Page 27 of Seven Minutes In Heaven
There’s only one person I need to tell right now, and I’ve been avoiding him.Jake had backed off on trying to woo her again. As soon as the letters and bouquets stopped coming, Jake likewise stopped coming around for dinner with his father. Arthur said his son was busy writing his next script and tended to disappear for weeks at a time.
No, Arthur. He’s nursing his wounds after I stabbed him in the heart.Now she carried Jake’s child. Now she carried Arthur’s grandchild!
She needed to act. Fast.
This was how waiting to have sex with Arthur bit her in the ass. She couldn’t say,Surprise! I’m pregnant!and have him go along with it, because they never had sex. Shame, too. Odds were good she could get away with it, because the kid would still have some of Arthur’s genes and look a little like him. There was theotheroption, of course, and Claire had kicked it around her head, sometimes for whole nights at a time. Except she couldn’t bring herself to call a doctor to help her take care of her predicament.
Well, not until she had talked to Jake, anyway. He had a right to know. Maybe he would know what to do.
“Claire-Bear?”
She brought herself back to the present and picked one of the three chocolate samples with a wave of her hand. Arthur returned to telling jokes about 1980’s Hollywood to the head baker, who had only been a kid back then. Claire was too lost in her thoughts that said she was a stupid slut who couldn’t talk or fuck her way out of this situation.
Arthur would find out. When he did, that would be the end of not only Claire’s favorable marriage, but her whitelisted name in Hollywood. She’d be lucky to move to Seattle and be casted in local commercials for a hundred bucks an appearance.
“Honey,” she said in the back of Arthur’s car as they pulled away from her bakery, “I forgot to tell you, but I’m supposed to meet one of my girlfriends to go over my dress details. If you could drop me off a few blocks away from here, I would really appreciate it.”
“Aha, Iknewyou had changed up your dress again, Claire-Bear.” Arthur relayed the orders to his driver. “No problem. I have a meeting of my own back home. Here I was wondering how to gently take you home after having such a romantic date.”
Claire closed her eyes and sighed. “Yeah. It’s great when things work out.”
“Can’t wait to see your dress. You’re going to be the most radiant bride of the year!”
Claire waved him off. She waited long enough for the car to turn the corner before getting out her phone and figuring out where she was.
And where Jake lived.
She didn’t expect him to be home. If anything, shehopedhe wasn’t home, because all she wanted to do was leave him a note on his door. Or at least leave a note with the concierge in the lobby of his apartment building.
“You must be Ms. Finn,” the man in a suit said from behind the counter. Claire took a step back. All she wanted to do was ask which unit was Jake’s before figuring out what to do next. “Mr. Carter said to send you up if you ever drop by.”
“I want to leave a message.”
“Oh! Of course! You can go up. The unit is 7C.”
Claire remained frozen in disbelief. “So he’s home right now?”
“I believe so. Could be wrong, though. Either way, he wouldn’t mind if you slip the note under his door.”
“Mr. Carter makes it sound like we’re quite close.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Ms. Finn, but he’s fine with you visiting. That’s all I need to know.”
“All right. Thank you.” Claire didn’t know what the hell she was doing when she got into the elevator. She should’ve insisted on leaving a message with concierge and calling it good.I mean, I must face him eventually, but I wasn’t prepared to do it right now.Claire fixed her hair and straightened out her clothing. Did she smell like Arthur? God, she hoped she didn’t smell like Arthur. Jake had a big enough complex when it came to his father.
Don’t be home. Don’t be home.Claire rang Jake’s buzzer.Don’t be home, Jake.
He opened the door. Claire was too speechless to say anything.
“Claire.” Jake propped his door wide open. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
She squared her shoulders. “We need to talk. Now.”
He stepped aside. Those jeans and that tight T-shirt were the definition of deadly.Likely to kill my sense of reason, that’s for sure.Claire had long accepted that she no longer had any morals. She was pregnant with her future stepson’s baby. She was pregnant with her own step-grandchild. God! What a mess.
Here she was, prepared to tell the father the wonderful news.
“Can I get you something?” Jake asked. “Water? A Coke?”
