by Lavinia Kent
“Of course you can let me know. And Jordan, it doesn’t have to be anything but two friends having dinner. Yes, I might want more, but I’m a grown man. I have no expectations. I’d far rather be friends than let you drift away.”
“Okay, we will have dinner—and soon. Just don’t ask me to name a date right now.”
“That I can accept. So, how much should my check be for?”
“Let’s not get into that now. I need more time to figure it out exactly. It’s why you were my first call. But even more importantly, I don’t want to tie your check to our going out to dinner.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“I trust you—I just want to keep everything neat and clean. I clearly have enough confusion in my life today.”
“And that’s why I trust you and would write a check without question.”
“Thank you, Charles.”
They chatted for a few more minutes as she fought hard to compartmentalize everything he’d said. If she thought too much, she might shut down. Finally goodbyes were said and she put her phone back on the desk, staring into space. There was no point in making any more calls at the moment. She didn’t really want to know if anyone else had read the article.
Where was Amelia?
Chapter 21
Finally, Jordan heard the crunch of gravel on the driveway. She jumped up from the desk she’d been staring at blankly and hurried to the door. Almost before she had it open Amelia was in her arms. “Jordan, I’m so glad you’re here. I need you.”
What was this about? It was not the expected response to Page Six.
She gave Amelia a long, hard hug then stepped back. “Why don’t you go into the kitchen and put the kettle on for tea and then you can tell me all about it. There are cookies in the jar. You know where to find it. I’ll just grab your bags from the car and then we can have a good long talk.”
“You don’t need to do that. I don’t really have much stuff. Coming was a spur of the moment decision.”
Jordan just looked at her.
“Fine, I’ll make the tea. Just be fast or I’ll eat all the cookies.”
Jordan tried to laugh. “I promise.”
* * *
—
Five minutes later she was back. Amelia was hunched on one of the counter stools, the teapot and two cups set before her, as well as some cookies and a small pile of crumbs.
“Is it really that bad?” Jordan asked. What was going on? This was something bigger than a stupid picture.
“It sure feels like it. You don’t mind if I stay for a while, do you?”
“You never have to ask. You are always welcome.”
“I know. But if you’re involved with Clay…”
And if that wasn’t an opening, Jordan didn’t know what was; however, this needed to be about Amelia, not her. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Amelia picked up another cookie and crunched it. Not answering.
At moments like this it was hard to believe that Amelia was only a few months younger than Clay—not that she was going to think about Clay. She would figure that out later.
“Come on, Amelia, you know you always feel better once you get it out. I don’t know how many times you’ve held something in only to have it make you even more miserable. Once you say it, then you can deal with it.”
“Alex said she’s not sure she’s ready for a baby.”
Now that she hadn’t seen coming. This was something that needed to be approached with care. “Did she tell you why?”
“Yes.” A genuine croak. “She says she wants more time together first.”
Jordan leaned forward and poured the tea, putting a healthy dose of sugar into Amelia’s. “That’s understandable.”
“But…”
“But you don’t want to wait.”
“It’s not that. Well, not quite.”
Jordan took her fist sip of tea and waited. She knew better than to rush Amelia.
Amelia buried her face in her hands and mumbled something.
“What?” Jordan asked.
Amelia lifted her face, but did not look directly at Jordan. “I think I’m already pregnant.”
Oh.
Oh.
Jordan blinked. Another thing that she had truly not seen coming. Should she say congratulations? She wasn’t sure what Amelia was thinking. “Do you think or do you know? Sometimes stress can cause changes in our bodies.” Did she sound too much like a high school health teacher?
“I know.” Amelia still kept her face turned away. “I went back to the doctor.”
“And…and…are you surprised? Was it an accident?” She wished she could take the words back the moment she said them. How did a lesbian couple have an accident? Was Amelia cheating on Alex? Were there things about her stepdaughter she didn’t know?
Amelia looked up, her eyes a little teary. “No. I mean, not really. We planned it. We went to the doctor together. I know we should have waited until after the wedding, but I’ve had problems with fibroids and I just didn’t want to wait. I thought Alex was right there with me, but then I thought I got my period and when I told Alex, she said she was glad, that we didn’t need to hurry. I pretended to agree with her. I mean, I knew I’d pushed her a little. She didn’t really understand why I was in a hurry, but she wanted to make me happy.”
“She does love you.”
More tears slid down Amelia’s face. “I know. That makes it worse. How do I tell her? I mean, I told her I wasn’t pregnant, but then I wasn’t feeling well and I went to the doctor and…I don’t know what to do now. What if she really does want to wait? What if she thinks I’m ruining our perfect wedding? I didn’t want to wait, but I also didn’t think I’d get pregnant on the first try. Everybody I know has had to try at least three times. I just figured that if we started now we’d have the misses out of the way before the wedding. I didn’t actually want to be a pregnant bride.” More tears.
