The Nanny Part 33

"Right," said Nick, hand placed round a grinning Pippa's waist. "Which way did the lovebirds say they were going?"

"They were going to go up the back roads to the nightclub," said Josh. "The long way, because they really want me to suffer."

"Right, well let's follow them," said Gerry. He shot Jo a wink. "Now for the evening's real entertainment."

Jo only realized she'd grimaced to herself in the dark when she heard Josh chortle beside her.

They kept a safe distance. Josh would have liked the distance to be considerably less safe, but the CID boys said that if it was, Todd Carter wouldn't pounce. Josh said did they really need him to pounce, couldn't they wait until just before he pounced, and the CID boys insisted that no, Todd Carter had to actually pounce before they could do anything. Josh said could they at least use a different word because the word "pounce" was starting to make him feel sick.

At this point Pippa came over and whispered to Jo that Josh was a fantastic actor and if she hadn't overheard the conversation he'd had with d.i.c.k in the kitchen earlier and he hadn't been so obnoxious to Jo, she'd have thought he was one of the sweetest, most vulnerable men she'd ever met. At which point Jo realized she'd completely forgotten how much she hated him.

"Look at that!" hissed Josh suddenly, pointing in the distance. "He's got his arm round her!"

"Well it's a date, isn't it?" said Gerry, looking at Jo.

As they approached the end of the wide but dark Princes Avenue, which took them on to busy Muswell Hill Broadway, Toby and his young lady friend stopped. Then Nick, Pippa, and Gerry stopped. Then Josh and Jo stopped. Then they realized that Toby was talking to someone who had been loitering behind the pub in an alleyway.

"Oh look!" cried Pippa suddenly. "Someone's about to beat Toby up."

Sure enough, three tall lads were approaching Toby. Anastasia Smith, clearly a girl of some perspicacity as well as tight little tummy muscles, was moving slowly away toward the Broadway.

"Right," said Nick. "Wait for him to pounce."

Jo heard a soft whimper come from Josh.

And then Todd Carter pounced, Josh moaned, and Jo grasped his hand.

"Right," said Nick. "Let's go!"

Nick and Gerry legged it toward the group of boys, who were concentrating so hard on menacing Toby-whom they found strangely fearless-that they didn't hear anything until it was too late. By the time Pippa, Josh, and Jo had reached the group, Nick had one boy in a stranglehold against a wall and Gerry had two lads on the floor. The boys were sobbing in shock and terror.

"Jesus," whispered Josh and half-s.h.i.+elded Jo with his body. She peered out from behind his shoulder.

"Are you upsetting our friend?" Gerry whispered into the ear of the biggest boy. The biggest boy shook his head violently.

"'Cos we look out for our Toby," he whispered.

The boys continued to sob, while Toby ran ahead to look for his girlfriend.

Josh quickly turned to face Jo. "I can't look," he whispered. "Tell me when they've finished."

"Now," said Jo, giggling, as Gerry and Nick let the boys go.

Josh swiveled round to face them and seeing all was clear, gave Jo a little grin. "Just trying to make you laugh there," he confided. "Keep you relaxed."

"Thanks," she said through a smile.

"Don't let us ever see you anywhere near him, you hear?" said Nick. "Or we might have to find you again."

"Yeah," said Gerry. "We don't like bullies. Awright?"

The three schoolboys, by then looking like three small thirteen-year-olds, nodded firmly while holding back the tears.

"Well. What you waiting for? p.i.s.s off," concluded Nick, and the boys scarpered.

Nick and Gerry looked over at Pippa, Jo, and Josh. Pippa was the only one not wondering when she could run away.

"You're just big bullies, aren't you?" whispered Jo from behind Josh.

"Yum-my." Pippa sighed.

"I don't know how to thank you," said Josh. "But perhaps I could start by offering you my weekly pocket money."

Just then Toby came running back down the street.

"I can't find Ana!" he cried. "She's vanished!"

"So would I if I thought these thugs were your mates," answered Jo. "What made you think she'd be braver than Todd Carter?"

"Oh no!" said Toby, panicking for the first time all evening. "What if she tells her mum?"

"Come on, mate," said Josh, rus.h.i.+ng forward to his brother. "Let's go look for her. She's probably gone straight on to the nightclub."

He turned to Nick and Gerry.

"Thanks, guys. You were amazing. It was worth getting the s.h.i.+t kicked out of me for that." He turned to Jo and gave her a wide, warm grin. "Enjoy your evening. Thanks for calming me down." And he put his arm round his kid brother and left her in the cold with the others.

By the time Jo got home, it was midnight. She and Gerry had gone to a pub with Nick and Pippa and then Nick and Pippa had vanished indiscreetly to Nick's place after twenty minutes. Jo then painstakingly told Gerry all about Shaun and tried to ignore the sensation that she was creating a fictional character. Gerry had nodded thoughtfully throughout.

