Page 26 of Endgame

‘Thanks, mate.’

‘No problem. Besides, the day might come when you may beg me to reach out to my “property bros” to turn it into flats. But we’re not there yet.’

‘Now that’s done, where’s a good pub around here? Fancy some lunch? I’m buying.’

‘I could have lunch,’ he says, grabbing his phone and leading the way to his office door.

We exit his building and cross a couple of squares and bridges to find a quiet pub away from the hustle and bustle. Jasper secures us a table as I grab us some drinks from the traditional wooden bar.

‘I hear congratulations are in order, Daddy Goldsmith.’ I put Jasper’s pint down in front of him.

‘That sounded a little mistressy but yeah, thanks,’ he says solemnly.

‘You don’t sound like you want to be congratulated.’

‘I do, but things with Sophia are moving extremely quickly and it’s posing…well, a unique set of challenges.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We’re getting married the week after Zachary and Isszy.’

Wow. Extremely quickly sounds about right, but I keep my opinions to myself. ‘That’s great news, mate!’ I pat him on the back.

‘We’re keeping it tiny and quiet, surrounded by the people we love.’

‘Sounds brilliant. What’s wrong with that?’

‘Sophia doesn’t want Ariella there. Dahlia and Hugh are holding the date, but they have no idea what’s going on. I can’t invite them and exclude Ariella, even if I want to. But I don’t. She’s my best friend. I want her there.’

‘Jasper, you’re about to marry Sophia. She’s automatically your best friend now. To her, Ariella is your ever-present ex-girlfriend who won’t go away. Besides, after last night, if you invite Ariella she’ll most likely decline anyway.’

‘She’s not going to decline because Sophia is pregnant. She’d never do that.’

‘Hold on, what do you think happened last night?’

‘Ariella guessed Sophia was pregnant right before she got a call and had to leave.’

Normally, I’d keep my mouth shut, but I’ve grown to like Jasper and he needs all the help he can get because evidently this is an area that he isn’t very good at.

‘Caleb! What happened last night?’ Jasper insists.

‘Sophia told Ariella to stay away from both of you and not to contact you again. Ariella promised she would.’

Jasper’s phone is in his hand, he has hit a name and is holding it to his ear before I can blink.

‘Who are you calling?’

‘Ariella.’

‘Stop,’ I say. I grab the phone from him and cut the call off.

‘Caleb, give that back right now!’

‘No. You’re about to be a father. You’ve asked Sophia to be your wife. You’re trying to mend the wrong relationship right now. You need to call your soon-to-be wife.’

‘But—’

‘Ariella is always going to be there. Your bond will survive whatever nuclear blast life hits it with. It always will. It used to piss me off, but now I get it. However, you and Sophia, who happens to be carrying your child right now, may not survive this. That’s where your energy needs to go. You have a terrible habit of focusing on having what you want, Jasper, rather than wanting what you have. That’s what landed you here in the first place. Maybe it’s time you change that. It’s caused you enough problems, mate.’

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