Shortcake*

Chapter 18: Willfully Ignorant

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

Link hung up the phone and sat for a long time, wondering what to do. On one hand, he understood why Will didn't want Cleo to know. She wouldn't want to believe it was Nico or Frankie, but she would tell Nico if he left that part out. The problem was that keeping this from her now meant that when she found out, he would have to confess to knowing about it, and he didn't know how she would react to him not telling her. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. The other side was it could be Jerrica. The "He" could be to throw people off. He briefly looked down at his phone and then texted his Dad.

What's the latest on Jerrica?

His father kept an eye on that situation but had agreed not to pass anything along to him unless it affected him directly, like if she decided to move to LA or was talking about going to the press or something.

Last I heard, she met a guy and moved to New York State with him five months ago. Why?

Link felt his heart lurch. She was in New York.

We have a situation going on, and she might be involved. Do you know where specifically?

Up some small town near Albany. I doubt she's too worried about you right now. Apparently, this guy worships her, and she's madly in love with him. Her father says she's like a different person now.

Then I'm happy for her.

Link groaned. There were too many coincidences. The folder arriving after Frankie and Nico split, Nico being the only person in her life when both her parents and her husband died, Jerrica moving to Albany five months ago, where Cleo lived before she left her husband. So far, there were three potential solutions. Nico, or possibly Frankie, was stalking Cleo, although he really didn't think it was Frankie. Either he or Cleo had an obsessed fan, or Jerrica was trying to do... Something. What, he wasn't sure of. Or someone was trying to either out Nico's crimes or frame him. He had to admit, considering what Cleo had told her about her parents and husband and what he had observed about Nico, he thought it was very possible Nico had arranged her parents and husband's "accidents." His phone chimed again, and he glanced down at it.

So, when do your mother and I get to meet Cleo?

Link shook his head and let out a little laugh. They had been asking since they made their relationship public.

I'll see if we can come to Georgia after our vacation. Cleo has two weeks before she has to fly to Scotland to film her next movie, so don't hold your breath.

Still trying to figure out what to do, he let his Dad know he would be in touch again soon and went down to make Cleo another drink and get started on supper. He was going to have to tell her, but when she smiled up at him as he brought her the drink, he decided it could wait. They ate supper and discussed taking the boat to Port Cunnington the next morning to see what was there and pick up a few things they wanted. After supper, they cuddled on the couch and watched movies. About fifteen minutes in, she kissed him, and soon they were making out like two teenagers on the couch. Link wanted nothing more than to pin her beneath him and make her scream, but after learning about her upbringing and marriage, he was fully aware that she had missed out on the dating experiences most people would have in their teens and as young adults. As much as he wanted her, he wanted her to have those experiences more in a more age-appropriate manner.

When the movie ended, he slowed things down, slowly pulling back and reducing the kissing to soft pecks. "You're fucking gorgeous." He smiled at her and brushed her now messy hair back as he kissed her. She had frozen a little when his hands slid under her shirt to caress her bare back, but he had been gentle, pulling back and letting her know he would always stop immediately if she asked. His dick was almost painfully hard, and judging by the flush on her cheeks and the slightly glassy look in her eye, she was in a similar boat.

Cleo traced her fingers over his chest and abs. "So are you." He watched as she nibbled on her lower lip and bit back the groan that rose in his throat. "You're really okay with doing this at my speed?"

"Shortcake, I want you to be relaxed and happy you're with me, not doing things because you feel like you should." Link leaned and kissed her. "I'm happy to follow your lead."

Cleo nodded slowly. "Okay, well, if you don't mind, I think I'm ready for bed."

"Okay." He kissed her again and let her climb off his lap. She smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.

"Thank you." She turned and darted off to her room. Link watched her go, confident she was going to do the same thing he was going to when he got upstairs.

The next morning, they got up and ate breakfast, then boarded the boat and went to Port Cunnington. They weren't long off the boat when someone tapped Cleo's arm. They were in baseball hats and sunglasses, but they both more or less counted on being ignored here while they were in Canada. Other celebrities had often remarked that they could ride public transportation without harassment in filming locations here, and both Link and Cleo had had the same experiences.

"Ms. Knight?" A soft voice came from behind them, and they turned around to see a middle-aged woman in a Canada Post uniform blushing furiously. "Sorry to bother you, but I have a letter here for you. It was sent care of Joy and Walter Simmons, but they aren't home, and it needs to be signed for."

"Oh, sure. Okay, I can do that." Cleo smiled at her. The woman smiled back, handed her the large envelope, and allowed Cleo to sign the handheld machine. "Thank you."

"No worries. It was overnighted, and I thought it might be important." She waved and walked away.

Link frowned. "Whose it from?"

"No idea, no return address, but it's probably a script from Haven or Nico. They're the only ones who know where we are who would send me things." She dropped the envelope in her bag, and they continued their tour of the small town, picked up a few things, including their favourite Canadian chip flavours and then headed back to the island. When they put everything away, Cleo pulled out the envelope and opened it, looking inside. "Huh. That's weird."

"What's weird?" Link's heart began to beat faster. There was no way anyone knew where they were; they weren't where they were supposed to be.

"It looks like a bunch of photocopies." She began pulling the pages out, and Link leaned over her shoulder and froze. It was the court documents for his ex-wife's trial. He watched as Cleo began reading. "Link, is this...?" She looked up at him in disbelief.

"It is. May I?" He held out his hand, and she wordlessly handed it to him. He slowly flipped through. It was everything: his daughter's birth and death certificates, his name change paperwork, his marriage and divorce paperwork, and every news article ever printed about his sex life. Every indiscretion was documented in careful chronological detail, as well as the resulting fallout. The worst was the notes on the police report regarding his involvement in his daughter's death. The police hadn't initially believed him because he had no idea what was going on, but eventually concluded he was innocent. The notes drove home that he had been so clueless, and even if he wasn't guilty, he had been willfully ignorant.

Link had a ringing in his ears, and suddenly, his vision was blurred. Dimly, he could hear someone sobbing over the ringing and Cleo from very far away telling him it was okay; it wasn't his fault. Then he felt her arms around him, realized he was on his knees, and the sobbing was coming from him. Cleo gently took the papers from his hands and laid them to one side, and he grabbed onto her, pulling her against him as he cried into her shoulder. The phrase "willfully ignorant" banging against his brain so loudly someone might as well have been screaming it in his ear. 

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*