CHAPTER ELEVEN
Allie couldn’t help the stupid big smile plastered across her face as she smoothed out the wrinkles on her favorite Sunday dress. Her lips had done little else besides smile since Mark’s kiss. How would she ever let another man touch her lips after experiencing a moment like that? She couldn’t. Mark was the guy for her. She knew exactly how silly and stupid she sounded, but she didn’t care. She’d meant what she said yesterday—he was different. Different from what she imagined a movie star to be like; different from all the other men she’d had in her life; different in the best of ways.
She giggled and pressed her fingers to her mouth as she opened the street door on her way to church.
Cameras clicked and flashes blinded her. She put her hands in front of her face, confused by the onslaught. “What’s going on?” she asked the man next to her holding his phone in her face.
“Is it true that you had lunch with Mark Dubois?” His tone was accusatory, like sharing a meal was a crime and she’d been tried and convicted.
Her defensive mechanisms kicked in. “Yes, but it was for charity.” “Did you spend the night with him?” asked a woman with impossibly thin lips.
She hesitated. “No, I mean, not really. Not in the way you’re implying.” “How does it feel to be the other woman?” asked a balding man whose shirt buttons were tested to their limits by his pot belly.
“Now see here—”
Just as she was about to set the record straight, Kate pushed through the crowd and hooked her arm around Allie.
OceanofPDF.com
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mark swiped the ugly wig off his head and threw it on the living room
floor.
“Ew, Dad. That’s disgusting.” Chloe made a huge circle around him and
his discarded hairpiece. “What’s for lunch?” She headed into the kitchen.
Mark put his hands on the back of a chair and leaned forward.
“Whatever you want.” He didn’t care if he ever ate again. Watching Allie
walk away this morning was like having half his heart peeled away. He
squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. For the life of him, he couldn’t
figure out how to let what had started with Allie continue and keep his life
free of the drama family court judges frowned upon.
“Dad?” Chloe called from the kitchen. “How do you turn on the oven?”
He pushed off from the couch and hurried into the kitchen. “What’s
going on in here?”
“I wanted lasagna.” She thunked the chunk of frozen Italian goodness
onto the counter.
Mark reached above the fridge to retrieve a cookie tray. He opened the
box and slid the aluminum pan out. The instructions were simple enough—
they included illustrations—and yet he couldn’t think past getting the box
open.
