Chapter 542

• It’s been days since the restaurant, and here I am, sitting in the huge, empty garden of Sylvana’s home, agonizing over what to do. I stare at the cell in my hands for the hundredth time and sigh. My mother’s name is on the screen staring at me, and I’ve contemplated pressing the dial a million times. I should tell her about the baby and our engagement. She’s my mother, yet something inside me is holding me back.
• Jake comes strolling out to me, carrying a blanket and a hot drink, coming level to my face with a look of adoration in his eyes. He carefully drapes the blanket around my shoulders and slides the mug in front of me, kissing me on the temple.
• “Still undecided?” he asks gently, slipping onto the bench beside me and sitting between his legs so he can face me and pull me close between them, nuzzling me against him, cradling my head with his palm. His fingers thread themselves into my hair in the way he always does. I close my eyes at the feel of him, surrounded by his unique smell, driving away anything but a feeling of serenity.