My 2nd Novel: Hidden Secrets; Chapter 51

Hidden Secrets
Chapter 51

I love my Grands! 

This is a perfect celebration-type photo.

I think my eyes really look like this right now after all the reading and posting I've done in the past few days.

Hidden Secrets

Leona Palmer Haag

Chapter 51

 

"Cannonball!" Matt yelled before he curled up and jumped into the swimming pool. Waves rocketed outward and sent Jenn's lounger on a wild ride and made Katie laugh from her seat in a plastic floating seahorse.

The sun was shinning down on Scottsdale with unusual strength that February afternoon. Jenn peeked over her sunglasses and smiled at Katie as she giggled and kicked in her seat. Matt stroked to Katie and spun her around a few times, then dove under her and came up on the other side. She giggled and splashed with delight. Jenn went back to reading and ignored them.

"Hey, princess, watch this," Matt called.

Jenn looked up in time to watch a hand grab her lounger. Suddenly she was thrashing toward the surface amidst a soggy book, sinking sunglasses, a drowning bottle of Sprite and a bobbing bottle of suntan lotion. "Matt, you're mean! That was a new book you just ruined! And look at my hair! I wasn't going to get it wet!" Jenn sputtered when she broke the surface.

Matt laughed. "Uncle Kevin will buy you a new book. Ten books. A whole bookstore, if you want." He swam closer and whispered in her ear, "Next time call me darling, sugar pie, handsome hunk, super stud or Samuel—in case the neighbors are listening."

Jenn flushed and looked around. From water level, she couldn't see anyone trying to spy on them through cracks in the fence.

Matt shoved her toward the overturned lounger, then helped her right it and climb aboard. He hung onto the side and treaded water. "I knew you wanted to go swimming, not just lay there like a beauty queen," he teased.

Jenn scowled. "Wrong. Let's see if you can bring me a decent drink. Icy cold. Mine sank like the Titanic and tastes like chlorine now."

Matt swam to the side, climbed out and dripped toward the house. Jenn paddled toward Katie and adjusted her little hat to keep the sun off her face. Matt returned with two tall frosty glasses and a sippy cup with juice. He put a floating chair into the water and made his way to the center of the pool to deliver his goods. He handed the drinks to Jenn, then dove down for her book.

Jenn sipped her drink as she turned wet pages and babysat Matt's drink. He swam around Katie and blew bubbles underwater. She giggled and kicked. He swam to the side of the pool, pulled off his wet t-shirt and tossed it to a lounger she'd bought. Jenn looked away. She didn't need that. His bare chest and muscles. She tethered Katie's seahorse to her side as Matt began serious lap swimming and she tried to read soggy, half-transparent pages. She gave up. There were too many backward foggy letters mixed in with clear ones.

Matt finished swimming as Jenn finished rubbing a second helping of tanning lotion onto her legs. He swam to the lounger and said, "I can babysit if you want to swim."

Jenn slid into the water and treaded in place, then dove down and surfaced and flipped her hair back. Having someone around to entertain Katie was wonderful. She swam several laps before she returned to mothering. She hung onto Katie's seahorse and tickling her toes. Jenn's eyes slid to Matt when he reached out to join the tickling. Her eyes froze on a blaze of red lightning across his heart. "What happened?" she whispered in shock.

Matt looked down at the angry red line. He grimaced, then quickly wiped the look away and smiled. "I had a run in with a…"

"A what?" Jenn demanded when he didn't finish.

He impishly shrugged. "You already know what—a bad guy."

A tidal wave of ice surged through Jenn's veins, racing from her heart outward to her head and toes. She shivered. "What bad guy?"

"No one in particular. Just one with something sharp."

"From the looks of it, not long ago. What happened?"

Matt studied the scar. It was fading. Looking much better than it had. He looked back at Jenn's wide, frightened eyes. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was simple street crime. Nothing more. One bad guy went out of his way to do in another bad guy. Me, the good guy, strolled by at the wrong time. It's not fun getting in someone's way. He didn't even pause to apologize."

"Why don't I believe that?" Jenn whispered.

Suddenly Matt felt a wave of doubt rush through him. It didn't stop him from laughing and saying, "Honest, he never said he was sorry!" But he also stared at Jenn in surprise. He'd told her the truth as he knew it, but her statement changed something. It charged the air with electricity. Without evidence to support it, he knew she was right. It was not a simple street crime he unfortunately got caught in. It was a small piece of something very big. Very ugly. Nick traced the scar with his fingertip, then looked back at Jenn. She brushed her wet hair from her eyes and stared at his wound.

"Tell me about your diamond," he said, seeing it glitter in the sunlight.

Jenn laughed. "It's as fake as your little story. Funny thing—we're both fake at this moment on many levels. And the worst part is—I suddenly look like your wife, dear sweet Monica. Now that’s a first."

Matt grinned and waited, probably for a better explanation. Possibly for an apology for disparaging his wife. Jenn glared at him.

He lifted his drink, took a swig and said, "The ring. Give me the story and I'll be the judge. Stay close to the truth if you want to throw me off."

Jenn glared at the ring. "Okay, Mr. Smarty, it's a fancy little bauble that shouts to everyone around me that I belong here. I have the money and the clout. Except, it's a fake, and just like it, I am too. I'm Dia, the fake diva. Monica is the real thing. Her diamonds probably are too. You can bet I'll check them out when I get home."

Matt laughed. "I'm sure you will. That was chapter one. I want the whole book. Uncondensed. Go for it. I believed the first part. Good job. It was convincing."

"Good, because it's true. I thought I'd need the ring—the diamond, to be exact—to fit in. The first week I was here I was invited to join some women for a little cooking demonstration. You met my neighbor, Kristina, from the huge mansion across the street—the house that makes this one look like a humble cottage. Well, I went. Much to my astonishment, everyone was very ordinary, just like me—the real Jenn me. I was shocked to discover I had on the biggest, flashiest ring. I didn't really need it."

Matt laughed. "Flashy. You may not have ever realized it, Jenn, but you're the last person on earth who needs anything flashy. All you have to do is smile and you've made a bigger statement than any woman within a ten-mile radius. That's what irritates Monica the most. You don't have to buy your bling or pay for it by sitting in agony in a salon."

Jenn laughed. With cupped hands she sent a surge of water over Matt. A quick grab tipped him into the swimming pool in case she missed a spot. Ice cubes from his drink bobbed around his ears when he surfaced.

End Chapter 51

Here's big news: We are officially 2/3 through Hidden Secrets. Woo-whooo! I cheer because it's a bit of work on this side of the postings. I haven't reread all the way through yet so there may be a slowdown coming up in the next day or two as I catch up on editing. As you can probably tell if you check the posting times today, they are coming fast. That's because I've already edited these past few chapters. Good news, I've finished the next few as well. I know, this was totally useless information for you, but I just had to do a little celebrating here...  :)