Finding Jennifer Jones Read Online Free Page A

she kept there. It was still covered in cellophane. Unused.
    Who was it that she’d spent the night with? She stood very still for a moment and tried hard to remember. The tall lad behind the bar had been making eye contact with her all evening. Do you fancy a drink after we close? he’d said to her, when she went up to buy some beers. Maybe , she’d said, blowing him a kiss. The lad with the earphones had been cheeky. He’d come over to her when she was with the others and insisted he sat next to her, making other people budge up. He bought her a drink and rested the earphones on his collar. Then, when people in the pub headed off back to someone’s house he bought a bottle of wine from behind the bar and they had followed along. From time to time she felt the touch of his fingers on her arm and when they got to the house he stuck with her. Then the lad from the bar had turned up. They all watched a film but there’d been a lot of wine and someone was smoking dope and rest of the evening just faded into blackness for her.
    Was this the house? Or had they gone on somewhere else?
    She splashed her face with water. Then she returned through the kitchen and crept back into the bedroom. She looked round, her eyes becoming accustomed to the darkness. It had once been someone’s living room but like a lot of the houses in this area it had been turned into a bedroom. There was a bay window with blinds which cut out most of the light. On the floor, up against a wall, were piles of DVDs and CDs. Hundreds of them. In the bay window was a desk with an open laptop. There were books on it and on top of one of them was a pair of headphones. She smiled. That solved the mystery. Maybe it would be nice if she could remember his name. Bob? Steve? Or Tony? But maybe one of those belonged to the tall guy behind the bar.
    She walked into the room and looked for her shoes. They were underneath the bed and she squatted down and pulled them out. She put them on and looked around in case she’d left anything else. A jacket or cardi? Had she been wearing one? It had been warm last night, she remembered that much.
    She made her way quietly to the door.
    There was movement from behind her. She stood very still. If he was just turning over she might still get away without any conversation.
    “Hi,” a voice said, huskily.
    She turned round. He was sitting up, his chest pale in the darkened room.
    “Would you pull one of the blinds up?”
    She stepped over to the window and pulled on one of the roller blinds so that the sun trickled into the room and lightened it enough to see around.
    “You’re not going?” he said.
    “I have to,” she said. “I’ve got to see someone.”
    “Where do you live?”
    “Near. Fifteen minutes’ walk.”
    “But you don’t have to go right this minute. I could get dressed, walk you home?”
    “No, don’t worry. I can make my own way. Like I said, I’ve got someone to see.”
    “Can I have your number?” he said.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Go on. I’ll give you a call. We can get a drink or a bite to eat.”
    She didn’t answer. She could just walk out. It wouldn’t be rude. She hardly knew him. He sat up though, his legs swinging out of the bed. She looked away, afraid that he might be naked. He picked his phone off the floor and held it out at her. She couldn’t refuse it. She took it and stood over by the light, pressing buttons, feeding her number into his phone. She put her name, Kate, in. Then she handed it back.
    “I’ll give you mine, if you like.”
    She couldn’t be unkind. She got her phone out of her bag and handed it to him. He took a moment to do it and stood up to hand it back. He was wearing boxers and she must have been looking at them oddly.
    “We didn’t… you know …  last night,” he said.
    “Oh.”
    “You were pretty drunk. You needed a long sleep. But I did undress you. Just your top things. I thought you’d be more comfortable. That was all right, wasn’t