Chapter 22

CALEB

^TWO WEEKS LATER^

Caleb found himself in Saunders and Co. on a Monday morning. He had a meeting with the firm’s president, Mr. Tucker, concerning the protection of the new products invented by his company.

The meeting went well, and Caleb thanked Mr. Tucker and the other associates who helped out before walking out of the conference room. He’d thought Jayda was going to be one of the lawyers that would be present in the meeting. He’d asked for her and was told she was busy with another case.

As soon as Caleb walked out of the glass-walled conference room, he bumped into Sebastian’s sister Olivia.

“Caleb, what are you doing here?” Olivia asked excitedly as she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

Caleb chuckled. “I came to see Mr. Tucker. We had a meeting with some associates. And you, where are you going?”

“Oh, we’ve been working pretty hard all morning doing some research for this new case Jayda is working on. I was on my way to get drinks.”

“This firm has the best lawyers in the country. Make sure you learn well so you’ll be like them.”

“Sure, that’s the goal,” she said proudly.

“Oh, that’s Jayda, I have to go,” Olivia said. She gave Caleb a quick hug before disappearing toward the opposite direction of where Jayda was coming from.

Caleb smiled at the thought of Olivia not knowing that Jayda was pregnant with her brother’s child. He wondered if Jayda was aware that Olivia was Sebastian’s sister.

Beautiful was an understatement, Caleb thought when he saw how gorgeous Jayda was. He stood still and watched as she stopped to talk to someone.

Jayda was looking really pretty and professional in her knee-length dress. She wore matching heels and her hair was down.

If things were different, Caleb would have tried to ask her out, but she was his best friend’s woman. Besides, Caleb was in love with his girlfriend. Sebastian had been an idiot to treat such an amazing woman with disrespect. It was a good thing he’d seen the error of his ways.

Caleb composed himself and headed her way, trying to get her attention.

“Good afternoon.”

“Hello.” Jayda smiled at him. “How may I help you?”

“You’re Jayda, right?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I’m Caleb, Sebastian’s best friend.”

“Oh,” Jayda said softly. Everything now made sense when she saw Olivia chatting away with him.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Caleb smiled. “I’ve heard so much about you from Sebastian,” he added.

“I hope he told you good things about me?” Jayda said.

Caleb nodded.

“We had a fight on the day he denied being the father of your child. Thank you for teaching him a lesson. He realized his mistake and came back to ask for my forgiveness.

“I know I shouldn’t be intervening in your personal matters, but I want to plead on Sebastian’s behalf. He’s really sorry for everything, and he wants to be in your life and the baby’s life. Please give him the chance to make it up to the two of you,” he pleaded.

Jayda nodded after a few seconds.

“Thanks for hearing me out. I hope we’ll see each other very soon.”

JAYDA

Jayda smiled. “Hopefully, we will. Have a nice day!”

She watched Caleb walk away. So, even Sebastian’s best friend was speaking on his behalf. She was happy to hear that Sebastian had apologized to Caleb too.

It showed her Sebastian was a man who could change from arrogant bastard to one she could have as her baby’s father.

Sebastian had been the sweetest to Jayda in the past days. He either sent her flowers, chocolates, gifts, dinner or lunch every day, and once in every two nights, he sent her a text message, asking how she was doing. Even though Jayda read all the messages, she never replied to any of them.

She didn’t know if her ego was stopping her, or if she was still too afraid to involve him in the next chapter of her life. She didn’t want to get attached to him and let him break her heart.

***

CALEB

As soon as Caleb got to his car, he called Sebastian. He put his phone on speaker and started the car.

“Dude, guess who I just saw?”

“How do you expect me to know?” Sebastian groaned.

“I just saw and spoke to Jayda.”

“Are you for real? Where did you guys meet?” Sebastian asked.

“I’m just leaving her firm. I came to see the president. I saw Olivia and just in time, Jayda was passing by, and I got the opportunity to talk to her.”

“What a good friend you are! You had an appointment in that firm, and you didn’t invite me?” Sebastian complained.

“You told me you were going to be busy today.” Caleb chuckled.

“I’m not busy whenever it comes to anything that has to do with Jayda,” Sebastian said.

“Okay, sorry, bro. Next time. You were right about her. She’s beautiful and sexy,” Caleb exclaimed.

“She’s mine, dude, stick to your girlfriend,” Sebastian replied possessively.

Caleb’s voice held a smile. “Damn, she definitely has you wrapped around her finger.”

“So, what did you guys talk about?” Sebastian asked, interested.

