Page 39 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets

“What do you mean?” She pushed the garage door open and led him to the stairs that would take them back up to her place.

Did he dare ask? “Frank said you met some guy there. A guy he thought you were going to marry.”

She looked away from him. “I thought I might, too.”

“What’s his name?”

“Lee Simpson.”

“Why’d you break it off?”

She raised a brow and stepped inside her home. Sasha padded over to greet him while Jade tilted her head and studied him. “What is this?Twenty Questions? An interrogation? You’re not with CID anymore.”

Bryce grimaced. “I know. I didn’t mean to sound like that.” A pause. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Why’d you break it off with him?”

Jade huffed a laugh and shook her head. “For a lot of reasons, Bryce. Too many to list, but suffice it to say, he wasn’t right for me.”

“Is he the reason you moved back here?” Bryce walked to her sofa and lowered himself onto it.

Jade took the chair near her fireplace. “Part of it. And partly to be near family. I…needed my parents’ help…” A funny look flittered across her face before she shot him a tight smile.

“Help?”

“Look,” she said, rubbing her hands together, then dropping them to her thighs. “I need to tell you something.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “What?”

“I…uh…whew…”

He frowned. “That’s a real struggle. Just spit it out.”

“I have a daughter.”

EIGHT

For a moment, Jade waited for him to respond, to react, to…something. Finally, he blinked. “A what?”

“A child. A daughter. Her name is Mia and she’s five years old.” Better to start simple.I have a daughterinstead ofYou have a daughteror evenWe have a daughterwas just…easier. If she had usedyouorwe, she doubted his reaction would have been quite so…calm. “Bryce?”

“I…see.” He sucked in a breath and raked a hand over his head. “Wow.”

“That’s it? Wow?”Ask me, she wanted to yell.Ask me if she’s yours.

“Okay,” he said, “well, I guess I understand why you moved back here. You needed your parents’ help to take care of the baby.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Frank never said a word.”

“Frank apparently never said much of anything to you about me,” she muttered.

“Sorry?”

“Nothing. Look, I told you that because—”