Living Together

She laughed at his woebegone face. ‘He can’t be that bad!’

Leon grimaced. ‘He’s worse, terrifying in fact. Come and meet him.’

‘Well…’ She could feel herself beginning to weaken.

He stood up, pulling her to her feet. ‘Right, let’s go before you change your mind again.’

Helen looked down ruefully at the casual skirt and blouse she had worn for work and not bothered to change when she came home. ‘I’m not going out like this!’

‘You look lovely to me,’ he assured her.

‘What did you tell Max about me?’ she asked.

Leon smiled. ‘I told him I was bringing home the most beautiful girl in the world for dinner.’

She blushed at his overstatement of her passable looks. ‘In that case I’m definitely not going looking like this. Give me ten minutes to change.’

‘Make it five and you have a deal.’

‘Right!’ She hurried into the bedroom, to find Jenny sitting on one of the beds reading a magazine.

‘Did I hear you laughing just now?’ Jenny asked curiously, putting the magazine down.

Helen blushed. ‘Yes,’ she admitted almost guiltily, pulling a red silk jersey dress out of her wardrobe.

Jenny raised her eyebrows. ‘You’re going out after all?’

‘I didn’t like to disappoint the cook.’ She evaded her cousin’s eyes, quickly changing into the dress before adding a light make-up.

‘To say nothing of Leon,’ Jenny said dryly.

‘Well, I could hardly let him down when he’s had a meal prepared.’

‘Of course not,’ Jenny teased. ‘Perhaps it’s as well you didn’t eat your dinner earlier. You would have had trouble eating two meals.’

Helen gave her a suspicious look. ‘Why do you say it like that?’

Jenny laughed. ‘I knew he’d get round you, that’s why I did liver and bacon, a meal I know you aren’t fond of.’

’Why, you sneaky—’

‘I was only doing it for your own good,’ Jenny cut in. ‘You know you’d never have been able to eat two meals.’

‘You could have no idea I would agree to go,’ Helen protested.

‘Want to bet? I may not know Leon very well, but I do know he’s a very determined man, he usually gets his own way.’

Helen suddenly realised what she was doing, and dropped the hairbrush in her agitation. ‘Oh, Jenny, what do I do about Michael?’ she cried.

‘You tell Leon the truth,’ came the gentle answer.

Her face went pale. ‘Oh, I couldn’t! If I have to talk about it all the pain will come back too.’

‘Or it might just go away. It never does to bottle these things up. Maybe Leon is the person you can tell it all to.’

‘But what if he hates me when he knows?’

Jenny looked at her searchingly. ‘Would that bother you, having Leon hate you?’