Not-So-Secret

Chapter sixty-four

JONES SEEMED in a particularly good mood, Which Kelly was going to spoil if she didn't get with the program. He'd taken her to one of his favourite restaurants, Papillon, at the top of Le Mystique, one of his smaller hotels. It would have been nice to go somewhere he didn't own and everyone didn't kiss his butt, except that would be asking for the moon.

She had to admit, the meal was fantastic. She'd had a goat cheese and balsamic salad, then a filet mignon that was extraordinary. Everything was the best, the most, the finest. As was the view. She could see the entire Strip from her seat, aglow in the magic of neon and moonlight. It really was beautiful, if you just looked at it as colour and light.

As hard as she tried, though, she couldn't quite forget the facade. Just like she couldn't forget the handsome man across from her wasn't a man at all. She couldn't have said exactly what he was, except that he wasn't human.

Jones sipped some Scotch, ate a piece of his steak. Behind him, a gloved waiter, a sommelier and the maitre d' hovered, waiting for him to lift his finger, at which point they would appear at the side of the table as if conjured from a magic lamp. It must be traumatic for him to have to go to the bathroom for himself.

"I've been thinking about my boy's education," he said.

She didn't cringe. In fact she smiled, looked interested and eager to hear his thoughts.

"Military school is the way to go. He needs to understand discipline, honour, duty. Then to prep school. Andover. Or Choate. I don't know yet."

"That's a good plan for later. But you know, he's not even ready for kindergarten yet."

"I'm having an early childhood specialist come in to see him twice a week. He'll be reading before he's four."

"Do you think it's a good idea to push so hard when he's so young?"

Jones's smile shifted and she got it. She was the one who'd pushed too far and she'd better backtrack fast.

"On the other hand, he is so special. I'm sure he's aching to read."

"Yes. That's right. He wants to perform, I can see that in him. I was like that when I was a child. Reading before I hit the age of three. My parents, they didn't have a clue what to do with a child with my capabilities. The smartest thing they could have done was to find me parents who knew what they were doing and sign me over."

"But look at you now. It seems to me everything turned out perfectly."

He smiled at her, this one as genuine as he could manage. "That's very astute. I like that, Kelly. Very much."

"Just telling it the way I see it," she said.

He nodded, happy with her fawning, happy knowing his son was just like him.

She put her napkin on the table. "Please excuse me," she said, standing. "I have to go to the ladies' room."

"Wait a minute," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his money clip. He handed her a fifty.

"Thank you," she said. "I won't be long."

He looked pointedly at his watch. "Don't be."

She kissed his cheek, then hurried to the back of the restaurant. The whole way there she kept her smile in place, her bearing as regal as she knew how. When she went in to the lavishly appointed ladies' lounge, there were two women there, so she barreled through to the bathroom and locked herself in a stall.