Irresistible Lies (17 page)

“No,
Mr. Castleton. Grace no longer works here. Is there something I can help you
with?”

He
stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “What do you mean she no longer
works there? She worked there yesterday.”

Linda
hesitated. “Um, today was her last day.”

Jamie’s
mind started racing. Had Charlie fired Grace? She must have told him what
happened between them, and she got fired for it.

“Put
me through to Charles Bradden, please.”

“One
moment.”

He
waited for the transfer, his anger rising with each second that passed. How
dare Charlie fire Grace over something that wasn’t even work related? This was
an abuse of power. He had no right to fire her because she was with someone
else, especially not when he was so out of line dating her in the first place.

“This
is Charlie.”

“Bradden,
it’s Jamie. What the hell happened? Did you fire Grace?”

“Calm
down.”

“Like
hell, I will. You give her the job back right now, before we bring a lawsuit
against you and your company for harassment.”

“I
didn’t fire her. She quit.”

Jamie
swore under his breath. This was worse than he had imagined.

“My
feelings exactly,” Charlie said. “She told me what happened between the two of
you and said she couldn’t continue to work for me. I would never fire Grace.
She was a great employee.”

Jamie
felt his hope deflate a little more. “She just came in today and quit? Just
like that?”

“Just
like that. Which means you’ve lost your leverage. She no longer works for you.”

He
didn’t care about that anymore. He was just worried about Grace, now unemployed
because of him. “If I convince her to ask for her job back, will you give it to
her?”

Charlie’s
voice softened, just a little. “Of course I would, but I’m going to be
completely honest with you, Castleton. I don’t want to see her get hurt, and I
think you’ve done enough damage, coming back into her life. I think you should
leave her be.”

Jamie
thought about it for a moment but came back to the same truth he always did.

“I
can’t,” he said.

“Alright,
then. Good luck.”

Jamie
knew he was going to need it.

Chapter 16

Grace
didn’t waste any more time wallowing over the state of things. She bought a
newspaper on the way home from the office and started looking through the help
wanted ads. She cut out one for an administrative assistant at a doctor’s
office that was just a fifteen-minute commute from her apartment.

She
didn’t really want to work as an assistant again, but she had the experience.
The pay would never be what she could have made at the higher levels in
marketing, but a stable job was better than unemployment.

Really,
anything was better than unemployment. She had some money saved up, but not
much. She would need to find a job by the end of the month, or rent would be a
problem.

She
emailed her resume and a brief introductory letter to the doctor’s office, and
it made her feel a little better. It was a start. Maybe she hadn’t been acting
like a responsible adult lately, and maybe Caroline was right about everything
she had said. But things were going to change now. Grace was going to pick up
the pieces and start again.

Without
Jamie.

In
the early afternoon, Grace went to pick up Jake at school. He was surprised to
see her there instead of Caroline.

“Mommy,
what are you doing here?” He held her hand as they walked to her car, looking
up at her expectantly.

“I
thought it would be nice if I picked you up. I thought we could spend some more
time together.”

“Don’t
you have work?”

She
gave him the most reassuring smile she could. “I’m taking a little break from
work for now.”

“Why?”

“Because
I want to hang out with my best buddy.” She scooped him up in her arms and he
giggled. “It’s a good thing.”

“Can
I take a break, too?”

She
thought about it for a moment. Why couldn’t he? It would be good for both of
them to spend some time together, and if she were being honest, she really
wasn’t looking forward to spending the next day sitting around the house
regretting her decision to quit her job. Jake would keep her mind off of all
the bad things. A day off was exactly what they both needed.

“You
know what? I think we both do need a break. You can stay home with me
tomorrow.”

He
smiled at her excitedly. “Can we stay up late tonight and eat ice cream and
watch a movie and read stories?”

“Of
course. Let’s stop by the grocery store on the way home and pick up some
snacks.”

At
the store they bought enough food for the week, some desserts and a DVD from
the discount box. Grace could tell how excited Jake was to spend time with her
and it made her happy knowing that she could always count on her son’s love.
That meant more to her than anything.

