He shook his head slowly. ‘You don’t get it, do you? This car is beyond the help of a mechanic. They’ll just charge you to tell you the same thing I have. Have you got a spare set of keys?’
Brooke shook her head. ‘No, actually, I—’
‘Good.’ He locked the car and stuffed the keys into the pocket of his trousers while she watched aghast.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘Preventing you from doing something foolish,’ he said grimly. ‘That stubborn and independent streak which has helped you to survive for so long is likely to get tangled up with your rebellious streak and land you in trouble. You’re not driving this car again, Brooke.’
‘Don’t you dare dictate what I can and can’t do,’ she said stiffly ‘My life is none of your business.’
‘It is when you’re driving our son,’ he said smoothly. ‘Talking of which, he’s coming back so smile, will you?’
She took a deep breath and struggled to control her temper. The man was totally overbearing!
‘Have we mended it, Jed?’ Toby looked anxious and Jed gave his shoulder a squeeze.
‘You did a great job but I’ve had a better plan.’
‘What?’
‘It’s a secret. You’ll find out later.’ Jed gave him a wink and then his eyes narrowed. ‘Toby, who looks after you when your mum goes out?’
Toby looked puzzled. ‘Mary looks after me before and after school.’
‘What about if Mummy goes out with friends?’
Toby’s face cleared. ‘You mean like Suzie?’
Jed’s eyes flickered to Brooke. ‘Yes—like Suzie.’
‘Well, Mary sometimes comes or Harriet from next door.’
‘Could Harriet look after you this evening for a few hours? I’d like to take your mum out to dinner.’
‘I’ll go and ask her!’ Before Brooke could stop him, Toby was sprinting up Harriet’s path.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ She turned on Jed, her dark eyes blazing with anger. ‘You can’t just barge in here and dictate my life! My car is none of your business, Jed, and my son is none of your business either. And I will not have dinner with you.’
‘Our son, Brooke.’ He emphasised the word carefully, his voice soft. ‘You keep making that mistake. Toby isn’t just your son. He’s our son. And he certainly is my business and so is everything that involves him, including that death trap that you loosely call a car. And you are having dinner with me tonight.’
She glared at him. ‘Or what?’
‘Or we continue the conversation here.’ His tone was hard. ‘It’s your choice.’
‘Some choice! I can be yelled at here or somewhere else. What difference will it make, being in a restaurant?’ she asked bitterly, wrapping her arms round her waist.
‘Well, I can’t strangle you in a public place for a start.’ He picked up the jacket he’d slung over the roof of the car and turned to face her, his legs planted firmly apart. ‘I’m not trying to take over, Brooke. I can see how independent you are and I respect that. I can’t say I understand it because I would have thought you would have been grateful for help, but I do respect it. But we still need to talk and neutral territory might be a good idea.’
‘You wouldn’t listen to me yesterday…’
He gave a sigh and raked long fingers through his dark hair. ‘I know I wouldn’t, and I’m sorry about that. But in the circumstances you can hardly blame me. I assure you that tonight I’ll listen.’
She hesitated, the anxiety building inside her. ‘Have you decided what you want to do?’
‘We can’t talk about it now.’ Jed’s eyes slipped warningly to the neighbours’ front path. ‘He’s coming back.’
Which meant she had to wait all day to find out if he was going to try and take her child away from her. Her head throbbed and she rubbed her temples with shaking fingers, forcing a smile as Toby came skipping back down the path, excitement all over his face.