Page 32 of A Night To Remember

“Jake, what is it?” Jennifer persisted.

“Jen, I’ll see you in the morning. I forgot something in my office, so you go ahead without me.”

Jennifer opened her mouth as if she was on the verge of saying something, but then thought better of it.

“Goodnight,” Jake said more firmly this time.

“Okay, then, I’ll see you in the morning, Jake.” Jake nodded curtly as Jennifer left the building.

Jake watched as the man approached Charlie and the young girl. Charlie quickly thrust the little girl into the man’s arms.

“Come on, Charlie girl, we’re ready to go. What’s the hold up? Your mother is waiting outside for us. We were hoping to get something to eat on the way home,” Jake heard him say. So the man was her father. It didn’t matter to Jake because he wasn’t going to let her leave without having his say.

Jake walked the short distance, quickly closing the gap between them. His eyes were intent on the wiggling child who was trying to reach for her mother. Charlie looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. She should be scared of him Jake thought, because at this moment he wanted to wring her pretty little neck.

“Hi, I’m Jake Fox. How do you do, sir?” he asked smoothly, holding out his hand. Charlie’s father shifted Kristy in his arms and took Jake’s hand, seeming uneasy.

“I need to borrow Charlie for a minute if you don’t mind. I promise I won’t keep her though. I couldn’t help but overhear you guys are going out to dinner afterwards so I’ll have her back to you in a jiffy.”

Charlie’s father looked confused as to why Jake was introducing himself.

Jake was on the verge of elaborating, when Charlie intervened.

“Dad, this is my boss. Jake this is my father Keith Brown,” she introduced hastily.

“Oh. Nice to meet you, Jake.” Keith smiled briefly before turning to his daughter. “Don’t be too long, Charlie. I’ll take the baby, and we’ll wait for you outside in the car.”

“I not a baby,” the little girl said with indignation, glaring at her grandfather.

“Bye-bye, Mommy. Bye-bye, man.” She waved to Charlie and Jake as her grandfather carried her away.

“Uh, she calls every male ‘man’. It’s her new thing,” Charlie began nervously, but Jake was too choked with emotion to register exactly what she said. Jake’s heart caught in his throat. He watched his daughter leave the building.

Holy shit, I have a daughter.

When they were gone, Jake turned to Charlie and grabbed her elbow forcefully. She didn’t protest as he propelled her to the first empty office they came upon.

He pulled her inside and slammed the door behind them. Charlie jumped at the loud thud. She looked scared, but Jake didn’t care. The way he was feeling at the moment, she should have been scared. To think, after all this time she had been with MBF, she had kept his daughter from him. He was not in the mood to feel charitable toward her sensibilities right now.

Jake was seething—no, he was pissed! Looking at Charlie with contempt, he was torn between strangling her and shaking her until her teeth rattled. He stood absolutely still, not trusting himself to move or speak, because he had never felt such a strong surge of rage in his life. Never had he understood how someone could so easily commit murder—until now.

He watched Charlie as she wrung her hands in front of her, shifting her weight from one leg to the next. The forlorn expression on her face left him cold. Good, she deserved to suffer some after what she’d done. How could she do this to him? Any number of times she could have told him about their daughter, but she didn’t bother. Did she hate him that much?

Charlie was finally the one to break the silence. “Jake, I can imagine how you must feel,” she began.

Jake narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw. “Do you really Charlie? Because I beg to differ. You couldn’t possibly know how I feel right now or even fathom it.”

She gulped. “Fair enough, but will you at least hear me out?”

He narrowed his eyes and balled his fists and for a brief second, she thought he might actually hit her he remained where he stood. “Let’s not get into what’s fair and what isn’t, because you would lose this argument in a heartbeat,” Jack retorted.

Charlie took a deep breath before speaking. “The thing is, I didn’t think I would ever see you again, which is why I never said anything in the beginning. The fact that you’re my boss made things a little awkward.”

“Really? Imagine how awkward things are about to get for you.”

“Please don’t look at me like that.”

His nostrils flared. “How am I looking at you, Charlie? Would I happen to look like a man who’s been kept in the dark about his own child? She is mine, isn’t she?”

---