The Billionaire And The B And B

Going Down The Drain

Mandy's POV

We settled on going to The Jolly Boatman in Thrupp just outside Kidlington to dine, after ordering our simple bar food and drinks, we made our way outside and claimed a table near the canal.

"This is beautiful" Jasper sighed as he sat back and clasped his hands behind his head.

"Yer, mum and I used to come here a lot to relax" I choked back a sob.

How I missed my mother, we were more than just mother and daughter we were best friends and I didn't want that evil son of a bitch to touch anything of my mother's.

I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, not now, remember, business is banned for today"

I nodded and coughed.

"I know it's just hard sometimes, been on your own, making decisions. We use to make joint decisions" I smiled remembering some of the debates we had.

"I still miss her so much" I whispered.

Jasper got up and came and sat next to me and pulled me into a hug.

"And so you should from what I know of your mother, she was a great lady"

"You know about my mother" pulling back to look him in the eye's.

"Not a lot, but I know her daughter very well, so to bless the world with a wonderful beautiful human being like Mandy Clayton, it goes without saying she was a great lady"

I just sat there with his arms still holding my waist loosely and stared at him, is this really that man who was an utter bastard and whom I slapped.

Diane was right he most certainly had changed, I didn't believe for one minute it was because of me, but I loved this new Jasper a lot.

After dinning on a gourmet meal of steak and ale pie, chips and peas, followed by jam roly poly, during which I chastised Jasper more than once for slipping some of his meal into Bonnie's bowl.

But it seemed I was the only one complaining about this as Bonnie quite happily devoured these extra tip bits.

We let our dinner settle as we sipped our drinks and made small talk, watching the beautifully decorated barges lazily meander down the canal or pull over to disembark and try out the pub lunch.

I let out a huge sigh of contentment.

"Wow" exclaimed Jasper "Someone's feeling good, if I had known that the way to your heart was a walk and pub food, I would have done it ages ago"

I felt a flutter in my chest at his words, to my heart, god they sounded so good.

"Then I might not have got to slap you" I said, but added to myself 'or be kissed by you'

We sat and talked a while longer, until Bonnie started to get restless, so we headed back to the car and home.

I turned to Jasper in the back off the car and couldn't help myself as I pulled him in for a kiss.

"Thank you for a lovely day, I really enjoyed it"

"So did I and I also enjoyed your company it made it special" as he returned the kiss.

Walking into the reception area, there stood Mr Steinberg, Jasper's attorney.

"Hi Markus good news I hope?"

"Hi Jasper, all I can say is mixed" his eyes flicked from Jasper to me and back again as he said this.

"Let's go into my office" I piped up "And Mr Steinberg can I get you a drink?"