My feelings aside, how could Jack have such little regard for the woman who was giving him a second chance at fatherhood? If he didn't love her now, he was bound to when he laid eyes on the child he'd made with her. I just didn't want to get caught in the crossfire when that moment inevitably came.
"She just isn't you," Jack spoke up, reading my mind. He held his hand out to me in a silent offer, and I stared at it for a few seconds before taking hold of it.
Jack steered me out onto the dance floor right when a slower song started playing, placing his hands on my waist to steady me against him. "Relax," he whispered, pulling me in close despite how tense I was.
We swayed for a few minutes without fully touching, but eventually the familiarity got the better of me and I found myself resting my head against his chest. "Maybe you were right," I told him.
Jack brushed my hair back away from my face to look me in the eye and waited for me to continue.
"Maybe you leaving was what I needed to heal," I admitted. "That didn't make it hurt any less."
Jack gave me a sad look. "I know..."
"No, I don't think you do," I continued. "I can't plan your wedding. I thought I'd be able to handle it, but if these past two weeks have proven anything, it's that obviously I can't."
"I know," Jack said. "I was actually going to talk to you about that..."
He trailed off in the middle of his sentence, furrowing his brows as he looked past me. I turned to see what he was looking at, and that's when I noticed Lauren waving him down from the entrance. "One sec," he said with a sigh, pulling away from me to go see what she wanted.
I was sitting at a nearby table nursing a drink when Jack finally resurfaced. "Her father called," he explained. "She had to go put out a fire for him."
"Ah," I said, taking a tense sip of my drink. "He sounds pretty demanding..."
Jack shrugged. He didn't say anything, but I could tell by his body language that something was bothering him.
Something big.
~ CHAPTER FIFTEEN ~
Jack and Lauren's break-up was front-page news the following Monday. "Looks like fates finally on your side," Jada said as she entered my office, slapping the newspaper down in front of me with a giddy smile and lingering near my desk as I read it over.
The first paragraph read as follows:
‘Senatorial Candidate Jack Fitzgerald has called things off with his fiancée, Lauren Kennedy, after a brief engagement. This news comes after WikiLeaks released the transcripts of two email conversations between Ms. Kennedy and her father, Ted Kennedy, who appear to have been in the process of planning to extort Mr. Fitzgerald. Ms. Kennedy is currently pregnant, but our sources say that the child she's carrying may not be Mr. Fitzgerald's. More news will be available as it breaks.'
"Oh my god," I gasped, bringing my hand up to mouth. "Poor Jack!"
"That's not all," Jada called over her shoulder on her way out. "Peter's on hold for you."
I sighed and tore my gaze from the paper long enough to pick up the phone, bracing myself for the verbal onslaught I knew was coming. "Chantel," Peter greeted, not giving me a chance to respond before he tore into me. "What's this I'm hearing about the Kennedy/Fitzgerald wedding being off? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I tell you to avoid doing anything drastic?"
"Peter, look," I began, keeping my tone in check to avoid pissing him off any further. The man gave new meaning to word unreasonable. "We've been over this at least a dozen times. I'm an event planner, not a marriage counselor. I can't be held responsible every time a client decides to break off an engagement."
"Bullshit you can't," Peter shot back. "Do you know how many weddings I've had canceled in my tenure?"
"None," I muttered, rolling my eyes. It was all he ever bragged about, which didn't make any sense considering he hadn't had to plan an event himself in years. He had a team of minions for that-myself being one of them.
"That's right, none," Peter repeated. "So why is it that you've managed to lose our biggest one this quarter?"
I sighed and mulled over the best way to respond. It was obvious that approaching Peter with any kind of logic wouldn't work, so I opted on groveling for the sake of keeping my job. "I'm sorry," I told him. "It won't happen again."
"It better not," Peter warned. There was some noise on the line, followed by the sound of him screaming at someone before hanging up.
I must have slammed the phone back down in its cradle pretty loudly, because Jada reappeared in my doorway as soon as I did. "I'm fine," I told her, standing up and grabbing for my jacket. "I'm just gonna take an early lunch."
Jada hung back as I made my way out of the office. Once outside, I slipped my hands into my pockets to make sure I had my cell and wallet before making my way down the street towards my favorite café. I was about halfway there when I heard two familiar voices shouting somewhere in the distance, and it only took me a second to place them as Lauren and Jack's.
"Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Lauren said as she climbed out of his car. "It was my father's idea. I wasn't even sure I was going to go through with it … "
"Gee, that's comforting!" Jack yelled over his shoulder, making a point of walking a good ten steps ahead of her. "When were you going to tell me the kid wasn't mine? Before or after you ruined my life?"
Lauren didn't respond. "Jack!" she hissed, looking around to make sure no one had overheard him. "I know you're upset, but think logically here. Do you really want the press to know more about our business than they already do?"
Jack snorted and continued walking with Lauren right on his heels. It was obvious that they were en route to my office, and I was more than a little grateful that I wouldn't be there to greet them. I already felt nauseous enough as it was. I wasn't in the mood to mediate their bickering.
"You tried to blackmail me!" Jack yelled when Lauren wouldn't stop begging for his forgiveness. "I don't take too kindly to that as it is, but bringing Chantel into it? That's low. So you're going to go in there, and you're going to apologize, because if you don't … "
Jack's words became gradually harder for me to make out the further he and Lauren got from the tree I was hiding behind. Feeling brave, I darted after them hoping I'd go unseen, but unfortunately I wasn't so lucky. They both turned to look at me at the same time, and I took off as fast as I could in the other direction to avoid the awkward encounter I knew was coming.
Jack found me sitting on a park bench not even ten minutes later. "I'm sorry about Lauren," I said without turning to look at him. "It doesn't get much shittier than that."
Jack shrugged, taking a seat beside me and studying his hands for a moment before responding. "I just wish I'd have figured it out on my own."
I chanced a glance at him as I tried to figure out what to say next. When I came up empty handed, I leaned against him and focused my attention on a flock of pigeons searching the ground for food.
Jack stroked my hair back away from my face before lacing his arm around my shoulder and pulling me in closer to him. I was aching to ask him just where Lauren had taken off to, but there didn't seem to be much of a point. There wasn't anything left for her to say.
"I'm sorry," Jack spoke up. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," I said, lifting my head to look him in the eye. "We were stepsiblings who came pretty close to having a kid together. It's perfect extortion material. I'm just surprised she was savvy enough to orchestrate the whole thing."
"She wasn't," Jack said. "It was all her father's doing. He was going to blackmail me into dropping out of the election the moment our marriage license was filed. I never stood a chance."
I gave him a sympathetic look. "What about the baby?"
"The baby?" Jack let out a dry laugh. "Not mine. We just got back from having a paternity test done on the placenta."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not," Jack said, his voice firm. "Not even a little bit."