She
could get over Jamie faster than she had last time, because this time she had someone
depending on her, someone who needed her.

Grace
brought Jake home and changed into her most comfortable loungewear, navy blue
sweatpants and an old college tee shirt. She changed Jake into his favorite
football jersey, put on some upbeat country music, grabbed the baking supplies
and started on a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

This
was exactly what she needed.

They
were singing a song together and mixing ingredients when Caroline came home
from work and did a double take.

“What’s
going on here?”

“We’re
making cookies!” Jake squealed. “We are taking a break!”

“A
break? Grace? Why are you home? When you called and told me not to pick up Jake
today I was worried...”

Grace
smiled at her sister. “Don’t freak out, but I q-u-i-t my job.” She spelled out
the word, not wanting Jake to understand. “I’m starting fresh.”

Caroline
dropped her purse on the floor, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Have you lost
your mind?”

“Nope!
I’m feeling like I’m getting it back, actually. No more J-a-m-i-e.” She turned
up the music. “Couldn’t work for Charlie anymore after what happened. Time for
a new j-o-b.”

“Yeah!”
Jake was grinning from ear to ear, mixing the cookie dough with great force.
“Aunt Caroline, you should take a break, too. It’s fun!”

Caroline
groaned. “What a disaster.”

There
was a knock on the door, and Caroline spun around to grab it. “Must be Will.
Wait until he hears about this...”

She
pulled open the door, but it was Jamie standing there.

“Hello,
Caroline.”

Grace
recognized the voice and let out a strangled gasp.

“Good
to see you,” Jamie said. “Is Grace here?”

He
didn’t need to ask the question. The kitchen was in plain view of the front
door, and Jamie spotted her well before she could plan an exit strategy.

Grace
met Caroline’s eyes and saw the panic there, panic that she knew was mirrored
in her own.

“Mommy?”

Caroline
slapped her hand over her own mouth as though it were Jake’s.

Jake
was looking right at Grace. “Mommy, who is that man?”

JAMIE
LOOKED BACK and forth between the little blond-haired boy and Grace, who stood
frozen.

Why
was he calling Grace “mommy”?

Grace
had a son?

Wait.
Grace had
a son?

How
old was the kid? Four or five? But she had told him that she hadn’t been with
anyone after him. Did that mean... Four or five years ago was when they...

He
took in the scene—Grace in sweatpants and wearing no makeup gripping a
cup of flour, and a little boy sitting on the counter with his hand covered in
what looked like cookie dough. There were toys spread out all over the floor of
the little apartment and pages ripped out of coloring books hanging on the
fridge. Not exactly what Jamie was expecting when he had stopped by.

The
boy was looking between Grace and Jamie as if searching for a connection. He
had blue eyes the color of the summer sky, and there was something familiar
about them.

Jamie
felt a ringing in his ears and his stomach flipped over, bringing on a wave of
nausea.

Just
then Caroline stepped in his line of vision, heading toward the boy with quick
steps. “Come on, Jake, let’s give Aunt Grace some privacy.” She picked him up
and carried him out of the room while he looked at Jamie with question in his
eyes.

Aunt
Grace.

He
had heard that correctly, hadn’t he? Aunt.

“Is
that boy...?” He didn’t want to finish the question.

Grace
pursed her lips together before she spoke, and his palms began to sweat. The
seconds it took her to respond felt like hours. “That boy was Jake. Caroline’s
son.”

Caroline’s
son. It made sense. The kid had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. That was
Caroline’s coloring, not Grace’s. He always pictured their future children looking
like her—daughters with long dark hair and big brown eyes.

But
why had the little boy looked at her like that and called her mommy?

“You
never said anything about Caroline having a son.”

“So?
I don’t owe you any explanations.”

Her
defensiveness made him more suspicious. “Caroline must have had him right after
we broke up,” he said.

Grace
crossed her arms over her chest. “Why are you so interested?”

His
heart was beating a mile a minute. “Because I’m not entirely convinced you’re
telling the truth.”

“When
have I ever lied to you?” she asked innocently.

