Page 72 of Enough

Jaden chuckled.

“Oh, I received, an email from the Mayor and I’d just like to say, Oh, my God and thank you very much.”

“I can’t take the credit,” he said.

Claudia frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I had nothing to do with the Mayor contacting you. Is it about your Caregivers Organization?”

“Yes.”

“Well if you’ve received the attention of the mayor, you’re doing something right.”

Claudia was in shock, her mouth hanging wide open, but then she pursed her lips. Jaden was lying to her. There was no way he didn’t have anything to do with the mayor contacting her, but if he wanted to pretend like she’d pulled this correspondence off by herself, she’d let him.

Jaden’s phone beeped, and he glanced at his screen.

“Sweetheart I need to take this other line, do you mind?”

“No not at all, handle your business, and I’ll wait for more info about lunch.”

“I’ll get back to you soon.”

They disconnected the call, and Claudia sat; still over the moon. Throughout the day she’d made calls to hire caterers, interior designers and party planners for her upcoming event. It was last minute considering she’d set the date of the benefit three months away. Nobody puts together an event that fast, Samiyah had told her, but Claudia would. For years now Claudia had had the idea floating around her brain. It was an intensive outline that she added to up until today. All she needed to do was execute it and with Jaden on her side and now the Mayor, Claudia could pull off this gathering in weeks if need be.

When an email came through from Jaden’s assistant asking for her bank account info, Claudia froze. She sent Jaden a text to confirm it was him and he shot back a quick text explaining that he needed an account to send over funds that would go towards her benefit. Breathing a sigh of relief, Claudia sent the information over to his assistant and thanked him but not without telling Jaden she was still paying him back.

I don’t think so. Jaden had responded, and Claudia had only giggled and rolled her eyes.

When lunch time came, she sat composed and ready for their time together but again, Jaden was a no show. This time, she didn’t even receive a text message or a phone call. The hour passed and Claudia reasoned that he must’ve gotten caught up at work again. She left the office deciding to pick up something quick from the sandwich shop across the street. She entered and placed her order, but on the way to the pickup line, Claudia did a double take, reaching down to remove a newspaper from a nearby stand. A picture of Jaden coming out of Jasper’s restaurant with Cassie was splashed across the front. The headline read;

Jaden Alexander Rose with a new love interest?

Claudia’s stomach churned, her immediate response a punitive oath. Her eyes roamed across the words as the article deliberated about the mystery woman he’d been seen with the week before. In the photo, Jaden was helping Cassie Singapore, Owner of Dance Studios into the passenger seat of his Lexus and Cassie was staring at him with dreamy eyes. Anger flared in Claudia before she caught herself. But then she remembered where she was. Claudia put the paper back in its stand and went out the door; her sandwich all but forgotten.

Outside she took a deep breath as a thousand thoughts poured through her. Wasn’t Claudia his girlfriend? They made that official before returning to Chicago. So why was she feeling played already? Claudia crossed the street, and a horn blew forcing her to take a step back.

“Focus,” she said needing to make it across the street in one piece.

Back inside her building, Claudia held up against a wall needing to calm herself. Why would Jaden pretend he was working all day when clearly he had other intentions? Didn’t he know his popularity in the city made it impossible to pull off such a thing?

“Calm down,” Claudia spoke to herself, “looks can be deceiving, I’m sure whatever was going on, there is a good reason for it.”

Claudia wanted to believe it, but leaving out any mention of a lunch date with Cassie didn’t sit well with her. In the back of Claudia’s mind, she knew Jaden was most likely exercising his playboy ways. Claudia sighed and went back to her office; her day all but ruined.

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