Chapter 18

A month had gone by since they had started their well, affair. At least once a week Amanda would tell Jake that she was either going out by herself or to meet Kendall, only it was David she was meeting. In fact they had just met each other, at his place of course. She had called Jake and told her that she was working late, at Fusion. Jake was curious to why she was working late, more often. He figured that since Amanda had told him that they were starting a campaign for a new line of perfume that she was working on that. He thought it would be nice if he surprised her at work, brought some dinner and then drove her home. Between his shifts at the hospital and her working late, he felt they never saw each other and he was going to take advantage of this opportunity.

David and Amanda were lying in bed after making love. Neither one of them had brought up the conversation they started in New York for fear of screwing things up. Instead they talked about her and the baby with a few mentions of Jake.

“I think Jake might be getting a little suspicious. He doesn’t know that you make his schedule around the times we spend together but since we never see each other I think he thinks something isn’t as it should be.” She said a little worry that this whole thing would be blown to bits by Jake’s finding out.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to play nice for a little bit. Spend some time with him instead of me. I know it’ll be hard, but that will throw him off our scent.” He pretend pouted at his suggestion.

“I’ll just make plans with him once or twice this week. Make him feel like I am making time for him. I’m going to be thinking of you though when I’m with him.” She said climbing up his body, placing kisses up his chest.

“I’ll be thinking of you too. When I’m here by myself.”

“Ugh, I need to get going. I told Jake I was working late but I’m always home by 10. If I’m not home soon he might call me or call work.” She told him slowly moving to get up.

“I wish you didn’t have to go.” He whined, slowly loosening his hold on her arm and letting her get off the bed.

“I wish I didn’t either, but Jake can’t find out about this.” She told him with certainty.

“Remind me again why he can’t know?”He asked still unsure of the reason this was a secret.

“He just can’t. If he finds out about this it’s just going to complicate things. He might leave me and when the baby is born who knows. He knows how I feel about this pregnancy and who knows he might even try to get custody of the baby. If things stay the way they are…” she stopped mid sentence. She wasn’t really sure what her reasoning was for keeping this a secret. Maybe she just wasn’t ready to lose Jake and the family they were going to have but how they were going to keep this up she didn’t know. “We just can’t tell him okay. I’ll call you later. Bye.” And she was out the door.

She always left that way, in a hurry and she always diverted subjects that he brought up. She was like a book that needed to be read a few times before you could completely understand it. He had read it once but apparently not enough.

Jake got to Fusion with a late night snack, hoping that they could eat and then leave rather than she keep working and he leave. All of her working had to be taking a toll on her. He just wanted her to come home and relax but it never seemed to happen. He walked into the office where Kendall, Greenlee and Amanda worked. He saw Kendall was still here but he didn’t see Amanda.

“Hey Kendall, is Amanda still here?” He asked waiting for her response.

“Hi Jake. Amanda isn’t here. She left a couple hours ago. Why?” Totally confused as to why he would think she was here.

“She said something about working late. I came by to surprise her.”He said wondering why she had lied, if it was a lie. She could have just not had to work late but why wouldn’t she have came home or at least called? “I guess we just had a little communication error. She probably called me to tell me she was going somewhere and I didn’t answer or she forgot to call. Thanks for your help Kendall.” He thanked her and walked back out of the office to the elevator. He’d just go back home and maybe she would be there when he got home or at least be home soon. He called her phone but it was off, so he’d just wait.

“No problem. Bye” Kendall said getting ready to do the same and go home for the night. Hmm.. she thought why would she tell Jake she was working late when she was anxious to get out of here early? Whatever, I’ll just ask her tomorrow.

She arrived home finding it odd that Jake wasn’t there. Maybe he ran out for something or maybe he was still working. She wasn’t in the door more than five minutes before he was walking in the door.

“Jake, I thought you would be here when I got home.” She said surprised he was home later than her.

“Well I thought I would surprise you at work but it was my surprise to find out you left hours ago.” He said trying not to jump to conclusions before she gave her explanation.

“I tried calling you but you didn’t answer. I was starving, so I left earlier and got something to eat. I’m eating for two now and I was so hungry I couldn’t wait long enough to come back here and make something.”

“You should have paged me. I would have brought you something.”

“It wasn’t that big of an emergency that I needed to page you. If you would have answered I would have met you somewhere. I’m sorry I missed you. How about we do something tomorrow night, go out or something?”

“I can’t. I told Angie I would cover her shift. But we can meet for lunch if you want?”

“That sounds good.” She told him and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to bed now. It’s been a long day. Will you be joining me now or later?”

“I’m going to shower and then I’ll be in.”

“Alright” She said making her way into the bedroom. He knew something seemed off but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She kept putting more and more distance between them the last couple of weeks, but then maybe it was just his imagination.