Chapter 13
Her heart raced as he stepped back into Linda’s office. She frowned as she watched him intently.
The expression on his face was hard to read, but that didn’t stop her anxiety. Simon and Linda had been gone for what felt like forever. What could they possibly have been talking about? Was it about the board? Their mistrust of her?
Heather bit her lip. “Where’s Linda?”
“She had something to attend to,” he replied.
“What did she think you had told me?” she asked. “It sounded really important.”
He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, his brow furrowing. “It’s good news, actually.”
She wished that his reassurance could have slowed her pounding heart, but it didn’t. If anything, all this secrecy and obfuscation only helped to fry her nerves. “Really? You didn’t sound like you wanted Linda to tell me what it was.”
“That’s because I thought it was best that I tell you,” he said slowly.
For some strange reason, she got the distinct sense that Simon was stalling for time. But why would that be? He obviously wanted to tell her whatever it was, now that he was back in the room.
“So, tell me,” she said.
“Well...” He took a deep breath. “The photo.”
She blinked in confusion. “What?”
“You remember the photo that was taken of us at our high school reunion ?” he asked.
“Yes, I remember.” Her face heated at the delicious memory of their passionate kiss. Simon’s old friend, Neil Bernard, had snapped photos of them kissing at the reunion . So far, the photo hadn’t surfaced in the media, but it still held power over her. That photo getting out would just give her ex-husband more ammunition to use against her in the custody battle for her son.
“Dover’s legal team has managed to keep it out of the press,” he said. “We don’t know how long that will last, but for the time being it won’t see the light of day.”
“Even if we don’t know how long it will be out of the press that’s still good news, right?”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s good news. It means we’ll have a better chance at keeping it out of the press permanently.”
“Neil must be hopping mad,” she said. “He was so determined to make money off of it.”
“He got paid to keep it out of the media,” Simon explained. “It’s not as much as he’d make if the photo got published, but he should be grateful he’s getting paid to not do something.”
“Do you know how long this will last?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Right now, it looks like they’re going week to week. It’s a hard battle, so Neil’s editor is still fighting us. We just have to let Dover’s legal team do their job.”
“Okay. No breathing a sigh of relief just yet. Got it.”
“It’s still good news,” he pointed out.
“Yes, it is. But when did you find out?” she asked. “If Linda thought you had told me, you must have found out a while ago.”
He paused, letting his gaze land on hers. “I found out from the board just before we flew out to California.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Honestly, I got so caught up in the chaos of our trip that I forgot to tell you,” he said.
A nagging feeling was suddenly making her restless. It wasn’t like him to just forget to tell her something that important. “Did you refuse to tell me on purpose?” she demanded. “We weren’t on the best of terms before we went down to California. Did you keep it to yourself because you were still angry at me?”
“No. Of course not,” he responded. “I’d never do anything like that, Heather. You know that I value professionalism above everything. I would never deliberately keep information like that from you out of anger.”
Guilt started to overtake her suspicion. She’d practically accused him of deliberately trying to hide the truth from her. Simon would never undermine her like that. Ever. She knew that he was honorable. Knew he had too much integrity to ever try to keep the truth from her. So, why did it still feel like he was keeping things from her? Keeping a secret he refused to reveal to her?