Chapter Sixty
Sandwich Jokes
I stared at the box of sandwiches Ava sent me. Apparently, she’d been sending me these sandwiches since Juliette’s last visit here. Which was last week. And Ava seemed to get creative with these sandwiches every time. It was like they’d been made just for me—in a sense that they’d never been on the menu before. And to make things even more interesting, Ava also sent sweet notes and sandwich jokes.
Have a good day.
Clay missed you!
Sending you a sandwich hug!
Eat well.
What did the German sandwich say?
GLUTEN TAG!
Have a good day at work!
Why was the sandwich in a grumpy mood?
IT WOKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE brEAD!
The notes and jokes go on.
My brows shot up as I took a deep breath and grabbed the folded note on top of today’s sandwich box.
What’s the best thing to eat at the beach?
A SAND-WICH!
I shook my head as I chuckled. I grabbed the hot cup of coffee next to the food and took a seat as I leaned back in my chair.
I hadn’t seen much of Juliette, and it was driving me crazy. I’d been trying my best to ignore her, sneaking in and out of my house during her working hours to fix everything that’s been mysteriously breaking or going wrong since I started sleeping in my office. I even got her a couple boxes of fresh grapes, but lately, it didn’t matter how hard I tried, I always got at least three different complaints with full HD pictures as proof about anything that went wrong at the house.
I grabbed my sandwich and took a bite, deep in my thoughts.
I knew I told Juliette to call or text if anything happened but I didn’t think she’d be sending a full photo album about every little thing that went wrong. I’d expect her to call if she was hurt or if Clay was hurt or if they needed anything vital at the moment.
I sighed as I took another bite of my sandwich.
It was as good as expected and I’m sure Ben-Ben deserved all the credit.
Nate couldn’t stop texting me since I confirmed to play with them on Saturday. I glanced at my phone as I finished up my sandwich, watching Nate text me line by line instead of one full text like a normal adult. I sighed as I wiped my hands with a napkin to text him back, but my phone vibrated with an incoming call from my father.
We hadn’t talked much since the whole scene happened at Thanksgiving dinner. Strangely I’d been waiting for him to come to my office to gloat but the more I thought about it the less it made sense because there was no possible way for him to bring me down over this. I’d actually gained something. For once in my life, my life blew up and my father had nothing to say. It didn’t matter how unorthodox it was—I became a father. I technically started a family.
Still, I ignored his call because I wasn’t in the mood to hear another one of his sermons about taking over his winery.
Instead, I dialed Ardley’s number. Shockingly, he picked up at the first ring, but then again, Ardley was never scared of me and even after he pulled this shit on me—I believed he respected me.
“Where are you?”
I immediately spoke.
I passed the greetings and check-ins.
“New York,”
he replied flatly.
I blinked. Out of all cities in America, New York would’ve never been my guess.
“It’s what dreams are made of.”
He spoke again once I didn’t reply.
I was still trying to register the fact that Ardley was currently in New York. It was currently winter. I couldn’t imagine how cold it must be up there. And he was all alone. I shook my head as I stopped myself from feeling sorry for him—this was the same man that left the night shit hit the fan and his biggest secret was blurted out by an emotional Juliette who my father undoubtedly antagonized.
I couldn’t believe he could joke right now.
“I tried to talk to you—”
“And then you left that night anyway.”
“It was my idea,”
Ardley quickly said.
My brows furrowed, “what?”
“Keeping this a secret from you. It was my idea, I cried and begged Juliette at the funeral,”
he paused, then continued, “I guilt tripped her into keeping it a secret from you after confessing about everything in the moment.”
This didn’t make any sense anymore. Why would he do that when he’d been the only one out of everyone to show the smallest bit of interest in Clay?
I sighed because from the beginning to the end of this story and how Ardley even came up with that idea—none of it made sense.
“When were you gonna tell me?”
Ardley sighed heavily, “remember when I asked you if you believed in destiny?”
I groaned as I grimaced. “I swear if you tell me that stealing my sperm to have a kid was all part of your destiny, I’ll jump on the first flight to New York to finally give you that ass beating.”
“No,”
he chuckled halfheartedly, “I was going to tell you, meeting Juliette again, and falling in love with her again—Callum, that’s destiny.”
I closed my eyes as I ran my hand into my hair. I wasn’t entirely sure if I believed in destiny, but I could agree it was a grave coincidence that I fell in love with the same girl I’ve been looking for through the years. My first love, my best friend. The girl of my dreams. And to make it a bigger coincidence, she was having my baby—she was the mother of my son.
“You still haven’t answered my question, when were you going to tell me?”
Ardley cleared his throat. “As soon as I left town so you couldn’t beat me up.”
“Good call,”
I replied dryly, “are you coming down for Christmas? Mom is worried about you.”
“Did you break up with Juliette?”
“What?”
I almost choked, stunned by the accusation. “No!”
Ardley paused on the other line before he finally spoke again. “Does she know that?”
I tensed as I sat up straight with furrowed eyebrows, “what do you mean?”
“Does she know you two aren’t broken up?”
I opened my mouth as I thought about it for a second…if I remember it correctly, I only asked for space so…“yes!”
But I’ve been avoiding her and sleeping in my office? “No?”
My shoulders sagged. “I’m not sure.”
“I’d make it clear if I were you,”
Ardley said, “I’m sure you can see how incredible Juliette truly is.”
I nodded like Ardley was in the room with me to see my reaction.
According to Ardley, he’d been loving the New Yorker lifestyle. Everything was fast-paced which kept him busy and distracted, though he was a little frightened to ride the subway but he did it anyway for reasons he didn’t explain. He still hadn’t told me why he was in New York but clearly things started to look up for him. I wasn’t as mad as I was at him anymore after the phone call, and that was why it took so long for me to call. I knew we’d get past it way too soon. I didn’t have any room in my heart to hold grudges—life moved way too fast once you were angry at the world.
But that thought still haunted me, if Celeste was still here…
The knock on my door pulled me away from my thoughts.
It was like the universe was shoving a bright, tall, beautiful sign into my face as Juliette walked in the room and closed the door behind her.
I sighed as my shoulders sagged, I was tired—tired of fighting my father over something he could never bring himself to understand, tired of feeling like I could never be good enough for him. I was tired of avoiding Juliette and I was tired of thinking about all the horrible scenarios that left me out of Clay’s life.
I stood up as I pushed my hands into my pockets.
Juliette’s eyes bounced around my face, almost like she was reading my expression. She pulled her lips into a sad smile-frown as she tilted her head to the side, then opened her arms wide enough to invite me into a hug. She was still standing a few feet away from me, yet she was offering me a wide hug.
I smiled softly, it was a small, small smile. But I walked towards Juliette and wrapped my hands around her as she wrapped her hands around my neck, dug her fingers into my hair, and softly soothed me.
She was warm, her scent was calming, she felt safe. I could close my eyes and hold her forever and never let go.
I held her tighter as I closed my eyes.