Two Sides of a Secret, page 11
William and his father, Kevin, stared at the screen, identical expressions of confusion creasing their faces. Kay didn’t gasp or tear up. No, she sat stern-faced and defiant with narrowed eyes directed at Ben, like he was the one lying to her family.
The candidate was the first to recover. “A secret baby? Judging from the year of birth being two years before my own, I’m guessing this has something to do with my parents.”
Ben could jump in and explain, but he was still leaving room for Mrs. Knight to have her say. It wouldn’t be on her terms, but at least she could give her version of the story.
William turned to his father. “Dad?”
A stunned Kevin Knight only shook his head, ever so slightly, then took a deep breath and faced his wife.
Even under the scrutiny of her son and husband, Kay remained defiant. “It’s none of your business.”
Kevin Knight leaned forward and put his head in his hands. His son had a different reaction. “It’s none of my business? I have an older…” He looked back at the projected birth certificate. “An older sister and you didn’t think it was my business?”
Kay straightened her spine. “That’s correct. None. Of. Your. Business.”
“Mom, even if I concede that, don’t you think pulling me to the side and telling me you had a secret was warranted? Even if you didn’t tell me the secret? So I’d be prepared or at least make an informed decision on running for governor.” He stood and paced the back of the room. “Oh, Mom. What if this had come out during my state senate race? Why would you put me in that position?”
Her face softened then, and she turned to her son with muted eyes. “I understand your position, but Daddy took care of this. He assured me nobody would ever find out.”
Kevin Knight sat up and took in the measure of his wife. “How? We’ve been married thirty-four years. We dated six months before that. I’m trying to understand the timing here.”
When Kay turned her gaze from her son to her husband, it had gone back to stern. “I’m not going into details about this. It was before I met you. That’s all you need to know.”
“Who’s the father?” William obviously didn’t pick up what his mother was putting down, but Ben was happy he asked the question. That saved him from having to do it.
“I don’t remember his name.”
William threw his hands in the air. “You’ve got to be kidding right now. You’re serious?”
“I said what I said, William. And you need to watch your tone.”
Ben coughed to cover the laugh that bubbled up his throat. Black mothers did not play the disrespect game. Ben knew that from firsthand experience with his own. During his teenage years, there’d been a couple instances Dad needed to step between them and calm the situation.
“Have you found my sister, Specter?”
“We have. I’ve been interacting with her for a couple weeks.” Ben surreptitiously gauged Kay’s reaction. She was listening attentively.
Before he could continue, William broke in. “Are you saying you’ve engaged with my sister? You’ve met her? What did you tell her?”
Ellen cleared her throat, and Ben sat down. “Mr. Knight, Ben spent the past couple weeks undercover, gathering intel about your sister so we could present you options. Ben, what are your thoughts?”
This was the tricky part for Ben. William Knight hired the firm to do a specific job. They’d done it for the most part, but he needed to be careful how he presented the options. He didn’t want Lauren to become a casualty of her brother’s politics. “Lauren was adopted as a young child by Pamela and Brian Steele. They were an older couple who decided later in life they wanted a child. They owned a flower shop and when they retired several years ago, they turned it over to Lauren. She has a BBA and…” He cleared his throat and pushed down a sigh. “And a graduate degree in political science. She…”
William interrupted with a harsh bark of laughter. “Either that’s a hell of a coincidence or she knows exactly who we are.” He stared from Ben to Ellen. “Does she know who we are?”
“Having spent the past weeks working at the flower shop and getting to know her well, I am confident Lauren doesn’t know who you are as it relates to her. Her position is to concentrate on her adoptive parents with no current intention of finding her birth parents. Obviously, that could always change.” Ben held his breath a couple beats to give William time to digest that. When the man didn’t respond, he continued. “I believe there are a couple options. One, say nothing. Do nothing. This probably feels like the most natural route to take, but drawbacks are severe. If your opponent, or even a skilled reporter, dug enough, they could find the information just as we did. It isn’t likely but is possible, especially because the father is very much an unknown in this equation. The second option is to get out in front of the story. You could have a press conference and Mrs. Knight could tell everyone she had a child prior. These days, that’s a blip on the radar. Nobody will care. I believe this is the best option.”
“Absolutely not, Mr. Specter. We will not select that option.”
“Mom, I think—”
“Nobody asked you what you thought, William. I’m not standing up in front of the world and announcing I had a baby at eighteen then gave her up for adoption. If it’s none of your business, it certainly isn’t any of the state of California’s business.”
William pressed his lips together and moved over to the wall where in any normal building, there would be windows. He faced the wall.
Unsure if he should continue or not, Ben took in the room. Ellen sat poised, patiently waiting for the meeting to be over. Selma studied her laptop screen like her life depended on it. Mr. Knight stared at his wife like he was trying to puzzle out what he was hearing. Mrs. Knight only stared back at Ben.
