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For now.
But my heart wrenches at the thought of deceiving Jake in this way. If I don’t tell him now, I will nevertell him.
“Okay, thanks. I appreciate it.”
“You know, I’m not the ogre everyone thinks I am. If I’m giving you too much responsibility, let me know. I sometimes forget that you’ve only been here a couple of months. Okay?”
“Yes, okay,” I agree.
“Good. Now, no more distracting me. I have work to do.” He kisses me quickly on the cheek and goes back to his office.
As promised, he leaves the door wide open so that we can still see each other. Talk about distractions. That man is nothing but a distraction.
Later that morning, Jess texts me. She wants me to meet her for lunch at the coffee shop down the street from my office building. She and I had only texted briefly while I was on the trip with Jake. I had told her of my decision to keep the truth from him. I’m not sure that she agrees with my decision, but she’s keeping her opinion to herself for once.
Now, she is dying to find out the details of what happened. Since she was asleep when I got home last night, we haven’t had time to talk yet.
Jess is already waiting for me in the coffee shop. She is sipping her vanilla latte and people-watching those walking by outside. She is dressed fashionably as always, looking as though she stepped off the pages of a magazine. Her camera is sitting beside her. Being a freelance photographer, she is never far from it.
She jumps up when she sees me, practically radiating energy. “Hey, babe! I already got you a coffee. I’ve been dying to talk to you.”
I can only laugh at her exuberance. “I’m sure you have.”
“I’m really loving the bright-eyed, just-got-banged-by-the-boss glow that you have about you,” she teases as we both sit down.
“Ugh, stop. Why did I agree to meet you here?”
“So, sleeping with the boss, huh? That’s something you’d expect me to do, not you. How did that happen? I’m literally dying to know.”
I guess we are going to just jump right into it.
“I don’t even know how it happened. I came to his place to tell him about my uncle, Greg. I had the files in my bag and was going to admit everything. How I lied on my application, why I did it, my uncle’s business, everything. But he stopped me right before I could explain. He told me that he’d done a background check on my foster dad. Well, apparently, the jerk died years ago, and his wife moved away.”
Jess is listening intently, concern showing on her face. I don’t usually talk about my foster dad. She doesn’t know the entire story about the abuse. Though I have told her bits and pieces in the past, I’ve always been too embarrassed to go into much detail.
“Good. Maybe now you can get past all of that old trauma. I hope that asshole suffered,” she says with some vehement in her voice. “I know you don’t like to talk about it, but are you okay?”
“Honestly? I’m better than okay. I didn’t know that I was holding in so much anxiety and fear. Just knowing that I’ll never see him again has made me feel lighter inside.”
“You deserve some happiness, Lana. Don’t forget that. I know that I’m the crazy best friend who’s always good for a laugh. But I hope you know you can always talk to me.”
“Of course I know that,” I say. She reaches over to squeeze my hand.
Jess, however, is never one for gravity or serious conversations. The moment quickly passes, and I see the excitement light up in her eyes. Her serious mood pivots into enthusiasm faster than my mind can follow. “Okay, enough of that depressing stuff. I need to know what elsehappened when you went to Jake’s place. And don’t bother telling me that nothing happened.”
I clear my throat in nervousness, not knowing how much I should reveal to Jess. “Okay. Well, so, then Jake was comforting me after telling me the news and, you know, the old story. One thing leads to another, and it just kind of happened.”
“Oh, you aren’t holding back on me like that. Tell me everything. Skip nothing.” Jess leans forward and practically sizzles with excitement. “How big was his… well, you know?”
I roll my eyes. “There’s something seriously wrong with you. I’m not telling you anything else.”
“Geez, you have a sick, sick mind, Lana. I was simply asking about the size of his bed. You know, is it a queen, king? I bet it was a king-size, wasn’t it?” She raises her eyebrows up and down with a silly grin on her face.
“Unlike you, I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Hmmm, and he apparently does more than kiss well since you stayed with him all weekend.”
“Maybe he does some other things well, too,” I concede.
