Unforgettable Feelings

Chapter 42

Kaiden walked side by side with Josie up the stairs to her floor. It was a quiet but comfortable silence after the day they had. They were arriving at her door and Kaiden's hand clenched as he held himself back from reaching out to her and holding on. He didn't want the day to end and certainly didn't want to have to part ways with her.
All he could do was just enjoy the last moments they had together before she went back to being closed off.

Josie took her keys out and unlocked the door, keeping her hand on the knob afterward. She looked up at him with a gentle smile that was almost nonexistent.
"Uh, thanks for today."

"It was my pleasure." It truly was.

"Good...night."

He smiled.
"Goodnight Jo."

She waited a moment too long before she twisted the doorknob and entered her apartment. She placed the key in the bowl on the table near the door with her back resting against the door.

Do it.
Do it.
Her conscience nagged.

Josie swallowed before she turned around and snatched the door open.
"Kaiden." She called out.

Kaiden who was about to step into the elevator stopped and turned to her with his hand stopping the elevator.

Josie was quiet as they stared at each other for a moment with the distance between them.
"I-I had a really good time." She finally said with a sigh.

Kaiden smiled because he knew how hard that was for her to admit to.
"I'm happy to hear." He said, "I did too."

Josie tried stopping herself from smiling but she just couldn't. It was a sweet smile that Kaiden responded to.
"Goodnight." She said again.

"Goodnight Josie."

Josie stepped back into her apartment leaving Kaiden standing with his hand holding the elevator while he stared at her door.

"Sir, are you coming on?"

Kaiden looked inside the elevator to find a man with glasses staring at him in wonder.
"I'm sorry." He said as he got on.

He had a smile on his face the entire ride back to his house.

When Josie shut the door after saying goodnight to Kaiden for the second time, she locked her apartment door, and then barely a few steps inside her apartment, she found Zena waiting for her in the living room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh glad to see you too Josie, how's it going?" Zena mocked.

Josie walked towards her.
"I'm glad to see you but you haven't been replying to any of my texts, I wasn't sure if you were going to be here today and I wanted to let you know I was going out."

"I got your texts and oh my goodness, with Kaiden." Zena smiled. "You went out with Kaiden."

"It's nothing," Josie said. "It was just a 'thank you for staying with me when I was sick' outing."

"Are you sure about that?" Zena asked with a smile.

Josie sighed and shook the thought away.
"What about you? I need an update; what happened?"

"Well, it turns out Dante did have a reasonable explanation."

"The baby isn't his?"

"Oh it's his alright but it wasn't done the natural way."

Josie frowned.
"What?"

"Dante gave his sperm because she'd been asking him for a while. He said there was a twelve percent chance for it to work."

"Why would he give his sperm like that?"

"They've been friends for a really long time and Dante was there when her husband divorced her because she couldn't get pregnant. So this was some sort of a miracle."

Josie smiled.
"So he didn't think to tell you because he wasn't sure it would work."

Zena nodded.

"I'm so glad you gave him the chance to explain things."

"I am." Zena said "I would've lost something great if I hadn't. Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me? I didn't do anything, it was all you."

"You did tell me to talk to him, hear what he had to say," Zena said. "So, I'm extending the courtesy."

Josie frowned.

"Talk to Kaiden about what happened that night."

"Zena, not everyone has a good explanation for something that happened or something they did. Just because Dante does, doesn't mean Kaiden will too."

"Still, just hear him out." Zena said "Don't just brush it off like you don't care because you might regret not trying, not taking the chance to hear him out in the future. You've got nothing to lose."

"Zena, whatever happened that night is long gone."

"And you don't care about it blah blah blah." She finished for her. "I know you. As much as you say it doesn't matter or you're over it, you aren't. Just...just talk to him about it, please?"

Josie huffed as she stared at Zena with the idea her friend had just put in her head taking root.
It was a moment later she replied.
"I'll see what happens."

"Meaning you'll try. Good."

"I didn't say..."

"Yea I heard you the first time," Zena said with a smile as she got up and made her way to the kitchen escaping Josie's actual reply. "Dinner's ready."

"Not hungry." Josie called.

"Well, you'll have to pretend that you are because I invited Dante." Josie was making her way to the kitchen already. "Figured you'd want to meet him."

Josie leaned her arm against the kitchen island.
"You figured right."

Zena smiled.
"Great. Now help me set the table."

Josie pretty much has Kaiden on her mind the entire dinner. As much as she tried to focus completely on getting to know Dante, Zena caught her at random times lost in her own thoughts.

Zena would've snapped be out of it as many times as Josie got lost but because she knew it was Kaiden, she said nothing. And plus side was she got to private moments with Dante while Josie was lost in her own world.

"It was so nice meeting you officially." Josie said when Dante was taking his leave later that evening.

Dante smiled.
"You as well."

"I'm so sorry for being a bad host tonight." Josie apologized. "I promise to make it up to both of you."

"I'll hold you to that." Dante said.

"Oh, he will." Zena said as she looked up at Dante who was already looking at her with a secret smile.

"I'm gonna go...get my...do the..." Josie stammered as she tried to come up with an excuse to leave the love birds alone but they weren't even paying attention to her. "Never mind." She said before she turned around and went to her room.

Zena joined her later and they talked till the crack of dawn.