Irresistible Lies (8 page)

Two?

“Your
room numbers are 240 and 242,” the woman was saying. “They are connected, as requested.”

Grace’s
mouth fell open and Jamie turned to smile at her devilishly. She felt her heart
flip flop in her chest.

“Connecting
rooms!” he said. “Isn’t that fun?”

“You’re
staying here? But you live in the area!”

“I
know, but I didn’t want to leave you alone at a hotel. You’re my guest. What if
you need something?”

“It’s
one night. What could I possibly need?”

He
just laughed. “It’s no big deal. I like hotels, and it will be fun.”

She
blinked at him.

“Come
on, let’s go put our luggage away. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

Grace
silently followed him up the elevator and to their rooms, her mind buzzing. She
knew Jamie could be manipulative, but this was just something else. Was this
some crazy attempt to sleep with her? Was he trying to start a relationship
with her again? Did he want them to be friends?

Whatever
he was after, she wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to get it. She had
to think of her son. Once this trip ended, she was going to have to put a lot
more distance between them.

They
entered their separate rooms, and Grace immediately found the connecting door.
She checked to make sure that it was locked and promised herself it would stay that
way.

Her
room was beautiful but clearly meant for more than one person. The king-sized
bed with its crisp white comforter and mountain of pillows was big enough for
four people. There was a white loveseat and a big screen television, and the
bathroom had a shower with six showerheads. Grace was impressed.

Surely
Jamie had known she would be.

Instead
of unpacking her few belongings or freshening up, Grace collapsed on the bed,
spreading herself out to take up as much room as possible. Never in her life
had she felt so much like she was living in a dream.

Or
maybe it was a nightmare. She was back in New York, and Jamie was on the other
side of the door.

The
universe was screwing with her. She tried to think of things she had done to
deserve it.

Maybe
she was being punished for not going to church enough.

Maybe
it was punishment for not telling Jamie that she had gotten pregnant or that he
had a son.

As
soon as she had the thought, powerful guilt washed over her, almost taking her
breath away. All of these years she had turned Jamie into a villain in her
mind, telling herself that he didn’t deserve to know and that she had been
doing him a favor keeping Jake a secret. Now he was real again, flesh and
blood, with feelings and blue eyes that looked just like his son’s.

She
felt tears start to form.

“No,”
she said aloud, fighting them. “Get a grip on yourself, Grace.”

She
had made her decision five years ago, and it had been the right one at the
time. She couldn’t go back in time and change things, and why would she want
to? Jamie was happy, wealthy and successful. He didn’t miss something he never
knew he had. If she told him about Jake now, it would just hurt him. He would
be angry, and she would have to share the one person who mattered most to her
in the world with a man she didn’t know anymore.

She
pulled out her cell phone and dialed her home number. Caroline answered.

“Hi.
How is it going?”

“Could
be better,” Grace answered. “The hotel is amazing, but Jamie is staying here
too. We are in connecting rooms.”

Caroline
was speechless for a moment. “What the hell?”

“I
have no idea. And he’s being so nice. Nothing like the jerk he’s been all week.
I can’t tell if he wants to be friends because we’re working together or if
it’s something more. Maybe he thinks it would be fun to sleep with an old
girlfriend. How should I know? He’s a mystery to me now.”

“It
doesn’t matter what his intentions are,” Caroline said sternly. “You can’t be
friends with him. He’s the father of your child, Grace. You can’t play games
here. This could get really messy.”

“I
know.” She felt herself getting defensive, even though she knew Caroline’s
words came from a good place. “I’m not going to play games. I’m just trying to
keep distance between us.”

“Good.”

“Can
you put Jake on?”

“Yeah.
Just promise you’ll be careful.”

“I
will.”

Grace
waited a minute or two until her son picked up.

“Mommy?”

“Hi,
baby. What are you doing?”

“Aunt
Caroline took me to the food store, and I got hotdogs, and I’m going to have a
hotdog for lunch and macaroni and cheese with it and then chocolate chip ice cream
on a cone.”

She
laughed, even though he sounded so serious. “That sounds very healthy.”

“Yeah.
We traded.”

“Traded
what?”

“Aunt
Caroline said that if I eat three pieces of broccoli at dinner I can eat
hotdogs for lunch.”

