“I think you might be right. Ah, Christ.” Jason drew in a deep breath to stave off the sudden nausea rolling around in his stomach.
Stumbling over to one of the chairs positioned in front of Jake’s desk, he grabbed hold of its padded back and continued his controlled breathing.
“That’s it.” Jake patted his shoulder. “In and out. Just like that.”
“Fuck off, asshole.” Jason shook the man’s hand off.
“Oh, come on. I was just trying to help.”
“Help, my ass. I bet you’ve been waiting for this moment. For your chance to gloat and tell me how right you were.”
“Actually, I’ve been waiting for this moment because I knew you were a miserable bastard who needed a good, strong woman to set your ass straight.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No?” Jake sat down in the chair next to him and crossed his arms. Propping an ankle over his thigh, he settled in and said, “Why don’t you enlighten me?”
Jason’s reflex reaction was to tell him to go fuck himself. But when he opened his mouth, his past came pouring out.
He told Jake about Shelby. About the baby. And he told him the story of how he’d lost them both.
“Damn, Jason.” Jake stared back at him with both sympathy and shock. “I’m so sorry, man. I can’t even begin to imagine...”
“No.” Jason shook his head. “No one can. Not unless you’ve been there.”
Of course, back before they were married, Jake had gone several days believing Olivia was dead. So it was possible the other man did know a little something about what he’d gone through.
“Sorry, man.” He stared back at his friend and colleague. “I sometimes forget about all the shit that went down before you and Liv tied the knot.”
“S’okay.” Jake shrugged it off. “I get what you were saying. And I truly am sorry for what you lost. But damn, man. That was ten years ago. You know better than most how fucking short life is. And I obviously never knew Shelby, but...if she loved your dumbass enough to marry youandprocreate with your hard-headed genes...I’m sure she’d want you to hold onto Sophie and never let her go.”
Closing his eyes, Jason took a deep breath in through his nose before releasing it slowly. He pictured Shelby’s smiling face. Her short, brown hair. Her bright blue eyes.
And he knew...
“You’re right.” He looked back at Jake. “If Shelby were here, she’d be smacking me upside the head and calling me an idiot.”
She always did call him on his bullshit. It was one of the reasons he fell in love with her.
Sophie does the same thing.
And she was waiting for him in the other room.
“Thanks, man.” Jason pushed himself to his feet.
“You headin’ out?”
“Yeah. I want to get Sophie home before it gets too late.”
“Listen to you, sounding like a man protecting his woman.”
That was exactly what he was. And though he felt it was still too soon to say the words out loud, Jason realized he was also a man in love.
Jason got to the door first but stopped just shy of opening it. Looking back at Jake, he swallowed his pride and said, “I owe you an apology.”
A fucking huge one.
“For what?” Jake looked genuinely confused.