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I was breaking every rule in the book and I knew it. It was illegal; it was an invasion of privacy. But I had to know. Had to have my fears about the little girl in Jamie’s photographs put at ease.
Besides, it wasn’t hard. I had a DNA processing lab I’d invested in set up in Charleston. Last night, after I’d been to Jamie’s hotel room, I’d asked Paul to supervise my luxury yacht,The San Diego, across from Boston. It would only take a few hours to drive k her there, and then I could get a good night’s sleep. But before then, I had myself driven to the airfield, where I had the samples collected and flown away.
The participants in the testing would be anonymous, and the data destroyed immediately after. Technically, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. But I’d stolen Jamie’s DNA, her daughter’s DNA, to see if there was any chance my worst fears were confirmed. And I was the father of Cassie.
I tried to put that out of my mind now as we stood together on the deck of the yacht. Downstairs, the rest of the gang were chatting and laughing.
“You like Julia?” I said.
“Yeah,” said Jamie, nodding. “Why?” she added, suspiciously.
“I heard really good things about her. The two of you would make a pretty good team, don’t you think?”
“Why?”
“I’m just saying, Jamie.”
“That’s the problem with you, though,” she smiled. “You’re never ‘just saying’ anything. Always got a point to make. An agenda to fulfill.”
“I guess that’s just the way I am,” I chuckled.
Jamie looked at me strangely. I caught her glancing at me in profile.
“What are you giving me that side-eye for?” I growled.
“Side-eye?”said Jamie. “Since when were you so down with the kids!”
“Believe me,” I said. “More than you might expect.”
“Oh yeah?” said Jamie. “I don’t believe it.”
“You know,” I said, “me and your dad when we were stationed at the base in San Diego before you were born? We used to go to rock concerts together.”
“No way,” said Jamie.
“Pearl Jam,” I said. “Nirvana. You name it, we went to it.
“This is too weird,” Jamie muttered. “I can’t believe you partied with mydad.”
But as the clouds seemed to part and the blue sky opened above us, I realized she was starting to enjoy herself. Even if I was full of doubts and questions.
By the time we came back to Barnstable, I was opening another bottle of champagne, and we were toasting to an incredible week together. Jamie loved riding in the boat. I could see her standing up against the prow, hair whipping in the wind. I resisted the urge to let my eyes linger too long on the gentle curves of her body; the way her beach dress occasionally stirred and revealed the skin of her thighs.
I knew what people would think of me if they found out that I was attracted to Jamie, that we’d slept together. And so when the time came and my pilot finally brought the ship into the harbor, I let everyone off. I expected I wouldn’t see Jamie until later when I gave the keynote speech at the convention. And the truth was that I didn’t think it was good for her to be around me. The closer we got, the warmer our feelings towards each other became, the more chance there was of us slipping up. Of me making a mistake and ruining everything. And that could ruin everything. I knew it, and so did she.
But as I got off the boat, I saw Jamie waiting for me at the end of the quay.
“I thought you’d have gone with the others,” I said gruffly.
“Look,” she said. “I just wanted to say that—”
“You don’t have to—” I said.
“I mean—”
“Really,” I said, as we stumbled over each other’s words.
“I’m sorry I was a jerk to you,” said Jamie. “And you’re right. You did offer me the job. And maybe if I’d talked to you or gotten in touch, things could have been different.”