That was hormones talking. Jordan might never have been pregnant herself, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been around plenty of pregnant friends. “And how do you feel about it? About the baby? Not about how you’ll look in your dress, because you won’t be showing and nobody will know unless you tell them. How do you feel about the baby?”
Amelia turned to face her completely, her eyes troubled. “I don’t know. I was actually really happy in the instant the doctor told me, but the more I think about it, the less sure I am. I know I thought I wanted a baby now, but I’m only just getting the hang of things with Dad’s companies. The board still sees me as just a little girl, but I felt like I was making progress. If I take time off to have a baby…I know I knew this all before, but when I had Alex on my side it all seemed so doable. When we were a team I could do anything.”
“And you will be a team again, once you tell her.”
“No. I was going to earlier today, but then she mentioned something—I don’t even remember exactly what, isn’t that silly—that it wouldn’t work if we had a new baby, and I chickened out. What if she doesn’t want it?”
Jordan almost answered that she was sure Alex would be happy, but she caught herself, because the truth was that she wasn’t sure how Alex would react. She seemed like a woman who wanted children and this baby clearly hadn’t simply happened, but even the best of people could react badly when plans unexpectedly changed. “You still need to tell her. And no matter what her reaction, it’s probably better than not knowing.”
“I know you’re right. I know I’m being an idiot. I’ll tell her and everything will be fine—except that she’ll be mad at me for not telling her immediately. I’ve probably made it all worse by running away.”
“You probably did. But I’m guessing that when you tell her it will work out fine.” And she did hope that was true, that she was right and Amelia was just overreacting.<
br />
“I’m sure you’re right. I’m just scared. Everything seems to make me cry right now. And I’m not a big crier.”
“I know.”
“It’s just that Alex actually just gave me a new schedule of when we should start trying again. She was talking about a year from now.”
Jordan couldn’t suppress a small giggle. “From what I’ve heard, the first thing children do is refuse to agree to your schedule, and it sounds like this one is starting out right.”
Amelia gave her a slightly watery grin. “I know. I’ve been doing my reading. I do want to be a good mother.”
Reaching out, Jordan gave her a warm caress. “You will be a great mom. I have no doubt about that. Now, why don’t you finish your tea and cookies and then we can bring your stuff upstairs. You can take a shower and get yourself together and then perhaps you can call Alex while I cook us something. I’m not trying to push, but I think you’ll feel better once you talk to her, no matter what happens.”
“I’m nervous about what she’ll say. She won’t like that I told you first. I should never have left without talking to her. What if she’s really mad?”
Jordan winced, thinking of her own behavior with Clay. “Then we’ll deal with that when it happens.”
Amelia smiled weakly and went back to drinking her tea and staring out the window.
* * *
—
“You sly dog. Why didn’t you tell us you were seeing Mrs. Robinson? I think half the boys we knew dreamed about Amelia’s mom. And she’s still hot, even now. Is she really an icy bitch or does she know how to burn?”
Clay glanced over his shoulder as he sat at the bar with his CEO, Jim Nimes. A big deal had just gone through unexpectedly so he was treating himself and his employee to a celebratory whiskey. It was also a distraction from wondering why Jordan hadn’t called him back or even answered his texts.
Crew McDaniels and Jax Bond were there. He hadn’t seen them in years and wasn’t happy to see them now. Boyhood chums didn’t always age well.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” he stated coldly. He could feel Jim shift beside him, wondering if there was going to be an introduction.
“I’m referring to Mrs. Robinson, she of the infamous white bikini. I always figured there wasn’t smoke without fire, and now I know I’m right,” Crew crowed.
“I still don’t know what you are talking about.”
Jax chimed in, “Then you haven’t been reading Page Six or talking to the lovely Lydia. She’s all too happy to tell the truth of you and Mrs. Robinson. What’s her first name, Georgina or something? God, she was hot. I spent many a long, long, long night thinking about her and—”
Clay cut him off. “I don’t know why you’d believe anything Lydia says, and I have no idea why she’d be talking about this.”
“Well, she seems to know a lot. She does work for Mrs. Robinson, you know?” Jax continued.
Beside him, Jim was quiet, but definitely listening to every word.
What the hell was going on? He and Jordan had been discreet. “Well, Lydia certainly doesn’t know anything. She’s probably just angry because as soon as I realized she was thinking rings I told her I didn’t want to see her anymore.”
Now it was Crew’s turn to chime in. “That’s not how she’s telling it. She says she dumped you when she realized you were still screwing Georgina. When did the two of you hook up? Page Six implied it might have happened way back when.”
“We definitely were not ‘screwing’ during that time. I was dating Amelia, remember?”
“Yeah, but Amelia turned out to be a dyke. So maybe you did the stepmom, Georgina, back then and recently got reacquainted? Or were you doing them both at the same time? Did Amelia find out and that’s what turned her against men?” Crew said crudely.
