Playing Pretend (13 page)

Caleb loured at me. “I wasn’t irritated.”

“Well you were definitely
something,
because Brae picked it up, and reacted to it. She takes all her cues from you Caleb, so when you’re not in a good mood, it affects her.”

Caleb didn’t reply immediately, and when he did it wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

“You’re good with her.”

“She makes it easy,” I replied, placing a light kiss on the crown of Braelynn’s head, and inhaling her sweet baby scent. She stirred, her little body moving into a more comfortable position, and with my hand on her back, she continued to sleep.

“Has there been anyone else?”

I shot a look of surprise at Caleb, and pondered how to answer him in the most diplomatic way possible, without revealing too much.

I didn’t want to talk about Baxter, or how I’d found him plowing my sister from behind. I didn’t want to talk about how my father still expected me to marry the bastard, and turn the other cheek like he hadn’t cheated on me with my sister. I was expected to accept those things, be the dutiful daughter and ignorant fiancée, all the while my own family laughed behind my back.

“There was,” I whispered. “But it didn’t work out.”

Caleb wanted to know more, I could tell, but he was polite enough not to probe.

“Braelynn’s mother,” he started, turning his gaze back to the movie, “She, uh, left us, two weeks after Brae was born. She decided she wasn’t ready to be a mother, and that she wasn’t ready to give up her fame.”

My heart broke for Caleb right then, and for the little girl who had burrowed her way into my heart in such a short space of time. The thought of her being left by her own mother infuriated me, made me want cry for the mere injustice of it all.

“Caleb, I…” I bit my tongue. Caleb wouldn’t want my pity, not for him or his child, and experience told me he would rebuff any kind of emotional support I may offer. So I did the next best thing, and told him what I thought he
needed
to hear.

“You’re doing an amazing job. If nothing else, Braelynn knows you love her.”

He looked down at his daughter. I saw the calamitous crash of emotions in his eyes, and wanted so much to comfort him.

We fell into an easy silence, and a few minutes passed before Caleb spoke again.

“So you’re staying?”

I snorted, and then looked down to make sure I hadn’t startled Braelynn.

“You didn’t give me a choice,” I said, trying to sound indifferent. “But I think we’re going to need rules.”

“Rules?” Caleb chuckled. “What kind of rules?”

“Well for one, no kissing.”

Caleb’s smile faltered, and he had the grace to look apologetic. “That won’t happen again. I promise.”

I promise.

I didn’t want him to keep that promise. Not at all.

“And you’ll let me buy groceries,” I continued. Caleb’s mouth snapped shut, and he looked at me as if to say,
not happening.
“And you’ll let me help with Braelynn, at least until you can find a new nanny.”

The tick in Caleb’s jaw told me just how much he disliked my ‘rules’, but I quirked a brow in a silent challenge. He knew as well as I did that sharing a living space was already hard enough, we didn’t need to complicate it by getting physical. Again.

He’d slipped up today, and who was to say the next slip up wouldn’t be mine?

“Fine,” he conceded, if with some reluctance. “But you have to promise me you won’t move into a shithole just to get away from me.”

I regarded him for a moment, and couldn’t help but wonder if he had other motives to wanting me to stay. Something akin to hope prickled at my insides, and I thought maybe, just maybe, this was his way of asking for help.

“Deal.” I stuck my hand out, and Caleb smirked when we shook hands. That same smirk dwindled into something else when a burst of electricity traveled through our joined hands. I snapped my hand away, ignoring the leap in my pulse, and feigned insouciance as I turned my attention back to the screen.

Caleb shifted, and slowly rose to his feet.

“I’d better put her in her crib.” He reached for Braelynn, and with a gentleness he reserved only for her, tucked her into his arm. I would
never
grow tired of seeing him with her, the way he doted on her, shielded her.

“Good night, Kadence.”

I gave him a small wave and watched him disappear out the door, leaving me alone. I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, but I became aware of two arms lifting me from the recliner. He tucked me in, and after the faintest brush of lips against my forehead, sleep claimed me.

WHEN I WAS A
little girl, I dreamt that I was dancing on stage in front of an auditorium filled with people. Everything was going well, until it was time for me to perform an arabesque. I dreaded it, and I remember feeling that in my dream, even holding my breath as my leg extended behind me.

Needless to say it was perfect, just as I’d rehearsed, but as soon as my leg lowered, and I straightened, the auditorium stilled. It was so quiet I could hear my breathing, the rapid
tap-tap tap-tap
of my heartbeat, and I could feel every set of eyes on me. I didn’t understand it, but I remembered that feeling, carried it with me from that dream so that should I ever feel it again, I would know it by heart.

That’s how I knew something was wrong when I walked into the office on Friday morning. That feeling, the one from my dream all those years ago, wound its way through my limbs, starting at the very tips of my toes, and ending at the crown of my head.

It wasn’t my outfit. My white linen skirt, and soft denim button back shirt were brand new, and blemish free. It wasn’t my hair. My blonde locks were braided to the side, with a few wisps framing my face. I could have fooled myself and assumed it
was
the way I looked because everything was new and someone was bound to notice that I wasn’t wearing the same outfit several times in one week. But my intuition told me it had nothing to do with any of that.

Aaliyah saw me approaching her desk, and closed the gap between us with hurried steps. She ushered me straight into Macy’s office, and shut the door. Macy was on the phone, and she looked up at me from her desk with concern in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said into the phone, “She just got here.” With a pause to listen to who was on the other end, she pursed her lips. “Okay, I’ll see if we can get a press conference this afternoon. Until then, lay low, and avoid the press.”

