Page 131 of Playing With Secrets
At the top of the stairs is an open loft with a bathroom off to the side. There’s a room on either end of a long platform-type hall. Jami’s voice travels down one side, so I stroll in his direction.
I enter the room, which turns out to be a decked-out computer office. It puts the one at work to shame.
Why does he put up with the one at work when he has this?
His back is to the door, so he doesn’t notice me in the room. He’s got the phone on speaker and talking with Jonah. I don’t want Jonah to hear me, so I quietly leave.
I get to the loft. Something under the love seat near a side table catches my eye. I walk over and pry it out from under the little sofa. It’s a picture of Jami and a beautiful brunette woman.
Who the hell is this?
He hasn’t said a word to me about dating anyone since he’s been here, so I assume it’s an old girlfriend from Miami. I bring the photo closer to see if I recognize her, but I don’t.
My chest catches on fire. How he’s staring at her has me wanting answers to questions I have no right asking.
I place it down on the side table and shake out my hands. It’s like the picture was going to burn my fingers off.
My mind quickly goes through anything I can rememberabout Jamison and his past girlfriends. My brother’s words slam against my heart.
With everything that happened, I forgot to talk with Jami about it. I replay their conversation from that night at the restaurant.
“Speaking of dating, have you heard from your girlfriend?” Aiden asks.
“I don’t have a girlfriend. Where do you get this stuff from?” Jami leans back with guilt hanging in his eyes.
Aiden shrugs. “You were just fighting with her. You spent fifteen minutes before we went to Dori’s texting her.”
Jami turns white, and he shifts in his chair. “The woman I was fighting with through text messages is not my girlfriend.”
I bring myself back to the current reality. “Then who was she, Jami?”
My world spins as a creeping black smog rises around me, causing my mind to go blank. A massive lump crawls up my throat as I sit on the love seat. I catch my breath and decide to talk to him about it when he’s off the phone.
Is she why he’s in this mess he keeps warning me about?
I get up and walk to the opening at the top of the staircase. Before I step down, I glance at the door at the other end of the platform hallway.
The door’s closed. My curiosity gets the best of me. I have to see if it’s another state-of-the-art office, so I go to check it out. I open the door and scan the room, sure I entered another world.
“What the fuck?” It comes out of my mouth, but it doesn’t sound like me.
From this second on, everything happens in slow motion. My gaze sweeps over every inch of the seafoam-green painted room. I could be imagining it, but I swear the aroma of baby powder fills the air.
My suspicions are only confirmed when the first piece offurniture comes into view. It’s a cream-colored diaper-changing table. My breath hitches and I grab my chest.
“This cannot be real.” My feet move on their own, taking me closer to it.
Various baby lotions and shampoos are on top of the table. My vision distorts, so I squeeze my eyes shut, brace myself against the table, and then force my eyes open.
I turn my head only to have a glider rocking chair in the corner of the room come into my line of sight. Baby books and toys are stacked next to it against the wall.
I have no idea what I’m looking at; my brain won’t register it. My body goes numb. I trip and tumble into the footrest at the base of the glider. I take a minute to catch my bearings by sitting on it.
Maybe I’m having a flashback from the night I was roofied. I bury my face in my hands, sure I’m hallucinating.
I gasp for air and raise my head. Behind the door is an entire baby suite with an oval canopy crib and all. It’s the most beautiful baby room I’ve ever seen.
My eyes fill with tears. They fall from my lashes and land on my cheeks.