When William finally turned to face them, Ben spoke again. “There is a third option. We could set up a meeting with you and Lauren. She is interested in politics which may have been inherited more so than coincidence.” Ben couldn’t help inserting that bit because of William’s earlier statement against Lauren. “She’s interested in communications on a campaign.” He wouldn’t mention she specifically wanted to work on this campaign.
“I thought she was a florist?” Kay worked at giving the appearance of not wanting to discuss, but she was clearly curious about her daughter.
“She is, but that’s more out of obligation to her parents than what she actually wants. Her experience is in social media. She runs the accounts for the shop and gains a ton of business that way. You can look back through the shop’s twitter feed and see her sharp wit and comedic timing.”
He felt the stare more than saw it. Ellen was burning a hole through his profile. He cleared his throat. “That is to say she has a natural talent for communication via that platform. You could meet with her and offer her a job on the campaign.”
Ellen stood. “We’ll give you some time to discuss on your own.” She laid down a button. “Push that when you’re ready for us to return.”
Joseph still waited outside the conference room door when Selma and Ben followed Ellen from the room. “What’s the deal?”
Ben cocked an eyebrow. “I have no idea, but I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes.”
Ben wanted them to choose option three. He wanted that for Lauren, but he wanted it for himself too. Perhaps if she was able to fulfill her dream, she’d forgive Ben for his treachery.
*
The ride back to the airport was no less fraught than it had been the reverse way. The Knights gave them their marching orders and no one was more surprised than Ben that he’d be back to delivering flowers. At least for a little while longer.
It turned out that option number three was the single option they could compromise on. The family added a twist though. They wanted Ben to smooth the way before scheduling a meeting. More lying for Ben. More tamping down feelings he had no business having.
And Ellen wanted them to find that father. She didn’t like loose ends that could bite them in the butt. Since Ben was deep undercover, the rest of the team would weave that task into their workload. The problem was they had nothing to go on. No name on the birth certificate and nothing forthcoming from Kay Knight.
That wasn’t his problem though; the team would figure it out. He would trade with any of them in a heartbeat right now. Even Louis. Over the past weeks of getting to know Lauren, she was not likely to take this news well. No matter how much buffering he did before finally revealing it. He felt that deep in his bones. As much as he never cowered from a task, he was not looking forward to this one. The upside was spending more time with Lauren. That was the downside too because he was getting in too deep.
“You’re awfully quiet.” Joseph drove at a normal speed, never drawing unwanted attention. For the most part, he’d left Ben alone with his thoughts.
“Just trying to formulate a plan. Something that gets the Knight family what they want but more importantly what Lauren wants.” He probably shouldn’t have said the last part but he was sick of lying, especially to his friend. He did leave out the part about what he wanted. There was no chance of him having that so why mention it?
Joseph sat up higher in the driver’s seat. “Do you have any idea of how you’ll pull both those things off? She doesn’t want anything to do with her birth family, right?”
“Right. She wants plenty to do with William Knight and his campaign, but I can’t imagine that’ll stay the same once she finds out who she is.” Ben sucked in a raggedy breath. None of this sat right with him. “Plus, did you see how they reacted? I wouldn’t trust any of them with Lauren, especially William. He was more concerned how to spin this for his chances at governor.”
“Okay, but that’s not a small thing. Not just governor, but first Black governor. Everything about him must be impeccable. And he’s been a great state senator. I’m guessing he’ll make an excellent governor.” He held in a laugh, then finally released it with a grunt. “Sorry, you know what I mean. As good as he can be as a politician.”
It was true that even the most pure of heart politicians didn’t always walk the straight and narrow. They made deals to get stuff done but someone always ended up getting screwed in the process. “I guess, man, but he didn’t ask anything about her other than how she affected him. And Kay…” He sighed and allowed his head to fall back on the headrest. He was warm in the jacket he wore for the impromptu meeting even though Joseph ran the air conditioner on full blast. He wished he could strip it off and hop on his motorcycle and let the wind take him.
“She didn’t seem interested in her daughter either?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. She was attentive but didn’t ask any questions. I realize today’s news was a surprise to her. I mean, that it came out. But she’s known about her daughter for thirty-five years. You almost couldn’t blame William and his father as much because it wasn’t information they had or even suspected. But Kay knew.” He shrugged. These were all issues Lauren would have to work through if she chose to. There was no reason for him to be this invested.
“Do you want to talk through how to proceed these next couple of days?”
“If you have some sort of insight or great advice, have at it. Otherwise, I’ve got nothing. At least not right now. I need to get some sleep and eat a good meal. Some brain food. I may go home for the night, regroup, then try again tomorrow.”
“You haven’t been sleeping?”
The last thing Ben wanted to do was leave Joseph with the impression he was losing sleep over Lauren. He wasn’t. He lost sleep with Lauren because he barely closed his eyes the night before, being so close to her in that sleeping bag. “I sleep just fine, thank you.”
“No need to get testy, buddy.” Joseph released a knowing laugh then switched his blinker on to enter the airport.
