The Christmas Secret

A lifetime ago. She shrugged. “I guess about three and a half years ago.”

“What happened?”

“I wasn’t good enough for the son of the great James Harris.”

“According to …?”

“James Harris.”

“What a jerk,” Kristi said. “It didn’t take AJ long to find someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“You saw his little boy yesterday.”

“Actually, I didn’t.” She had deliberately avoided looking at the child in the backyard.

“AJ said he was two,” Kristi said. “I’d say he has to be at least two and a half years old, which means … well, we all know what that means.”

Sam stared into the bottom of her empty coffee cup and didn’t respond. She had spent all night coming up with possible scenarios for when and how AJ had become a parent, and she hadn’t liked any of them.

“So you think the guy’s a player?” Claire asked. “His family’s loaded and men in that position never have trouble finding women, but I don’t know, he doesn’t seem like the type. Did the two of you ever talk about having kids?”

Sam shook her head. The conversation was heading down a road that was way too close to home for comfort. “We were never that serious. Like I said yesterday, I did some work for his family’s business and …”

“And …?” Claire asked.

“And …” Kristi was always prone to exaggeration. “She and AJ mixed a little pleasure with business.”

Sam’s face heated up.

“That’s obvious,” Claire said before Sam could respond. “But there’s more to it than that. The two of you must have had a connection back then because you sure as heck have one now.”

Sam thought so, too. Until James Harris told her otherwise.