through life without a sibling.”

“I think you’re right Lisa. Well, you can be sure that Jen and I will include Stephanie as a much loved sister.” He was looking Jennifer as he said it, and smiled as she nodded back to him when he had completed the sentence so positively.

“See you in a few minutes then, Jen, Junior. I really am so sorry about the embarrassing mix-up, but now it’s sorted, it’s great having you both here for Christmas. Now, I’ll sort out a fresh bath towel for your shower, Junior.”

Jennifer lay in the warm bath water, thinking about all the things that were happening in her life, so many new elements that were altering her outlook on life.

‘I am lying in my mother’s bath thinking about what has just happened in the last couple of hours,’ she mulled things over in her head. ‘My life seems to have been turned on its head. I mean, before I moved to London, my girlfriends used to say I was a bright and attractive girl. Nobody speaks to anyone there in London, but my best friend Sitesh says, “Jenna, you deserve true love.” My name’s Jennifer, but Jenna sounded so much more sophisticated in London. I approached big city life, not as my former confident self, but as this insecure, nervous creature who settled for the bare minimum relationship, and clung onto it for far too long. Scott almost destroyed me, and definitely dented my confidence. It is all right for Sitesh, she had an arranged marriage to an Indian doctor that, against all the odds, has turned out for them to be a perfect match.

‘There are plenty of things on the downside of my life, of course. For the past eight months I’ve lied to my mother about replacing my cheating boyfriend of five years, Scott, with a new boyfriend, but a made-up one, who doesn’t actually exist. I made him up because I didn’t want to admit that the man Mum thought was perfect for me, was really a complete and utter cheating bastard.