Fallen Woman(26)

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Pearl gladly handed over the kids for the day to Jase, but I still didn’t have any idea what he planned to do with them for hours while I went to this family picnic with Max. I was a little edgy but had talked to Emmy repeatedly about telling Jase if she was too tired or if she started to hurt. She blew me off in typical three-year-old fashion. When he showed up, the kids were bouncing off the walls, excited, and my heart melted at the thought of Jase spending the day with my babies. He looked so young and carefree standing in the doorway in khaki shorts, a fraternity T-shirt that had seen better days, and tennis shoes. He had some sexy legs—I couldn’t stop staring at his calf muscles.

“Gia, what are you looking at?”

“Huh?” I scrambled out of my dazed state and tried to recover with some grace but totally flopped. “Nothing.” I waved my hand, but he knew I’d been checking him out.

“You look great. Is that a new outfit?”

“No, this one was mine. Pre-pregnancy but still cute and kind of timeless.” I figured capris were still in style, so I paired them with a white button-down tank top. The soft yellow was fun and spring-like. I thought it was safe—conservative—but when I bought it, it had a huge price tag. I didn’t want to stand out.

He kissed me on the cheek after he told the kids it was time to go. “Have fun with Max today.”

“Wait. Where are you taking them?”

Four sets of huge eyes stared up at him in anticipation. “Water Wally’s,” he shouted with excitement, and the kids went crazy jumping up and down.

“Jase, you can’t take four kids who can’t swim to a crowded water park.” I felt horrible crushing his idea, but it wasn’t safe. “And what about Emmy’s nap?”

“Somehow, I knew you’d feel that way. So I took care of it.”

“You took care of it? What does that mean?”

“I mean I took care of all of it. I didn’t know if they’d have swimsuits or those cool little water shoes, and I doubted they knew how to swim.”

“And?”

“I solicited some help.”

“Jase, enough with the cryptic messages.” I was a little irritated, and I could tell it hurt his feelings, but my kids didn’t know how to swim.

“I rented out the park for the day, including all the lifeguards and cabanas.” He looked down at the twinkling eyes in front of him. “My friend Allison helped me pick out swimsuits, towels, and water shoes for everyone.” That cut deep. The beautiful assistant had picked out stuff for my kids. They’d made arrangements for my children so I could go off with some random guy to make money. I tried to keep my feelings from showing and listened as he continued to talk to the bouncing bundles of energy in front of him. “My buddies are going to meet us there—Holland, Willum, Drake, and Allison. We’ll start with swim lessons, but we have floaties just in case, and then the park is ours for the whole day.” He’d thought of everything, and I wasn’t a part of it…but Allison, the blonde bombshell, was. “And if anyone needs to rest, there are plenty of places to lie down in the cabanas.”

My feeble attempt to perk up was pitiful. “That sounds like fun, huh, guys?” They didn’t need me to perk them up—they were already running out the door.

“Come on, Jase. Let’s go!” Megan could be a bossy little thing.

The fake grin on my face hurt, but I just had to hold it long enough to get him out the door.

“You cool with this?” he asked, knowing something was wrong, but I’m sure he assumed it was because I was worried about them. If I were any kind of mother, I would have been, instead of being jealous of another woman hanging out with a man who wasn’t mine—with my children.

I lied through my teeth and muttered the words he wanted to hear. “I’m good.”

“Try to have a good time today. We’ll see you tonight for dinner. My treat,” he called out behind him as he left.

Max walked by him to pick me up as Jase caught up with the kids. With a high-five in passing, neither one stopped. It would take a monumental effort to recover from the Allison blow, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off.

“You okay, Gianna? Are you sick?” If a voice could ever turn someone on, it would be Max’s. It was thick and rich, manly with a hint of sex appeal. Max was an anomaly—he came from old money, but he looked like he’d pull out a skateboard at any moment. He still wore his bangs longer than the rest of his hair, which he had to flip out of his face regularly, and had this tan that made him look like he lived outside instead of in an office making scads of cash.

I had to put Jase out of my mind. I had a better chance of one of his friends being interested than him. Holland still texts or calls me just about every day—he asks my opinion on everything and treats me like his own personal sidekick. I think he’d spend every waking moment with me if I didn’t have children, but I wasn’t ready to add another regular face to the mix. “Yeah, I’m good.” I donned my game face, grabbed my pocket book, and walked out the door.



“So tell me what I’m in for today.” I found Max easy to talk to, and he was easy to be around, not to mention easy on the eyes, so hanging out with him wasn’t a chore. His personality was as laid back as his hair.