Unforgettable Feelings

Chapter 52

All Kaiden could do was wait. Wait and wait some more with nothing but his thoughts. Josie was very unpredictable when she got this way and he had no idea what to expect from her.
But he'd sworn to give her time, all the time she needed to but that didn't stop him from thinking of all possible scenarios of how this would go.

It had been three days since he went to her apartment and she'd be gone by tomorrow and be back after the New Year. He had to see her before she was gone, that's why he was standing at her door ringing the bell for the tenth time in five minutes.

He heard a door unlocked behind him.
"Dude."

Kaiden turned around to a hipster man who stood at his door.

"Can you stop with the ringing?" He was Australian. "She's obviously not at home."

"Do you happen to know where she is or when she'll be back?"

"No. I mind my own business."

Kaiden gave him a curt nod and walked away, his door shutting afterward.

In the elevator, Kaiden took out his phone and dialed her number and by the time he got to his car, he'd tried her number twice but nothing. He put his seatbelt on and called the other person that might know where she is.

"Kaiden?" Zena answered after the third ring.

"Do you know where Josie is?" He asked as he drove back to his house.

"Happy holidays to you too. And no I don't know where she is." Zena said. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I just left her apartment and she wasn't there."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"What do you think?"

"Fine. I'll see if I can get a hold of her." Zena said. "I'll call you as soon as I find out anything."

"Thank you."

The call ended and Kaiden called two other people on his list to check if they'd been in touch with her. Andre, Izzy, Mia, and Fred had no idea where she was.

The only thing Kaiden could think of was, she'd gone home. She'd left earlier than she was supposed to.

She ran away.
He shouldn't be surprised but he was.

Josie's phone rang continuously in her pocket and she dusted her hands on the apron and took her phone out of her pocket then answered the call.

"He just called me."

"Why?" Josie asked Zena.

"Why do you think?" Zena asked. "You upped and flew home leaving him without a goodbye. He sounded tense."

Josie sighed as she headed out of the kitchen to the dining area.
"Did you tell him anything?"

"Of course not. You told me not to."

"That's because I thought he'd call you sooner, but it's fine. He'll figure it out."

"You sure you don't want to drop a message for him."

"I don't owe him anything."

Zena sighed.
"You're not making it easy for him."

"Neither is he."

Zena sighed.
"Fine. I got to go. Talk later."

"Yea, bye."

Josie ended the call and plopped down on one of the seats. Putting her hands on the table, she placed her head in her hands and sighed.

"You ok, baby?"

Josie looked up to see her mum take the seat next to her. She smiled because her mum still called her baby because she was the last child. She'd told her many times that she was grown but her mum had said she'd always be her baby.

"I'm fine, mum."

"You don't seem fine."

Josie let out a breath.
"I'm just having a hard time with..." She paused. "I don't know what to do. I'm...scared."

"Of failure?" Her mum said.

"Of trying, again."

"Is this about that boy?"

Josie nodded.
She'd told her mum pieces of the story, the important parts.

"Better a oops than a what if." Her mum said. "Better fail trying than regret not trying."

"I did try and look where that got me."

"You didn't try, baby. You were about to try but the choice he made didn't let you take that step."

"Feels like an oops to me."

"And a what if." Her mum said. "What if he hadn't made the choice he did? What if you ended up with him? What if the oops could have been avoided? What if you tried again?"

"Mum?!"

"I'm just saying. I'm not telling you what to do, it's your life." Her mum said. "I just don't want you to regret anything."

"What if things don't work out?"

"What if they do?" Her mum smiled. "If you don't try, you'll be denying yourself the happiness and happily ever after you could've had."

"Darling?"

Josie and her mum turned to where her dad's voice came from.

"Think about it. But don't think too much." Her mum said before she got up and went to meet her dad.

She watched them from where she sat. Even after thirty-six years of marriage, her parents were still so in love, maybe even more in love than when they'd gotten married.

Jasmine and Rosa came into the dining room then and both took their seats sighing.

"Those cute little monsters are finally in bed." Rosa said, looking exhausted.

"I think I prefer when they couldn't walk or talk," Jasmine said as she watched her kids play with their grandparents. "But I love them."

Josie smiled as she watched them.

She'd seen both her sisters' kids countless times and not once had she thought about having her own until that moment.
She thought of having small versions of herself and Kaiden and that hit her so fucking hard.

What if?