AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good girl,” I said and shouldered the phone while inspecting my nails for traces of carrot. “Sorry,” I said, “but I think you must have the wrong number and I’m a bit tied up right now. I don’t need any parties planned.”
I put down the phone before Carol could talk anymore.
“Right,” I said. “Why don’t you two play before Aunty Janine gets here?”
BythetimeIsaw Janine’s car pulling up outside the house, my phone was starting to sound like one of those old-fashioned alarm clocks. It was beeping so rapidly that the battery was almost gone. I turned it on silent and plugged it in to charge it.
“Kyle!” I said, poking my head into the living room where Cassie and Kyle were playing with their toys. “Your momma’s here.”
“Momma!” said Kyle.
“Aunty Janine!” cried Cassie.
I watched with a smile as the two kids leaped up and ran to the door. I followed them down the hallways past my landline, which had been ringing like crazy. I had at least four or five voicemails but there wasn’t time to read them now.
I opened the door and saw Janine. She was standing there, her chest heaving, beaming at me.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, stepping up onto the porch and reaching out to hug me while the kids laughed and jumped around us. “I’m so happy for you, Jamie!”
“Happy for me?” I said, confused.
“Don’t play coy with me!” giggled Janine as she gripped me in a tight embrace. “Does Cassie know?” she said in a hushed voice.
I looked down at Cassie. “Know what?” I said.
“That you’re, you know…” said Janine.
“What?” I said, beginning to feel worried. Had Janine heard about Eric helping me pick the kids up from school?
“Engaged,” she mouthed, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets.
My heart stopped.
“En—engaged?” I said.
Chapter Twenty
Eric
Iwasinundatedwithcalls all afternoon, but I decided to turn my phone off and ignore the endless beeps and bloops of my electronic devices. Instead, I sat down at my computer and turned to a spreadsheet where I was busy filling in calculations and monitoring data about the project. I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax if I went home. Not now with the sight of Cassie, my daughter, imprinted in my brain.
For the first time in a long time, I felt way over my head. I didn’t know what to do. The DNA test couldn’t lie. Cassie was my flesh and blood. Sleeping with Jamie again had only intensified the protective feelings that were busy occupying my thoughts. So, I did what I always do. I buried myself in work. As the offices of Slade Metals emptied for the day, I was left alone, working in my office. I had a charity dinner to attend later in the evening, but I wanted to fill the time up and block out the tempestuous storm of emotions tangled around my heart.
My P.A. has a direct line, and so when she called me, I briefly stopped to pick up the phone.
“How’s it going, Alice?” I said, my eyes glazed over from the hundreds of figures in front of me on the screen.
“Just calling to let you know I’m leaving for the day,” said Alice. “Mr. Slade, do you have an appointment with Jamie Reed booked for this evening?”
I frowned, my thoughts turning to Jamie once again as I pondered the mind-blowing tryst we had in my penthouse and the helicopter ride earlier in the day. She waved goodbye as she shepherded Cassie and Kyle into the cab.
“No,” I said, quickly changing tabs to look at my calendar.
“She called the office just now to tell me she was coming over. Sounded pretty urgent, Eric.”
“Did she tell you when she was coming?”
“She called me from a cab. Said she’d be here in just a few minutes.”
