It Had To Be You

THIRTEEN

         “What the hell are you doing sat in a van in the dark? It’s lucky I recognised it!” Alex yet again was furious. “For a twenty six year old woman you definitely lack common sense! Anything could’ve happened to you!”

Jess was smiling inside; she loved this side of him, the confrontations, the fire, “I am waiting for you! If you’d had the decency to tell me where you were staying I wouldn’t have to sit outside a block of apartments waiting for you! You always were Mr Evasive!”

            “Here?” he looked behind him, “you thought I was staying here?” His eyes were wide and his anger subsided with his surprise.

She shrugged, “Evelyn said that the company had properties here and there was a good chance that you’d be staying there! I had nothing else to go on.”

            “Well I’m not; I’m staying at the Regency Hotel.” He snatched her car keys from her hand and got in the driving seat. “Which is where we’ll continue this! Now get in!”

Jess glared at him for a moment, then shaking her head walked to the passenger seat and slid in, “you’re not my father Alex Pattison, you have no right to speak to me like this! I didn’t listen to him, and I won’t listen to you now!”

He started the van and pulled out into the quiet road before he answered, “I am WELL aware that I am not that man! I don’t need you to remind me of that! And I am not known for being dictatorial!”

Jess gave him a scowl, but then Alex laughed, firing the ignition.

The rest of the journey was served with silence, but Jess was chuckling to herself. She LOVED arguing with him, it was the only time in the last few years that she’d really felt alive!

At the hotel he got out of the van and gave the keys to the rather bemused valet, then waited impatiently for her to join him.

            “Good evening Mr Pattison,” he was greeted with familiarity by the doorman. But his cursory nod was anything but friendly. Fed up with waiting for her slow walk, he gripped Jess’s elbow and dragged her to the lift.

            “What made you so jolly tonight?” she finally broke the silence with sarcasm as the lift doors opened.

            “Your stupidity!” he snapped. “It’s a bad world out there. And you seem to think you’re infallible.”

She turned to stare at him as the lift came to a halt. “Really? You think I was THAT much in danger? The doors were locked, and the engine was running. I was hardly in any danger!”

He dragged her along the corridor and threw open the door to his room, inside he walked to the window and folded his arms glaring out into the darkness.

            “Alex?”

He slowly turned to face her and Jess was shocked by the look of fear, worry and concern. “Every second that I don’t know where you are I worry about you. There’s some sort of switch in me that you keep hitting. You are someone who doesn’t appreciate danger, and I am someone who doesn’t want to lose you. Hell! If I hadn’t have been in a late meeting and walked past your rather distinctive van then you’d still be sat in a cold street waiting for me. That doesn’t please me as a thought. Why didn’t you call me if you wanted to talk?”

She chuckled, “you really worry that much about me?” When he only nodded a reply she added, “I couldn’t call because if you started bossing me around like this on the phone I’d hang up and then we’d not be any further.”