Irresistible Lies (2 page)

Chapter 2

“Mommy.”

The
little voice that had at some point in time become her alarm clock pulled Grace
out of her dream, but she didn’t want to leave it. It was a good one. She was
on the beach, margarita in hand, not a care in the world.

“Mommy,
wake up. It’s time for school.”

Time
to face reality. Grace opened her eyes to look into the bright blue ones of her
son, his hair flying in all different directions from sleep.

“Are
you sure you have school today, Jake? Are you sure it wasn’t canceled?” She was
teasing him, of course, and tried to hide a smile when he frowned at her in an
adorable mix of confusion and frustration. Jake had just started a new year of
preschool a few weeks ago, and he loved it.

“I
have school today, Mommy. Don’t lie.” He grabbed onto her hand and pulled it as
hard as he could, which wasn’t very hard. “Get up now. I have to brush my
teeth.”

“Okay,
okay, I’m getting up.”

She
followed him to the bathroom dutifully, watching while he brushed his teeth
with his tiny toothbrush. He grinned up at her with pride when his teeth were
clean, and it suddenly hit her how quickly he was growing up.

And
how much he was starting to look like someone she used to know.

Grace
pushed the thought right out of her mind like she had trained herself to do
years ago and followed her son to his bedroom, where she helped him choose what
he wanted to wear. She tried to get him in a plain tee shirt and jeans, but he
argued with her until she let him wear the football jersey his grandpa had
bought for him the week before. The jersey was fine, but it was getting more
and more difficult to keep him from wearing it every day.

“I
have to support my team,” he told her, his serious little expression too much
for her. She gave in every time, telling herself it was worth doing an extra
load of laundry.

When
they made it to the kitchen for breakfast, Grace still wearing her pajamas, her
sister Caroline was all ready for work and whipping up some scrambled eggs.

“Wow,
you’re up early,” Grace said.

“Good
morning, Aunt Caroline.”

 
“Good morning, sweetie.” Caroline smiled
down at Jake before frowning at Grace. “I couldn’t sleep. I had this weird
feeling.”

“What,
like a stomachache? Take something.”

She
shook her head. “No. I just have a feeling that something bad is about to
happen. It kept me up all night.”

“Oh,
don’t tell me that, Cara. I’m looking forward to a quiet work week after last
week’s craziness.”

“Last
week was crazy,” Jake said seriously, nodding his head. “Craziness.”

Grace
laughed and kissed him on the cheek. For the past few weeks, Jake had been
repeating everything he heard. For the most part it was cute, except Caroline
had a bad mouth when she was angry. The two of them were trying to be extra
careful with their language, but it was difficult.

“I
just have a bad feeling,” Caroline said, sighing loudly.

“It’s
probably indigestion.”

“Indigestion,”
Jake mumbled to himself. “Mommy, what’s indigestion?”

“When
your tummy hurts after you eat food.”

“Oh.
I’ve had indigestion before.”

Her
little boy was going to have quite a vocabulary if he kept this up.

“It’s
not indigestion, Grace,” Caroline said, exasperated. “It’s just a feeling.”

Caroline’s
feelings were not something Grace had ever worried about. Her sister had always
been very superstitious. It was just one of the many things that was different
about them—they didn’t even look like sisters. Grace was short with dark
hair and brown eyes. Caroline was tall, blonde and blue eyed. Strangers always
assumed Jake was Caroline’s son.

Despite
their obvious physical differences, they did have the important things in
common. Both women were smart and had the good values their parents had
instilled in them, and they were loyal to one another above all else.

 
“You’re right. It’s probably nothing.
Maybe I’m just nervous about the wedding.” Caroline shrugged halfheartedly and
plated the eggs. “Jake, honey, you want some breakfast?”

“Yes
please. A growing boy needs his food.”

Jake
patted his stomach and Caroline laughed. “Someone has been spending too much
time with Grandpa, I think.”

“Tell
me about it. I can’t get him to wear anything else but that jersey.”

“He
looks so handsome in it, though.”

“He
does.” Grace glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Since you’re so ahead of schedule,
would you mind taking Jake to school today? I’ve got a meeting this morning
that I can’t be late for.”

“Of
course I can. Jake and I have a lot to catch up on anyway, don’t we?”

Grace
made herself some coffee while Jake and Caroline ate their eggs, discussing a
new friend he had made at school. She couldn’t help but feel a little sad,
thinking of how much she was going to miss Caroline when she moved out. She and
her sister had lived together for years, since before Jake was even born.

They
had been through so much together.

Grace
would never forget the day she found out she was pregnant. It was the day
before college graduation and a few days after her boyfriend had unexpectedly
decided he was better off without her. She had finished her final exams and
driven all the way down to her sister’s new apartment in Virginia, needing time
to think over the breakup and time to wallow in her misery. Caroline had
welcomed her with open arms, helping her to ignore her ex’s phone calls and
trying to get her to see that she was better off without him.

Grace
had her whole future ahead of her. She had a great job lined up in New York
City. She was graduating. She didn’t need a man. It would only hold her back.

Fortunately
for Caroline, Grace hadn’t made the job of convincing her too difficult. Grace
was, and had always been, notoriously stubborn. She was determined to get over the
breakup as quickly as possible and determined not to go crawling back to the
man who had broken her heart. Her mind was set, and that was that.

The
day before graduation, as she packed up her things to head back up to school
for the ceremony, she was numb to the world. She was determined never to speak
or even think of her ex again.