“You’re
going to eat broccoli? I don’t think so!”

“It’s
yucky.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m not really going to eat the
broccoli. Don’t tell.”

She
laughed, wondering how on earth his four-year-old brain could be so
mischievous. Then she remembered who his father was.

There
was a hard knock on the connecting door, and her heart skipped a beat.

“I
have to go baby. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Be good.”

“Bye,
mommy. I love you.”

“I
love you, too.”

She
hung up the phone, braced herself and swung open the door. Jamie was standing
there, one eyebrow raised, looking sexy in dark jeans and a crisp blue shirt.

“Charlie
called already?” he asked dryly. “Needy, isn’t he?”

“He
wanted to make sure I got in safely,” she said, seizing onto the excuse. How
much of her conversation had Jamie heard?

Jamie
walked into her room uninvited, and the space no longer looked as big as it had
before.

“I
thought you two just started dating. You already use the l-word?”

“Jamie...”

“It
took you three months to say it to me.”

Jamie
moved close to her. Their eyes met, and she saw he was hurt. The realization
surprised her. She didn’t know what to say.

He
reached out and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. His fingers brushed
her face, and she felt the contact throughout her whole body.

Grace
felt frozen in time. She thought that he was going to kiss her, and she didn’t
step back. His eyes were locked on hers, and he slowly moved his hand from her
ear down the length of her neck.

When
he reached the sensitive skin of her collarbone, she sucked in a sharp breath.
He pulled his hand away, regret in his eyes.

“We
should go,” he said, turning away from her. “We have to go pick up my truck,
and we’re late to tour the brewery.”

She
went with him, hating herself for being a little disappointed.

Chapter 7

Four
Brothers Brewery was so much more than Grace imagined it would be. She had
pictured a small operation with Jamie’s college friends working a machine or
two.

What
she found instead looked like a small factory. The brewery was filled with
activity, with a handful of men and women in jeans and goggles working dozens
of different large machines. The first thing that caught her eye was the
assembly line of bottles being filled with beer, capped and labeled at rapid
speed, just what she imagined a real brewery would look like. Grace, once
again, was impressed.

“Wow.”
She took in the sheer size of it all, spinning around in a circle. “This is all
yours?”

“Well,
I own a quarter of it,” Jamie told her, shrugging.

“It’s
incredible.”

“Thank
you.” He smiled. “We have worked really hard for this.”

“I
can tell.”

He
took her hand. “Come over here, I’ll show you how beer is made. You can have
the special tour, reserved for very important people.”

Grace
laughed. “I feel so lucky.”

“You
should.” Jamie brought her over to a pile of filled brown bags and opened one.
“This is malt,” he said, pulling out a handful of what looked like seeds. “It’s
raw barley that has been seeped in water, germinated and dried. We use a pale,
two-row malt for most of our beers. Here, touch it.”

“Nice,”
Grace said, finding Jamie’s enthusiasm adorable.

She
couldn’t help but smile, seeing how in his element he was. He brought her
around the brewery, showing her hops and big machines called kettles that
boiled the hops with beer wort. He showed her the fermenting and conditioning
process, and finally took her to where the beer was packaged.

“Look
at the label,” he said.

She
peered closely where he pointed and noticed for the first time the tiny
signatures scribbled at the bottom of it.

Jamie,
Tom, Nick and Chris.

His
best friends from college. They had been her friends, too. She had abandoned
those friendships when Jamie had abandoned her, choosing all of this over the
girl who adored him.

Seeing
it now, she almost couldn’t blame him.

“That’s
sweet,” she said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“It’s
important to us that we don’t forget where this started, no matter how big we
get,” he said. “We always need to remember that this place was founded on
friendship.”

And
what a good friendship it was. She had so many great memories of all of them
together in college, from nights out to study sessions to ordering Chinese food
on Sunday nights. Seeing all of their names together on the beer label made her
sad for all the years she had missed out on.

“Aren’t
you going to open it?” Jamie asked, disrupting her thoughts. “Here, let me.”

He
opened the beer easily on the side of the machine and handed it to her, eagerly
awaiting her reaction.

“I’m
not really a beer drinker,” she warned him. “Don’t be disappointed if I don’t
like it.”

