“Really? Youhadto sleep with the head teacher of the school?” she says, just as the door opens in front of us.
“What did you do?” my mother yells in outrage.
“Let’s not make a big deal of it, okay? It was an accident.”
I storm inside, followed by my daughter: who, for what it’s worth, appears to be enjoying my distress.
“You’ve only been here for three days,” my mother points out.
“And you can’t call it an accident…” my daughter adds.
“Everything’s under control,” I reassure her.
I promised Jordan that no one would ever know what happened between us, and the headcount is already at two – excluding everything I told Tyler. Now we’re at three. And I’m sure Anya is up-to-date with everything: so that’s four. Four people, in a town where gossip appears to be the only attraction. If this carries on, I’ll have to move to another county again in two days’ time – if not anothercountry.
I promised Jordan this would stay between us, and I’ve already broken my word; but I also promised Skylar that I’d sort everything out. And I have to keep that promise at all costs, or I’ll lose my daughter forever.
Jordan
At lunchtime, Anya and I lock ourselves in my office. She’s perched on my desk, a bowl of chicken salad in her hand, while I’m slumped in my armchair, my Tupperware container of rice completely untouched. My head won’t stop pounding with unwelcome thoughts, which won’t give me a moment of peace.
“How could I not have known that he had a daughter? Here I am, thinking I know everything about him,” Anya keeps repeating.
“It looks like he kept her well-hidden.”
“What about her mother?”
I look at her and shake my head.
“Poor girl.”
I sigh painfully.
“You can’tnothelp her.”
“I know, but you have to realise how weird it would be – not to mention how dangerous. If anyone ever found out…”
“You could always sign an agreement – like a sort of contract?”
I look at her, unconvinced.
“Something that legally prevents him from saying anything.”
“Do you think that would work?”
She shrugs.
It would never be enough for me. It could never erase the memory of his scent all over my body.
“At least it’s not a different problem.”
Apparently she can hear my deafeningly loud thoughts, too.
“Anyway, it would be inappropriate.” I shift my weight in the armchair. “I’ve seen him naked, Anya! Don’t you get it?”
“I can imagine that image isn’t something you’d forget easily.”
I don’t respond; my mind is busy conjuring up the memory of his chiselled body moving on top of mine.
