I Knew You Were Trouble: A Jessie Jefferson Novel (5 page)

Once more, Isla and her friends watch me as I leave the room, and I try not to care. I’ve got a date with Tom Ryder!

‘Hey, girl,’ Johnny says warmly, opening the door wide and wrapping one tanned, tattooed arm round my neck. He pulls me in for a squeeze, but my face barely touches
his neck before he releases me again. His hugs never last long enough.

‘Hi,’ I reply, my face burning a little. I always feel shy when I see him after a break. It’s only been a week, but I still don’t know him that well really.

‘Stu,’ he says with a friendly nod, leaning past me to shake my stepdad’s hand. ‘Time for a cuppa?’

Stu’s going to visit his parents today, so I’m staying here alone tonight.

‘Sure,’ Stu replies. He still seems a little awkward. I don’t know if he’ll ever feel totally at ease in front of my rock-star father.

Before we’ve even stepped over the threshold, the little ball of energy that is my half-brother Barney appears in the hallway.

‘Jessie!’ he shouts. ‘Come and see my Lego station!’

I laugh as he drags me towards the playroom at the back of the house. It’s actually a bit of a relief to get away from Stu. He complained that I stank of booze and fags this morning and I
hadn’t even been smoking. As for the drinking… Jeez, give a girl a break. I can’t be an angel
all
of the time.

Johnny and Meg’s UK base is a seven-bedroomed Georgian mansion in Henley. When they moved back to LA, they thought about selling or renting it out, but in the end it stayed empty for when
they visit. I guess it’s not like they can’t afford a spare home or ten…

‘Hey, you,’ Meg laughingly says when Barney and I burst into the playroom – a large, airy room stocked with toys, comfy sofas and bookshelves crammed with brightly-jacketed
books. She’s sitting on the carpet in the bay window with Phoenix, my one-year-old half-brother. They’re surrounded by Playmobil emergency vehicles.

Meg gets up to give me a hug. At five foot eight, she’s taller than me by a couple of inches and she’s slim and pretty with straight, shoulder-length blonde hair and brown eyes. She
seems genuinely happy to see me, which makes me feel kind of gooey inside.

Phoenix’s face lights up at the sight of me. He babbles something incomprehensible as he gets to his sturdy little feet and waddles over.

‘Hi, cutie,’ I say, breaking away from Meg to pick him up and give his cuddly body a squeeze.

‘Look, Jessie, look!’ Barney interrupts, tugging on my hand. ‘The cars go in here.’ He starts to prattle on about Lego so I put Phoenix back down, flash Meg a grin and
give the eldest of my two small half-siblings my full attention.

Meg leaves us to say hi to Stu, but returns after a few minutes with the temptation of chocolate-chip cookies, the one thing that is guaranteed to get my little brothers’ feet running in
the direction of the kitchen.

‘How are you? Good week?’ Meg asks with a smile, as the boys tear off down the corridor.

‘It was OK,’ I reply. ‘How was yours? Johnny said you were catching up with a friend this week?’

‘Bess.’ She smiles. ‘You’ll have to meet her one of these days.’

‘Is she a good friend?’ She must be if Meg is willing to reveal my identity to her. So far, she’s been keen to keep it hush-hush.

‘The best,’ she replies. This makes me think of Libby and my heart hurts. ‘How’s school been?’

‘Oh, you know.’ I shrug.

‘Missing Natalie?’ she asks. ‘And maybe even Libby?’

‘A bit,’ I admit, a little taken aback. I told her about Natalie moving up to college and Libby finding a new friend in Amanda, but I guess I didn’t think she’d remember.
I still have a small chip on my shoulder that I’m not welcome here, but I really need to get over that. She’s been nothing but nice to me for weeks.

‘Come have a cup of tea before Stu leaves. We’ll have plenty of time to chat later.’

‘OK.’ I nod and follow her to the living room.

Johnny and Stu are sitting on oversized brown leather sofas. They stop talking when we enter the room and Stu clears his throat.

‘Not gossiping about me again, are you?’ I ask wryly.

‘I hear you had a big night last night,’ Johnny replies, equally wryly.

‘It wasn’t that big,’ I scoff, slumping down next to him and sinking into the comfy cushions. ‘And despite what he’ll tell you,’ I say, giving Stu a pointed
look, ‘I wasn’t smoking.’

‘Your room certainly smelled like you were when I woke you up this morning,’ he says.

‘I had a couple of drinks, but that’s all. Jesus, it’s not like I wasn’t offered cigarettes, but I said no! I wish I’d said yes if I’m going to get stick for
it anyway,’ I snap.