“I
know, and I won’t be,” he said, his eyes bright with excitement. He looked so
much like Jake in that moment that she knew she would pretend to love the beer
even if it was the worst thing she ever tasted.

She
took a sip.

“Well?
What’s the verdict?”

“Wow,
this is great!” Grace wasn’t lying, either. The beer was surprisingly light and
flavorful. “It almost has a caramel thing going for it.”

“I
knew you’d like it,” he said, his smile proud. “This is a flavor I developed.
It took me two years. I was trying to find something you would like, and once I
started working with caramel malt I knew I had found it.”

She
was touched. “You were thinking of me?”

“Of
course,” he said. “We call this one Four Brothers Grace. It’s one of our biggest
sellers.” He leaned toward her conspiratorially. “To be honest with you, it’s
our girliest beer. Our male customers wouldn’t be caught dead ordering this at
a bar.”

Grace
felt herself tear up. She couldn’t believe he had named a beer after her. It
was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her.

“Why
did you...?”

Jamie
shrugged. “You’ve always been my biggest inspiration.”

“Jamie,
this is incredible. Thank you.”

“It’s
the least you deserve,” he told her, suddenly serious. “After the way I treated
you, I know I have a long way to go to make it right.”

Grace
didn’t want to think about it. “The past is the past.”

“If
you meant that, you would have forgiven me,” he said.

“I
have forgiven you.” The words sounded false, even to her own ears. She wanted
to forgive Jamie and had tried to over their years apart, but there was too
much between them. She was still so hurt. “It was years ago. The past is in the
past.”

“Don’t
lie to me, Grace,” he said. “Don’t pretend it’s okay when it’s not.”

His
blue eyes bore into hers, trying to fish out the truth.

Grace
looked away, unable to face him. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Jamie.
You broke my heart. I know I should be over it, I know it’s stupid, but I’m
still angry with you.”

“It’s
not stupid.” He reached out and took her hand, and she didn’t stop him. “All I
ask is that you give me the chance to fix this.”

“What
do you mean fix this?”

Didn’t
he realize that it was too late for them?

“I
want to-”

“Jamie!
Who have you got there?”

Grace
jumped guiltily when she heard a booming male voice behind her, snatching her
hand out of Jamie’s grasp. She turned to see three familiar, smiling faces.

“Well,
well, if it isn’t Miss Houdini.”

“Houdini?”
She barely got the word out before Tom, the largest of her old friends, pulled
her into a big bear hug.

“Because
you pulled such an amazing disappearing act,” Chris told her, waiting for his
turn.

“She’s
alive!” Nick said, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s a miracle!”

After
embracing each of them, Grace couldn’t help but smile at how little they had
changed. They still looked like the college kids she remembered, except Tom had
a better haircut, Chris better shoes and Nick had a wedding ring.

“We’re
so glad you’re here,” Tom said. “What do you think of the place?”

“It’s
amazing. So amazing. I can’t believe you guys did all of this.”

“Yeah,
well we were pretty motivated after graduation,” Nick said with a grin.
“Poverty will do that to you. We sank every penny we had into this place, so we
needed to make it work.”

“I
said that if it didn’t work out, I was going to go ahead with medical school,”
Chris said. “I’m so glad it did, because I don’t think I could have handled all
that studying.”

“Of
course you could have,” Grace said, laughing. “You were always the smartest of
all of these knuckleheads.”

“No,
that’s this guy over here.” Tom patted Jamie on the shoulder. “He’s the brains
behind this operation. Our financial wizard.”

“I
am not.” Jamie looked uncomfortable. “Quit trying to make me look good.”

“Sorry,
man.” Tom winked at Grace. “So touchy.”

“So
listen,” Nick said. “Let’s grab something to eat and do some catching up. We’re
all dying to hear what the hell you’ve been up to, Grace.”

“Oh,
well, not much.” She shrugged her shoulders, feeling uncomfortable with all the
attention.

“Right.”
Chris smiled knowingly at her. “Still partying hard, I bet.”

Grace
smiled at the absurdity of the thought. Jake didn’t leave much time for
partying, but she didn’t really miss it. “Not at all. I don’t do that anymore.”

“Sure,
that’s what they all say.”

