Page 19 of Seven Minutes In Heaven
Claire couldn’t bring herself to look Jake in the eye.Why did I even tell him that? He’s Arthur’s son! After we… I’m no better than Arthur.
Jake cleared his throat. “No wonder you were so brazen.”
Damnit. He brought it up.Jake had seemed reasonable, especially after discovering that Claire hadn’t known who he was the other day.I thought we were on the same page, Jake. Don’t bring it up again. Ever.
He must have sensed her sudden discomfort, for he got up and went to his fridge, where he fished out a bottle of beer. He held up another. “You want some too?” he asked.
“No, thanks.”
“Right. Not feeling well.”
That wasn’t why Claire forwent beer, although it was a good excuse. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be. Took two, right?”
Claire shrugged. “I guess.”
Jake sat back down. “You don’t want to talk about my father. I get it. I don’t really want to either.”
“So then why are we?”
“Because he’s the only real thing we share.”
She looked up at him. “Is he?”
Was it unbelievable that she brought up the attraction continuing to reverberate between them? Or would it be more unbelievable to continue to ignore it, as if they had truly gotten it out of their systems and were now content to only see each other at Carter family functions. What about when Claire continued to think back on it? What about when she woke up in the middle of the night, fondly reliving those five minutes in a closet?
What was she supposed to do whenthathappened?
“We need to sort this out. Now.”
Jake nodded. “I don’t disagree with you.”
“It’s awkward as fuck.”
“It’s fine. I get it. It made sense after we met at the house and you were shocked that I was your future stepson.”
“Don’t put it that way.” Claire was going to be sick. Again.
“What I mean is that I understood that you weren’t being purposely problematic.”
“Purposely… problematic?” Claire laughed. “What kind of buzz words have you picked up in this business?”
“A lot. They’re the best words for me to use. Because you were reacting to my father’s behavior and retaliated by fucking the first semi-attractive guy you saw.”
Claire put her utensils down. Maybe she wanted that beer after all. “Semi-attractive? Give me more credit than that. Please.”
“Fine. Damn fine and diabolically handsome.”
Was he being facetious? Because Claire couldn’t tell when he kept that same serious tone. “You’re right,” she finally admitted. “I was retaliating. It pissed me the fuck off, and I wanted to prove that I could at least still get some ‘damn fine’ man to bone me at a moment’s notice. You have no idea what position I’m in. That man holds all the cards, and if I break off the engagement, my career is tanked.”
She expected him to laugh. He didn’t. Jake maintained that same dire countenance he had been courting since they met.
“You’re right,” he said. “If you broke it off with my father, he could very easily blacklist you. You would never work again, or at least not in any projects worth mentioning. You’d be better off moving to Bumsville, Iowa, and being the star of the local community playhouse.”
Claire snorted. “At least you’re honest with me. Like that audition today. I don’t have a chance, do I?”
“Well, puking on the lead male actor is not going to help you any, no.”