This was definitely a problem for future Ben. Present Ben would pick up his rental from the Oakland airport and drive over to the city, shop at his favorite market for some fresh and quality ingredients, have a nice meal with an exquisite wine pairing, and get a full night’s sleep.
With any luck, when he woke tomorrow, he’d have a clear picture on his path forward with Lauren.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ben
If Ben sat in his rental any longer, he was sure to be late for work. Considering he didn’t even show up the day before, he should probably make the effort. Ben was supposed to make an impression on Lauren to smooth the way for her birth family, but he still didn’t have the energy. He wanted to blow up a bubble around them and not think about birth parents, politics, or disappointed mothers (maybe now he was projecting). He wanted to just be. For Lauren to get to know him without all the lies, but it was too late for that.
Breathe in, one, two, three and out one, two, three. He slid in place his swagger and hopped out of the car, ready to tackle the day. The smells of various flowers hit his nose as soon as he opened the back door to the shop. The frigid air chilled him to the point of goose bumps. He wore a short-sleeved Henley because at some point he realized Lauren’s gaze lingered on his forearms longer than necessary when he had one on. This one was in pecan brown, the color of her eyes.
“Hi, Ben. I hope you’re ready to work.” Correen exited the fridge carrying enough stargazer lilies to fill a small art gallery.
Ugh, Ben had the museum on his mind which really meant he had Lauren on his mind. He pasted on his winning smile. “I am. What’s all this?” He hurried to Correen to relieve her of some of her burden all the while glancing around for Lauren. These flowers were more potent than the rest, and he had to hold his breath to keep from passing out before he sat them on the worktable.
“She’s not here yet.”
He blinked.
“Don’t try to look all innocent. A little bird told me you and Lauren were quite cozy at The Magnes a couple nights ago.”
“We ran into each other and she was the only person I knew there. I hung out with her and her roommate.” He moved his smile into place, but it was more forced than usual. “Who is this little bird anyway?”
She removed her gloves and took out her vape pen then rolled her eyes and put it back in her shirt pocket. “Let’s just say I have eyes everywhere.” She had the nerve to wink at him. “And my eyes say you were hugged up on the dance floor long after the music stopped playing.”
Was that true? It could be because he wasn’t paying attention to the band that night. “I don’t remember anything like that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Did you ask Lauren about it?”
Correen huffed a laugh, but there was no humor. “No. Too much going on.” She put her gloves back on and removed strings from the first bunch of flowers. “Come on, help me. We have a huge order for a fourth of July bash.”
No wonder the lilies were red and blue. Correen was never the most bubbly person but her mood was sour. “Everything been going okay? I feel like I missed something.”
“Less talking, more working, BS.”
He hated that the nickname caught on with the rest of the shop’s employees. At first he felt some kind of way when Lauren used it. She didn’t trust him—rightfully so—for some reason and that was a shortcut way to remind him. Then it became a sort of thing between them that he liked. Her special nickname for him. When everyone picked up on it, he was back to hating it. At the museum, she used his actual name and he loved the sound of it on her tongue.
“Okay, Sharon and Tori have it handled up front so—” Lauren’s words died in her throat when her gaze met Ben’s.
His stomach dropped. She did not look happy to see him and he could hardly blame her. By the time he’d switched on the burner phone he used for this job, it was too late to return her text. “Hi, Lauren.”
She cleared her throat. “Hi, BS.”
One step forward, two steps back. He needed to turn this around though because there was a job to do. “I’m going to get the white stargazers out of the fridge.” He used his eyes to signal to her to follow him.
She frowned and shook her head.
“Just see what he wants already so we can get this job done.” Correen threw her gloves on the worktable and headed for the back door, reaching for her vape pen again.
Lauren let out a deep sigh.
“Please, Lauren.”
She shrugged and followed him to the fridge. “What is it, BS?”
“I know this sounds like an excuse, but I had a thing yesterday that came up unexpectantly and I didn’t have my phone with me.”
She snorted.
“I realize how that sounds but I promise I didn’t see your text until I got home late. I figured I would just talk to you this morning, but I see that was probably a mistake. I’m sorry, Lauren.”
“It’s fine. You don’t owe me an explanation anyway.” She passed him and picked out several bunches of the white lilies.
“I really enjoyed spending time with you at the museum too. I really am sorry.” He hoped she wouldn’t push him on where he was yesterday because although he absolutely couldn’t tell her, he didn’t want to keep lying to her either. It was his job but he didn’t have to like it.
She searched his face and must have seen something sincere there. “It’s really okay, Ben. Here, hold out your arms please.”
He did as she asked and noticed when she realized his forearms were uncovered because she stuttered a little when she placed the first bundle of flowers in his arms. He smiled to himself, accepting that little boost, hoping it would turn into full forgiveness and maybe a bit more.
When she loaded him up with several bunches, she walked around him and headed back to the worktable.
