Page 76 of Second Act
Chapter 18
Jessica had to convince Hugh to let her depart without him in the wee hours of the morning. She pointed out that if the paparazzi had somehow trailed him to the hotel, they wouldn’t pay any attention to her exit as long as she was alone. He’d admitted the practicality of that, but it had been hard to leave when he walked her to the suite’s elevator stark naked. His powerful, masculine beauty still had the power to stun her.
She sat in her kitchen, smiling into her coffee like a woman madly in love, when Aidan trudged in. “How can anyone look so happy before noon on Saturday?” he groused as he poured himself a mug of caffeine. “Wait, last night, you were with...now I remember.” He gave her a sly look and flopped down into the chair across from her. “But I don’t want to know any details.”
“Nor would I share them.” In recognition of Aidan’s new maturity and brotherly advice, she added, “Hugh and I have decided to give it another try.”
“You mean, like a ‘serious actually get married this time’ try?” Her brother’s sleepiness evaporated as he sat up straight in the ladder-back chair.
“We’re not quite to that point yet. We just started dating again.” But she was hoping that’s where it would lead.
“Well, you almost married him before, so I figured you might not need a lot of time to make up your mind.” He shrugged. “It’s cool.Everyone deserves a second chance. Although since Hugh’s an actor, maybe it’s a second act.”
“Don’t the hero and heroine always split up at the end of Act Two? That’s not a good analogy.” Jessica swallowed the rest of her coffee and stood. “Today’s the day I interview the part-time vet candidate.”
“You’re doing an interview on a Saturday? That’s weird.”
“Not when your prospective employee prefers to work weekends.” Jessica practically sang that sentence. The possibility of having a weekend day off was a golden dream. “She’s got a kid, so she wants to be at the office when her husband is home to do childcare.”
“Sounds like a win-win for both of you.”
Jessica rinsed out her mug and put it on the dish drainer. “If she’s as good in person as she is on paper.”
The sun was surprisingly strong for an early morning in January, the rays managing to raise gleams of reflected light from the piles of frozen, gray snow that dotted the sidewalk and streets. Jessica found herself almost skipping as she headed toward the clinic, her gloved hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket for extra warmth against the frigid air.
She liked the city in winter. The cold kept the less savory smells down, while the food carts still emitted their mouthwatering aromas on clouds of steam. The dark, bare branches of the trees looked sculptural against the silver-blue sky, and the architectural details of the buildings wore puffy caps of snow that softened their hard surfaces.
Today, though, her buoyant mood was due to Hugh. It could have been raining cats and dogs but she would have danced through the deluge. Although whenever she thought of his mother’s cruelty, she wanted to strangle the woman, even though she knew that his mom had at least tried to be a mother to Hugh. Of course, his mother was beyond her reach.
Jessica understood so much more about him now, especially his relentless drive to be a superstar. He couldn’t risk being abandoned again, so he needed to have millions of people love him, even if that love was a fickle illusion. That’s why he had tried to mold her into the perfect arm candy.
It also explained why he’d cut her off after she broke the engagement. He wasn’t going to allow Jessica to tempt him with hope and then annihilate it.
A deep sadness for that little boy ran through the joy of her love for the grown man. But the joy was what made her hum as she strolled along the sidewalk.
Her humming stopped abruptly when she rounded the corner of the block where the clinic stood. Her first patient, Racha—a high-strung greyhound who’d been adopted after he’d retired from racing—alternated between barking hysterically and cowering behind his owner, Mateo Vega. The dog was upset because a horde of photographers stood in a semicircle outside the clinic’s front door. Mateo tried to calm him, but the dog wouldn’t keep quiet or stand still long enough to be soothed by words or touches.
“Holy crap!” Jessica stomped up the street to confront the paparazzi. “Get the hell away from here. Don’t you see you’re upsetting the dog? He comes in early to avoid crowds because they make him crazy.” Carla always scheduled the skittish creature’s appointments before the clinic officially opened.
Instead of leaving, the photographers whipped up their cameras and swarmed around her, clicking away. “Look over here!” “Think about your lover boy in bed.” “Why’d you dump him back then?”
That drove Racha into a frenzy of barking and running in circles, so the leash tangled around the dog’s slender legs. His owner did his best to keep it from bringing Racha down on the hard pavement. Thank goodness Mateo was a dancer with great balance and agility.
“If that dog gets hurt, I’m suing every one of you,” Jessica said, digging out her keys from her purse as fast as she could.
The photographers backed off slightly, probably because she wasn’t doing anything more interesting than unlocking the metal gate. She yanked it up, barely feeling the weight with the anger surging through her veins.
“Mateo, come on in.” She beckoned as soon as she’d unlocked the door. “Get out of his way,” she barked at the paps.
Mateo managed to get the frantic dog through the forest of cameras without anyone getting hurt.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, as she locked the door behind them before she knelt to settle Racha down with some gentle stroking. “Who’s a good dog? Who tried to scare away the evil paparazzi?” she crooned.
“I know you can’t control those people, Doc. But why are they taking pictures of you?” Mateo’s expression was baffled and concerned. “Is everything all right?”
Jessica sighed in relief as Racha sank to the floor and rolled onto his back, inviting a tummy rub. She hesitated and then decided everyone would find out soon enough anyway. “I’m dating Hugh Baker, which wouldn’t be such a big deal except we were once engaged and it didn’t work out back then.”
Mateo’s eyes went wide. “You meantheHugh Baker, the one who plays Julian Best?” He fanned himself. “He issohot. I’d date him, too, except he doesn’t roll that way.”
