Page 6 of Love Me Again

"You're telling me. I can't wait to come back home." After his shower, we both lay in bed and spoke until my eyes grew heavy, and I finally fell asleep hugging his pillow.

* * *

The followingday creeps on and on, especially without him around the office. Every hour that passed by, I missed him more and more and was getting anxious for him to come back home. We face time at lunch, and I fill him in on my meeting with the twins while he listens to me, eating his salad. I told him I was feeling lonely in that big house by myself, and he suggested I get the girls to stay over till he comes back home the next day.

I called them, and they kindly agreed to keep me company while he was away. "Bish, I haven't the scoobiest idea what I'm doing here, by the way," Aimee declares, whisking the batter for the cake we were attempting to make.

I frown, looking at the recipe on the tablet. "Is it creamy?" I ask her, and she shrugs diffidently.

"If by creamy you mean lumpy, then yes, it's creamy." I chuckle and lean over, looking at the lumpy mess she's made of the batter.

"Aimee, you had one job. Cream the butter and sugar. How did you fuck it up?" Jo scolds her while looking into the bowl.

Aimee looks at her with an arched brow. "All right, Betty fucking Crocker, you do it then!" I shake my head, laughing at the two while they bicker. "And what are you laughing at?" She chuckles, throwing flour in my face. I cough and sputter, waving my hand in front of my face to clear the flour cloud. Aimee and Jo both laugh as I glare at them with a face covered in flour.

"Oh, it's on now." I grab a handful of flour and throw it at them, which then turns into a full-on food fight in my kitchen. We were all covered in flour, eggs, and batter. I rush over and answer my phone when Cole calls me. The look on his face when he saw the state of me was priceless.

"Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Cole chuckles while the girls and I laugh.

"We're attempting to bake a cake for you," I tell him, wiping the flour out of my eyes, and he laughs out loud.

"Honey, the ingredients go in a bowl, you know that, right?" I smile and shrug.

"Blame Aimee. She started it by cocking up the batter." I tease, and she throws more flour in my face.

"Here, eat that!" Aimee cackles wickedly.

Cole watches me with a grin while I slap Aimee's bum. "I called to say good night, baby. Have fun with the girls. I'm expecting to be back home tomorrow afternoon. I love you."

I smile. "I can't wait. I love you, too." Cole blows me a kiss before he hangs up. I sigh and stare at the phone sadly. My heart felt heavy, and I wasn’t sure why.

"Bish, are you all right?" Jo questions when she notices the gloomy look on my face.

I nod and force myself to smile, "Yeah, I just really miss him." I utter and try to shake off this uneasy feeling that was making my chest feel all tight. After we clean up, the girls and I snuggle up in my bed, and we watch a film till we fell asleep.

* * *

The next dayI woke up feeling animated. My baby would be home in a few hours. After breakfast, I had a shower and got dressed, anxiously waiting for Cole to come home. I was counting down the minutes.

Hours went by, and he didn't come home.

It was gone past six in the evening; he was supposed to be home hours ago.

"Shayla, babe, why don't you sit down? You're burning a hole through the floor." Aimee sighs, watching me pace back and forth while redialling Cole's number for the two hundredth time.

"I can’t sit down! Cole should have been home by now. Where is he?" I snap irritably as I pace frantically.

"Shay, maybe his flight got delayed," Jo suggests, walking over to me, and I shake my head.

"Then why hasn't he called me?!" I shout and take a deep breath, closing my eyes. "He knows I would worry. Something's wrong. I can feel it." I whisper. My chest was getting tighter, making it difficult to breathe.

"Shayla don't say that. Cole’s going to walk through that door any minute, babe." Aimee tries to reassure me, and I shake my head.

"I've had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach since he told me he was leaving. It just didn't feel right, and it's getting worse. Something is wrong." I tell them, and Aimee wraps her arms around me.

"Shay, try and calm down, babe. You're pregnant. All this stress isn't good for you or the baby." She tells me, and I gasp when the door-bell rings. I pull away from Aimee's hold and run to the door. I pull it open, hoping to see Cole standing there, but it wasn't—it was Josh. He stood there staring at me, his blue eyes rimmed red, full of despair.

"Shayla..." Josh whispers, his voice breaking, and I shake my head.

Oh God…

"Josh, no.”

"I'm so sorry," Josh mutters, taking hold of my upper arms. "Cole's plane has crashed..”

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