Chapter 6

It was late by the time Josie arrived at Jack’s place that evening. She should probably refer to it as home - she’d been living there for over a year. Somehow it had never really felt like home though. Moving in together had come about purely for convenience when Josie was unemployed and struggling with her rent. It was early in their relationship and was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement. That’s probably why she’d never got beyond thinking of it as Jack’s place.

Jack jumped up from the couch and greeted her enthusiastically with a big hug and a kiss.

“Get off me,” she said, trying and failing to sound stern. “We split up, remember?”

“Nope,” he said, with his charming boyish grin. “Don’t remember that. You must have imagined it.”

“Ha-ha!” She sat on the couch and scanned the living room. Items of clothing were scattered around, and takeaway boxes and beer bottles adorned the coffee table and surrounding area. “The place is a tip.”

“I know.” He went to the small kitchen and came back with a bin bag. “I missed you. You know what I get like when I’m upset. This is the result of a fog of self-pity.” He threw rubbish in the bin bag and grinned sheepishly.

“It’s the result of you being a lazy slob,” she corrected.

“Maybe that too.” Abandoning his half-hearted attempt at cleaning, he sat beside her. “Everything falls apart when you’re not here. You’re not really going to leave me, are you?”

“Will you stop looking at me like that?” she said, but couldn’t help but laugh. “Put the puppy dog eyes away. They won’t work on me any more.” He pouted and she laughed some more. “I’m serious! Stop it!”

Leaning closer, he poked her playfully in the ribs before tickling her and pushing her back to lie on the couch. “I know you missed me really.” He dotted kisses on her face as she squirmed to get away.

“Okay,” she said. “I missed you. Just stop tickling me!” He eased off and she wriggled to get comfy under his weight.

“It’s too late to move out tonight anyway,” he said.

She ran her hands through his short blonde hair. “You’re going to have to stop breaking up with me.”

“It’s you at least half the time,” he said.

“I know. We need to stop it. It’s childish.”

“Aww, but I’m only twenty-six, I thought I had a few more years of being immature before I had to grow up.”

She sighed. “We live in a tip and we have stupid fights far too often. I’m getting sick of it.”

“Okay.” He rested his weight on an elbow. “They’re just small things we can easily fix. And you  know what the great thing about fighting is?”

“Yeah,” she said wearily. “Making up. It’s getting less fun though…”

“Okay.”

“I’m serious, Jack.”

“I can hear that.” He looked at her sadly. “I will try and keep the place tidier. And no more arguing, I promise.”

“Go on, then,” she said, pushing him off her.

He crashed purposefully onto the floor and gave a dramatic display of being injured. She laughed and he kept up a limp as he tidied up the living room. “Does this remind you of when we first met?” he asked.

A smile twitched at her lips as she thought back to the acting job. They were extras in a military soap opera. They only filmed the pilot and it wasn’t commissioned for further episodes but it was her favourite job ever. It was such a buzz being on a TV set, and it was so much fun. Meeting Jack had been another perk. She thought again about her ambitions to have a career in acting and then her mind flicked to Annette and the job at the kennels. She brushed the thoughts aside and focussed on Jack. “Your wounded soldier act doesn’t get any better. No wonder it all ended up on the cutting room floor.”

“No, it was definitely your dodgy barmaid skills that let us down. Although, I suppose it was confusing for you, being on the wrong side of the bar.” She threw a cushion at him and he threw it back. “I’m trying to tidy up, you know!”

“Good,” she said. “This better not be a one-off event.”

“By the way, I saw an advert in that Italian restaurant down the road. They’re looking for a waitress. I didn’t know if you might fancy doing that for a while…”

“You want some rent money?”

“Well, no stress,” he said. “I can’t support us both for long though. Not if we want any kind of social life anyway.”

“I was going to call Michaela again,” she mused. “Just in case she has any auditions for me.”

“I thought you’d given up on the acting?”

“I had.” That’s what she’d said after the last audition a few weeks ago. It was always so disheartening being turned down. She’d sworn she was giving up a few times so far. But she always decided she’d just give it one more try, sure that her big break was just around the corner. The auditions had become few and far between, but she still spoke to Michaela at StarSearch acting agency now and again, just to see if there was anything interesting she could audition for.

“I’ll just check in with Michaela.” She tried to keep her voice light. “You never know, maybe she has something more exciting for me than a job in the local Italian restaurant.”

“I’m amazed she hasn’t blocked your number by now.”

“Hey! She likes me.”

“You’re not exactly bringing much commission for her though, are you? You really think it’s worth your time to keep calling her?”

“Probably not.” She paused, wondering whether to mention her job offer or not. “I was actually offered a job this weekend. Max’s aunt wants me to go and work for her.”

Jack picked up the last of the beer bottles and then began collecting up dirty clothes. “Doing what?”

“She’s got a dog kennels and she’s looking for someone to manage it. Actually, I think she just needs someone to help out. She’s old, like eighty or something, and can’t do it all herself.”

“That sounds all right.”

“It’s in a little village though – Averton. It’s over towards Lizzie and Max’s place. She offered for me to live there – rent free, food provided. She said she can pay pretty well too.”

“So you could live there during the week and come back on the weekends?”

“I don’t know really.” That hadn’t occurred to her as an option. Although if it was possible it would be much more appealing. “It was all a bit out of the blue so I didn’t ask too much.”

“You should find out. It sounds like a good gig.”

“And you wouldn’t miss me too much if I was away all week?”

“I’m sure our relationship could cope.” He gave her a wink. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.”