“I introduced myself as your best friend. I also apologized on your behalf and assured her you’ve changed. I could see the eagerness in her eyes about her wanting to give you a chance.”

Sebastian made a hopeful noise. “I hope so.”

“So, I guess Olivia doesn’t know about Jayda and the baby,” Caleb said.

“No, she doesn’t. Only Mom and Dad are aware. I have to get back to work, Caleb. We’ll talk later.”

“Okay, bro.” Caleb ended the call.

***

SEBASTIAN

Sebastian stayed an extra hour at the office to complete his tasks for the day. He was sorting through some documents on his desk a few minutes past 8 p.m. when his phone rang.

He let out a silent groan. Olivia had called again. He’d promised to give her a call in twenty minutes. It wasn’t even past that, and she was bugging him again.

He picked up the call without checking the screen.

“Olivia, I told you I was going to call you back in twenty minutes. It’s barely nine minutes since you last called.”

“It’s not Olivia. It’s me, Jayda. I’ll call back if you’re busy,” that sweet, familiar voice said.

Sebastian’s heartbeat pounded. Finally, she’d called him! He’d been worried she never would.

“No, no… You can, sorry… I mean, I thought it was Olivia, my sister, that was calling,” he explained.

“Please don’t hang up, Jayda. I’m all ears.” Sebastian rose to his feet and began to pace nervously. He silently drew in a long breath of relief. Jayda had called him—that must be a good thing, right?

“Sorry I didn’t reach out to you earlier, I wanted to be assured that you were a changed person. I got all your gifts, and I read every text message you sent. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. You deserve more than that. I’m sorry for the way I acted. For all of it. I never should have said those things to you. I never should have walked out on you that morning. I’ve been a real jerk,” Sebastian said sincerely.

He could never apologize enough for his behavior, but he hoped she could hear that he meant his words and was changed. He really wanted to experience everything concerning the pregnancy. He wanted to be a father—and her partner.

“How have you been?” he asked her.

“Good.”

“And the baby?” he whispered shyly.

“The baby is fine too. I know this is impromptu, but I wanted to ask if you’re free tomorrow.”

“Sure, yes. Definitely!” Sebastian replied immediately. He didn’t care that he had three meetings in the morning and one in the afternoon.

“Okay. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning at 9:25 a.m. You’re welcome to come if you want to.”

Sebastian’s smile stretched his mouth wide. “Sure, I would love to. I’ll be there.” He tried to hide his excitement but failed woefully.

JAYDA

Jayda could tell he was very happy that she extended the invite to him.

“Okay, I’ll text you the address. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Jayda!” he cried before she could disconnect. “Thanks for calling. You have no idea how much I’ve longed for this day. I promise to make it up to you and our baby.”

“We will be counting on that.” Jayda smiled. “I will see you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sweet dreams,” Sebastian replied.

***

LILIAN

“See, it wasn’t that bad.” Lilian smiled. She was listening attentively to all that Jayda said, and from the smile on Jayda’s face, she could tell everything went well.

Jayda tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “He said he will be at the appointment tomorrow. My little peanut and I will have a shoulder to lean on.”

Lilian linked her fingers through Jayda’s. “Be open to Sebastian. Give him the opportunity to make it up to you. Perhaps you guys are destined to be together because how everything happened is just so crazy. I’m happy that that arrogant cousin of mine finally met his match.”

JAYDA

Jayda blushed at her friend’s emotional words.

“So, we are now sisters. Not just by words, but by blood. I was hoping it was going to be you and Gabriel, but that brother of mine is just so weird.”

Jayda laughed out loud. “You know Gabriel sees me as his sister and nothing more.”

“Yeah, besides, I don’t think he’s ready to stop being a playboy. But he met a girl on Uncle Albert’s birthday, and they’ve been together for a while now, which is a good thing. Hopefully, their relationship will last.”

“I hope so too. Everyone deserves to be happy. Like you always say, life is too short,” Jayda replied.

Suddenly, Lilian’s phone buzzed. “Finally, the call I’ve been expecting,” she said excitedly as she got up from Jayda’s bed.

Lilian’s boyfriend, Roman, had been away for almost eight weeks now. He was on an assignment in Australia for a few months.

“My regards to him. Let him know I miss him more than you do,” Jayda teased.

Lilian grinned and blew Jayda a kiss leaving the room to answer her boyfriend’s call.

Alone, Jayda pressed her hands to her belly. Her heart beat a little faster when she thought of seeing Sebastian tomorrow. They’d said such nasty things to each other. She couldn’t believe she’d forgiven him enough to let him go with her to the appointment.

She hoped she hadn’t made a mistake letting him back into her life.