“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care ofit.”
“No. No. I’ll do it.” She stepped closer to him, and her face sobered. “Not right away, obviously, because I’m broke, but can I pay you back in the future?”
“It’s nothing.”
She touched his wrist, demanding his full attention. Heat coiled in his stomach. “Please?”
“Okay.” He choked out the word, and took a step back, taking his tingling wrist away from her. What to say next? He wouldn’t, couldn’t let her see his control slipped from him. “But weren’t you supposed to go see your dad’s cousin today?”
She shuffled her weight from foot to foot, and lifted her hand over her eyes to look at him. “That’s where I was going.”
“I’ll take you,” he said, and when he heard himself, the spontaneous offer echoed in his ears. He stretched to his full height. She couldn’t drive that piece of junk, and if she found a ride to get there and then needed to return at the end of the day... who would she call? Him. So. He might as well bite the bullet. That’s all this was—a way to avoid more inconvenience lateron.
Lola settled for a closed lip smiling, her shift changing from one leg to another. “Your driving me is too much. I’ve been trying to do things on myown.”
“You have, Lola. I’ll just be doing this as… a friend. Maybe you shouldn’t be alone.”
“Thanks, Jack.” The sweetness in her voice, lacking any sexual connotation, cut into his heart.
Friends helped each other. However, how could he be her friend when dirty images and thoughts filled his mind at every turn? The words pounded in his ears, in staccato.
Not. Done. With. Her.
“So I’ve wonderedif you know who this woman is,” Lola explained to her cousin Joe, as she gave him the picture she’d been holding for the past thirty minutes. Joe had offered them coffee, showed them the renovations of his estate, and finally had them sit for a chat. Jack sat across from her, and even when he talked to him, Jack assessed her with his wondering eyes. An unfamiliar comfort swept over her, hinting this friend idea worked out after all—if she continued to keep her slutty hormones in check, and focus on building the only type of relationship she could have with her soon to be ex-husband.
Joe glanced at the picture with a spark of interest. Certainly didn’t look as if the woman had been a complete stranger. At first, the flush from his face faded, leaving his plump cheeks pale. Then, his features softened, as though a good memory surfaced.
Lola slid to the edge of the sofa, a thrill of anxiety coursing through her, and chilling her every cell. Good or bad, she yearned to know the truth.
“I’ve never seen this woman before.” Without looking her in the eye, he placed the picture on the low coffee table.
Her shoulders sagged with disappointment. “Are yousure?”
Joe nodded quickly, refusing to look her in the eye. “Lola, darling, your father wouldn’t have wanted you to worry over a picture. As far as I’m concerned, this might be a picture that belongs to someone he himself doesn’tknow.”
She looked at Jack, who remained seated with a blank stare on his face. “The edges of the pictures are roughened. Not only has he had it for a long time, but he kept it. The way her hair is styled, this was taken in the eighties. Before I was born.” She’d always known her two semesters at UCLA learning about fashion history would pay off oneday.
“I’m sorry.” Her uncle shrugged, the apologetic look in his eyes hinted that there was more he apologized for. But damn the man, she doubted he’d share it withher.
The following awkward small talk filled her mind like white noise. During the entire time, disillusion hammered, and the need to find the woman who could lead her to her birth parentsgrew.
She went through the motions, talked to her uncle until they left. Then she embraced the solitude, tucked in her corner of the passenger seat of Jack’s Land Rover and closed her eyes. Though she doubted sleep would come. Not with racing thoughts and lost hope bombarding her brain. But at least she’d save face and keep Jack from feeling sorry forher.
“Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” His voice sliced through the silence.
“Besides materializing into a case of chocolate and the latest Star Magazine?” She opened her eyes and found him staring at her. A smile broke his lips and he focused on the windy road ahead. “How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?”
“Your eyelashes fluttered, and you moved your head from side toside.”
Too late to save face. Besides, who else could she talk to? “Can my intuition always be wrong?”
He shot her the warning look a doctor would give a terminal patient. “It’s better this way. Your father loved you, and your mother… she’s an acquired taste, but I’m sure she’d be here for you in a heartbeat if you neededher.”
She folded her arms, unable to let go of the throbbing in her heart. She couldn’t shake the nagging feeling Joe hid the truth from her, even though she had no idea how to discover it. “Is it wrong I want to know more about my biological parents?” she asked, her voice above a whisper. “That I’m not letting the past be in the past?” Not when it could be a big part of herDNA.
“No. I just don’t understand why finding them has become your priority.”
She faced the window, the amount of luxurious estates and ranches they drove by barely catching her attention. “I love my dad and Margo. I guess, silly me, I just hoped if I knew who my birth parents were, I’d find a reasonable explanation as to why I’m so flaky.” Relief poured inside her, like she was finally released from a hostage situation. Although their marriage was over by nearly all counts, she owed him to at least unveil one of her fears. “When I lost the baby, a part of me was so sad and broken… but then I realized I’d probably have been a crappymom.”
