“We booked the presidential suite in the grandest hotel, La Belle Provence. The day after we arrived I got out of bed fairly early and told her I was going for a jog to work off some of my jetlag and wake myself up. She just groaned and rolled over and went back to sleep.” Drake drew in a deep breath then exhaled slowly. “At least, that was what I thought.”
Meg frowned. That sounded ominous. She was dying to know what happened next but when he fell silent she did not push. He needed to tell his story in his own time.
“It wasn’t till I got down to the lobby that I realized I’d left my cell phone.” Drake was not looking at Meg now. He stared straight ahead as he spoke, looking as if he’d been transported back in time. “I was quiet, going back into the suite. I didn’t want to wake her. I’d just grabbed the phone from the coffee table when I thought I heard voices coming from the bedroom. I decided to check."
His jaw tightened and he spoke through clenched teeth as he said the next words. “She was on the phone, talking about how she’d ‘bagged’ me with a fake pregnancy. Said she was going to wait another week or two before telling me about the miscarriage. Of course, she was going to make that up, too.”
“Oh, my God.” Meg’s hand flew to her mouth. How could a woman be so devious?
“Apparently, it had all been a set-up. The whirlwind romance, the rushed marriage. She’d targeted me long before I even knew she existed. Based on the rest of the conversation it seemed the plan had been in place for over a year.”
Drake shook his head. “I got rid of her so fast she didn’t know what hit her.” Then he laughed and the sound was harsh and bitter. “That’s the last time I’ll let a woman make a fool out of me.” He snorted. “Pregnancy. I fell for the age-old trick.” He shook his head again then to Meg’s relief, he chuckled. “Let’s hope that now that I’m the ripe old age of thirty-four I won’t fall for a stupid trick like that again.”
She laughed with him but inside she was pained by what he’d gone through. The nerve of that woman, to try to trap him with a baby. In this case, a fake one. Some women would stop at nothing to trap a rich man into marriage.
Trying to lighten the mood, she decided to change the subject. “I started writing chapter one this week. It’s going great.”
As she’d expected, his face brightened. “Good. I’m looking forward to seeing your first draft.”
“We’re still a couple of months away from a full draft but I’m happy with the way it started off. It’s really flowing.”
“Great.”
“I’m depicting you like the urban version of the swashbuckling cowboy of the wild west.”
“What?”
“You’re the one who said I should add excitement to your boring life. Well, I’m doing that.” She was smiling now.
“I don’t know…” he said, putting his hand to his chin. “Do you really think-”
“Got you.” She burst out laughing. “You’re so gullible.”
By this time he was laughing, too. “My one major flaw. I need to work on that.”
After that, the tension dissipated and it was as if Drake had never brought up the sensitive subject of his disaster marriage at the hands of a femme fatale. They fell into comfortable conversation and lost track of time so that when Jessie burst into the waiting lounge with the rest of her group in tow they looked at each other, surprised.
“Has it been forty-five minutes already?” Meg couldn’t help asking.
“Guess so,” Drake said, then opened his arms as Jessie ran toward him.
She hopped onto his lap as if she’d been doing that all her life then whipped a toy out of her pocket. “Look what I got. A baby dinosaur.” She reached over and shook the green soft toy under Meg’s nose. “Here, Mommy, I’ll let you play with it first.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” Meg took it and smiled her gratitude.
“Hey, didn’t you bring me anything?” Drake put on a sad face and even added a pout.
Meg had to laugh. He was actually a good actor. Move over, Brad Pitt.
“I’m sorry, I only got one toy,” Jessie said, her eyes full of regret. “Don’t be sad. You can play with it after Mommy’s done. I’ll go last, okay.”
“You’re such a sweetheart,” Drake said. “Now you’ve made me so happy I don’t even need a dinosaur anymore. Not when I have you to play with.” And he tickled her till she giggled and writhed and squealed for him to stop.
That evening as Drake drove them home with Jessie snoring softly in the back, Meg leaned back in her seat and sighed. It had been a wonderful day and she could not have asked for more. Did she dare hope that he would spend more time with them? She would love many more days like this and so would Jessie.
For now, though, she would savor the afterglow of this one. She glanced over at Drake as he drove and, as if he felt her eyes on him, he looked across at her and smiled.
And that smile, simple as it seemed, was all it took to make her spirit soar.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Meg was on a high for days after the outing with Drake. She was in such a good mood that she’d got up before dawn each morning and worked for three solid hours before Jessie even began to stir. Then once she’d dropped her off at school she went right back on the job, not budging from her computer till it was time to get Jessie. Then, when her daughter was asleep, she worked for two or three hours more as if she’d been shot with a double dose of adrenalin. For two weeks she kept up the pace so that long before the date she’d set, she had Drake’s first draft ready.
During this productive period Drake called a few times and each time she’d been happy to give him a positive progress report. What made her even happier was that he never forgot to ask for Jessie.
Finally, the day came when she would see him again. She would be presenting him with the completed first draft of his memoir. First, though, she had to drop her daughter off at her parents’ house in Woodridge. The little girl would be spending the weekend with her grandparents as she did every so often. She loved roaming the wide-open spaces of her grandparents’ property and playing with the many pets they had. She loved Alexis, the german shepherd and Caleb, the rooster but her absolute favorite was Sasha, the siamese cat who was queen of the home. She was a mild mannered cat who would allow Jessie to put a bonnet on her head and place her in her toy pram and push her around the yard.