Chasing Rainbows - Part Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Could she give this a year? Emma had asked herself the question all afternoon.  There was some sense in what he said; this could be the one man she had waited all her life for. But on the flipside she could so very easily disappear into the distance and not resurface for a year. If he wouldn’t relocate across the state boundary for a few weeks then she’d have to. Hopefully that would be easier if this part with Theo Samuel worked out.

Damn, Theo. She hadn’t thought about him or her impending break into Hollywood since leaving LA that morning, if truth be known she’d not thought about it for a lot longer than that even. The man who was buying their second beer had been her first and foremost thought for weeks now. Since the moment she’d woken up married to him.

                “You are a real thinker Mrs Coren!” Jacob offered knowing that the title would wind her up, but also that she was now more than coming around to the fact that they really were linked legally by marriage.

                “And you don’t know when to quit Mr Coren. Just as I’m starting to think you might not be the monster you’ve been making yourself appear, you blow it!”

He laughed sliding back into his seat, “you say that as I buy you another beer? And peanuts!” He reached in his pocket to provide a packet for her. “That was all you wanted that night in Vegas, was peanuts to go with you beer. So I’ve provided tonight! Ok?”

Unable to hide her smile, she pounced on the packet with relish! There was nothing greater than the salty snack to accompany a beer, and she chewed on a few whilst she studied Jacob. He was handsome, she couldn’t deny that, with his unruly blonde hair, big blue eyes and strong jaw, but it was his lips that entranced her, and those that she studied so intently. Could she imagine introducing him to her parents as her husband? Would her mother’s relief be outweighed by the down side of this man? She knew so little about him, had no idea if he courted poverty of lived the life of a millionaire, she imagined it was somewhere in between, and she didn’t know what music he liked, what his hobbies were...she couldn’t stay married to a stranger.

You know he’s got a fantastic arse and a tattoo of a raven on his right pec.  She didn’t know where the latter memory game from, other than they’d spent a night together and she’d woken up in his bed, as naked as he was... The fact she couldn’t remember the night in any detail was almost confusing when the clarity of his tattoo came to her mind...and then the even more detailed memory of tracing the outline with her tongue!  ARGH!

When she raised her eyes to look at Jacob again he was lounging in the seat grinning, “I’d pay far more than a penny for THOSE thoughts!”

She was an actress damn it! She was meant to be perfect in these situations, able to hide behind one of the many facades that she had in her repertoire, but there was something about this man that stripped her bare, exposing every part of her to his unyielding gaze. To her dismay she found herself mumbling, “I was just remembering...”

She stopped herself finishing the comment, but his eyes glittered and she knew he knew what she was thinking about.

                “I’m just going to the bathroom!” She announced jumping to her feet.

“Coward!” he mouthed as she glanced back at him briefly.

Isobel was in hysterics, “the ice queen of East London is sat on a toilet to avoid a man?”

Emma groaned, “and all to get advice for my highly amused about-to-be-married-loved-up friend!”

                “A friend who thinks you’ve finally met your match! But what do I know?”

Groaning again Emma leaned back against the wall behind the closed toilet and finally suggested, “he says we can’t get divorced for a year.”

                “Shit!” The phone went silent for a moment as Isobel digested that. “Then you may as well go for it! Date him; shag him, live with him for a bit. If you hate him then you can do the divorce in a year. You don’t lose anything but you could gain a really hot husband for life!”

                “Is this the simplistic views of a woman about to marry the man of her dreams?”

                “Maybe, but I am also your best friend, and with that comes a responsibility to be the voice of reason when you are being too pig headed to see common sense!”

                “Is this the common sense thing? That I commit my life to a complete stranger?”

That was greeted with a laugh from Isobel, “he got you to walk down the aisle with him, he must have done something right! You are not easily led or gullible, so don’t start doubting yourself now. Give the man a chance, from where I’m standing you have absolutely NOTHING to lose!”

Two hours later Emma was looking around the cute townhouse he called home. They’d come back in order to change before their night out, a slap up meal at a restaurant Google revealed to be award winning with the chef and owner being famous on the West Coast. Emma had planned to wear the same dress as the previous evening, but when it came down to it, it felt SO wrong, so she found a non crease dress in her bag that sufficed. Halter neck, and an emerald green that Isobel assured her was perfect for her complexion, she was never sure, but it was clingy yet floaty and infinitely comfortable, so it was the obvious choice.

Jacob had shown her to a guest room to change, and that pleased her, there was no expectation about sharing his room and his bed, and so she didn’t have to come out fighting at the start of the evening. The house was exactly as Emma pictured a coastal American house, wooden and once brightly painted, but it’s proximity to the beach meant the oranges and yellows were diminished to pale peach and lemon, and despite that it wasn’t an overly feminine house. It suited its occupant, though she could quite easily imagine his octogenarian grandmother tending the small flower garden.

