“AJ is out of the ICU and asking for you,” Sophia, AJ's girlfriend, said walking into the room.
Lost in thought Jake hadn't heard her come in, but at the sound of her voice he stopped and turned. Petite and blonde, the two words echoed in his head. Sophia was both. Could Charlie have seen a picture of them together somehow? Sophia was the only woman he’d been around lately. Had a photographer taken a picture of them together and published it?
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Sorry. I have a lot on my mind. Listen I want to know how AJ is doing, but I need to check something out.” Jake moved toward the guest room where he'd left his laptop. He didn't bother to wait for a reply. Instead he brought up his favorite search engine and typed in his own name. Several links came up, but he chose the one with the most recent date. After opening the link a color photo popped up and sure enough it featured him and Sophia at the airport together with a short article beneath.
“What are you looking at?” Sophia asked entering the room. “Is that us?” She peered over his shoulder.
“Bloody hell,” he swore using one of Dylan's favorite expressions. “She must have seen this picture,” he groaned running his hands through his hair. While he agreed the picture looked bad, he'd hoped that she had a little more faith in him. Didn't Charlie trust him at all?
“Who are you talking about?”
Jake turned away from the screen. He didn't need to see the picture or headline to figure out exactly what had happened. “Charlie. Someone I've been seeing. Just talked to her and she accused me of seeing someone else. That picture is why,” he said gesturing toward the computer.
Damn it. Once again the media was butting into his life.
Sophia sat down on the edge of the bed. “If you explain, I'm sure she'll understand.”
Without intending to Jake laughed sarcastically. “Would you? With my reputation to back up that photo?” Jake tried to ignore the dull pain settling in his chest. He'd really thought that Charlie had come to know the real him, rather than the Jake Sherbrooke the media liked to portray. Evidently, he'd been dead wrong. If she could jump to conclusions about him so quickly she didn't know him at all.
“Maybe. I'm not sure.” Sophia shrugged.
Jake heard the uncertainty in her voice.
“You could at least try, Jake. It's her loss if she doesn't believe you.”
Sophia only had that half correct. If she didn't believe him, he'd be losing a lot too. During their time together he'd come to care about her in a way he'd never felt before. And he knew he would hurt like hell if she walked out of his life forever.
“How's AJ doing?” Jake didn't want to continue discussing Charlie. Later he'd try her again. He knew in her current mood, she wouldn't listen to him. Maybe if he gave her a chance to calm down she'd hear him out.
Chapter 13
A week later Charlie sat on her bed packing. The following morning she was returning to Virginia. She had another week of leave left but she intended to spend it at her own place. She also had an interview at the hospital in Williamsburg. Although she'd hoped to make up her mind concerning her career in the Navy by now, she was still on the fence. Hopefully after this interview she would be able to make up her mind.
A mere week earlier, before she'd seen that picture of Jake on the internet, she'd been certain she wanted to retire from the Navy and start the next phase of her life. Now that he'd shown his true colors and she was back to thinking rationally, staying in the Navy seemed like an excellent idea.
But regardless of her ultimate decision, her stay in Massachusetts needed to end. Staying at the bed and breakfast surrounded by thoughts of Jake only clouded her mind. She needed to get back to a place where there were no memories of him.
Charlie grabbed the turquoise sarong from her pile of clothes and memories of her weekend on Martha's Vineyard came rushing back. She'd bought it while on the island, and it'd been sitting in the bottom of her drawer since coming back.
Rolling it into a ball, she stuffed the piece of fabric into her bag and wished she could roll up and discard her feelings for Jake just as easily. She'd been trying for the past seven days but so far she hadn't been successful. It was just a fun summer fling, she reminded herself. Something she could tell her friends about when she got back to Norfolk.
Charlie grabbed a t-shirt next and folded it before adding it to her bag. Why couldn't she forget about the jerk? Why the hell did he have to invade her thoughts all day? Hopefully getting home would help with that. At least he'd stopped calling her. His last call had been two days ago. She was surprised he'd called her back at all. Though she hadn't seen any more pictures of him and his unidentified blonde that didn't mean he wasn't still in England with her.