“Ha! You’re probably right about that. You know I always relished a challenge.” Damien paused, and took a swig from his bottle of beer. “So who are you dating now, dog? Grab her and a few of your friends, maybe some of your students, and let’s get down in Oaktown next weekend.”

“I’ll think about it,” Jake responded.

“Don’t even think about being a no-show,” Damien countered. “Other wise I’ll spill some of those secrets that would best be left unsaid.”

“Let’s not start on who’s got the most dirt to dish. Remember the blond twins who were double-jointed?”

“Aw, man!” Damien exclaimed. “Don’t remind me and please... don’t ever let Alison hear that story!”

“All right then, don’t play.”

“It’ll be good to see you, man.”

“Me, too, dog. I’ll see you at the game.”

28

28

“Hey, baby, it’s me.” Jake leaned back in his office chair. He’d shaken off the discomfort that Dominique’s lack of calling had brought about and even though she hadn’t returned his phone calls in three days, decided to be the bigger person. “You must be busy.”

“Why would you think that?”

Jake heard paper rustling in the background and imagined Dominique poring over an article with those cute reading glasses she sometimes wore perched on her nose. “Because you’ve left me hanging like a red-headed stepchild, that’s why,” he easily countered. Truth be told, his bruised ego was smarting over the fact that Dominique could spend so many days without him. “I haven’t heard from you. I miss you.”

“It’s a crazy time,” Dominique said. “Our offices pretty much shut down during the holidays so the next few weeks are crucial to getting our spring and summer issues into press.”

“So that’s it? You haven’t called me or returned your calls only because you’re busy?”

“Exactly.” It sounded like Dominique knew she was busted, but figured that being busy was her story and she was sticking to it. “Why did you call, Jake?”

“Well, aside from the fact that the only way we’d talk is if I called you, I wanted to know what you and Justin were doing this weekend.”

“The usual. After the game, I’ll be at work and he’ll visit his cousin in LA.”

“Michael?” Aw, hell. Belatedly, Jake realized that knowing Michael’s name was a dead giveaway to at least part of what Justin had shared with him.

“So that is what you two talked about. Justin told you about him and his cousin gawking at naked girls.”