Accidentally Married

Jessica and Xavier spent a little more time with Dawson until they both decided to go to work. The air between them was awkward because Dawson had teased them both saying he could smell love. Claiming he was old enough to recognize one when he saw it.

Xavier offered to drive Jessica to work even though the air was tense. The road trip was quieter than one would think.

“Your friend,” Xavier said out of the blue.

“My friend?” she asked turning to him. She was glad he broke the silence. It was better for them to talk to each other than to allow the air to loom heavy on their necks.

“Yeah, the one at the police station that time,” he said.

“You mean Emma?” she said. The name alone left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth and she hated it. She had not seen what Emma did to her coming. She always regarded her as a friend so she wondered why she did that.

“So that was her name?” Xavier said looming onto the road with a little morning traffic. “Did you block her?” he asked.

When Emma had said Jessica blocked her Xavier was unaware but he had to side with his wife. This woman seemed dangerous and she was moving around freely. He felt worried for her.

“No, I did not. I forgot to” she added immediately in case he was thinking she left it open on purpose. “I will do so now,” she said pulling her phone from her bag on her lap.

“I saw her and she said she wanted to apologize” Xavier skipped out the part of her saying she had been trying to reach her.

He had established that Emma did approach him on purpose. What was she trying to achieve anyway? Why did she lie?

“Where did you see her?” Jessica asked looking up at him.

“I ran into her on the elevator and she kept trying to strike up a conversation with me” Xavier explained. He did not want her to have the wrong opinion about the situation.

“Oh,” Jessica said blinking. She wondered what it was she was playing at. After the recent outplay by Emma, Jessica concluded that Emma always had her mind working on a ploy.

“Don’t you worry, I will not be picking up her call” Jessica said. Xavier did not know if she was trying to assure herself or if she was telling him her decision.

“I think that’s the best decision to make concerning her. Avoid her at all costs”

“Sure” the car from in silence. The traffic on the road was making the journey much longer than it should be. “I will be making a late lunch for Dawson. If you want some I could bring it over to you”

Xavier turned to face her briefly before putting her eyes on the road back. “Do not worry I usually catch lunch at the hotel restaurant” he said.

“Since I am already making one I might as well make one for you. I will quickly wrap up what I have to do at the office and then go home to make it”

When she saw that he was about to protest, she raised her hand to his face “I insist”

The rest of the ride was with a little chat from both parties and a little silence alternating both ways until he finally dropped her off.

She put some things in place before she returned home to make lunch. She concluded that since she could not take Dawson back home with her she might as well give him home-cooked meals.

She made a quick lunch and then packed it. One of the things Xavier made sure to hammer on was that she should not come out without having one of the drivers take her out.

“They are not for decoration. I pay them salaries every month, you should make good use of their services” in his exact words.

She had Ian drive her to the hospital first. It was closer and she wanted to make sure that he ate first. By the time she entered the hospital room, she met a sleeping Dawson and a caretaker who told her that he had fallen asleep not quite long.

She dropped the lunch box and the caretaker promised to ensure that Dawson ate the meal once he woke up. She left in a hurry to deliver the meal to Xavier. She did not want him to starve any further and she did not want to deliver cold food to him.

“I have told the chef to prepare your lunch as per usual,” Brian said as he stood in front of Xavier’s desk.

“I won’t be eating there today,” Xavier said once and then bent his head.

“You won’t be eating there? Does this mean you are thinking of skipping lunch?”

“No, I am not”

“Then are you ordering from a different place? Is this one of those cases where you decide to feel out of the competition?”

“You get excited at the littlest of things,” Xavier asked crossing his hand over his chest. “This is not one of those cases”

“Then you are skipping lunch?”

“I already told you that I am not” Xavier replied. He was running out of patience with the back and forth between both of them.

“You have changed a lot” Brian comments suddenly.

“I have?”

“You would not have had the patience to make it this far in the time past,” Brian said and then laughter followed.

The Xavier of three months ago would have hollered in anger at Brian and made him leave the room.

“I like the new Xavier. I guess I have Jessica to thank for this. Xavier is growing so much thanks to her” he added.

Xavier rolled his eyes at his friend when the intercom buzzed.

“Mr. Delgado, your wife is here,” the woman from the ground floor said. “Oh, she is saying she would leave something down here for you” the woman continued.

“Let her in,” Xavier said slowly.

“Okay sir,” the lady said before the song went off.

A few minutes later Jessica was knocking on the door before she pushed it open. “Hi Jessica,” Brian says in excitement when he spots the lunch box in her hand.

“Hello Brian,” she said with a smile. “I did not mean to interrupt your meeting. I just wanted to stop this for Xavier but the receptionist insisted that I bring it up myself and there might not be enough food for the both of you” she said.

“Don’t you worry, Brian was just on his way out to eat lunch” Xavier said and then turned to Brian “Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah it is”