Page 24 of Love Notes & Lifelines
“The girls are very lucky to have you. Remember that.”
“Thank you.” I laugh and clamp a hand over my mouth. That sounded slightly hysterical. “I might owe you extra for a therapy session.”
“No need. This is what I’m here for. It’s hard being a single parent. It’s even harder when you’re thrust into it with no warning. The hotline is here for the dads as much as the kids.”
Right, because she’s there for multiple dads. I’m seriously sleep-deprived if I’m jealous of a faceless woman I’ll never meet having a connection with other men.
“Thank you, Jane.”
“You’re welcome, Beck.”
“Tell me your real name?” The words are a desperate plea for something I don’t even understand, but she doesn’t laugh in my face.
“I can’t do that. It’s against the rules.”
“And you need this job,” I repeat.
“See, you’re a fast learner. You’ll have this parenting thing down in no time and then you’ll have no use for me.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. I think you’re seriously overestimating how much I can handle. I have a business to run that’s sinking quickly in my absence, and two little girls who don’t know if I’m their uncle or their daddy.”
“Talk to the pediatrician, and you can always call the hotline if you get stuck. Is there anything else I can help you with tonight?”
Is there? I’ve accumulated a million questions to ask her in the past couple of days, but I can’t recall a single one at the moment.
“No, I think that’s it.”
“Good night, Beck.”
“Good night, not-so-Jane.”
Her laughter rings in my ears, stirring up a familiarity I can’t place. The line goes silent when she hangs up, but her words buzz through my veins. I just can’t tell if it’s a warning, or a promise—or what either option would mean.
CHAPTER SEVEN
STELLA
“So,”Elijah drawls. “I hear Beck has a hotline hottie helping him at night.”
“Shh,” I hiss, sprinting to his desk before his smirk has fully formed. “He doesn’t know it’s me, does he? How did you know it was me? Oh, God. I’m going to lose both jobs, and Mom has another payment due in two weeks.”
“Stella, take a breath or twelve. He doesn’t know. He just said that this mystery woman felt familiar, and she’s saved his ass more than once. I connected the dots, and you just confirmed my suspicion.”
I drop my head into my hands. “What am I doing, Elijah? This is wrong on so many levels. He’s confiding in me because he thinks he’ll never meet me. What if he finds out? It’s an invasion of privacy. It’s a betrayal, but every time I email Lottie, she says she doesn’t have anyone else for him.”
“That’s Lottie. She hand-selects every helper with every dad based on the questionnaire you both filled out.”
The muscles in my face pinch together. “Elijah,” I say through clenched teeth. “Why do you know more about Lottie than I do? I thought you weren’t connected to the hotline. You said you were just helping out a friend.”
He waves me off, but it’s too late.
“You’ve been manipulating this entire thing. Is this some kind of game to you?” Is he just like my ex, Silas? Hurt burrows into the deepest recesses of my soul. I’ve been emotionally alone for so many years now, but Elijah was quickly becoming someone I counted on.
“No, it’s not like that, I promise. Lottie needs sources all over the world to run her business. I’m simply a middleman.”
“Are you the reason I got Beck—er—Mr. Hayes. Geez, Elijah! Who am I right now?”
“Seriously, lady, calm down. It’s not some big conspiracy theory.”
