Chapter 211

Gloria and Joe ended their call after a short chat. Skylar listened quietly nearby. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was only 2:00 p.m. Having taken the day off, she had plenty of time.

"Wanna go to the hot springs and relax for a bit?" Joe asked, looking down at Skylar.

Skylar's eyes lit up. "Sure!" she exclaimed. She'd been doing restoration work for the past few days, and sitting all day had left her tense. A soak in the hot springs would be perfect.

As they were about to get into the car, another car pulled up nearby. A mother and daughter got out.

Natalie's sharp eyes spotted Joe, and her eyes widened in surprise. Was that Joe? She was lost in thought for a moment. In the passenger seat of the other car sat a woman whose face was obscured; Natalie could only see the back of her head and shoulders. Even from this angle, it didn't look like Annie; her hair wasn't that long. Besides

"Nath, what are you looking at?" asked Kate Turner, Natalie's mother.

Natalie withdrew her gaze and shook her head. "Nothing. Let's go, Mom. We have a doctor's appointment."

Half an hour later, while waiting in the corridor for Kate's check-up, Natalie sent Skylar a WhatsApp message:

"I just brought my mom to the hospital, and guess who I saw? Joe Martin! I've been running into him a lot lately. Oh, I digress. That's not the point. Do you know what the point is? I saw him with a woman in his car. They looked close—their relationship seemed unusual. I smell an affair! That woman isn't Annie Silver!"

Skylar, sitting in the passenger seat and looking out the window, was so startled by the message she almost dropped her phone. Natalie could have a future as a paparazzo.

Skylar texted back, "Why does everyone look like they're having an affair to you?"

This was bad. Skylar didn't know how to explain her relationship with Joe to Natalie. It was complicated. Could Natalie have already seen her and Joe at the hospital? Probably not. Natalie was too forthright to keep a secret; if she had seen them, she would have greeted them. It was unlikely she would describe Skylar and Joe's relationship as an affair.

Natalie replied, "Because Joe has never publicly acknowledged any woman. I once thought he was gay, but I've seen him with women twice now. Isn't it obvious he's fallen in love? But the woman I saw even from her back, she had an amazing figure!"

Skylar laughed at Natalie's compliment. "Is her figure really that good?"

"Of course. Not every figure is 'good' in my eyes. You're one of the few exceptions. But"

"But what?" Skylar asked.

"Now that I think about it, that woman's figure is quite similar to yours. If I didn't know you and Joe didn't know each other, I would have thought that woman was you!"

Skylar's smile faded as she looked at the chat. It was a good thing Natalie hadn't dug deeper. "I gotta go. I need to accompany my mom. Let's meet up in a few days. Come to my place; Jeremy is going on a business trip tomorrow."

"Okay."

At the hot spring resort, Joe drove to the villa they had stayed in previously. Not far behind them, a stretch Lincoln limousine carrying young men and women followed.

One of them pointed at the car ahead. "If I'm not mistaken, that's Joe Martin's car. There seems to be a woman with him."

"Joe Martin?" Samuel immediately leaned forward to look at the car ahead upon hearing the name.