Dream Girl

Chapter Eighteen

They met at Java Jack's again. Jessica was a little more tanned this time, but looked like she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep. She was still a beautiful woman, but dark circles shadowed her eyes and fine lines bracketed her mouth. She was clearly just as miserable as Connor. I'm doing the right thing, thought Ashlyn, and the fact that this might reunite the husband and wife almost made up for the likelihood she was also destroying whatever was growing between her and Zach.

"So what's this about?” Jessica asked warily. Ashlyn had called her that morning to arrange the meeting.

Ashlyn inhaled a long breath. “Well,” she said, “I'm afraid I have a confession to make to you. It's come to my attention that when I met up with your husband for the decoy job, I ... had the wrong man."

"Huh?” Jessica's elegant brows pulled together.

"Did you watch the video?” Ashlyn asked softly. Jessica shook her head and looked like someone was pulling out her French-manicured fingernails.

"No,” she said in a small voice. “I couldn't bring myself to actually watch it. I just couldn't stand to watch Connor with another woman. That would just ... kill me."

"You really should have looked at it,” Ashlyn said ruefully. “Because it wasn't Connor. It was Zach."

Jessica's brows rose. “Zach?” She paused. “I don't get it."

"That night I went to Doc McCue's, Connor never showed up. But Zach was there. I'd only seen the photographs you gave me, and they look a lot alike. So I thought it was him."

"But ... how could you? They look alike, but not identical."

"I know,” Ashlyn said regretfully. “But they look enough alike. He told me his name was Zach, but I thought he was just using a fake name. I knew Connor had a brother, but I didn't know his name."

She could see Jessica's mind working. “So ... Connor never cheated on me?"

Ashlyn shook her head. “Not with me,” she said. “I am so sorry about this. I can't tell you how bad I feel."

Jessica's tanned face flushed. “So I kicked my husband out and destroyed my marriage over ... nothing?"

Her voice rose, and Ashlyn glanced around the coffee shop.

"I'm sorry,” she said again. “Really, really sorry.” Her face felt hot and tight.

Jessica was almost spluttering. “But you ... I can't believe this!"

Ashlyn was silent, playing with the coffee cup in her hands.

"This is outrageous!” Jessica went on. “I paid a lot of money for that investigation..."

"Oh.” Ashlyn hadn't thought about that. “We could probably refund your money."

That meant confessing to her dad too. Which she had to anyway. He needed to know what was going on. Damn. Her heart plummeted to her toes.

"I should think so!” said an outraged Jessica. “In fact, I should sue your ass!"

Oh no. This was going really badly.

"I don't blame you for feeling that way,” Ashlyn said desperately. “I really don't. Like I said, I just feel horrible about this."

Jessica glared at her.

"If you want, I can talk to Connor and explain what happened,” she offered. “I'll tell him it was all my fault."

"No!” Jessica's response was swift. “God, no, don't tell him what I did.” She was thinking again, her eyes darting about. “Just stay away from him,” she warned Ashlyn and stood up, eyes flashing. “You'll hear from my lawyer."

She stormed out of the coffee shop, and Ashlyn let her forehead thunk down on the table while she tried to calm her wildly beating heart.

Well, Jessica would have to pick up the pieces herself; there was nothing more she could do. She couldn't breach client confidentiality by going to Connor and trying to make things right. She would do it, if it would help. But Jessica clearly didn't want her husband to know about what she'd done.

Now that she'd told Jessica, she had to tell her dad. He was not going to be impressed. After classes, she went to the office, figuring her dad would still be there. Brenda was just leaving.

"Hi, honey!” she said. “What are you doing here?"

"I need to see Dad about something,” she said glumly, forcing a smile for Brenda.

"Go on in, he's in his office.” Brenda left with a wave.

Ashlyn took a deep breath and knocked on the open door of her father's office.

"Hey,” he said, a delighted smile on his face. “Ashlyn! What brings you here?"

"Hi, Dad.” She pasted another smile on her face. “I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, sure. Come in, sit down."

She sat on the edge of the chair and dropped her backpack to the floor.

"How was your dinner with your mother the other night?"

Twilight Zone music played in her head. Was she running messages between her parents? For God's sake, if they wanted to talk, why didn't they just pick up the phone?

She shook her head, trying to get back on track. “She's fine,” she said. “But I'm here because I ... uh ... have a confession to make,” she began. “Do you remember Jessica Montgomery?"

He frowned as he thought. “Oh yeah, sex decoy case."

"Did you realize that Connor Montgomery is her husband?"

"No. I didn't. Oh.” He looked increasingly confused as he thought about that. “But ... you ... he didn't..."

She took a breath. “The night I went to meet up with him, I actually met Zach. I thought he was Connor. I'd only seen photos of him, so you can see how I could make that mistake. You've met them both. Don't they look alike?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

"Zach took the bait. He was all over me. We were supposedly heading back to my place when I ditched him.” She looked down. “I gave the video and the report to Jessica, confirming her husband was a cheater. But she never looked at the video, she just took my word for it, and she kicked Connor out."

"Jesus Christ,” he said, his brows still pulled down over his nose.

"Yeah.” She sighed. “I didn't realize ‘til that day Zach and Connor came here about their business problems. In person, I could tell the difference, and I realized what had happened."

"Why didn't Zach bust you then?"

She shrugged. “He just thought I was some girl he'd picked up in a bar who bailed on him."

There was silence as Dave Farrell let this all sink in. “Jesus,” he said again, starting to get worked up. “Why the hell didn't you say something when that happened?"

"Well, I couldn't tell them. Obviously. Jessica was the client. She never told her husband what she'd done; how could I?"

"That's true,” he muttered. “But you should have told me."

"I know, and I'm sorry.” Shame burned in her again. “I thought I could handle it myself. I tried to call Jessica last Monday, but she'd left town. She just got back, so I met with her and told her today. She was really mad, but she still doesn't want Connor to know."

She bit her lip. “Uh ... she was talking about suing us."

"F...” Her father bit off a curse.

"And she wants her money back."

She thought her dad was going to have a heart attack. His face got very red, and his eyes bulged. He was usually a pretty even-tempered guy.

"Jesus Christ!” he shouted. “I can't believe this! Refund her money! Sue us!"

She knew he'd be mad.

"How could you screw up like that!” he ranted.

"They look alike,” she said defensively.

"This is inexcusable,” he said flatly. “It's also inexcusable that you didn't tell me right away.” He shook his head. “Sorry, Ash, but I can't have you doing any more jobs like that."