35. Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Paige was almost at the front door of Starbucks on Sunday when her phone rang. Digging it out of her purse, she saw the incoming call was from David. “Hello?”
“Where are you at?” he asked, in lieu of returning her greeting.
“I’m almost at Starbucks.” She frowned, taken aback by his tone, which was borderline Oh, shit. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Sort of.”
Paige waited for a moment and when he didn’t elaborate, prompted, “Are you going to tell me what it is, or do I have to guess?”
“I … have Jacob with me.”
She stopped on the sidewalk, causing a woman to almost run into her from behind. “Sorry,” Paige apologized, more out of reflex than actual remorse, her attention on the bomb David had just dropped on her.
David had Jacob?
No. She hadn’t signed up for this. “He’s … in Starbucks with you?”
“We’re actually across the street at the park.”
Paige’s head swiveled in that direction and she immediately started scanning the people clustered around the large playground area, unable to stop herself. It only took her a few seconds to spot David sitting on one of the park benches, then to follow his line of sight to the biggest slide, where a little boy was in the process of climbing the ladder.
Jacob.
Her first glimpse of David’s son almost brought Paige to her knees; she actually felt lightheaded for a second, much like the night she’d learned of his existence. Paige didn’t want to look at him, but she couldn’t look away. Even from where she stood, the resemblance between father and son appeared to be uncanny. With the exception of the adorable crewcut he was sporting, Jacob looked almost exactly like David had in the childhood pictures Valerie had shown her years ago during a Thanksgiving dinner.
“Paige?”
She could hear David’s voice, but it was competing with the fact that she couldn’t take her eyes off Jacob, who was now flying down the slide, with his hands in the air.
“Paige?” David repeated, this time louder, with concern.
She tried to focus on the phone conversation she was supposed to be having, and not on the boy she shouldn’t be watching. “I heard you,” she said softly. “You have Jacob.”
“He and I come here every Sunday. Ashley was going to pick him up and then I was going to meet you at Starbucks, but she’s late. I’m really sorry.”
Paige was pretty sure the only reason Ashley was late was because she wanted to be late and not because she was stuck in traffic somewhere, or was on the side of the road with a flat tire.
Or that she had been in a terrible, disfiguring accident … which Paige would’ve been fine with.
“I’m sorry, too, because it’s a problem for me.”
Just then, Jacob ran over to David and tugged on his arm and said something—Paige didn’t hear what he said, but she could hear his little boy voice through David’s phone—and it squeezed her heart. David shook his head and replied back to him in a low voice, “Not now. Maybe later, okay?”
Jacob gave him a look that said he didn’t much care for that answer, but then immediately turned and ran back to the playground, letting go of his disappointment in an instant.
“Obviously this isn’t going to happen today,” she said, as evenly as she could, around the lump in her throat. “We’ll have to do it another time.”
She disconnected the call and then returned to her car as fast as she could, short of actually running, before she was tempted to stay and watch some more. And that was absolutely something she didn’t need to do.
On the way home, she called Jules.
“Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with David right now?” Jules asked when she answered.
“I was, but now I’m not.”
“Why?”
“Because he had Jacob with him.”
“He did?”
Paige gave her the brief rundown.
“Ashley was obviously late on purpose just to fuck with you,” Jules said.
“Obviously. And unfortunately, she succeeded.” Paige’s voice lowered a little. “I saw him, Jules.”
“Jacob?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“I mean, they were at the park and I—”
“Oh, my God, you were watching them?”
“No, I wasn’t—”
“Oh, you totally were.”
“—and anyway, ‘watching’ is a strong word.”
“Spying, then?”
“Jesus,” Paige sputtered. “I wasn’t spying.”
“Okay, so we’re back to watching,” Jules said.
“No, we’re not.”
“How long were you watching them?”
“I wasn’t—”
“A creepy amount of time? Or a non-creepy amount of time?”
“I’m not answering that.”
“Must have been a creepy amount of time.”
“For God’s sake, Jules.”
“The sooner you own it, the sooner we can move on.”
“Fine.” Paige released a giant sigh. “I was watching them.”
“Thank you. So, how long were you watching them?”
Paige knew Jules was trying to use humor to lighten what was obviously a painful subject, but Paige responded seriously. “I wish I hadn’t looked at all, to be honest. I won’t ever be able to unsee Jacob’s little face.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s my own damn fault.”
“So, what does he look like?” Jules asked after a brief pause.
Paige took a deep breath and exhaled. “From what I could see, he looks like David’s clone. His own personal mini-me with a crewcut. He’s adorable. And no, I didn’t take a picture.”
“Why not?”
“Yeah, sorry. I was trying to not draw any attention to myself. The last thing I needed was to be caught spying on them—er, shit. Watching them.”
Jules chuckled at Paige’s slip and then said, “Fair enough. I’ll give you a pass this time.”
“Thanks.”
“Now, did you at least find out what David wanted to talk to you about?”
“Damn it,” Paige groaned. “No. I was so pissed at Ashley and distracted by Jacob that I never even asked.”