Page 45 of Jake

Lauren went about showing him all the things she had done and handed over a few pages of notes or messages that she had taken.

“She’s a keeper,” Max told him.

“Don’t I know it.” Jake draped his arm around her shoulders, kissing her forehead.

“You need a raise. That was a lot,” Lauren told him.

“Eh, I do alright.” Max blushed before grabbing everything and heading out to his own desk.

“I seriously can’t thank you enough for your help today and for putting up with the detour,” Jake told her.

“It was nothing,” she assured him but blushed.

He wanted to argue that it wasn’t nothing but let it go. He’d think of some way to repay her for the help. He didn’t know what could possibly do that, but he’d think of it.

“Well, since our lunch date has been ruined twice, what would you like to do instead?” Jake asked her.

“Honestly, I have no idea.”

“We can go back to my place and finish the show?”

“Finish?” She laughed.

“Well, watch some more, anyway,” Jake teased.

“Sounds like a great idea.”

He helped her pack her things back up and they said a quick goodbye to Max as they left. It was amazing how she was good with staying in. He wanted to go out sometimes, but often preferred to have a low-key night and hadn’t found anyone to do that with until now.

She didn’t need or want to be paraded around and shown off as most of his other dates had. It was sweet and he loved it.

Her phone rang and she dug into her purse to find it as they got in his waiting car.

“Catherine, what’s up?” she said, putting the phone to her ear. She listened for a minute before speaking again. “Hold on, I’m with Jake. I’m going to put you on speaker.”

She pulled the phone away and pressed a button. “Go ahead.”

“I was saying that Cade is in the doghouse as far as my father is concerned. I had to get my mother up here to get him to leave and then Cade told him not to come back. It was messy.” She took a breath before starting her rapid speaking again. “I’m worried about Cade. He’s never let our father get to him this bad, and I’m not sure what’s going on. Jake, any thoughts?”

He cleared his throat before answering, “I think this has just been building up and was always something that was coming soon.”

“Hmm, maybe.” Catherine took time to think about it. “I don’t think he should really be alone right now. Do you guys have a game tonight?”

Shit, he’d completely forgotten. “Yeah, at Ryker’s.”

Lauren sent him a questioning look but he just shrugged in response.

“Can you let me know if he goes?” Catherine asked.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“Thanks.” Catherine ended the call.

“I’m sorry. I forgot about the game tonight.” Jake looked over at Lauren.

“It’s okay. Honestly, it’s expected after the way the day went.”

Jake looked down at his watch. “We can probably get an episode or two in if you want before I need to be at Ryker’s.”

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