Her Secret, His Child

"I don't know, Kyle. What does it matter?" She was staring at the floor.

He didn't know what it mattered. "Ten, fifty, a hundred?"

"Closer to ten than a hundred."

His teeth clenched so tightly his jaw hurt.

Silence fell in the room. Kyle wondered how to leave.

"Somewhere between ten and fifty?" he asked when he thought neither of them was ever going to say another word.

"Somewhere."

"And they paid you."

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

"Yes."

"You took their money?"

"Yes, Kyle, I took their money. I was a prostitute, okay? What do you want, specific places, times, positions?" Tears were pouring down Jamie's face.

Kyle wondered where she kept the tissues. And whether or not she had a blanket or something for him to cover up with. Cold as he was, it might be a long night.

Then something she'd said earlier hit him squarely between the eyes. He felt his stomach cramp and almost threw up. "You were working that night we met."

Falling onto the couch, Jamie crumpled over her knees and nodded.

"That's why you thought my money was for the sex."

"Yes."

He wished she wouldn't cry so hard. It couldn't be good for her.

He wished he was alone. So he could cry, too.

"You were just waiting around for the next guy to offer and that was me?''

"No." She took a deep breath, as though she was trying to get a grip. "No."

He found that hard to believe. Having spent the first sixteen years of his life witnessing the business, he had a little experience with how these things worked.

"I connected with clients by referral only," she told him, surprising him. "And then only after meet-

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

ing them myself. I was there that night to meet a friend of the party's host."

"And did you?" Like it mattered.

"How could I?" she asked him. "I was with you."

Oh, yeah. That.

"Can I ask you something?" He must not have sounded as calm as he felt, because she actually had compassion in her eyes as she turned and looked up at him. He would've thought they were full of love, except that now, of course, he knew they couldn't be.

"Yes," she said, "anything."