Part 8

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If he was completely honest with himself, a state he was not willing to exist in yet, John would have admitted that the organised date with Martha did not go well from the very first moment he'd arrived on her doorstep. Asking someone out purely because they had expressed an interest in you, to other people, does not mean you have joint views on things or that the conversation would flow easily. Not like it had with a certain someone else…

To add to his discomfort, Jamie had grumbled about having to sit in the back of the car when they picked Martha up, had sulked for a little bit, and then had taken it upon himself to fill the silence in the car with inane chatter. Very uncharacteristic of him. His normal mode was 'monosyllabic teenager'. It was probably part politeness to make Martha feel welcome, and part intended to rile his father. To add insult to injury, his topic of conversation kept centring on Jenny and Donna, to the point that John had started to wonder if he had swallowed an encyclopaedia on them.

"Do you see much of Jenny?" Martha had asked Jamie during a rare lull.

Leaning forward in his seat, Jamie had practically announced into her ear, "Almost every day." When he realised his father was attempting to glare at him sideways as he drove, Jamie added, "We've become good friends lately. You know, since I met Donna and got to know her a bit."

"Martha, why don't you choose a radio station for us to listen to," John suggested to change the topic.

If saying such a thing meant Jamie flumped back into his seat and remained quiet, it had to happen. The last thing John wanted to keep doing was thinking about was Donna flipping Noble when the emotions it conjured up were unwelcome and, quite frankly, inappropriate on a date.

He managed to not think about her until they reached Vic's house. However, his emotions went immediately into overdrive when the bright flash of ginger hair in the distance, across the garden turned out to be her, looking stunning in a figuring hugging dress.

Jamie's exclaimed gasp of "There they are!" wasn't needed to make John aware of exactly where Donna and her pretty blonde daughter were. His footsteps would have automatically taken him there anyway. Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to place a guiding hand on Martha's back.

"They've spotted us," Jenny noted as she watched John, Jamie and Martha make their way across the garden towards them at the table where they had stood. "What's she like, this Martha?"

"Completely lovely," Donna supplied, "so don't go taking your mad ideas out on her. I know what you can be like."

"As if I would," Jenny assured her, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah, you would," Donna mumbled as John and his party reached them. "Hello. Good to see you again. This is where we're sitting. Vic's wife has given us our own table together."

She had to give Martha some credit for covering her disappointment they were there too.

"Hello. John said you might come here," she told Donna, but there was obviously an accusation clearly aimed at him.

"Did he? I'm like the proverbial bad penny, me," Donna disparaged.

Choosing a seat directly opposite Donna, Martha asked, "Did you bring a date?"

"No," Donna answered in confusion. "Was I supposed to? I thought I'd borrow Jamie for a while."

From his seat between the two women, John tried to change the subject. "So, they've given us our own table? Nothing like making sure we don't mix with anyone else, eh," he joked. "We might share secrets."

"Well I'm," Donna began, taking hold of Jamie's arm as he sat by her side, "going to share where the food and drinks are with my handsome escort. I for one am starving. Is anyone else coming to get something?"

Laughing prettily, Martha took John's arm to be led away. Behind her, Jenny merely scowled.

Martha was called over by a work colleague she knew, after having chosen some items to eat, and she drew Donna into the same conversation for a while. This meant that John and Jenny were the first ones sat back to the table whilst Jamie had good-naturedly left his plate to fetch some drinks.

From her plate, Jenny peered up at John as he ate, her face keen with curiosity. "I've heard about you," she remarked.

"Have you?" John visibly preened himself. "All good, I hope."

"Mum said you've got a list of women you're working your way through," Jenny informed him. "That you flirt a lot. Why do you do that?"

Caught off guard, John stammered, "I'm not sure that I do. Perhaps Donna has got me all wrong."

"I don't think so," Jenny confidently assured him. "She gives people the benefit of the doubt, but she tends to get a decent first impression."

"Charming," he huffed. "I shall have to ask her about this mysterious list. What's the matter? Have you eaten something that's left a horrible taste in your mouth?" His intention was to get her a drink if that was the case.

"No," she replied, scrunching up her face even more. "I was just trying to picture you flirting with my mum. Ew! Please don't do that."

"I can easily promise I won't." He even added in a small shudder of disgust to force his words home. "Not going to happen."

But he could still feel her beady eyes upon him as she daintily ate her food.

"Does she often go out with boyfriends?" he tried to nonchalantly enquire. "You know, in her spare time?"

To his relief, Jenny shook her head. "My mum isn't like that."

What a prickly girl, he thought.

"Martha still not here?" Donna asked as Jamie and her returned to the table with their loaded plates.

John turned his head to look for his date. "No. It seems the technical department have waylaid her," he answered.

"Hmm." Donna considered him before taking her first bite of food. "Weird how you don't sound gutted. Not exactly romantic, is it. Are you always like this on dates?"

"I erm… I wouldn't know," he spluttered. "Been a while since I've been on one. Years in fact."

"Still," she reasoned, "you could have done a bit more to make her feel more welcome with you. Jamie tells me you didn't even buy her flowers or some other gift."

"Jamie can mind his own business," he said pointedly. "Anyway, at least I have a date, unlike a certain someone."

"Who me?" she wondered nonchalantly. "Yes, I have."

He stopped eating to ask, "Who?"

In answer, she placed a brief touch on Jamie's arm at her side. "Him, of course."

Now part of the conversation, Jamie grinned proudly at his dad. "I'm not really her date but Donna said I could practise being gentlemanly. Like that Mr Darcy all the girls fancy."

"Good luck with that one," John muttered.

"Oi! Give over," Donna chided him. "Let the boy learn what the right thing to do is."

"A lot of the boys in school could do with learning some decent manners," Jenny put in. She then cheekily told Jamie, "I also know a few girls who might be interested in seeing the new, improved you."

"Really?" Jamie squeaked; his face lit up in excitement.

"Don't be mean to him," John chastised Jenny. "Take no notice of her, she's probably winding you up," he crooned to his son.

But Jenny shook her head. "I wouldn't lie about something like this," she assured Jamie. "Mum could be a very good influence on you."

"That'd be a first," John deliberately mumbled.

When Jenny's nostrils flared defensively in anger, Donna subtly indicated not to take it further. "It must be so hard for you to sit here with us, without Martha," she softly riled him. "Especially as someone at the food table asked me if we were a family."

"What!" he exclaimed, a frown forming on his forehead. "We can't have that. I hope you put them straight."

"Of course," she answered.

"I think," Jenny proclaimed to Jamie, "that I would make your family even better if I was part of it. Don't you agree with me?"

"In what way? Although you could be my wicked stepsister," he countered.

"Yes," she agreed, leaning close to whisper, "but just think of all the girls I'd get to go to your house."

His eyes went wide. "Maybe you could think about it, Dad," he quickly suggested; causing them all to laugh.