But
fate had other plans.

When
Caroline was helping her pack, she mentioned that she had been having bad
cramps. Grace suddenly realized that her period was late.

A week
late.

Caroline
tried to convince her that it was nothing. She couldn’t be pregnant, because
she had always been so careful and used protection. It was probably just the
stress of the breakup.

To
be sure, they bought a pregnancy test. Grace peed on the stick, her bags packed
by the door, wondering what the hell she was going to do if it came out
positive. Quit her job in New York? Tell her parents? Put the baby up for
adoption? Tell Jamie?

But
it couldn’t be positive, Caroline told her. It just wasn’t possible.

Yet
somehow, it was.

When
the result came in, it was Caroline who was in shock. Grace accepted it as
something that she couldn’t change, something that was meant to be. She was
going to be a mother.

“Are
you going to tell Jamie?”

Grace
had considered Caroline’s question for just a moment before she answered. She
pictured calling him and telling him she was pregnant. She pictured him speechless,
then freaking out. She pictured all of his dreams flying out of the window and
him blaming her for it. Hating her for it.

She
had no doubt he would do the right thing. He would take the stable job in New
York City and they would probably get married, and he would support her and
take care of her and their child.

And
he would hate her.

Well,
she wasn’t going to give him the opportunity. He had left her to follow his own
path or whatever, so she was going to let him do just that. He would never know
about their child, and he would never be responsible for either of them.

It
would be just her and her baby, and that was fine.

“I’m
not going to tell him, Cara,” Grace told her, certain her decision was the
right one. “I want you to swear to me that you will never tell him either.”

“I
won’t tell him.” Caroline pinky swore, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
“I’ll never tell him. I hate him for doing this to you.”

“Hey,
it takes two to make a baby.”

“I
could kill him.”

“I’m
sure dad will get to him first.”

It
was a definite possibility. Grace prevented a potentially dangerous situation,
however, by telling her parents that the baby’s father was a stranger she had
met at a bar right after the breakup. She wasn’t sure they believed her, but
they agreed not to say anything to Jamie even though he called them incessantly
asking about her and had even stopped by their house.

When
Jake was born it was obvious whose child he was—his bright blue eyes
fooled nobody. But by then her parents were so in love with their grandson they
didn’t care who his father was. Their lips were sealed.

 
So, in the end, Grace hadn’t gone to her
graduation or started her job in New York City. Instead she moved into
Caroline’s one-bedroom apartment and her sister helped her through her
miserable, lonely pregnancy and the wonderful birth of her son. After a few
years the trio moved into a slightly bigger apartment where they each had their
own bedrooms, but not much else had changed. Caroline had gone from an
assistant teacher at an elementary school to teaching her own classroom, and
Grace had finally made up for lost time and gotten a job at a public relations
agency. She had just recently been promoted, in fact. And Jake, of course, had
just started school.

Their
lives were good. Things were finally headed in the right direction. They were
happy together, a little family.

Now
Caroline was getting married to the man she loved and starting her own family.
And Grace and Jake would be left alone.

It
wasn’t that Grace didn’t want to be alone with her son. She loved Jake more
than anything in the world, and even though her life could be pretty darn stressful
sometimes, he made her so happy. He really was the best thing that had ever
happened to her. Still, she couldn’t help but think that there would be
something missing when Caroline left.

But
then there had been something missing all along, hadn’t there?

No.
She wouldn’t think like that. She had worked hard to make a happy life for her
and her son, and she was doing herself an injustice by dwelling on the past.

She
didn’t need Jamie Castleton. As far as she was concerned, she had the best part
of him right in front of her.

GRACE
SAT THROUGH the morning staff meeting with her second cup of coffee of the day
and listened to her coworkers share what was going on with their clients. She waited
for her turn nervously, knowing she was going to be called on to speak in the
meeting for the first time ever. She had just been promoted from an assistant
to an account executive, and she was going to be taking on a much bigger role
at the company.

“Grace,
what about you? How are things going with the winery?”

Grace
turned to face Charles Bradden, public relations genius, owner of the company, friend
and occasional thorn in her side. “Everything is on schedule. I’ve put together
an e-newsletter that will go out this week as soon as the client approves it,
and we’ve got journalists already lining up to attend the party this month.
I’ve spoken with Donald from WRTV and he’s considering partnering with them on
the event, which would be huge.”

“Great,
keep me posted.”

“I
will.”

That
was fairly painless, she thought as Charlie moved onto the next person. When
the meeting was over and she began to pack up her materials, however, he
gestured for her to stay behind in the conference room.

“What’s
up?”

“Sit
for a moment.”

“Okay.”
Grace sat down in the empty chair next to her boss and smoothed out her skirt,
racking her mind to figure out what she might have done wrong. Charlie was
extremely particular about the way he ran his company, which she knew very well
from spending a year and a half as his personal assistant.

During
that time he had asked her out on no less than six different occasions, and she
had rejected him every time. When he finally promoted her about a month ago,
however, she had accepted his invitation to take her out to dinner.

She
had enjoyed herself, which had surprised her. After being at Charlie’s beck and
call for eighteen months, picking up his prescriptions, the miniature water
bottles he liked and making appointments for his massages, she had thought
there could be nothing romantic between them. He was good looking in a way
powerful men tended to be, but she hadn’t like the idea of dating her boss when
she felt she could actually have a future at his company.