Jaxon had showered. That was why he’d been missing in action. Where Daniel was all dressy with his tailored outfits, Jaxon was all over the show in comfortable wear, donning a worn out black hoodie over ruffled blue denims. His dirty blonde short do was dripping in water, like he hadn’t even bothered to dry off. I don’t think he’s ever dried off after a shower.

“I was,” Lucinda said, wiping her hands with the tea towel nearby. “Daniel, this is my son, Jaxon.”

Daniel got up from his stool and extended his hand out. With a surprisingly pleasant demeanour, Jaxon shook it, returning the soft smile Daniel was giving him.

“Nice to meet you,” said Daniel.

“Nice to meet you too. Come all the way from Winthrop, right?” Jaxon casually asked, making his way to the stool across from Daniel.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Long drive, huh? Gotta have good company or else it’s boring as hell.”

“Do you travel up there often?”

“Not anymore. I used to.” Jaxon flashed me a deliberate look as I hesitantly placed an extra plate down in front of him.

Daniel was a smart guy, and the look alone from Jaxon to me had impelled even more curiosity. He studied me nonstop. I tried hard to appear as neutral as possible, knowing full well that Jaxon was going to intentionally keep dropping hints. I just hoped he wasn’t cruel enough to hint about last night. At this rate, Jaxon was capable of doing anything.

They made small chat about… the weather. Seriously? I set a large plate of bacon down in the centre of the island, and Lucinda walked around, setting eggs onto each of our plates. After pouring everyone a cup of orange juice, I sat down beside Daniel, and Lucinda beside Jaxon, and we all began eating. By all, I mean them and not me. I was too busy worrying over how the hell I was going to tell Daniel what happened.

“So what are the plans for today, Sara?” Lucinda asked, no doubt trying to break the awkward silence in the air.

“The skip will be at the house, so it’ll be a day of tossing stuff away,” I answered.

“I’ll help you out with that,” Daniel told me, setting a soothing hand on my thigh as he watched me kick around a bacon strip with my fork. “I’ll make sure you get it done. No more distractions.”

I smiled at him, and then he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. This was not Daniel behaviour, but after hearing the boyfriend bit he was definitely playing the part. I had suspicions he was marking his territory in front of Jaxon. Lucinda had similar thoughts, peeking over at Jaxon with a worried look. Jaxon accomplished the neutral look well, but his eyes deceived him. He was observing every bit of our interaction, touch, word and look.

“How is work?” I said to him.

“Unbearable. The replacement secretary is as useful as bike peddles on a wheelchair.” Lucinda and I burst out laughing. “She can’t even work the fax machine.”

“But she works in the other department.”

“Yeah, as a secretary’s assistant and she’s only been in that position two weeks so far. I stared at her for a whole ten minutes aligning four pieces of paper to staple through the corner of.”

“So you must really miss me.” I bit down on my lip, trying hard not to laugh.

“Why do you think I’m here? Gonna kidnap you back to the office.”

Lucinda laughed again. “I like him, Sara. He’s determined.”

“Determined enough to drive three hours to see the hottest secretary I’ve ever head, yeah,” agreed Daniel.

“You should have finished your degree,” Jaxon interjected in seriousness. “I remember how much you immersed yourself in your studies, pushing other… important things out of your life to get it done. You shouldn’t have abandoned it.”

My smile disappeared and my stomach dropped.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Daniel said, a little defensively. “Money problems get in the way more often than you might think.”

“Yeah, money.” Jaxon twisted his lips in distaste. “What a damn thing money is.”

I looked down at the plate, saddened because I knew exactly what he wasn’t saying out loud.

“What do you do for yourself, Jaxon?” Daniel asked, inquisitively. There was no fooling him; he could sense when things were amiss.

“I own a few businesses,” Jaxon replied. Did he enjoy being all mysterious about it with everyone? Daniel wouldn’t let that answer slide.

“In anything in particular?”

“Not really.”

“All kinds of things,” Lucinda piped in, uncomfortable herself with the questions. “They’re all spread around. A night club and a bar in the centre of town, and a restaurant around here–”

“No, that one’s in centre of town, too,” Jaxon interrupted, thoughtfully.

“No, no, I’m talking about the Italian place ten minutes from here, near Walter Avenue.”

“Oh, right, that one.”

Daniel raised a brow. “Just how many businesses do you own?”

“Well, after today…” Jaxon leaned back a little in his stool, and his eyes went up to the ceiling as he stopped to think about this. Because really, it takes someone this long to think about how many businesses they own, right? “Hmm… Ten all up.”

“Eleven,” Lucinda corrected him with a roll of her eyes.

I didn’t know whose jaw fell first, but Daniel and I were both wide eyed and open mouthed in a matter of seconds.

“Quite the busy man,” remarked Daniel with lifted brows. He was very impressed.

“Well, it started out rough. I didn’t bother after high school, didn’t want to be a loser –” he flashed me a pointed look “ – and I didn’t want to be a disappointment to my mom, so I got my shit together.” He pushed the plate forward, gulped down the last of his orange juice and stood up. “That reminds me, I’ve got some unfinished errands I need to get around to. It was nice meeting you, Daniel. Maybe I’ll see you around again.” He emphasized ‘maybe’ with a smirk, glancing at me and then turned to his mom. “I’m taking the bike. Where’s the helmet?”

“It’s still rainy out there,” Lucinda complained.

“I’m a big boy.”

She sighed. “It’s in my closet behind the pink purse and my stack of wool.”