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Her unbelievably accurate assessment leaves me in awe.
“Wow,” I say when I’ve recovered my speech. “That… that was…”
“All true?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Are you sure you’re not psychic?”
“No, just really good at reading people and situations,” Ken answers. “Which you need to be to be a good manager.”
I nod. Of course.
She pulls a chair close to my desk and sits on it. “So? Tell me all the details. You owe me that much for not coming in this morning.”
I sigh, then start telling her everything. It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice anyway.
When I’m done, Ken says nothing. She simply scratches her chin.
“Well?” I ask her. “What do you think?”
“That you’re not as smart as I thought you were,” she says.
I frown. She really doesn’t mince words. Even so, I don’t feel as insulted as I did when I was talking to Betty this morning. Maybe that’s because I know Ken’s telling the truth.
I was stupid.
“I don’t care what Jackson told you,” Ken tells me. “You shouldn’t have drunk with him. The first time you drink should either be alone or with someone you trust completely. Drinking with someone who’s attracted to you or who you’re attracted to? Bad idea. Worse when it’s both.”
I look at her curiously. “Do you really think Jackson is attracted to me?”
Well, he did say he doesn’t see me as a little sister. Correction. He never saw me as a little sister.
“Darling, the two of you had sex. I think that’s proof of mutual attraction, don’t you?”
I blush at the memory, or at least the thought of us… of Jackson’s body against mine, of his…
Oh, stop thinking about it, Cathy.
“But I was wrong,” Ken says. “Jackson’s not pissed because he regrets it. On the contrary, he seems to have enjoyed it, which is why he’s pissed that you regret it.”
I scratch my head. “It did seem that way.”
Ken shrugs. “Well, it’s no wonder you regret having sex with Jackson if you were drunk, especially if it was your first time. I almost feel sorry for you for not remembering everything.”
“That’s not what I – ”
“But you did agree to it. You said you even started it.”
“Jackson said that,” I correct her.
“And I see no reason for him to lie,” Ken says. “Nor do I see that man pouncing on someone who doesn’t want him.”
I say nothing. I didn’t say he did any such thing. I know he wouldn’t. Is that how I made him feel?
“You made him an offer, one you now wish you hadn’t made, but you did and he couldn’t resist. You can hardly blame him for that. It’s like blaming your dentist for fixing your tooth when you asked him to because you ate a load of candy that you shouldn’t have.”
I frown at the analogy. Isn’t that going a tad too far?
“Anyway, my point is, stop the blame. What’s done is done. Deal with it. That’s the difference between children and adults – kids cry over spilled milk and adults wipe it off the floor.”
My frown deepens. That’s the third time I’ve been called a child today. Am I really so immature?
Ken pats my shoulder. “If you can’t deal with the consequences, just pretend it never happened. Act like it. But don’t get stuck in the past and don’t sulk over something you haven’t tried doing anything about.”
She’s right, of course. I’ve done something stupid, but I can’t let myself keep acting stupid. I have to deal with it. I’m an adult, after all.
The question is: How?
I’m about to ask Ken for suggestions when her phone rings. She answers it.
“Hello.”
I look away and try not to listen as she takes the call, but I can’t help but arch my eyebrows when I hear Maisie’s name.
Maisie? Does that mean she’s talking to Jackson?
I look at Ken’s face, alarmed when I see worry written all over it. Something bad has happened. I just know it.
“Alright,” Ken says. “I’ll tell you if we see her. In the meantime, try to stay calm.”
She hangs up the phone.
If we see her? What does she mean?
“What’s going on, Ken?” I ask her, unable to rein in my curiosity any longer.
Ken lets out a deep breath. “Maisie’s missing.”
I feel the blood drain from my face.
What?
Chapter 12
Jackson
I can’t believe I lost Maisie.
I picked her up early from daycare because I had some free time and I wanted to spend it with her, especially since I didn’t get to spend time with her yesterday. I was going to cheer her up with some ice cream, too, because she looked a little upset this morning from not being able to see Cathy.
As soon as I picked her up, though, Maisie started begging me to go to the park. It was just around the block from the daycare facility, so I thought, why not? I watched her as she ran around and went down the slide over and over.