‘OK, OK.’ Stu puts his hands up in defeat. ‘I believe you. Sorry.’

‘You should be,’ I reply crossly.

Stu looks hurt and that makes me feel bad.

‘Where are the boys?’ Johnny asks Meg, changing the subject.

‘Eddie’s got them in the kitchen,’ she replies. Their American cook often travels with them.

Speak of the devil, Eddie walks into the room with a tray. ‘Hi, Jessie!’ he says brightly, placing it on a beautifully carved wooden coffee table.

The style of this house couldn’t be more different to the Los Angeles pad, which is modern and sparsely furnished, with floor-to-ceiling glass featuring views over an infinity pool and the
city beyond. Their American home is allegedly more to Johnny’s taste, but I think Meg prefers it here, where a combination of modern and classic art hangs on the flocked wallpaper walls and
the rooms are chock-full of antiques.

Stuart leaves shortly afterwards.

‘You’re too hard on him,’ Johnny says when Stu’s little white Fiat has driven out of the driveway and the heavy wooden gates have clunked shut behind him.

‘I know,’ I mutter, feeling a twinge of guilt. ‘But he never believes anything I say.’

‘Maybe you haven’t given him enough reason to.’ Johnny turns to me, his brilliant green eyes piercing mine. ‘Time will sort it out,’ he adds kindly, closing the
front door.

I don’t respond, but I still feel bad as we head back to the living room.

‘So I didn’t get a chance to tell you this, but my dad’s coming to stay today as well.’

‘Really?’ My face breaks into a grin as I sit on the other sofa next to the empty space vacated by my stepfather. I wasn’t bothered about sitting next to Stu when he was here,
but I feel a bizarre sense of loyalty now that he’s gone. ‘How’s he feeling?’ I ask.

‘Much better this week,’ Johnny replies.

Johnny’s dad had to stay in hospital for a few days after his heart attack and since then a nurse has been caring for him at home. Johnny took me to meet him for the first time about ten
days ago. He still seemed pretty fragile, then, so I’m glad he’s well enough to visit now. From what I gather, my grandfather got married to a younger woman a few years ago, but now
they’re divorced, and there isn’t anyone special in his life. He was a full-blown womaniser when Johnny was younger, and I don’t think age has changed him much. Johnny went to
live with him after losing his mum to cancer at the age of thirteen. Unfortunately we have our mothers’ untimely deaths in common.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Johnny asks me with a frown, seeing the expression on my face.

‘My mum. Don’t worry about it.’

He nods, his gaze drifting sombrely to the coffee table.

‘So what time will he be arriving?’ I ask. I don’t know what to call my biological grandfather. Barney calls him Gramps, but that feels so familiar. I suppose I could call him
by his first name, Brian, like Meg does, but at the moment he’s just ‘Johnny’s dad’.

‘Sam’s gone to get him,’ Johnny says. ‘They should be back around lunchtime.’

‘Cool.’ I smile. ‘It’ll be good to spend some more time with him.’

‘You know, you could always go to visit him once we’re back in LA,’ Johnny points out. ‘You don’t need us to be around for you two to catch up.’

My heart lifts at the idea, but stutters when I compute what he’s saying. ‘When are you going back?’

‘End of the week,’ he says gently. ‘Meg wants to be back in time for Barney to start school.’

‘Hasn’t he missed the start of the school term already?’ I ask with confusion.

‘Private school. Starts back later,’ Johnny explains, his eyebrows knitting together. We’re both thinking the same thing:
I
don’t go to private school. Not that I
want to, but he doesn’t know that.

‘I’ve gotta get back as well,’ he adds uncomfortably. ‘Work to do. But we’ll be here again soon and then, of course, you’re coming to visit us at
Christmas.’

That feels like ages away.

‘I can’t wait!’ I try to sound upbeat. ‘And I’d love to visit your dad while you’re gone.’

‘I know he’d like that, too.’ Johnny smiles. ‘He thinks you’re – what did he say? – “sparky”.’

‘Oh.’ I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Johnny laughs. ‘It’s a compliment, believe me.’ I smile.

My phone buzzing against my thigh distracts me. My heart flips when I see a text from Tom.

‘What’s his name?’ Johnny asks.

‘What?’ I splutter, my eyes shooting up to meet his. ‘How do you know it’s from a boy?!’

‘I know that look,’ he replies nonchalantly. ‘So?’

‘So what?’

‘What’s his name?’ he persists.

‘Tom,’ I reply begrudgingly.