"No worries," he said, sipping at his pint. "We can still be friends. Can't we?"

"Of course!"

"And if it ever develops into something else, so be it."

"I-I don't think it will. Because of Shaun. My boyfriend. It can't, you see."

"No worries," said Gerry, shrugging. "If it does, it does."

When she returned home, all the lights at the front of the house were off. She was glad. She was exhausted. But when she opened the kitchen door, she found Josh and Toby giggling over some beer. They looked up and greeted her like a long-lost friend. "Here she is!" cried Josh drunkenly. "Our savior!"

Jo laughed. "You're drunk."

"Yep," said Josh, pinching Toby's cheek. "And Tobe's got another date."

"Jo-osh," said Toby, trying not to grin.

"Well, what's wrong with telling Jo? She won't tell anyone will she? She's a mate."

They both looked up at her a bit shamefaced. Jo told herself it was the drink that was making Josh's eyes all warm again. Perhaps he should drink more.

"Thanks, Jo," said Toby.

"Pleasure," said Jo. "Anytime you want heavies, you know where to come." Josh pulled out a chair for her to join them. She hesitated, and saw Josh look quickly away. She sat down and took a beer. Josh and Toby grinned at each other, lifted beers, clinked them against hers and made a toast to "Jo's Heavies." And suddenly, Jo no longer felt a stranger.

Ironic that it should happen in the company of the family's two interlopers, but then, that's exactly what she was, wasn't it? She was as external a part of the privileged, inner circle of the Fitzgerald family as they were. She suddenly felt that it didn't matter what had gone on between her and Josh before-all of that was water under the bridge. They were mates again.

"So, tell us Joanne-Joanna? Blimey," said Josh, "-just realized I don't know your name."

"Josephine. After Jo from Little Women."

Josh raised his eyebrows.

"Wow! Josephine. Nice name. Josie. Jose. Josefina."

"Jo."

"Right. So tell us Jo. How was the rest of your evening?"

She pulled a face. "Not sure he got the message, to be honest."

"Oh dear. Were you too subtle?"

"I told him I didn't want to go out with him."

Josh nodded slowly, never taking his eyes off her. "Nope," he said softly. "You weren't too subtle."

"And he took it really well and then kept saying, sort of, 'if it happens, it happens.'"

"Oh."

"I've got an idea!" cried Toby suddenly. "Why don't you two go out with each other?"

There was a crippling silence.

"Nice try, Mr. Matchmaker," said Josh. "Josephine from Little Women has an extremely good-looking boyfriend at home."

"Jo," she smiled.

"As good-looking as you?" Toby asked his brother.

"I don't know," answered Josh merrily, turning to Jo. "I've never asked her."

They looked at each other, Jo at a loss for words.

Just then her phone rang.

"Saved by the bell," murmured Josh into his beer.

Jo looked at the number on the screen.

"Oh dear," she sighed. "It's home. Mum wants to tell me that Dad hasn't eaten enough vegetables."

They watched her answer her phone.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Can I speak to Josephine Green?" came a male voice.

"Dad!" cried Jo. "It's me. What's up?"

"It's Mum."

"What's Mum?"

"She's had a stroke. Can you come home?"

Chapter 18.

Jo was awake before six. She stared at Mickey and wondered why on earth she should be witnessing his arms in those positions. For one thing he looked like he was performing something unspeakable, and for another, she should be too fast asleep to notice. Then she realized she was still fully dressed. Then she remembered her father's call. And then she heard someone beside her on her bed. She stared at Josh, lying next to her, stirring. He opened his eyes, and they looked in befuddled shock at each other.

"Alright?" he croaked.

"Mm," she said, and jumped out of bed and into the bathroom. There she tried to rehea.r.s.e the speech to Vanessa that Josh had helped her with last night, but it was hard to concentrate on the matter in hand.

Josh had been amazing. When she'd started crying, he'd soothed her, calmed her, put his arm round her. Toby had gone off to sleep, and Josh had poured her a stiff brandy and then sat with her, while she'd wept and blamed herself. She cringed in her shower at the memory. And then he'd sat on her bed as she talked, rea.s.suring her until she'd fallen asleep.

When she came back into her room, Josh was lying awake and fully clothed on top of the bedclothes. He looked rough. It suited him.

"The shower's free," she whispered. "Do you want a coffee?"

"I'll do it," he said. "You tell Vanessa."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. Good luck."

"Thanks, Josh."

Vanessa was already in the bathroom-she never used the en suite shower in the mornings, it ruined her hair-and Jo tapped on the door. Vanessa opened it a crack. She was brus.h.i.+ng her teeth, about to spend her Sunday in the office, making last-minute preparations for tomorrow's pitch.