“I wish you would have called us, sweetie.”

“Why, Mom? You were on a boat in the middle of the ocean. There would have been nothing you could have done.”

“Still. I’m so sorry we weren’t here for you and Hope.”

“That’s okay, Grandma. I liked Jack taking care of me. He’s fun.”

“He is?” Stella gave her a look with a twisted face.

“Yeah. He read to me and we watched Cinderella. He took and picked me up from school. He came to my spelling bee when my mom was in the hospital and he cooked. He’s not a good cook, though. He burns everything.” She giggled.

“That was very nice of Mr. Sutton to take care of you, Hope.” My mom hugged her. “And I’m happy you’re feeling better.”

Hope went to her room to take a nap and my mom left to get home and unpack from their trip.

“Okay. What’s going on with you and Jack?” Stella asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing, my ass. Why would a man who fully admitted to you that he hates children take care of your kid while you’re lying helpless in a hospital bed?”

“Because he knew there was nobody else who could take care of her.”

Again, she twisted her face. “I think Mr. Sutton has a heart and I think he’s madly in love with you.”

“No, he’s not, Stella. He left me and Hope the other night to go on a date.”

“Oh.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Why would he do that?”

“Who the hell knows. Probably because he needed to feed his sex addiction.”

“He has a sex addiction?”

“Let me rephrase that. Probably because he needed to feed his sexual appetite.”

“He’s a man. They’re always horny.” She smiled. “I see a possible relationship here.”

“I can’t and I won’t.” I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen.

“Why not, Lorelei? It’s obvious the man has deep feelings for you or he wouldn’t have taken care of Hope the way he did. That little girl adores him.”

“Of course she does. He’s the first man who has ever paid attention to her.”

“And whose fault is that?” She frowned.

“I gave in to my feelings once before and I won’t make that mistake again. Look at how he treated me when he found out about Hope. The things he said. If he truly had feelings for me, he wouldn’t have said those things. Brett would never have said those things to me.”

“Aw, honey. You have to stop living in the past. Maybe Brett never would have said those things to you. Hell, he didn’t even know you were pregnant, Lorelei, so you really don’t know for sure how he would have reacted. You’re a grown up now and you’re playing in the grown up world.”

“So you’re saying that it was okay for him to talk to me like that?”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying. But you also need to understand that he was hurt. He found out by accident one of the most personal things about you. He probably felt betrayed that you didn’t trust him enough to tell him.”

“How could I trust him when he flat out told me he hated kids? You even told me not to tell him. Hell, Garrett didn’t even tell him because he was afraid he’d fire me.”

“Okay. Okay. You have a point. But still.”

Taking our coffee over to the couch, I sat down and crossed my legs.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You’re never going to believe what I did.”

“Oh my God, what did you do?”

“I created a profile on Match.com.”

“Shut up! You did not!” she exclaimed.

I grabbed my laptop from the coffee table and logged into my account. This was the first time I had done that since the night I created it. I had over fifty responses.

“Oh shit. Look at this.” I laughed.

We spent the next hour going through the profiles and laughing.

“This guy isn’t bad. He’s an ad executive. He has a daughter who’s eleven and his hobby is bird watching.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s also forty years old. What the hell does he want with a twenty-five-year-old?”

“You really need to ask that?” Stella spoke. “Just think of all the different kinds of birds you could learn about. I wonder if he makes those weird bird sounds to them.” She laughed.

Chapter Forty-Four

Lorelei

I stopped at Starbucks to get Jack his morning coffee. I hadn’t heard from him since Saturday night and he didn’t respond to my text messages. As I walked down the hallway to my desk, many of my coworkers welcomed me back. I took in a deep breath as I walked into Jack’s office.

“Good morning,” I spoke.

He looked up at me from the papers he was looking over and mumbled, “Morning.” When I set the coffee on his desk, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He looked back down at his papers and acted like I wasn’t even standing there.

“Did you get my text messages?” I asked.

“Yes,” he responded without looking up.

“Why didn’t you text me back?”

“I really didn’t have time.”

“Oh.” I stood there feeling like an idiot. “How’s Coco?”

“She’s fine.”

“Any more news about Joshua?”

“No.”

“Does your mother know what happened?”

He sighed and looked up at me as he grabbed his coffee cup.

“What is this? A million questions? If I wanted to talk to you about this, I would. You have a ton of work to do since you were out all last week. I suggest you get to your desk and start working.”

Wow. Wow. Wow. What the fuck was his problem? I quietly walked out of his office and sat down at my desk. Asshole. I pulled out the small framed picture I had of Hope and set it next to my computer. A few moments later, Garrett walked up and I couldn’t help but notice the large bruise on his face.

“Ouch. What happened?” I asked with concern.

“Jack didn’t tell you?”

“No. Jack isn’t saying much to me these days.”

“He punched me.”

“Oh my God. Why would he do that?”

“I’d rather not get into that right now. How are you feeling? How’s Hope?”

“We’re both a lot better. Thank you for asking.”

“Good. I’m happy to hear that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to talk to Jack. Let’s hope he doesn’t punch me again.” He winked.

Sitting there, I watched Garrett walk into Jack’s office and shut the door. What the hell was going on with him that would make him punch his best friend?

A few moments later, the door opened and Garrett walked out.

“Escaped without any assault.” He winked with a smile and then strutted down the hallway.

Garrett left the door open to Jack’s office and I couldn’t help but steal a glance from my desk. Jack was sitting in his chair, looking out the window.

“Oh shit!” he exclaimed as he jumped up and ran down the hallway.

I needed to know what was going on, so I followed him down to the lobby, and when I reached the doors, Coco was standing outside trapped by a bunch of paparazzi who were taking her picture and shoving small recorders in her face. Jack grabbed her and led her inside the building. I hurried and stepped into the elevator before they saw me. The shit storm had arrived and Jack and Coco were left to deal with it alone without any help from their mother.

I made it back to my desk and I saw Jack take Coco into her office. He was in there for about an hour. Before going into his office, he stopped at my desk.

“You are to field any calls that may come in from anyone asking about Joshua or the company.”

“Yes, Jack. Don’t worry.”

He picked up the frame from my desk and stared at the picture of Hope. Without saying a word, he set it down, walked into his office, and slammed the door. I flinched.

After working on a couple of projects, I glanced at the clock and saw it was lunchtime. Grabbing my sketchbook and my purse, I knocked on the door and told Jack I was heading to lunch.

“Jack, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to lunch now.”

“Fine. Don’t forget my coffee.”

I sighed and shut the door. “Don’t forget my coffee,” I mumbled as I headed toward the elevators. With his attitude towards me, he’d be lucky if I didn’t spill it all over his desk and leave him to clean it up. Exiting the building, I headed down to the café for a sandwich.