They looked at her, their little plastic heads turning in unison. They didn’t say it, but all their eyes were saying, “Well, duh.”
It was the money, the prestige, the power factor of being with a pro athlete. These men were special, and unlike a successful businessman, much harder to come by.
That was it, Kate walked away and back to David. He took her hand in his, kissed it, and grinned. “They’re the worst of it. Two of those women are close friends with Chelsea.”
“I figured.” Kate was sure Chelsea could have been on the guest list, and she was almost sad she wasn’t there. It would have been a lot of fun to soul kiss David at midnight with her watching.
The doorbell rang, and Kate saw a very handsome young man walk in. Annie came over. “Jack’s here. Moment of truth.”
Kate watched the door as eagerly as Jay and David. She felt a kinship with the girl, considering both of them had been thoroughly discussed. What she didn’t expect was for Annie to gasp, and for David to take her hand when the girl turned around. The lovely brunette who walked in with Jack was her baby.
“Oh, my God,” Kate whispered. “Oh, my God.”
Chapter 26
‡
Laura was fine at the party for the first ten seconds. It took her that long to check out the crowd and see her mother staring back at her. She was standing with David, who was practically holding her up, and another woman who had her hand on Mom’s arm. This was the worst nightmare she’d ever had.
Laura sucked in and suddenly found herself gasping for air. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to stay calm, but she knew what was happening. No air was going in; her lungs were closing off.
She hadn’t had an asthma attack in over two years, and the sudden tightness was terrifying. The only up side of it was she might die and she wouldn’t have to face everyone she’d lied to.
It was like trying to breathe underwater with a hundred pounds on her chest. It hurt, and Laura grabbed her chest and dropped to her knees.
Jack fell with her, his face terrified. “What’s wrong? Jesus, what is it?”
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t tell him. In a split second she heard a commotion. David dragged Jack off the floor and Mom was right next to her, along with the woman that Laura now recognized as a nurse from the hospital.
“Give me her purse,” Mom snapped.
She heard a shaking sound, voices. Laura started to feel dizzy and tears ran down her cheeks, but then her inhaler was in her mouth and Mom told her what was happening before releasing the medicine for her to breathe in. “Breathe, Laura.” Mom’s hand rubbed her back. “Take it easy. Breathe. Another puff.”
The medicine started to take effect and the pain lessened. She could breathe again, but she was still gasping involuntarily and wheezing. Mom handed her the inhaler and she took another puff herself. Slowly her breathing steadied. She could see again, and looking up, she saw all the people surrounding her, gawking.
Dying would have been less embarrassing.
*
Jack dropped to his knees, taking Kate’s place next to Laura, and pulled her into his arms. Kate shuddered to think of what was going to happen over the next couple of hours. Laura had just been caught lying to pretty much everyone. This was going to get ugly.
Kate put her arms around David’s waist, leaned into him for support, and fought the urge to cry.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Kate nodded and looked at Brandy, who was standing there with a strained smile and her sky blue eyes darting all over the place. “Thank goodness you knew what to do. How did you know she had asthma?”
Kate looked at Laura, who was still being held by Jack. Her daughter’s eyes were pleading, begging her not to say anything.
Kate shifted her gaze to David, then to Annie, and to Laura one more time, before she finally answered Brandy. “My daughter has asthma. I recognized it.”
Laura turned her face into Jack’s bicep and closed her eyes.
“She’ll need to go home, though,” Kate said.
Jack helped her up and kept his arm firmly around her. It was protective, no one was getting near her without his say so. Kate could see the love between them and it made her heart break. This was going to be very bad for both of them. The crowd started to disperse, but there were lots of looks and questions.
Jay walked over, both hands in his pockets, looked at Jack and Laura, and blew out a breath. “This is your girl? She’s pretty.” He looked back at Kate and scratched his head. “Yeah.”
Jack nodded and stroked Laura’s cheek with his finger. “I’ll take you back to your Dad’s.”
David moved next to Jack, but focused his attention on Laura. She was exhausted and he could see it as plainly as she could. When Kate finally regrouped, she walked forward and took David’s hand. Jack was so grateful he could barely form a coherent sentence.
“Thank you,” he mumbled to Kate. “Thank you.”
Kate acknowledged Jack, but focused her attention on Laura. “We need to get you home.”
Laura nodded, but wouldn’t step away from her guy. He held her closer and now looked at Kate suspiciously, rather than with gratitude. “I’ll take her home.”
Laura’s eyes were sad and tired. Kate’s hand gently touched the diamond heart that hung around her neck and then she looked at Jack. Poor, confused Jack. Her words were barely above a whisper as she told him what was going to happen. “No. I’m her mother, and she’s coming home with me.”
If his reaction could have been measured, she still wouldn’t have seen anything. His face was like stone, completely without emotion.
“You can follow us there, and once she’s settled some, you can talk.” Kate was trying to be calm. Jack had just had the shock of his life, and he didn’t even have the whole story yet.
When she thought about it, neither did Kate.
He nodded dumbly, too stunned to argue, kissed Laura’s head, and then let her go to Kate. David reappeared with her coat, and he kept Laura steady as Kate helped her bundle up against the cold air. She wrapped her own scarf around Laura, who was painfully underdressed.
Annie and Jay were also following.
Brandy reappeared, jumpy and nervous. “Hey, so sorry you can’t stay. Gosh, I hope you feel better, honey.”
David patted Brandy’s shoulder. “We’ll take care of her.”
“Okay, bye then.” She waved goodbye like a five-year-old, moving only her fingers. That was the last image Kate had of Brandy Girard. It was enough.
*
At the house, David gathered some glasses and the remainder of the scotch he brought with him a few nights ago. There was three quarters of a bottle left, more than enough to dull the ache. God knew he needed one, and Nelly definitely would. Jay had probably let him know he’d been on the verge of taking a seventeen-year-old to bed, so alcohol was definitely on the menu.
He didn’t know what to feel. Kate was being Kate, handling everything calmly, but he fully expected her to fall apart later. He’d really grown to care about Laura. In the short time he’d known her, they’d learned to understand each other, but he had no idea what would make her pull something like this. Jack was a wreck. The kid was stupid in love with Laura, and that wasn’t going to go away because he couldn’t have her.
“Is that scotch?” Annie said, walking into the room.
David nodded and poured one for each of them. They clinked glasses and took a sip. “How’s Laura?”
“Better. Kate had a nebulizer and the medicine. Her lungs are settling down. The cold, along with the stress of seeing you and Kate, must have triggered the attack. She’s sick about Jack.”
“Have you heard from Jay?”
“Uh huh. Almost here. The poor kid’s a mess.” Jay had followed him to the city and Annie ended up riding in the car with David, Kate, and Laura. They’d dropped Jack’s car at his apartment since no one thought he should drive.
“Jay told him?”