Page 2 of The Perfect Secret

He held his tongue, though he wanted to say more, or at least comment on the tone in her voice. Her fifteen-year-old moods switched fast enough to make him dizzy, and he didn’t feel like dealing with them. Maybe the best way for her to learn was to have something happen. Although with the unevenness of the sidewalk and the ambivalence of the other pedestrians, he was the one more likely to land on his ass. He gritted his teeth at the throbbing in his knee.

Getting knocked over in the crowd had made the pain worse, and he looked forward to returning home and putting his feet up. It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise fun evening. He’d enjoyed the concert more than he’d expected. The a cappella group had great voices and a terrific rhythm. He’d even tapped his feet and sung along on occasion. The beat-box rhythm, soulful harmony and Jewish music as varied as hip-hop and rock was a pleasant surprise.

As they waited for the light to change, the woman he’d met—Hannah, he thought her name was—flashed through his mind. She’d managed to make Tess smile. Maybe it was his mood Tess fought against, or maybe it was her age, but her smiles were few and far between.

Speaking of smiles, Hannah’s was beautiful.

“Dad, Lexi wants to know if I can hang out with her tonight. Can I?”

He blinked as they approached the front of their apartment building. “Will her parents be home?”

She rolled her eyes as her thumbs moved at lightning speed on the phone keyboard. “Yeah, they are.”

“Okay, but I want you home by nine.”

“So early?” She widened her brown eyes and he melted, transported to when she was a toddler and thought he could do no wrong.

“Okay, ten. But no later.”

“Thanks.” She gave him a brief hug. Once inside, she ran past the doorman to the elevator.

Dan followed at a slower pace. Teenagers. They rode the elevator in silence to the third floor. Tess ran to the left toward Lexi’s apartment, while Dan headed right toward their own. He grunted to himself as he unlocked the door, tossing his keys on the marble-topped hall table.

His leg hurt like a sonofabitch. He paused in the doorway of the bathroom. Staring at the medicine cabinet, he clenched his jaw, counted to ten, turned and went into the kitchen for a bag of ice. Before he could change his mind, he shuffled into the office. With a sigh, he sat at the table where his latest jigsaw puzzle, his go-to pain distraction, was spread out. Pulling over an extra chair, he lifted his leg onto it. With one hand, he held the bag of ice on his knee; with the other he played with the pieces. Out of five thousand pieces, he’d completed the outer frame, which left a ridiculous amount for the middle. He could look at the picture on the front of the box, but in his mind, that was cheating. Taking the easy way out always was. He’d done it before and look what had happened. He’d never put his daughter at risk again.

With a shake of his head to clear his mind, Dan focused on the puzzle. An under-the-sea scene, with multicolored fish and sea turtles and plants, the puzzle design was complicated and required concentration in order to match the exact shades of color. Although more old-fashioned than phone apps or video games, it was the perfect distraction to keep his focus off the pain. Out of the corner of his eye, a reddish-brown puzzle piece caught his eye and a vision of Hannah floated through his mind. The woman’s hair was the exact color of the puzzle piece. Hefrowned. Woman? She was barely more than a girl and much too young for him to spare a thought for her. He winced as a shaft of pain sliced through his leg.Focus on the puzzle. Taking a deep breath, he removed all other thoughts from his mind.

The front door slid open, the click of the lock announcing Tess’s return.

“Hey, you’re home early,” he said as she joined him in his home office. “Everything okay?”

She frowned. “Uh, no, it’s ten o’clock, like you said. I’m going to bed. Good night.”

He looked at the clock. Two hours had passed without him noticing it. “Whoa. Good night, Tess. I love you!”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

As he went to his room, he marveled once more at the carousel ride that was his daughter.

The next day, Hannah walked during her lunch hour. Her heels clicked along the sidewalk in time to her breathing as she tried to blow off steam. The autumn breeze cooled her neck and temper, allowing her to take in the scenery. It was a beautiful autumn day in New York City. Skyscrapers stood in stark relief against the bright blue sky. The sun glinted off the windows, reminding her of a mirror ball. She would have enjoyed her walk more, but other things occupied her mind. Two things, in fact.

Why did clients have to be so difficult? She fisted her hands at her sides as she thought about their unreasonable demands. Pharmaceuticals made her yawn, but if she wanted a promotion and to develop her own client roster, she needed to succeed with what she was given. It was the only way to get a raise and be able to support her grandmother. She owed her.

Hannah had spent all morning trying to create an interesting angle to highlight her client’s new CEO appointment. There wasn’t one, and none of the large media outlets were biting. Even if she’d been able to fake interest in the subject, there was nothing earthshattering about a new executive in a corner office. Her boss put Hannah in charge of crafting a successful news hook to be able to pitch the story. And Hannah was stumped.

As if that wasn’t enough to fill her stomach with acid, there was Adam. He had the timing of a third-string, second-rate quarterback. How had she ever thought he was worth dating? And in all seriousness, she was never,everanswering her phone again without checking caller ID. Remembering his smarmy voice set her teeth on edge.

What started out as a fun set-up with the roommate of her best friend’s boyfriend had turned into anything but. Sure, he was funny and sexy with a great job at his father’s law firm in New Jersey. But he was all flash and about as dependable as catching a taxi in the rain. He’d cancel plans last minute or forget they’d made them in the first place. Even now, a year later, she could taste her disappointment when he once again stood her up. And his attention span? A toddler possessed a longer one. She’d known from the start their relationship was casual. But as time went on, she discovered she wanted someone who understood her commitment to her family. She wanted more than a shallow hookup.

Hannah had broken it off with him a month ago and he’d seemed to take it in stride. Until today when he called out of the blue looking for a “good time,” as he put it. In other words, he was in between girlfriends and horny. Lovely. Even now, thinking about what he’d said on the phone made her heart race, and not in a good way. Thanks to him, her concentration, along with the glimmer of an idea, evaporated.

Since her appetite disappeared as soon as she heard his, “Hey, babe,” she walked during her lunch hour, trying to calm down and remember what she’d planned to suggest as a media hook. Her stomach had other ideas, though, and growled as she smelled the hot dog vendor on the corner. No matter how gross they were, something about those dirty water dogs appealed to her. She ordered one with mustard and a diet soda. When the vendor collected the money and passed over the food, she turned around and smacked into a hard body behind her.

“Oh, I’m so sor—”

It was the silver-haired guy from the night before. What was his name? Dan. “Hi,” she said. His hand clasped her elbow to steady her as he balanced with his cane.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were behind me.”