Page 151 of Charming Deception

Yup. He finds this funny.

“You should’ve told me! I sweated right through this dress when he noticed the ring.”

He squeezes my hand, which makes me purr inwardly, and forgive him instantly.

“I didn’t see the point in causing you any stress over something that might not even happen. I wasn’t totally sure he’d make it tonight.”

“Well, I appreciate your intentions. But I would rather have had the heads-up.”

“Okay. Lesson learned. Next time, I’ll give you a heads-up.”

“Are we going to see him again while we’re in Paris?”

“No. I need to be in Berlin tomorrow. That’s why I really came. We have another potential partner there, a very historic beer company. Prepare to drink much beer.”

“I’m prepared,” I say gravely. “But seriously, you come all the way to France and you don’t want to spend more time with your stepdad? Is he married to your mom?”

He looks at me sidelong. “I forget that you don’t have the internet.”

“Funny. I just don’t creep on people. I prefer to use the web for writing research, and leave it at that.”

“You’re an anomaly, Jessica Rivers.”

“Thank you.” It gives me a little thrill, actually, when he calls me Jessica. Maybe because no one else does, and it feels like our little secret.

“Yes, Jean-Charles Moreau is married to my mother. They live just outside of Paris.”

I consider that. “And you’re not going to see her while you’re here?”

“She could’ve come tonight.”

I try to read between the lines of that brief response. “But she didn’t. Because… you two aren’t on good terms?”

“We are. More or less. But she doesn’t take much interest in business, her husband’s or the family’s, and this was a business dinner.”

I don’t buy that excuse. “But her youngest son was here. Her baby. All the way from across the globe.”

“Correct.”

“And she didn’t make time? Or didn’t want to come? Help me out here.”

“I wish I could. But I can’t really explain Rachel Vance-Moreau to you. As far as I’ve ever known, her life, moment to moment, is driven by her emotional state. If she has a bad day, she might disappear and not resurface for months.”

He seems so undisturbed by that. But how can that be?

I know what it’s like to have an absent parent. Which means I know how confusing and damaging and downright painful it is. Especially if that kind of behavior was present when he was young.

“That doesn’t upset you?”

“I’m used to it now, and I know not to set expectations. So I don’t end up disappointed. But when I was a kid, I can tell you, it upset me.”

It’s upsetting to me, just hearing about it. A young Jameson, hurt by his mother’s emotional abandonment.

But the fact that he’s sharing this with me makes me hungry to hear more.

“Did she do that a lot? Disappear on you, when you were a kid?”

“Yes. Unfortunately.”

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