Page 33 of One Small Secret

“Hey, Andrew, Merry Christmas.” Ruben’s voice sounds anything but merry. It sounds exhausted. How much sleep was he actually able to get on that sad excuse for a couch? I can’t understand the words coming out of the phone, but I can hear the tone. Someone is either very upset or very excited.

Ruben rubs his forehead. “I don’t even know what you're talking about. Has the whole world gone crazy?”

I open the People article and put my phone in front of Ruben’s face. His eyes fly to my uncovered window and back to the couch before meeting mine. “I’ll call you back,” he says, ignoring the frantic voice on the other end of the line, and ends the call. He takes my phone from my hand and his shoulders drop. “Oh, Cadence, I’m so sorry.” His eyes close tight. “I really didn’t mean to get you mixed up in anything. Are you going to be okay?”

“Me?” I ask. He should be worried about Ben and Daphne, and whatever troubles this is going to cause the company. ”I’m going to be fine.”

“But they got Axley too.”

At that I curse, because the last thing Moira and Axley need is for the whole world to know about the two of them. “Well, that is unfortunate, but there isn’t really anything to be done about it now. I’m more worried about Ben.”

I can see the wheels turning in his head as he looks from me to Axley, then back to the door where Ben just left. He curses again. “So Grandpa thinks…” He runs a hand through his rumpled hair but doesn’t seem to be able to finish the sentence.

“He thinks Axley is yours.” All of Ruben’s nervous motions stop. “He said he looks like you.”

Ruben swallows and closes his eyes, as if in pain. “I have to tell him.”

“Good luck with that. He seems to like the idea.”

“If you only knew.” He grimaces. “Grandpa has been trying to set me up with you since the fourth grade. This is going to break his heart.”

I have no response. When our families have gathered together, there were always a few gentle prods from both sides, but Ruben never took them seriously and neither did I. The last thing any teenager wants is to go out with someone their family wants them to date. “How can they print that picture? We’re in the privacy of my home. Can we make them retract it?”

“Retracting won’t change the fact that the world has seen this photo. And we were visible from the street. Legally, that’s all the cameraman needs to explain there wasn’t an expectation of privacy. Sorry, I should have thought of that. I’m not used to anyone taking pictures of me in Rosco.” Ruben grabs his shoes and dashes to the door. “I have to go.” He pauses before opening it and turns to look at me. “What a start to Christmas, eh? I get to obliterate my grandpa’s favorite Christmas present ever.” He drops his shoes, takes a few steps back toward me, and takes Axley’s hand. “I’d be proud if you were mine, buddy. But I can’t let my grandpa think something that isn’t true. I hope you have a very merry Christmas.”

He looks at me and, for a moment, seems as if he's about to lean down and kiss me on the forehead like Ben did. Like we're an old married couple and this is our routine before he's off to work.

“Merry Christmas, Ruben.” I lean forward and give him a hug, because a hug makes sense between us, and married couple kisses absolutely do not. “Let me know if you need any help talking to Ben.”

Ruben nods and leans forward, his face serious. “If he gets too upset, I’ll just tell him Axley is mine, then force you to make an honest man out of me.”

A strange sensation leaps in my chest, but I tap it down. Yesterday I thought maybe I could hang out with “just Ruben,” but this morning made it very clear that “just Ruben” doesn’t exist. The man in front of me is, and always will be, Ruben Palmer, heir presumptive to the Palmer Hotel empire. “Ha ha. I’m pretty sure Daphne would love that.”

“I’m not that worried about Daphne at the moment. In fact, she might be the one who sent the paparazzi.”

“What?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know who else could have done it. I was supposed to be in New York last night.”

“With Daphne?” I don’t like the way her name feels in my mouth.

“Yes. There was a party we were going to attend, and, well…” He runs his hands through his hair. “I told her I couldn’t make it. And I haven’t really made it to any of our dates the past two weeks.”

“Why would that make her send people here to take pictures?”

He turns and starts to slip his shoes on. “She joked that I’ve been absent because of a woman.” Then he shakes his head. “But it was a joke. I’m sure of it. Or at least I was yesterday.”

A snort escapes my lips. “Well, don’t worry too much about it. Nothing about this—” I flick my hand down, gesturing at my bedraggled look— “is going to worry Daphne VanPelt. The rest of the world is going to feel the same. I’m sure this will blow over nice and quick.”

Ruben freezes in the middle of putting on his second shoe, then with a shake of his head, he slips it on. He opens my door and turns to me. My stupid sweatshirt has fallen off my shoulder again, and he steps toward me to pull it up. The feel of his fingertips along my shoulder and collarbone make me think wild things. Things like, maybe becoming the mother of Ruben’s children isn’t the craziest idea Ben has ever had.

I lift my chin and give myself a mental shake. Standing this close to Ruben would make any woman think that. It’s just his stupid animal magnetism. Why did I ever question it?

Ruben’s hand stays on my shoulder but I choose to ignore it. He probably doesn't even realize he's doing it. “Cadence, I only got a glimpse of that photo, but it’s the sweetest picture anyone has taken of me since our sophomore history class. The world is going to go nuts over it—worse than the skins game pictures, for sure. If you think anyone’s girlfriend could look at her man in a picture like that and not go berserk,” he shrugs, “you are the one being preposterous.”

My body reacts like it’s a Christmas tree and someone just flipped on the lights. Ruben, you wretch. You can’t do this to me. I channel all my energy into appearing bright and happy and unaffected by the fact that he has said the sweetest and most painful thing I’ve ever heard. “You really think so?” I make a face that probably looks like I walked in on one of Axley’s more epic messes. Only this time, I’m the one causing all the problems. “Are you and Daphne going to be okay?”

“Daphne and I are fine. Don’t worry, please. We aren’t serious, at all.” He grits his teeth together. “I’m going to need you to trust me on this one until I have time to talk to her and my lawyer. But believe me when I say she'll be just fine, as long as I don’t have her arrested for sending the paparazzi. But I am worried about my grandpa.” His hand on my shoulder squeezes. “And I’m worried about you.”

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