Eleanor was talking again.
Jonah looked as though he wanted the bed to swallow him up.
Sacha pointed at the phone. “You would like me to speak?”
Jonah angled the phone away from his face and muted it. “You don’t have to do that. She’s always like this.”
“Because she worries you’re lonely.”
“I’m not lonely.”
“I know. Because I am here, no?” Sacha climbed onto the bed and claimed the space beside Jonah. He pried the phone from his hand and unmuted his mother, before turning the camera on himself. “Hello, Eleanor. I am sorry to keep you waiting. I was in the shower.”
Surprise widened Eleanor’s eyes. “It really is you. I was beginning to think my son had made you up.”
“How could that be when you have met me yourself?”
“It was quite a night after all that champagne, dear, and you were such a beautiful man on my son’s arm, I was convinced I’d dreamt you.”
Sacha smiled. In her own way, Eleanor was as adorable as her strapping son. “What can I do to convince you I am real?”
“You should come home with Jonah for Christmas. He’s never brought anyone and it’s high time that changed.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes,” Eleanor asserted. “He’s a man now, not a teenager.”
“Oh my god.” Jonah rolled off the bed and left the room.
Sacha laughed. “I think you embarrass him.”
“My son is ridiculous,” Eleanor retorted. “It’s not an unreasonable question of the only man he’s ever introduced us to.”
“Maybe he is not ready to be that serious about me.”
“I very much doubt that. He blushes every time I mention you.”
Sacha felt heat creep into his own cheeks, but a different kind. Jonah was a good man, mortified at being caught in a lie, and this conversation was only prolonging it, but Sacha liked Eleanor. Her nosiness reminded him of his ownmama, and he couldn’t seem to let her go.
So he didn’t. He let Eleanor grill him and gave her answers based on truth. They were both working hard, and taking care of each other when they could. Yes, Jonah was getting enough sleep and remembering to eat during the day. And no, he wasn’t working all weekend.
Jonah came back into the room as Sacha made that promise. He waved a mug of coffee under Sacha’s nose and dipped back into shot. “Ma, I’m stealing him back. I’ll talk to you later.”
Eleanor feigned theatrical disappointment, but said her goodbyes all the same. “Let me know about Christmas, Sacha. We’d love to have you.”
“I will,” he promised. And then she was gone, leaving Jonah to toss his phone on the bed with a groan.
“I’m so sorry. She’s obsessed with you. But in her defence, you are wonderfully charming.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Don’t pretend you don’t know it.”
Sacha snorted and sipped his coffee. Silence threatened, but his stomach growled, puncturing the quiet.
Jonah laughed. “I have the answer to that.”
“You have food?”