Page 14 of Win Big

“Okay fine. All work and no play makes Jill the boss.”

Taylor and Lacey both laugh.

“Does he have a son?” I blurt out.

Their laughter stops. They frown.

“A . . . son?” Lacey asks. “Like, a child?”

“Son. S. O. N.”

“Um... I don’t know.” Taylor slides a look toward Lacey.

“Me either.” Lacey purses her lips. “Why do you ask that?”

“I saw him... New Year’s Day. At the pier. He was with a little boy. They looked really close.”

“Huh.” Lacey’s forehead wrinkles. “I’ve never heard him talk about a son. Obviously, he’s not married, I know that. But you’d think if he had a son and shared custody, he’d have him with him sometimes, or talk about him.”

“True.” I nod. “Or he keeps him secret.”

“But why?”

I shrug. “Because he wants to bang chicks and party all the time. Having a kid is a mood killer.”

Both my friends stare at me.

“Don’t you like kids?” Lacey’s eyes widen.

“I love kids, sure. I’m just saying, he doesn’t act like a dad. He acts like a big kid.”

“Well, maybe it was someone else’s child,” Taylor offers.

“I guess. Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

“There’s no make-up make-out session?” Lacey smirks.

“No.” Then I remember the heat in the media room the other day when I had to talk to him about the banquet. “There almost was.” I relate that incident as well.

Taylor nods. “It’ll happen. Sooner or later.”

“No, it won’t. I’m not going to let it. I was drunk. That’s why I let that happen. He’s not the kind of guy I’m in to. I don’t havetime for a relationship right now anyway, and definitely not with him.”

“You had time for Dan Diaz.” Taylor gives me an innocent look.

“Yeah. That wasn’t going anywhere, though. Dan’s a great guy, but he’s not over his wife.” She passed away less than a year ago. “I don’t want to be somebody’s rebound. So we just went out a few times. As friends. Although, I do like older men. They’re more mature and stable.Notlike Wyatt. He’s actually younger than me.”

“Okay.” Taylor shrugs. “Now tell us about the family meeting.”

I’m surprised they’re letting me off the hook about Wyatt that easy. I’d sort of like to argue more about it. Oh well. “It was... productive. I guess. We all talked about what we know of the issue and then I assigned everyone tasks with due dates.”

Lacey grins. “Théo must have loved that.”

I laugh. “He did seem to like the structure.”

I tell them what we know—it’s not secret, especially from these two, who are now part of the family. Sort of. JP and Taylor’s relationship is pretty new, but I feel good about them together.

“I could try talking to Aline,” Lacey offers, referring to her mother-in-law. “We’re pretty close.”

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