Mrs. Davidson tilted her head and looked at her in surprise. “How did you know Jonathon’s nickname was Jack? No one really calls him that anymore.”
Jamie froze. Oh, help. She was busted. “I…”
“Jamie works for an agency that requests funding from Hathaway, Mom. I’m sure she understands why he quit his job.”
Okay, uncomfortable family undercurrents. Would Caro’s contempt shift to her if she found out Jamie had slept with Jack? But this was her opportunity to at least partially come clean. “Yes, and this week I actually met Jack in person. He’s working with one of my teenagers.”
Caro looked smug, Mrs. Davidson looked appalled. “He’s doing what?” she said.
“Oh, yeah, Jack and Jamie have been working very closely on this project,” Allison said, humor in her voice.
Turning, she shot Allison a warning look. Allison was the one who had gotten her started on this whole secret sex thing, and now she was about to force questions Jamie didn’t want to answer while her feet were soaking in a salon. Or actually, she did not want to answer them ever.
Saved by the pedicurists. As four technicians stepped into the room, Mandy asked, “Why aren’t you having a pedicure, Mrs. Davidson?”
Jamie could have kissed Mandy for taking the conversation off of Jack/Jonathon.
“Oh, I had a spa day yesterday. I knew I would be too nervous to relax today.”
A woman dressed all in black sat on a little stool in front of Jamie and pulled her right foot out of the water and dried it with a fluffy white towel.
She tried to relax, forcing herself to take deep breaths and listen to the classical music playing softly above her head. Okay, that was better.
This was not a big deal. So she was lying. No biggie. So she had bolted out of Jack’s place like a redheaded chicken. So she was in love with him. Not a problem.
All she had to do was spend an entire weekend in a wedding party with him and pretend they were platonic acquaintances. Of course, that was no mean feat, considering she had touched every inch of his glorious body and had begged him to make her come.
She had been certain he’d been exaggerating when he’d said he loved her. Sure she’d been doing the right thing. She had thought it wasn’t a good idea for them to get involved, but now she couldn’t really remember why. The only thing she did know was that she wasn’t handling this whole thing very well.
Jamie had always prided herself on being a clear-headed person. Sitting in that chair she felt about as thick as Derby pie.
She had sort of run out on Jack twice.
A flush raced through her.
Maybe she wasn’t as mature as she liked to think.
Mrs. Davidson started across the room. “My cell phone is ringing. Excuse me, girls, I’ll take this in the lobby.”
Caroline closed her eyes as a pedicurist started massaging her feet. “She’s driving me crazy.” Then her eyes reopened, fists relaxed, and Caroline looked determined to ignore her mother. Her tone was brisk, efficient, purposefully pleasant. “Mandy, you’re partners with my cousin, Steve.”
“Is he cute?” Mandy joked, flipping her wispy hair back. “Damien will be jealous if he is.”
“I do think he’s cute, yes, even though he’s my cousin. He’s something of a flirt, too. I don’t want to cause problems, Mandy. I can partner you with Finn, Brad’s awful cousin from Ireland.”
“No, no, leave me with Steve.” Mandy grinned, her hands resting on the baby bump below her waistband. “It practically guarantees that Damien will want to shag me when we get home that night. Branding, you know. And reminding me that I made the right choice in picking him.”
Jamie was appalled. Torturing your husband all night just sounded so cruel.
Allison just laughed. “You’re too cute to be so manipulative, Mandy. I love it.” Then she turned to Caroline. “So, who do I get? The awful cousin or your brother?”
“The awful cousin.” Caroline winced. “I’m sorry, Allison, but the thing is I trust you to control him. Jamie, well, sweetie, you’re just too nice.”
Nice. Sure. That’s what she was. Lying and running out on men. She felt just sweet as sugar.
Why had she bolted like that? She might have ruined her new friendship with Jack, except that she knew despite their best intentions, neither one of them could claim they were purely friends.
Allison rubbed her hands together. “Controlling a man sounds like it could be fun, actually. So what do I have to do? Keep him from draining the Cristal, or from trying to look up skirts of fifteen-year-old girls?”
Eew. Jamie wasn’t too nice to handle a guy like that, but she sure in the heck didn’t want to.
“Allison, he’s not that bad. He’s not a pervert, just a jerk.” Caroline’s mouth drew down in a frown, and a hand went back up to rub at her right temple.
“So what’s so terribly wrong with him?” Mandy asked.
There was no hesitation. “He’s rude, he turns everything into a joke, he’s underdressed in scrubby clothes at every occasion, and he’s an artist, of all things. A broke, mooching artist, and for some reason Brad thinks he’s the coolest thing since MP3s.”
“I can handle that type, no problem.” Allison waved her hand in the air. “I’ll prevent him from making an embarrassing toast at the reception, I promise.”
Wait a minute. It suddenly occurred to Jamie exactly what that meant.
It meant…
“So, that means Jamie is with Jonathon.”
Gak. She’d thought that’s what it meant. Her heart slammed into her gut. No, no, no. She could not spend the next twenty-four hours being forced to walk with, sit next to, dance with, and pose in pictures alongside Jack.
It had been hard enough to resist him the first week, when he’d just been friendly and pleasant at Beechwood. It had been damn near impossible to say no to the silent plea he’d had in his eyes after he had kissed her, told her he loved her.
Put him in a tux, with champagne swimming through her system, and she might as well throw her skirt over her head and let him at it.
A gurgling sound came out of her mouth. The pedicurist glanced up at her, her eyebrow lifting.
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea, Caro? It might make Jack uncomfortable since we know each other in a…professional capacity.”
Allison gave another hideous cough. “Maybe Jamie has a point, Caroline. I can partner up with Jonathon. It will be fun, since I’ve known him for years, and he’ll feel comfortable.”