ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴡᴏ

Second chance

SOFIA

Xavier and I stepped into his penthouse.

"I want to show you something." He says, placing the bags down but continuing to hold Saint's car seat.

"Okay." I nod and slowly follow behind him.

I was still sore from my surgery, but it was getting a little better day by day.

Xavier opens a door for me and lets me in. My jaw dropped.

It's a nursery.

The walls were blue and decorated with safari animals. The room also had a crib and a baby swing. There was everything you needed. I walked around the room and stopped at the changing table.

"When did you do this?" I ask him.

"When I found out you were pregnant. Zoe helped." He says.

I gave him a small smile, trying to hold back tears.

"I wanted you and the baby to know you have a home with me... here." He says and places the car seat down.

"Thank you...."

He nods and gives me a smile.

"Can I ask you for a favor?" I ask.

"Anything." He says.

"You've been doing nights with Saint. I want to handle it on my own tonight." I explain.

Saint hasn't been getting much sleep. Xavier usually changes him and rocks him, then hands him to me to breastfeed, but then he starts crying in my arms again.

"Are you sure about that?" Xavier asks.

"I can do this, Xavier. I want to do this."

Xavier gives me a nod. "He's all yours."

We stare at each other for a while, and he gets closer to me. He brushes a stray strand of hair from my face. I keep staring up at him. My feelings for Xavier are complicated. He's the father of my child. He was my first. I love him... but Jenna is out there.

He brushed his thumb across my cheek softly and brought his face closer to mine. I can feel his breath on my lip, and then he kisses me.

I let him. I let him kiss me, and truthfully, I kissed back. I just want to feel normal again. We finally pull away and stare at each other again.

"Have you called your parents?" Xavier asks.

"No, but I will." I say to him.

"I have some calls to the office. I'll be down the hall, okay?" He says, and I give him a nod.

ZOE

Lala was still mad at me. Just as I was about to enter the bedroom, my phone rang. I answer it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I say pressing my phone to my ear.

"Zoe, it's Jason."

I groan and roll my eyes. "I know you can't see me right now, so I just want you to know I'm rolling my eyes right now."

"Zoe, I just want to talk."

"Okay, can you make this quick? I need to fix my marriage."

"What's wrong with your marriage?"

"Jason, you and I are not besties. Speak." I say to him in annoyance.

"Right. Not like you and Xavier, right?" He says.

Jason isn't a bad guy he just makes bad decisions. Xavier and I grew up together, whereas Jason was the affair baby from my dad's infidelity. We tried with him, but it was always so awkward. He seemed to just be on a different level than us, not to mention he was a damn snitch.

As we got older, things got a little chill to the point where family dinners weren't awkward. Well, that was until this whole Jenna thing.

"Jason, what do you want?" I sigh. I really want to talk to Lala right now, and I wish he'd just get to the point.

"Look, I wanted to apologize for upsetting you at the hospital."

"You do know you could've sent that in a texts right?"

"You don't answer my texts."

"Well, I'm a busy person. Is that all?"

"No."

There was a long pause.

"Jason man for fucks sake speak. Jesus. I'm not gonna eat you."

"You threatened to chop me up, cook me, and eat me when we were kids."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have pissed me off."

"Look, Zoe, I just want you to be safe. You and Xavier."

"You're being very suspicious. Do you know something we don't?"

There was a long pause on the line again. So he does know something.

"Look, Jason, I know I said we're not friends, but if you want a relationship with me, you have to be honest. If you're hiding something or maybe someone, I suggest you do the right thing."

"Zoe -"

"No. Do the right thing, and then we can have a conversation.

I hang up the phone and let out a deep sigh. Jason knows something, but I know he'll never tell me. I know I'm harsh on him, and sometimes I don't mean to be. My mouth is just sort of runs away with me sometimes.

It's not his fault he is the way he is. My mom always treated him sort of meh so I could understand why he was always trying to please her. But you can't please my parents. They have horrible values and horrible personalities.

I want a better relationship with Jason, but I just can't trust him. He's never actually given us a reason to trust him. He's so easily manipulated, and my mom used that. We tried to explain that to him, but he was just too caught up.

I shake my head and take a deep breath. I can't think about Jason's long list of flaws, or I'll die before the list ends. I need to talk to Lala. Maybe apologize for the egg thing.

God, why can't we just be child free lesbians and travel the world?