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“Because of Blair?” she asked.
The paternity suit was just one more thing he didn’t want to think about. “No, she handled that okay. She saw a picture of me with AJ's girlfriend and assumed the worst.”
Callie opened her mouth to speak, but Dylan interrupted before she got the chance. “When did you see her? Are they here?”
Damn. He told AJ that he wouldn't let anyone else in the family know. “Last week. I flew to England to see AJ.” Jake chose each word carefully. “I just got back. It was a last minute trip.”
Dylan's eyebrows knitted together and Jake knew more questions were about to follow.
“Must have been. What prompted that? Weren't you just there a few months ago?”
He should've come up with an excuse just in case family asked about his recent trip, but the thought hadn't crossed his mind. “AJ and Sophia needed some help.”
While not the complete truth, it wasn't a lie either.
“Help? What kind of help.”
Jake knew Dylan was like a dog with a bone. He wouldn't let a topic go until he was satisfied.
“I can't go into it. But Sophia called and I flew out to help. Some photographer took pictures of us at the airport. Charlie saw them on the Internet and jumped to the wrong conclusion. End of story.”
Dylan clapped him on the back. “I hope you gave her more details than that. It's a rather vague excuse.”
Jake knew he should be pleased his brother wasn't pressing for more details. “She didn't give me a chance to explain anything. I tried.”
Jake didn't miss seeing Callie elbow Dylan in the side in an attempt to shut him up before saying, “Maybe she just needs some time. She's not used to the way the media plays things up. Try calling her in a week.”
He knew Callie meant well but it was so obvious she didn't understand anything about male pride. A guy was only going to take no for an answer so many times. After that it would be like begging. He had no intentions of doing that.
“How was Paris?” Jake figured if he got Callie talking about something else she might forget about Charlie for tonight.
His ploy worked beautifully. Without mentioning another word about Charlie, his sister launched into a detailed playback of her and Dylan's European honeymoon.
Chapter 14
With a groan Charlie kicked her heels off then began to unzip her skirt. After spending more than six hours in the awful shoes her aching feet reminded her why she didn't wear them more often. Today there had been no avoiding it. There was no way she could show up for an interview wearing running sneakers or the clogs she wore when on duty at the hospital.
After slipping on a pair of denim shorts and a t-shirt she put the suit she'd worn in a bag for the dry cleaners and headed toward the kitchen. She'd missed lunch, but she guessed she'd find something yummy in the kitchen. Thanks to Beth there were always freshly baked treats in the kitchen. And judging by the cinnamon scent filling the kitchen, Beth had baked something that morning.
Charlie had one of the rolls half way to her mouth when she saw the magazine pages on the kitchen table. Her roommate was a regular reader of all the popular magazines. She never missed an issue of the weekly publication. By the looks of it her copy of Today had arrived and she'd forgotten to take it with her.
Most of the time Charlie didn't bother with the magazine. Occasionally she would do the crossword puzzle in the back but that was about it. But today it was as if her arm had a mind of its own. It dropped the cinnamon roll and reached for the magazine. Once again on the cover was a close-up shot of Jake. A smile lit up his face and she had to force herself to look away from his sapphire blue eyes. They seemed to almost jump off the page at her.
In an instant her appetite disappeared. For more than two weeks now she'd tried not to think about him, and every time she did, Charlie forced herself to remember the picture she'd seen of him on the internet with his arm around the blonde. Yet every once in awhile a tiny voice in her head whispered what if you are wrong?
Charlie turned the magazine over so Jake's smiling face no longer stared back at her and tossed it onto the counter. She didn't want to know what the magazine had to say about him.
“You okay? You look a little pale.”
Charlie's eyes flew open at the sound of her friend's voice. She'd been so distracted that she hadn't heard the door open.
“I saw the cover of your magazine,” Charlie nodded toward the counter.
Beth moved toward the cupboards above the counter. “Did you look at the rest of it?”
As her friend turned the other way, Charlie caught the triumphant smile that spread across her face.
“You left it on the table intentionally. Why did you do that?” Beth was one of the few people who knew how much Jake's betrayal hurt her. She didn't consider Beth a cruel thoughtless person so she didn't understand why her friend would leave the magazine behind.