‘And is Tom your boyfriend or do you just want him to be your boyfriend?’

‘What are you, my dad now?’

‘Yeah, I am, actually,’ he replies with a twinkle in his eye.

I chuckle. It’s still so weird to have
Johnny Jefferson
giving me fatherly lectures. ‘He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just going to the movies tomorrow
night.’

‘Aah. So you
do
want him to be your boyfriend,’ he says.

‘Might do.’ I purse my lips and look down at my phone screen.

‘And are you going to reply to him?’ he inquires.

‘Later,’ I tell him with a grin, wriggling to shove my phone back into my pocket.

Johnny smirks, but his smile soon turns genuine. ‘I’m glad you want to catch up with Dad. It’d give me peace of mind to know you’re doing that,’ he adds.

‘I’m happy to.’

I hope Brian’s going to be OK. I’m afraid of losing him now that I’ve found him so unwittingly. I feel a sudden pang of loss for Mum’s mum, the grandmother that I never
had a relationship with, and Johnny’s mum, the grandmother I never even knew I had.

‘Do you have any photos of your mum?’ I ask Johnny.

‘Course,’ he says. ‘You want to see them?’

‘Yes, please.’

He leaves the room and comes back a minute or so later with a brown, leather-bound photo album. He sits down beside me and rests the weighty book on my lap, leaning over my shoulder as I open it
up.

‘Aw, is that you?’ I coo, peering at the picture of a little boy with bright blond hair and green eyes. He looks just like Barney.

‘Yeah.’ He smiles and nods down at the photo. ‘And that’s Mum.’

The woman in the picture looks young – probably only mid-twenties – and she’s slim with tousled blonde hair. She’s wearing a colourful print dress and is smiling happily
at whoever’s taking the picture.

‘She’s beautiful,’ I say.

‘Yeah,’ he agrees quietly.

I remember that her name is Ursula. I scrutinise the next picture in the album, one of Johnny and his mum standing in the middle of a small garden bursting with flowers.

‘She looks happy.’ I glance up at him.

‘She was, for the most part. Or, if she wasn’t, she put on a good act,’ he says. ‘Meg made this album for me,’ he explains, as I continue to turn the pages.
‘I used to keep all of my photos in a shoebox,’ he adds.

‘That was nice of her.’ I smile.

‘Will you show me some pictures of Candy sometime?’ he asks.

‘Really?’ I wouldn’t have thought he’d want to be reminded of what he’d done to her. And I haven’t looked at my albums for ages. It hurts too much.

‘When you’re ready,’ he says gently, and his understanding makes my eyes prick with tears.

I nod because I don’t trust myself to speak. I turn back to the album and lean into him a bit more.

The energy of the house changes the moment Brian walks through the front door. He looks like an ageing musician, with slightly too long, greying, light-brown hair. His skin is
tanned, but I heard Johnny saying to Meg how pale he looks, so I’m guessing he’s usually bordering on leathery. There were dark circles under his eyes when I last saw him –
they’re less apparent now, but he looks thin. Thin and wiry, though still oddly good-looking. And I can’t believe I’m saying that about an ancient.

‘Jessie, Jessie, Jessie,’ he says, once he’s fought off the affections of his other grandchildren and managed to make it more than a metre or so into the hall. Samuel walks
past us with Brian’s overnight bag. ‘Hey, girl,’ Samuel says to me, clapping me on the shoulder with one of his big hands.

‘Hi, Samuel,’ I reply warmly.

He bends down to pick up my own bag. ‘I’ll take these up,’ he says.

‘She’s in the Orange Room,’ Meg calls after him.

‘Got it.’ Samuel sets off up the stairs.

Johnny and Meg always seem to name their guest bedrooms after colours. In LA, I stayed in the White Room. It was properly amazing.

‘How’s it going, kiddo?’ Brian asks me.

‘I’m good,’ I reply with a smile. ‘How are you?’

‘Never better,’ he exclaims. I notice Johnny cast Meg a look. She purses her lips at Brian’s flippancy. He nearly died.

We spend the next couple of hours hanging out in the garden, playing croquet of all things. Meg wins two games in a row, cheering in a purposefully over-the-top fashion until Johnny grabs her
and throws her over his shoulder, pretending to be annoyed. She squeals until he puts her back on her feet.

‘What are we doing tonight?’ Brian asks when they’ve calmed down.

‘Eddie’s got a roast planned,’ Meg answers, slapping Johnny playfully.

‘No offence to Eddie, but can’t we go out?’ Brian asks. ‘I’ve been cooped up at home for weeks.’