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not like the idea of angry, clearly troubled teenagers feeling they can just storm in here and demand—’
‘She isn’t a client,’ Nina interrupted him. She sat back down at her desk and tried to keep her voice matter-of-fact as she explained to Jack what had just happened. ‘Janey is my sister.’
‘Your sister? So why is she …?’ He never finished the question, realising even as he started to speak that it was none of his business anyway. Though that wasn’t the reason that Jack stopped talking. It was because Nina had put her head in her hands and promptly burst into tears.
It wasn’t a little weep either.
In that moment everything Nina was struggling with chose to finally catch up with her and she sobbed for more than a minute before attempting to pull herself together. When she did she was mortified that it was Jack who was there to witness her meltdown.
For weeks things had been building up. Janey’s behaviour was getting worse and, given her job, Nina knew more than most that Janey was heading rapidly in the wrong direction, yet felt powerless to do anything.
‘Please.’ There were always tissues on her desk, usually for the clients, but Nina peeled off a generous handful and blew her nose. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Jack. ‘Can you leave?’
He just sat there.
‘I don’t want to discuss this.’
‘Sorry, but you’re going to.’ Jack stood. ‘But first I suggest—in fact, I insist—that you go home and get some sleep.’
‘I can’t go home.’ Nina shook her head. ‘It’s impossible, I’ve got appointments, I need to—’
‘You need to go home.’
And she gave in then as she truly was beyond exhausted. She had spent the weekend moving into her apartment, as well as arguing with Janey, as well as working at the pro bono centre in Harlem till late on Sunday, and yesterday had been impossibly long …
‘Fine.’
‘I’ll drive you.’
‘I can take the subway.’
‘No.’
‘I’ll take a taxi.’
‘I’m not going through this again,’ Jack said. ‘I’m not on call so I’m giving you a lift and this time you’re not going to argue.’ He rang down to Switchboard, told them he was out of range for the next forty minutes or so and then walked her out to his parking spot.
She could have taken a taxi, Jack knew that. He really didn’t know why he was so insistent on driving her home himself. Rarely did tears move him and exhaustion was frequent in this place.
It was the complexity of her that had him unusually intrigued.
The traffic was busy but Jack negotiated it easily and Nina was actually relieved for the lift, for the silence and warm comfort of his car, and grateful too that he didn’t ask any questions.
‘Just here,’ she told him as they neared her apartment.
‘I’ll just park.’
‘Just drop me here.’ Nina was irritated. ‘I really don’t need to be seen to the door.’
‘I’m a gentleman.’
Not from what she’d heard!
A delivery van moved off and Jack dived into the vacant space. Then he walked around the car and as she opened her door he held it for her, before locking the vehicle and walking beside her along the cold pavement.
‘You’re right,’ Nina said as they climbed the stairs. ‘I need to be home.’
‘Go to bed,’ Jack said. ‘And I’ll pick you up at eight, take you out for dinner.’
‘I don’t want dinner.’
‘You don’t eat?’
‘I meant—’
‘I know what you meant, but I’m not listening. I’m taking you out for dinner.’
‘Because?’
‘Because by eight o’clock. we’ll both be hungry and,’
Jack added, ‘we never did get to finish our conversation.’
It was just dinner, Nina told herself as Jack walked off, just dinner between two colleagues who had a few things that needed to be sorted out.
The stupid thing was she almost convinced herself that she meant it.
A GOOD SLEEP and a lot of talking to herself later, Nina sat opposite him.
He’d chosen the restaurant without consulting her, of course, and it was a really nice one. She knew that even before they were inside because someone opened the car door for her and then took Jack’s car to be parked.
It was nothing Nina was used to and nothing she secretly coveted but, despite her values, despite everything she believed in, it was actually incredible to be taken somewhere so nice and, Nina reluctantly conceded as she glanced over at Jack, to be there with him.
He took a sip of the wine he had chosen and ordered after she had asked for a glass of house white and she smarted a bit at that—clearly he thought he knew better. Well, he did know better, Nina conceded as she took a sip too because it was fruity and light and probably fifty times more expensive than the one she would have chosen. But just as she almost started to relax, to believe that they were here to talk about work, Jack asked a very personal question. ‘What’s going on with your sister?’
‘Why would I discuss that with you?’
‘Because I happen to know a lot about teenagers.’
‘I know quite a bit myself.’
‘So you’re dealing with this objectively, are you?’ Jack checked. ‘You’re able to treat Janey as if she’s a client at work.’ He watched her tense swallow and conceded a brief pause. ‘Let’s order, and if you choose an omelette or a salad I’m going to override you and get the most expensive thing on the menu just to annoy you.’
‘Well, can you get the most expensive vegetarian thing on the menu please?’ She looked through the menu and … To hell with it, she was out with Jack Carter so she chose what she wanted—a tomato salad for a starter and then mushroom and goat cheese ravioli with saffron cream for the main course.
And, yes, maybe she could use a brain like his if it would help with her sister—she simply couldn’t take the emotion out of the equation.
Jack could do it without blinking.
‘My sister, Janey, is fifteen and my brother, Blake, is nine. They’re both in foster-care—separate foster-homes …’
‘So when you say that foster-care is no fairy-tale solution, you’re not speaking just professionally?’
‘No. Blake has been very lucky for the most part, but in the last year his placement hasn’t been going so well. The couple he’s with are getting old and their daughter has just returned from overseas with her children and I think they’d rather be spending time with them than Blake. He doesn’t say much to me about it, I have him every alternate weekend, but I think he’s spending an awful lot of time alone in his room.’
‘And Janey?’
‘Janey hasn’t fared so well in the system. She was moved around a lot, but she’s been with a woman, Barbara, for the last four years. In the last few months … I think Barbara’s had about enough. Janey’s skipping school, arguing, just delinquent behaviour …’
‘What