Page 41 of This Means War

“I got those as a gift for Lydia,” Cole answers promptly. “They’re her favorite breakfast food.”

He’s doing an excellent job dodging her questions, I’ll give him that. The twist of pain causedby his refusal to claim me as his wife reminds me of everything at stake. I can’t believe I almost agreed to his truce, that I almost let myself believe we could have a loving marriage. With a surge of adrenaline, I find my voice.

“He’s so thoughtful, my husband,” I interject as much sweetness as I can into the words, stepping forward and linking my arm with his. Ashley’s eyes practically bulge out of her head, making her almost resemble the tree frog stuck to my wall.

“Husband?” her eyes flit to Cole. I can feel the tension emanating off of him, but I don’t let go of his arm. He deserves this awkward moment. “You two are married?”

“You didn’t tell her, babe?” I feign shock as I look up at Cole. His lips are pressed together in a line across his rapidly reddening face. The pain twists deeper. The expression on his face tells me that either he’s embarrassed of me or he still loves her. I hate that the possibility of the latter cuts me the deepest.

“Somehow it never came up. We don’t talk about our personal lives much at work.” Cole forces a smile in Ashley’s direction, then looks down at me. “But I’m glad you’ve told her now, honey.”

His words don’t fool me. He still looks agitated.

“Wow.” Ashley looks back and forth between us as if solving a difficult math equation. Then, to my great astonishment, a slow smile spreads across her face. “You got married, Cole,” her voice is smug and her smile catlike. I can’t work out what she’sthinking. Is it all in my head that she wants to be with him?

“I did, and we’re very happy,” Cole releases my arm and pulls me so my side is flush against his. Unwelcome tingles travel up the length of my body. “In it for the long haul, Lydia and I, right honey?”

He sounds slightly manic which adds a whole new layer of confusion to this whole situation. Suspicion starts to rise up in me filling me with dread. Is there something going on between Cole and Ashley? Is that why Cole is putting so much emphasis on telling her how amazing our marriage is? Like he wants to make sure she keeps quiet about their illicit affair, so as not to hurt my feelings?

Cole kisses me lightly on the head, and I shake these thoughts away. Illicit affair? Cole wouldn’t do that, not when it would mess up his chances of getting elected mayor if it got out.

“Uh, right,” I say lamely. “So happy.”

Ashley just looks amused. “Right. Well, I’d better be going. Thanks for breakfast, Cole.” She waves then heads out the door.

There’s a beat of silence before we both try to speak at the same time.

“You had breakfast with Ashley?” I ask.

“So did you read my note?” he says at the same time, then backtracks as he registers my words. “What? Oh, no. I mean, yes, but it was with a client. He wanted to fit in a quick meeting before he leaves for his house in Vienna for the next few weeks.”

“Oh,” some of my indignation seeps out of me, “Isee.”

“Ashley is just a colleague, Lydia,” he begins.

“Right, I know,” I rush out. I don’t want him to know how jealous I am. Jealousy is something a lover feels, not something the woman you accidentally impregnated and therefore married feels. “I was just making conversation.”

“Right,” he looks unconvinced. I’m desperate to ask him why he behaved so strangely with Ashley, but that would make me look jealous too. So instead, I follow his lead and move on from that awkward experience.

“What did you find out about Arnold?” I ask, deliberately avoiding the part of his note that spoke of a truce. I simply cannot call a truce right now.

“Oh,” Cole grins, “wait till you hear. Tom is on his way now, so I can fill you both in at the same time.”

As if on cue there’s a knock at the front door, and Cole rushes off to let Tom in, leaving me alone with my many, many emotions. As I watch him go, I add “he has a stupid butt” to the list of things I don’t like about Cole Jacobson.

Chapter 29

Cole

As I walk to thedoor to let Tom in, I mentally kick myself for what just transpired. I should’ve told Ashley about marrying Lydia weeks ago. I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to have to see her annoyingly smug expression when she found out. I knew she would assume my quickie marriage was in response to what she said to me after I proposed. I wish I could tell her the truth about Lydia’s unplanned pregnancy, but that wouldn’t be good for my campaign. As far as the public is concerned, this baby was conceived in love.

I roll my neck, trying to shake my frustrations off. What do I care what Ashley thinks? I picture Lydia’s expression when she asked about me having breakfast with Ashley. That’s the second time I’ve thought she might be jealous of Ashley. The thought cheers me up, but then my imagination goes rogue and dread fills me as I think about how Lydia will feel if she ever finds out what Ashley said to me after I proposed.

“I just don’t think you’re ready for marriage.”I hear Ashley’s words from that day.“You work too much. Honestly, if we didn’t work together, I’m not even sure when I’d see you. And sure, I work a lot now too, but I want to have a family someday and once I do, I plan on slowing down. Can you say the same?”

All of the irritation I felt that day starts to flare up inside me again as I recall what she said in response to my noncommittal silence.“That’s what I thought.”The heavy sigh she let out at this pointechoes inside my mind.“I don’t know, Cole, this might sound crazy, but it’s almost like I want you to have a practice marriage first, and then, when that fails and you’ve learned some things, then we can get married.”

Come to think of it, no wonder I bounced back from that relationship so fast.

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