Ouch. That stung.

“Yeah.” I gave a small nod and went upstairs to check on Hope.

Chapter Forty

Lorelei

Sitting down on the edge of Hope’s bed, I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened today.”

“Addison is moving and changing schools,” she spoke in a sad voice.

“Where is she moving to?”

“Her and her mom are moving in with her mom’s boyfriend. All she talked about was how they were going to be a family.”

Damn Addison’s mom. “I’m sorry she’s moving, baby, but you can still keep in touch with her.”

“It’s not the same and I don’t want to talk to her anymore. She said some mean things.” A tear fell down her cheek.

“What did she say?”

“All she talked about was how they were going to be a family and do family things and that I was jealous of her.”

“Why would she think you’re jealous of her?”

She looked down and another tear fell from her eye.

“Because I told her I didn’t care. I don’t care.” She folded her arms.

“That’s not nice, Hope. She’s very excited about something and you just dismissed it. That’s not being a very good friend.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Can you please just leave me alone for a while?”

“Sure, baby.”

I walked out of her room and saw Jack coming down the hallway.

“How is she?”

“Upset because her friend Addison is moving and switching schools.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sure she’ll get over it. I have some work to do in my office and I don’t want to be disturbed.” He walked down the stairs.

About an hour and a half later, Jack walked into the living room where I was sitting down working on one of my designs.

“I’m going out for a while. I’ve ordered you and Hope a pizza and salad for dinner. It’s already paid for, so don’t worry about that.”

“Where are you going?” I asked as I followed him to the elevator and the scent of his cologne drifted back and crossed my face.

“I have a date. I’ll see you in the morning. Tell Hope I said good night.”

“You can tell her yourself.”

“I’m going to be late as it is.” He stepped into the elevator.

A date? He had a date? Was he kidding? A flood of emotions filled my body and tears sprang to my eyes. Tears that I couldn’t explain. Tears that never should have crept up in the first place. He was nothing to me. Jack Sutton was nothing but my boss and a couple of nights of hot sex. I was nothing but the mistake he made. The more I heard his words in my head—“I have a date”—the angrier I became. I stomped over to the couch, grabbed my laptop from the coffee table, and brought up Match.com. Maybe it was time I dove back into the dating world. If Addison’s mom could meet Mr. Right, then so could I.

I created my profile, and when I was finished, I closed my laptop. What the hell was I doing? The pizza was delivered and I went upstairs to get Hope for dinner. When I walked into her room, I noticed she was sleeping. I walked over to the side of her bed and gently called her name. She opened her eyes and then closed them again.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel good and my throat hurts.”

I placed my hand on her forehead and she felt really warm. Oh God, what if she had caught my illness? Jack was out on his date and I was here alone with nothing. No children’s Tylenol. Nothing. I wanted to go home. It wasn’t like asshole was here taking care of us. I stood up from the bed and put all of Hope’s things in her bag, then walked across the hall to my room and did the same. Running downstairs and grabbing my phone from the table, I called a cab. After ending the call, I went back upstairs to get Hope.

“Come on, Hope. We’re going home,” I spoke as I sat her up.

“We are? Where’s Jack?” she sleepily asked.

“He had to go out for the night. I can take better care of you at home. Come on; the cab will be here soon.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck as I picked her up and carried her down the stairs. I told her to sit down on the couch while I wrote Jack a note.

Jack,

Hope is sick with a fever and there was nothing here for me to give her, so I packed us up and went home.

Lorelei

My phone rang and it was the cab calling to let me know he was waiting for us.

“Hope, you have to walk to the cab because I have to carry our bags.”

“I don’t feel good, Mommy.”

“I know, baby, but we’ll be home soon.”

I held her hand as we took the elevator downstairs to the lobby and climbed into the cab.

****

Jack

I arrived home at one a.m. and headed to the kitchen. That was when I saw the note that Lorelei had left. FUCK! I never should have gone out. I slammed my fists on the counter. I had met Holly, a girl I occasionally fucked, for dinner. She had called earlier and asked if I wanted to go out. I figured why the hell not. It wasn’t like Lorelei would give me the time of day. The problem was that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Holly would be talking and I would zone out. I would try to act like I was interested in what she had to say, but I wasn’t. I could have cared less about Holly. This went on for over three hours. After we finished dinner, I put her in a cab to go home, and I went and sat in a bar, kicking back a couple of drinks and thinking about Lorelei and this mess of a situation Sutton Magazine was in. I never dreamed that I would come home and she and Hope would be gone.

A worry swept over me for Hope. She had a fever and I wasn’t here. I desperately wanted to call Lorelei to find out how she was, but I couldn’t very well call her at this time of night. Damn her for leaving and damn her for walking into my life and turning my whole fucking world upside down.

****

Lorelei

The next morning, as I was in the kitchen getting Hope some more Tylenol for her 102 fever, my phone rang and it was Jack. I debated whether or not to answer it, but I did anyway.

“Hello.”

“How’s Hope?”

“She’s sick.”

“Does she still have a fever?”

“Yes,” I replied in a short tone.

“I was not happy when I came home last night to find you and Hope gone.”

Was he serious? He went out on a fucking date and then took an attitude with me for leaving?

“I needed to get my daughter home to where her medicines were. This is her home, Jack, and this is where she’s most comfortable.”

“You should have called me.”

“And interrupted your date? No thanks. I did what was best for us and that was going home. I have to go and give Hope her Tylenol.” Click.

Yep. That’s right. I hung up on his dumb ass. How dare he! After giving Hope her medicine, I called her doctor’s office, and luckily, they had an appointment available in an hour. I helped her get dressed and we headed out the door.

Chapter Forty-One

Jack

I threw my phone across my desk after Lorelei hung up on me. Who the hell did she think she was after everything I’d done for her? As I leaned back in my chair, staring at the empty desk that sat outside my office, Coco walked in.

“I’m surprised you’re here. It’s Saturday,” I spoke.

“I kicked Joshua out and broke up with him.”

“What?” I quickly sat up.

“I told him last night that I knew about the woman he was seeing and to get the hell out.”

“What did he say?”

“He said good riddance and that he didn’t even know why he bothered staying as long as he did because he was never in love with me.” She started to sniffle.

I got up from my chair and walked to where she was standing and pulled her into me.

“Don’t, Coco. He’s a scumbag. You know it. He’s not worth a single tear.”

“I know he’s not worth it. I’m crying because I didn’t break up with him sooner.”

I broke our embrace and handed her a tissue.