Page 80 of Seduction
Penina Ross
“Who’s that?” Aunt Christine asked.
We were in the rental car on our way to the coroner’s office. I had scrolled through all of Jake’s text messages. I was on my third read of each one, forgetting that I should probably focus on who I was in the car with.
“A guy,” I said. “A surgeon—an attending, actually.”
“Then you’re not involved romantically with him?”
I looked at her with my mouth agape. I truly didn’t know the answer to that question. He had said in several of his text messages that Gina was not his girlfriend. He also said that Gina was threatened by me and had admitted to overstating the nature of her relationship with him. It almost sounded as if he was making excuses for her.
“I don’t know anymore,” I replied.
“Why don’t you know?”
I stiffened. I was surprised she had asked me that question. Christine had never seemed that interested in my love life.
“I don’t know why I don’t know,” I finally said.
She stole a glance at me. “You know I’m a therapist, right?”
I smiled faintly. “Are you offering me a free session?”
She turned on the blinker and checked her driver’s side mirror. “Sure, let’s give it a go. So, tell me anything you want about this guy who’s made you confused.”
I wondered how honest I should be. It felt odd engaging in the sort of conversation she was inviting me to have with her. I’d really never let Christine see behind my curtain. However, the other night, we’d made some leeway, a breakthrough. We were closer. And with my mother’s death, she and I were all that was left of the Rosses.
“There’s a doctor,” I said then sighed as I massaged my temples.
“Okay, we’ve established that. What do you want to tell me about this doctor?” she asked.
“I think I love him,” I said.
“You think you love him?”
I recounted the first time Jake and I had made real eye contact and how later I discovered he was not only a surgeon at the hospital but also my attending.
“I mean, is fate a real thing?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” Her voice rang with real optimism.
I was glad to hear it. Then I told her about the night of the fire and his fancy, full-service penthouse. I mentioned how he’d left me flowers every morning along with a continental breakfast spread fit for the Ritz.
“So he’s wealthy beyond what the job pays?” she asked.
“Exactly,” I said and continued recounting my short but impactful relationship with a man whose real name I’d just recently learned.
Christine turned into the parking lot just as I was revisiting what had happened at the masquerade party when the masked woman approached us and asked if he was someone she knew.
“And was he?” she asked.
“I think he was.”
“Then you believe he wasn’t being honest with you in regard to the woman at the party?”
I thought hard about all the circumstances that started and ended the degradation of what was shaping up to be the greatest night of my life.
“Well…” I pressed my lips together harder, wondering if I should reveal Jake’s—or Asher’s—secret. “Am I on the clock?”