Clay’s fingers curled into a fist. He couldn’t believe men still talked like twelve-year-old boys. “No. Look, I was a kid and she was a grown woman.” He wanted to say so much more, but wasn’t sure whether that would help or hurt the situation. If what these jerks were saying was correct, the last thing he wanted was to create more gossip. And Lydia. He clearly needed to have a talk with Lydia.
Jax cut in. “So . . ? Are you saying you didn’t get a boner whenever you saw her back then? I know I did. And hey, you’re probably as rich now as her husband was then. She must have been pissed when Amelia got most of his money. I bet she was counting on a big payout. Hell, maybe I should pay her a call. Now that my grandfather’s dead, I’ve got more than enough.”
Clay glanced at Jim. He’d clearly gone from listening with curiosity to wishing he was anywhere else. “Look,” he said, “this really isn’t an appropriate conversation. I’ll say one last time that I was not sleeping with Jordan Robinson when I was a teenager. I don’t know why anybody would think I was. And I hope I don’t hear you spreading such filth.”
Jax laughed. “Jordan, that’s her name. And we don’t need to spread it. Like I said before, it’s in the paper.”
Fuck. Clay felt a pit open in his stomach. No wonder Jordan hadn’t returned his calls. Nobody could possibly believe such garbage, could they? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Not that he would accept her putting him off. Things had been going so well. He’d make sure they did once more.
He glanced again at Jim. “Don’t we have that call with Tokyo?”
“In twenty minutes. We’d better head back to the office.” Jim stood and turned away from the bar without a glance at Jax and Crew.
Clay had always appreciated just how quick the man was. There was a reason he’d promoted him again and again.
Clay tossed some bills on the bar and stood. “I’d say ‘Later, boys,’ but I have to confess I rather hope there’s not a later. However,” he stopped, stretching to his full height, “I’d better not hear that you’ve been talking about Jordan Robinson. I don’t care what others say. I expect your lips to stay sealed.” He walked away without giving them a chance to respond.
* * *
—
“Who were those dicks?” Jim asked as they took the elevator up to the office.
It was late and the phone call to Tokyo had been completely fictitious, but it was always good to check things out one last time before heading home. “Dicks is right. I’d say they were school friends, but I’m not sure we were friends even then. We played lacrosse together and sometimes hung out.”
“I’ve got a couple of those in my life. I suppose you’d like me to forget everything I heard.”
“Please. There’s no truth to most of it. I may have had a few dreams about Jordan Robinson when I was a boy, but she never saw me as anything but her stepdaughter’s boyfriend. Hell, she didn’t even remember me when we were reintroduced. I clearly had not made a big impression on her.”
“I understand completely,” Jim answered.
Clay wasn’t sure that Jim truly believed him, but it didn’t matter. Jim was loyal—and even more important, he didn’t gossip. There’d been plenty of business secrets over the years that he could have made a fortune talking about. The fact that he’d never whispered a word said a lot for the man.
“Thanks. I do appreciate it.”
“No thanks necessary. But if I were you, I would try to find out exactly what they were talking about and what Lydia’s been saying. I take it if I say I never liked her you won’t start dating her again in a month and hold it against me.”
“Not a chance. And that was on my agenda as soon as I got to my desk.” He nodded toward the door to his office. “I can’t imagine what brought this all up now. I mean, who cares what Lydia has to say.”
“Well, I’d love to know if you find out—strictly morbid curiosity—but I completely understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to play it by ear. And huge c
ongrats again on closing the Morgan deal.”
“Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you. And just know that I’m always here if you do want to talk.” Jim waved goodbye and headed down the dark hall toward his own office.
Clay sat down at his desk and powered up his laptop.
* * *
—
Jordan sat at her kitchen counter, tapping a pencil up and down as she stared at her phone. It was time to call Clay. She couldn’t just ghost him forever, not that twenty-four hours was anywhere near forever, and a text just wouldn’t be enough. She owed him more.
He would be wondering why she called him and then never replied to his messages. Being a grown woman meant taking responsibility, and avoiding Clay was the opposite of that.
It was time to call.
Yes, it was.
She tapped the pencil again.
And again.
This should not be so hard. The article wasn’t really a big deal. If only her emotions would believe her mind. However, Charles’s response had her thinking. Was what she had with Clay worth the trouble? Wouldn’t it be easier to get involved with somebody more…well, older? Somebody who would cause no comment?
And it wasn’t like they were in a real relationship, they were still just fooling around, weren’t they? No, that was an excuse. Things had changed that last night.
She put her head in her hands. Maybe she should wait to call him. She was just so tired. She hadn’t slept well and…Hell, she hadn’t even talked to Amelia about the whole thing yet.
She should talk to Amelia first.
No. That was just another excuse, and depending on how Amelia’s talk with Alex went it might be awhile before it was a good time to talk to her.
