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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The rage finally left Jay’s shaking hands. Forty-five minutes later, he handed Tara a no-foam soy latte and took a burning sip of his. Together, they walked out of the coffee shop. Tara didn’t have her quick-footed gait, and the corners of her mouth hadn’t perked up, even with the promise of caffeine. She had nothing to complain about, though, given she hadn’t beenfired. Jay planned on wringing Ella’s neck if she didn’t call him back in the very near future and beg for forgiveness.
Tara worried him, though. The FBI didn’t call her up and schedule an appointment. They’d dropped by her office, wanting a tour of her conference room, even though that had happened weeks ago and Titan had reported everything. She was a jittery mess.
He tugged at his collar.
“Jay—”
“What did they ask you?” They navigated the pocked brick sidewalks on Capitol Hill.
“Where I was, who I was with, what did I think about what was happening to Ella.” Tara’s bossy-bitchy, always-so-sure candor wasn’t there. Her lips rested on the lid of the coffee cup as they paused at a crosswalk.
“That’s not a big deal.” Encouraging her worked for both of them. That one little stunt he had looped her in on wasn’t his best move, but she had no idea the extent to which he had played with Ella. Tara had held his letters, looked at his pictures, talked about his doingswith him, and had no idea. Everything would be fine. “It’s a good thing to hash it out with them. It’ll keep her safe.”
But the heat had been set to boil. The game would have to endnow. Ella had changed the rules; the FBI might be on the right trail. If Ella took him back, the stalker would go away and the game would be done. Everything would go back to normal, and their life would move forward.
The crosswalk sign changed, but Tara only moved the cup from her lips. “Wait—Jay. Every time and date they asked me about, I was with you.”
Interesting that she thought that was noteworthy. “We’re always together.”
“Not always.”
“I thought the same thing about you.” He laughed, arching an eyebrow. “Do you have a plan to drive ratings with a stalker?”
“No!”
Perfect reaction. She was accused of pushing the envelope so often that she would be defensive. “We’re together all the time. Throw a dart at the calendar, and we’d be together.”
“Right… Does this have anything to do with what we had—”
“No.” He cut her off abruptly. “Absolutely not. That was totally separate. It was just a thing. It’s not even worth bringing up.”
“Okay, because they asked if there is anything else that I could think of, and—”
“Did you mention that?” Because everything banked on the fact that Tara was unscrupulous enough to play a little with her clients, nothing illegal, and not mention it if questioned.
“No. It just seems silly,” she stuttered.
“Exactly. Wewerejust playing games. Now that everything else has happened, no one would find it funny. Context is everything.”
“You’re right,” Tara said.
“You’d lose all your clients if that got out.” Jay was going to have to pull off something big when he wasn’t with Tara but still had an alibi, especially if this “you’re fired” bullshit didn’t wrap up.
Tara bit the edge of her cup, her silence agreeing with him. Nerves were contagious, and he drummed on the side of his coffee cup as they came upon Tara’s office. What kind of event would force Ella his way and ensure he and Tara didn’t have an issue with their identical calendars?
The taste of excitement mixed with his coffee. “Don’t worry, Tara. Everything will be fine.”
“Sure,” she mumbled.
“Good news is Eco-Ella has never been so hot. Did you see the numbers from the last few nights?”
She stopped chewing on the edge of her cup and shined. “I did.”
When all else failed, he could throw ratings out to pacify Tara. Mission accomplished.
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