Page 71 of You Didn't Know Me Then

Chapter 26

“The big ones have it, too, but they’re holding off because it’s all circumstantial. So stick to the facts, Sharon.”

“What facts? That I slept with you?”

“I don’t want to split hairs here, but we haven’t slept together. We’re talking ten minutes, tops.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Stick to the facts. Phil worked from your home in Colorado. Your staff hired me to work on a limited project. You and your husband are expecting your third child. You’re pregnant with his child. None of this is a lie. They have nothing to prove otherwise, except rumors. A simple fact check would have killed most of it, but unluckily for us, they’re going through a dry spell and this is moistier than tax irregularities.”

“I know how to do this, Jordan. It’s just that it was never supposed to get to this.”

“No, it wasn’t. None of it should have happened.” He tried to keep the accusation from his tone, for her sake. “Now we deal with this. And trust me; I have as much to lose as you do.”

“Really? You have no wife, no kids, just your career to fix, and fix it you will. You’ll land on your feet before the week is out.”

Her words stung. But not in the way she intended them to.

“Issue a statement and refrain from talking to reporters. And no interviews. It will die out faster that way,” he said. A cold pain throbbed in his chest.

“What are you going to do?”

“Fly home to try to fix the damage there.”

“Good luck.”

It wasn’t the first call he had wanted to make. The first call he had wanted to do before she had caught him on the phone was to the airline to get the first flight out, then to Hope to tell her that he was coming to explain it all. From there, his list continued with Luke, Ava, his parents. He didn’t care about anyone in D.C. enough to add them to his list of concerns. After he had completed his list, he could add one other thing—punch the living shit out of the useless fucker whose damages he had been hired to fix. Maybe he would add that, anyway. He would probably need that outlet even more if he failed to save the only good things in his life.

Or maybe he should punch the mirror because the fucker that reflected in it was the one to blame most of all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Luke, I’ll explain everything when I get there. Caught a flight first thing tomorrow.” Jordan moved the phone to his other hand then caught it between his ear and shoulder to free both hands to pack his bag. “Hope’s not picking up or answering texts. Can Liberty go over there and tell her I’m coming tomorrow to explain?”

“She tried calling. She’ll know what’s best to do.”

“Can you make sure Mom and Dad don’t freak out until I get to them?”

“Will do. Just one thing, between us: is it yours?”

“Not mine. You know better than to believe that.” He straightened up and breathed in.

“All you told me the other day was that you slept with someone you shouldn’t have when she was separated.”

When he had finally spoken to Luke a few days before, he couldn’t go through with telling him everything at once. The words had refused to come out, so he had ended up telling him the bare minimum, encouraged to add more the next time by Luke’s mild reaction. But the next time turned out to be too late.

“Right. And I would have mentioned if there was something bigger than that.” Jordan threw the shirt he was holding on the bed then ran a hand over his forehead. “She wasn’t sure at first because of the dates, but we checked and it’s not.”

If it felt this bad saying it to Luke, how bad would it hurt saying this to Hope?

“We got your back, bro.” Luke’s words were exactly what he needed to hear.

“Thanks. Sorry I’m dumping this on you. I’ll tell you everything when I see you. But first, I have to—”

“I know. I was this close to losing everything, too.”

“See you soon.” He hung up and went back to packing.

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