“Do
you two want to have lunch with us?” Nick asked Grace and Jamie. “We were just
heading to my house, and we’d love if you came.”

Jamie
nodded. “That sounds great. We’d love to, right Grace?”

“Your
house?” Grace asked Nick. “Where is that?”

“Oh,
it’s right across the street. We can walk there.”

 
“Are you sure we’re not imposing?”

The
men all laughed.

“We
always eat at Nick’s!” Tom said. “Lunch at Nick’s is part of the daily
routine.”

“And
how does your wife feel about that?” Grace asked him, surprised.

“Lacey?
Oh she loves it,” Chris cut in. “She’s the best cook in the world.”

“It’s
true,” Nick said, smiling. “She really doesn’t mind. She likes being with all
of us.”

They
made the short walk to Nick’s place, the men falling into a discussion about
the evening’s upcoming gala. Grace was silent, thinking about how beautiful
their property was and how incredible it was that her old friends had made so
much of themselves in such a short time. She remembered so clearly how confused
they were in college, how none of them knew what they wanted to do with their
lives. One was going to be a doctor, two were lost in the liberal arts, and
Jamie was set to join the financial industry. None of them were particularly
happy about their career paths. So they had changed them.

Jamie
was right to turn down the job in New York City, she admitted to herself. He
had made the right choice.

That
was a little hard to swallow.

The
five of them made it to Nick’s place, a cute, freshly painted white house with
bright blue shutters. They knocked, and a beautiful, very pregnant blonde in an
apron met them at the door.

“Come
in everyone,” she said with a little Southern twang, smiling at them. “You’re
letting the bugs in.”

Grace
hung back as Jamie kissed Nick’s wife warmly on the cheek.

“You
have been gone too long!” she told him. “We miss you around here.”

Jamie
laughed. “It has only been a week.”

“Long
enough!”

“Lacey,
I’d like you to meet Grace.” Jamie motioned toward her, smiling from ear to
ear. “Grace, this is Nick’s wife Lacey, the glue who holds us all together.”

Grace
felt an odd pang of jealousy, but it disappeared when Lacey gave her a big hug.

“It’s
so good to finally meet you, Grace,” she said. “I’ve heard so much about you!”

Grace
shot a questioning look at Jamie, who was purposefully looking in another
direction.

“It’s
so nice to meet you, too,” Grace said.

Nick
and Lacey’s house was just as lovely and cozy on the inside as it was on the
outside. The walls were covered in photographs of the happy couple, framed
newspaper clippings about the brewery, and signs with inspirational sayings on
them.

They
all sat down to eat at the kitchen table, and Lacey served them fresh bread and
pasta. The meal was excellent, and everyone heaped praise on the chef. It was
obvious that Lacey was extremely close with the four men, and Grace got the
impression that they were a tight-knit group.

She
couldn’t help but feel a little sad thinking that if Jamie hadn’t broken up
with her, she would have been a part of it.

“So
Grace, what have you been doing for the past five years?” Tom asked her. “You
need to catch us up!”

All
eyes were on her, and she hesitated before answering. She couldn’t tell them
about the biggest thing that had happened to her, which was unfortunate because
it was her favorite thing to talk about. They couldn’t know about Jake.

“I’ve
been working,” she said lamely. “I work at a public relations firm in Virginia.
I live with Caroline. You remember my sister? She’s getting married soon.”

“Just
working?” Tom asked.

“What
about a boyfriend?” Nick asked, shooting a look at Jamie.

Jamie
scowled visibly, and Grace hesitated before answering. “Um, I’m seeing someone,
yeah.”

Chris
pulled a face, Nick and Tom winced slightly, and Lacey thoughtfully changed the
subject. “Oh, I just felt the baby kick! She does it all the time now.”

That
got everyone’s attention. The men took turns placing their hands on Lacey’s
stomach, competing to see which uncle the baby would kick for and therefore
liked best.

Grace
and Lacey just laughed listening to them, good-naturedly rolling their eyes across
the table at each other.

“Nick,
I can’t believe you’re having a baby,” Grace said. “I’m so happy for you.”

“I’m
so excited,” he said. “And nervous. Really, really nervous. I’ve never really
been around a baby before.”

“You’ll
be fine,” Grace said. “It will come naturally to you once the baby comes.”