Chance Encounters by J. Sterling Page A

bedroom. She was grateful for the escape. She was in no shape to be at home with Clay. Bailey had taken care of it all. She sent Caroline to the shower and then called Clay.
    “You know how we girls get when it comes to weddings. Lots to plan and talk about!” Bailey could pull off any lie she needed to if it protected her friend, which worked out really, because Caroline was a terrible liar.
    “I’ll tell her. ’Night, Clay.” Bailey hung up and wondered how the hell Caroline was going to make it out of this situation in one piece.
    Caroline walked out of the bedroom and tried to dry her long wet hair with a towel when Bailey spoke up. “I called Clay. He knows you’re here and staying the night. He said to tell you goodnight and he loves you.”
    Her eyes started to water again as Caroline struggled to keep her emotions in check. “Thank you so much, Bailey. There was no way I could have talked to him.”
    “I know.”
    Caroline grabbed her purse from off the couch, opened up the zipper compartment, and pulled out the note Jackson had sent her along with the heart charm. She ran her thumb across the words in the note, thinking of how his hand had also touched that paper.
    Affection swirled within her as she placed the charm on the nightstand and crawled into the queen-sized bed. The paper firmly clutched to her chest, she quietly cried herself to sleep.

Chapter Twelve
     
    When Caroline woke up the next morning, emotions from the previous night flooded her mind like a hurricane. Everything felt exactly the same.
    “Morning,” Bailey said from her side of the bed.
    “Hi.”
    “How do you feel?”
    “Just as awful and confused as I did last night.” Caroline’s face crinkled. “But you know the worst part?” Her eyes filled up with tears.
    “What?”
    “All I keep thinking about is Jackson. Why hasn’t he called, or texted, or something?”
    Bailey smiled softly from her pillow. “I don’t think that’s the worst part.”
    Caroline stared at her friend. “God, I am so tired of crying. How is it possible I have any stupid tears left? This is ridiculous.”
    Bailey smirked. “You should try to call him. And you should do it now, while you’re here and we can still buy you time with Clay.”
    Caroline nodded. “Okay.”
    Bailey stretched and let out a yawn. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”
    “Thanks.” Caroline reached across the bed toward the nightstand. She grabbed her phone and pressed the button to call Jackson. As it rang, her whole body began to shake uncontrollably. She was nervous. It rang more times than it had in the past six months. She thought he wasn’t going to answer, but he did.
    “Hello.” His voice sounded ragged, tired, and beaten.
    “Hi.” She didn’t even know where to begin. “How are you?” She wanted to kick herself after those words escaped her lips.
    “Um, I’m pretty terrible, Caroline. How are you?” He was still angry, hurt, and bitter.
    Her heart twisted into knots at the tone of his voice and made the bile in her stomach rise into her throat. “I’m a mess,” she admitted.
    “I don’t want to play games.” His voice sounded cold and uncaring.
    That sentence instantly made her defenses rise. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as anger spread throughout her body. “Then don’t, Jackson.” She spoke his name with disdain.
    “Why are you calling, Caroline? What do you want?”
    The harshness of his questions infuriated her. “Nothing. My mistake. Sorry to have bothered you. Have a nice life.” She hung up and then hurled her phone at the bedroom wall. Thankful it didn’t break, she slowly got up to retrieve it.
    Suddenly her phone started to blare Jackson’s ringtone and she considered briefly letting it go to voicemail just to make him suffer. But she couldn’t do it. She answered with only a breath before Jackson immediately asked, “Don’t you want to be with me?” His voice cracked with emotion.
    She was quiet at