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“Oh, yeah?” I replied. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that? Show me what you’re doing, baby?”
Cassie held up her picture. It was of a purple dinosaur. She loved dinosaurs and could name them all. She was growing into a real tomboy, and I loved it. I just knew she was going to do something amazing for the world one day, like being a scientist.
“That’s beautiful, sweetie!” I beamed. “Heck, I miss you, Cass. You be good for Janine, all right?”
“I will, momma. If you miss me, you can play with Scarfy.”
I grinned. ‘Scarfy’ was the name of a scarf I’d been given as a birthday present years ago before I’d had Cassie. It was a pretty wool scarf with a diamond pattern. It had become one of Cassie’s favorite comforters, and she’d kindly ‘allowed’ me to have it back when I explained that Cape Cod was windy at this time of year.
“All right. You be good for Aunty Janine, okay?”
“Okay!”
I talked to Janine for a little bit, mostly to ease my nerves. She was always such a comforting person to speak to. But eventually, it was time to hang up.
I got up and wandered around my room for a while. It was beautiful, with old floorboards and comfortable, thick rugs. a four-poster bed in the middle of the room—how often do you see one of those? The height of luxury, and I noted carefully that they had amply stocked the minibar with Chardonnay. That might come in handy if Eric Slade became insistent on us ‘catching up’ this week …
I opened my travel bag and pulled the scarf out. I couldn’t help myself. Some people do crossword puzzles when they’re stressed, others read poems. I post on Instagram.
I tossed the scarf elegantly around my neck and stood, holding my phone up. Then I adjusted to the light and found the perfect picture, my silhouette framed by the bed and the old, elegant wardrobe. I took a picture of myself and checked.
It looked good. I posted it with the caption‘Bout to go for a walk on the beach!I closed the phone and went to take a nap instead, lulled to sleep by the satisfying sound of my notifications pinging.Like, like, like, like, like.And for a moment, I forgot that the father of my child was currently in the same building as me.
Chapter Six
Eric
“Kids?”Isaidskeptically.
Karen, my PA, shrugged apologetically. “Well, you’d have your room, of course. But the Pearsons have invited their in-laws to stay, and they’ve brought the grandkids.”
“I can’t stand kids,” I muttered, looking through my phone. “I need to find somewhere else.”
It wasn’t exactly true. There was a time in my life when nothing made me more excited than the thought of having a family. But I knew those years had passed me by. And besides, I wasn’t going to relax even a little on this trip with a bunch of screaming children around.
“Let’s see if there’s anything else,” I said in a depressing tone. “If not, I’m going to have to build a hut on the beach or something.”
I caught Karen giving me a strange glance. “Tom Reed’s in town,” she said, looking back at her laptop. “Aren’t you old Navy buddies?”
I sighed. Of course, Tom would be the logical choice. And I knew that my oldest friend would put me up, no questions asked if I needed it.
But how could I stay with Tom now? After the way Jamie had reacted to seeing me again, after so long. She was still beautiful. I’d heard that women tended to lose their figure after giving birth, but Jamie seemed to have gotten only more gorgeous since the last time I’d seen her. She was still slim and graceful, but there was something else about her now. Something I hadn’t seen before. A kindness in her eyes, a softness in her personality that I hadn’t noticed.
So why had she run off?
Karen closed her laptop. “I’m going to go and work in my room,” she said. “If I find anything, you’ll be the first to know.”
“No, Karen,” I said. “Look, it’s 6 pm. It’s almost time for the reception and you started early today. Take the rest of the night off. I can look after myself.”
In the bar, I sat, and before I knew it, I’d taken out my phone and was searching for Jamie’s social media profiles. I guessed she’d still be a pretty enthusiastic user of the apps, and I was right.
I was stunned by the latest picture. Jamie stood, in the center of her beautiful hotel room, with a black-and-white diamond scarf tossed around her. It had been posted an hour ago. ‘Bout to go for a walk on the beach!read the caption.
I smiled. I couldn’t help myself. I liked everything about her. And yet, I couldn’t help but feel something was wrong.
I’d never seen Cassie before, the daughter. But I felt pretty sure I’d find a picture of her if I was persistent. Turns out I didn’t have to be. Jamie had posted a picture of her kid just a few days ago. I studied it carefully.
Cassie was bouncing on the sofa, arms open wide. Her hair was curly, darker than her mom’s. Almost black. And her eyes were a deep brown color.