“I
would only have an answer to that, sweetheart, if you were a bad liar,” he
said, his eyes narrowed. “I’d be willing to bet, knowing you, that you’re a
great one.”

Grace
gritted her teeth. “I’m not.”

“So
who’s the father?”

She
bit her lip, and her brown eyes went wide. “The father?”

“Yes,
who is the father?” He felt like he was speaking a different language. “The
father of Caroline’s child?”

“Some
guy.” Grace shrugged. “One-night stand.”

“Caroline
wasn’t the type to have one-night stands.”

“Well,
she did. Once. And she got pregnant. That’s why I moved here after we broke up,
and why I didn’t go to graduation and take the job in New York City. Caroline
needed support, so I wanted to be here for her.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“See? It had nothing to do with you. I wasn’t trying to avoid you, and I didn’t
give up that job because I was heartbroken or something. I did it for Caroline
and Jake.”

It
suddenly all made sense to Jamie. This was the answer he had been searching
for, the missing puzzle piece. Now he finally understood the reason Grace had
disappeared after school. It had nothing to do with him.

And
Jake really was Caroline’s son.

He
let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. I thought for a minute that you...” He
laughed. “You don’t even want to know what I was thinking. It was bad.”

“Bad?”
She was playing it cool, but he detected a slight anger in her tone. “What was
it?”

“Never
mind.”

“No,
it’s okay. Tell me.”

“I
thought maybe Jake was your son.” He laughed, but she didn’t.

“Why,
can’t I have a child? Do you think I’d make a bad mother?”

“What?
That’s not what I meant, Grace, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then
what did you mean?”

He
shrugged, feeling like he was missing some point. “I thought that you had a
son, and it bothered me. I don’t want to think of you having another man’s
child.”

“That’s
what you were thinking?” She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Okay,
maybe it was more than that. But why are we fighting about this? We have more important
things to talk about than hypotheticals.”

Grace
moved toward the sink and turned on the water, scrubbing at the dishes with
force.

He
came up behind her, wanting to touch her but afraid of her reaction. “What’s
wrong? Talk to me.”

“Why
are you here, Jamie? How did you even get my address?”

He
felt sorry for the pans and the plates, she was scrubbing so hard.

“I
looked it up. Your sister is listed.”

“And
you took that as an invitation to come over?”

“I
needed to see you.” He came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders,
wanting her to turn around and break down this wall between them.

She
turned off the sink, and Jamie heard her sigh. “But what if I don’t want to see
you?”

It
would have hurt him if he didn’t know it wasn’t true.

“Why
did you leave last night?” he asked. “Was it to see Charlie?”

“No.”

“You
broke up with him.”

“Yes.”

“And
you quit your job.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”
His eyes were boring into hers, searching, but he found no answers there.

“It
wasn’t right to be with him or work for him after what I did,” she said with a
small shrug.

“What
we did.” He didn’t want her to take all of the blame or the credit.

She
sighed. “It was a mistake.”

“You’ll
never convince me of that.”

“Jamie.”

“You
were happy. I know you were. What changed? Was it something I said?”

She
wanted to say something; he could see that the words were on the tip of her
tongue. But for some reason, she held back.

It
was killing him.

“Be
honest with me, Grace. I can take it.”

Jamie
pulled her closer to him, so her body was pressed against his. Her big brown
eyes were looking up into his, and her lips parted. He could swear she wanted
him to kiss her.

He
only held back because he knew something was holding her back, preventing her
from enjoying being with him. It felt like there was a big elephant in the
room, only he didn’t know why it was there.

“Honesty
hurts people,” Grace finally said, her voice small. “Sometimes you’re better
off not knowing.”

There
was no way he was going to take that for an answer.

“I’ve
been racking my brain, replaying last night over and over, trying to come up with
some explanation as to how you could go from hot to cold in a matter of seconds,”
he said. “All I can think of is that I scared you away.”

She
tried to pull from him, but his arms were strong around her.

“I
was moving too fast. You need time to learn to trust me again. Is that right?”

Grace
pressed her lips together.

“You
have to help me out here, Grace.”