The house was also deceptively large, a little like the tardis in that way, and ironically Jacob was as charismatic yet elusive as the Doctor! Since dressing she’d come down stairs and investigated the two reception rooms, a lounge complete with large TV and games and entertainment equipment, the other seemed to be an office/dumping ground, and even the chaos of the rooms didn’t put her off the house. It was enchanting. She was studying a family group photo that adorned one of the walls when she felt Jacob enter the room from the adjacent kitchen. He’d been bashing around in there for a while since she’d come downstairs.

Looking up, Emma froze. Jacob was stood in the doorway, a Mojito in each hand and devastating in a charcoal grey suit, his black shirt tieless and open at the neck.

                “That’s the Coren hierarchy! Need a guided tour of your new family?”

Emma was used to his teasing this late in the day, “so who should I avoid?”

He raised his eyebrows with a mock scowl then laughed, “I’d be the worst husband if I didn’t keep you free of every single one of them!”

It was Emma’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “so I’m not worthy of meeting the disapproving parents, nice choice Jacob!”

Her feigned offence almost broke him in two. “I didn’t mean that...but you know that?”

She laughed, “just like to set you off balance every now and again! That’s been your reign over me!”

Jacob nodded, handing her the drink he’d made her, “I can’t deny that! Why does this marriage feel like a battlefield?”

Emma sipped the drink through the straw he’d provided before she answered, “maybe because we’re both wanting to make of this what we want, and the two ideals are a million miles away.”

He lowered himself into a seat opposite her and contemplated that for a moment, “I don’t want us to argue any more, it’s destructive. Can we have a truce? For tonight if no more.”

Emma sat in a chair opposite hating that she found this lounge SO comfortable! The whole house had a quaintness about it that so typically summed up how an elderly grandmother would live, but it had been modernised in part, but wasn’t overly masculine, and it almost made Jacob seem more manly for that. He was happy to live in a house of pastel colours and floral fabrics, most men would baulk at that.

                “A truce would hint that we were enemies, and I don’t think we are Jacob. We’ve just got to sort out a lot of differences.”

                “Does that mean you’re on board with this marriage?”

She laughed, “we are married! And as you’ve told me there isn’t a great amount I can do about that!”

He sighed; he only wished she’d sound a bit happier at the thought, instead this was her punishment to bear. “Drink up; we’ve got a cab coming in twenty minutes. Dinner won’t wait!”

Emma watched the shutters come down with Jacob, and she hated the way she thwarted him at every olive branch offered. He was making an effort to help her feel welcome, and his reasoning over their future made sense. She just hated this limbo, this lack of control, but she could see her behaviour, her flippant remarks were making a difficult situation unbearable.

She drank her drink silently for a moment, then Jacob got up and made for the door, Emma stood and reached out, placing a hand in his shoulder, “sorry. I shouldn’t be so childish. I know this is hard for us both.”

He smiled then, “I’m stood in my own home making demands, I can see how hard that must be for you. We’ll get through this Em, ok?”

Nodding she relaxed, at last she realised that he understood her, and how she was feeling.

                                                                                                                          

The restaurant lived up to its expectation, airy, modern, with a menu that instantly saw Emma salivating.

                “What are your favourite three foods?” Jacob asked snatching the menu from her. “Mine are sweet potato, steak, preferably fillet and chocolate! Pick my meal and I’ll pick yours!”

Emma didn’t know how that made her feel, she really loved a lot on that menu, but if he picked for her what if it wasn’t what she felt like. But she would be doing the same for him.

Sensing her hesitation he smiled, “we’re married; we need to learn more about each other. Ok?”

Nodding she spoke quietly, “prawns, the bigger the better, artichokes and raspberries!”

The grin that greeted her reply was one of satisfaction, handing her back the menu he studied it giving the odd mumble which was meant to be disconcerting, but when he glanced at her, he found her knowing nod far more worrying. He hoped that she didn’t order something that qualified as revenge!

He’d ordered a local pinot grigio when they’d arrived, and they were both glad of the dry cold drink to whet their appetites as they studied the menus. When the waiter finally approached, Jacob offered her to order first.

                “Can I get the risotto to start?”

The waiter nodded, “roast squash and sage?”

She nodded, “filet mignon with wilted spinach and crushed potato.”

Jacob’s eyes widened in pleasure as he waiter asked how she’d like it cooked. He exhaled the breath he was holding when she didn’t ask for it to be cremated; instead the word “rare” was like music to his ears.

                “And for sir?”

It was Emma’s turn to hold her breath.

                “The roast duck salad with berry dressing to start, then the roast plaice fillet stuffed with seafood. It comes with?”

                “Samphire and watercress salad, and a roast baby potatoes in a lemon dressing.”

                “Perfect!” Jacob responded his eyes on Emma’s as they widened equally in pleasure.  “on a scale of one to ten, how much is your mouth watering now? I’m at nine at least!”

There was so much innuendo in his words, but he was right, the food he’d just ordered sounded amazing.

                “I think you’ve chosen well Mr Coren, really well!”

He grinned and topped up her wine glass, ignoring the look of anguish on the face of the very attentive waiter who was hovering a few feet away, Jacob wasn’t the type to court protocol. See she told herself, you know a lot about him already!