She hung up, and rose from her chair.

“Something happened,” I stated, looking between Aaliyah and Macy’s worried expressions.

“Yes,” replied Macy. “Photographs of Braelynn, along with a pretty extensive story about her and Caleb, have been sold to the press.”

“But how would that happen?”

“We were hoping you could tell us,” said Aaliyah. My brows knitted together.

“Why would I know?”

Aaliyah shared a look with Macy, and a vague feeling of apprehension rooted itself in my chest. I never bothered to ask whether or not they knew about Braelynn, but I was starting to understand that there was very little about Caleb’s life they didn’t know about.

Finally, I caught on. “You think I did it.”

The ensuing silence was all the confirmation I needed, and the first thing that popped into my head was if Caleb thought the same thing. He hadn’t said anything to me when I left for work this morning, and after last night I thought we were finally in a good place. He would have told me if something like this had happened. Wouldn’t he?

I realized it didn’t really matter. I was the outsider here, which made their accusation seem plausible. Aaliyah might have been a friend, but her sense of loyalty was far greater to Caleb than to me, and the same went for Macy.

“It’s not that,” Aaliyah started, her expression imploring. “It’s just, well, you’ve been living with him, and the photo’s that have been sold to the media are quite personal. They’re close-ups, Kadence.”

“I think what Aaliyah is trying to say that the person who took the photographs had to have been in Caleb’s penthouse,” added Macy.

“Show me,” I said.

Aaliyah took Macy’s iPad from her desk, and opened the browser. It wasn’t difficult to find the pictures, or the article. They were plastered across every major news publication in the city. Something like this should be trivial, but because of who Caleb was, who his
family
was, finding out that he had a baby girl was newsworthy.

I gasped when the images of a sleeping Braelynn started popping up, close-ups of the sleeping infant, and a few of her looking up at what had to be a camera, her big blue eyes so full of trust. My apprehension and subsequent hurt were replaced with indignation, and a fierce need to protect Braelynn.

I wanted to tell Aaliyah, and Macy that I had nothing to do with the pictures, or the article, but I stopped short when Macy’s office door swung open. Caleb walked in, his face drawn tight with outrage.

“Give us a minute,” he told Aaliyah and Macy, his arctic blue eyes fixed on me. Both women walked out, leaving me alone with a severely irate man.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” he asked, slamming the door shut behind him. “I gave you a place to stay and you repay me by exposing my child to the world?”

“Caleb, I would never,” I replied, my voice strong with ire. “I care about Braelynn. I would never do anything to hurt her, to hurt either of you.”

“I should have known you couldn’t be trusted.” Caleb stopped in front of me, and I could feel the sense of betrayal rolling off him in sweeping waves.

“Well,” I thinned my lips, “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind.”

“You were the only one who could get that close to Braelynn,” he replied, never breaking our eye contact. “The question is,
why
? Why would you do this to us?”

His conviction was a slap to the face. He sounded so
sure
that I was responsible. Was it even worth trying to defend myself when he believed, so completely, that I was to blame?

I regarded him, running my gaze over the tight lines of his cheeks, and his forehead, and what I found was a man who was trying to protect his child at any cost, even if that meant disregarding how much his accusation hurt my feelings. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to know what he was thinking, if he truly thought I was capable of and
willing
to do what he thought me guilty of.

The moment was broken when Macy’s phone rang, and she rushed in to answer it. Her voice became nothing more than background noise as Caleb continued to shoot daggers at me. The longer he glowered, the more conspicuous his allegation became. Something inside me squeezed, giving way to a dull ache beneath my sternum. Aaliyah strode towards us and when she stopped at Caleb’s side, he tore his gaze from mine as if he could barely stand the sight of me.

Her eyes, soft and regretful, met mine for a brief second.

“We found out who did it,” she told Caleb. “The story was sold by a Danielle Marquez. Ring any bells?”

Caleb was stunned speechless, as was I.

“It was just confirmed.” Macy put her phone down. “She admitted to everything, claiming that she sold the story to pay off her student debt.”

“That would explain why she disappeared,” I said. Three sets of eyes landed on me. “She wouldn’t have risked selling the story immediately, or we would have suspected her from the offset. It’s been a week since she left, that’s enough time for us to forget about her, and find someone new.”

Realization dawned, and Caleb’s face went lax. The urge to get away from him and distract myself with work was tangible, filling the small space between us.

“We wouldn’t have seen it coming.” He paused. “So what do we do, Mace? How do we fix it?” he asked Macy.

She sighed, and sat back down behind her desk, looking as exhausted as I felt. “Even if we got every publication to print a retraction, the photographs are out there, and there’s no way for us to deny anything. Danielle was smart enough not to fabricate a single fact, which puts
you
in a sticky situation.”

With a harsh exhalation, Caleb brushed both hands over his head. “So, what? We have a statement printed acknowledging that the story is true?”

“That’s your only option,” replied Macy. “I can have it sent out within the hour, and with a bit of luck it will minimize any further damage. I think the bigger concern is how you’re going to get this past the Board. They aren’t going to be pleased that you kept this from them for so long.”

“And what about Natalia?” Aaliyah interrupted. “This is sure to draw her back here.”

Caleb screwed his eyes closed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “One crisis at a time, Liy. If Natalia comes back, I will deal with her, but it’s not likely. She wanted nothing to do with Braelynn when she was born, she didn’t even stick around long enough to name our daughter, and I doubt this will matter to her.”

Caleb had never mentioned who Braelynn’s mother was, but now that her name had come up in conversation, it made her more
real
.

But I couldn’t think about that, or why the possibility of her coming back bothered me.