Accidental Lovers (The Accidental Series, Book 3) (7 page)

Shayla turned to the window, stared off into
the clear blue sky.

“I’m sorry,” Donovan said.

She gave Donovan a half-smile and said,
“It’s fine.”

“No. I don’t want to upset you.”

“I’m fine, Donovan,” she said, and nothing
more. She stared out the window again, feeling queasy, missing
Carter, starting to have crazy thoughts like what if the plane
crashed and she never saw Carter again. How would he feel to lose
her? How was he feeling now, having lost her temporarily and…

“Carter’s a very intelligent man,” Donovan
admitted. “That’s why he’s so successful.”

Shayla felt contrite for flying to Virginia
without even mentioning it to Carter. And he’d called her every day
for the last three weeks, multiple times even, and all she did was
ignore his calls. A tear rolled out of her right eye and traveled
the length of her face.

“What’s wrong, Shayla?” Donovan asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m tired…think I’m
going to rest.” She turned her back to him, and leaned against the
window. Closing her eyes, she wiped more tears away.

“All right,” Donovan said, though he wanted
to console her. He looked at her again and before he knew it, he’d
thrown his arm around her and pulled her into his chest, ignoring
her resistance until she was lying right up against him. “There.
That’s more comfortable.”

She’d since stopped crying and just laid
there against him, all the while wishing she was in Carter’s arms
instead.

Chapter 12

Carter met Terrance for dinner at Eddie’s
Place, a diner on Sharon Amity Road, closer to Terrance’s apartment
than Carter’s hotel. The men sat at the bar, both ordering beers.
As for food, Carter ordered red bean nachos for an appetizer while
Terrance chose the potato skins – something to snack on until their
entrees arrived.

“You think the Panthers are going to be any
good this year, man?” Terrance asked.

“Judging by last year…I don’t know.” Carter
said, not in the mood to talk football. He turned up the bottle of
beer, took out his cell and called Shayla, wondering what she was
doing on a Friday night. Maybe she was alone, at home curled up on
the couch watching a movie. He sighed when she didn’t answer, then
slid his phone back into his pocket.

“She’s
still
ain’t talking to you?”
Terrance asked.

“No. She’s not.”

“She’ll come around, man.”

“I don’t know. I hurt her pretty bad. The
sad part is, if I lose her, it’s all my fault and I don’t know if I
can live with that.”

“Just give it some time.”

“It’s been nearly a month already…not sure
how much more of this I can take.”

Terrance smacked his lips. “You know how
long it takes for women to get over stuff. A woman can break one of
her fake nails and it would take days for her to get over it.”
Terrance chuckled.

Carter looked at him and shook his head.

“Besides, you should’ve took my advice and
kept your mouth shut. I
told
you not to tell her.”

“Nah. I’m glad I told her, actually.”

“You don’t look
glad
to me.”

“Well, I am,” Carter said, chewing. “I
didn’t want any secrets between Shayla and I, and I know I did the
right thing.” He resumed eating, washed the food down with a swig
of beer and said, “On a different note, I have Jacob’s notebook.
He’d written some things down in there before the suicide.”

“Wait…first you got his suicide note, now a
notebook. Where’d this notebook come from?”

“Don’t worry about all that, Tee. Anyway, in
his notes, Jacob alluded to us not being brothers.”

“We’re not brothers.”

“I’m not talking about you, fool.”

Terrance chuckled. “I know. I’m just messin’
with ya. So Jacob said he wasn’t your brother?”

“Yeah…said we were first cousins…said we
didn’t have the same mother or father.”

“Well, everybody knows y’all don’t have the
same father. You didn’t look anything alike.”

“You don’t think so?” Carter inquired,
because he thought he resembled Jacob. But maybe it was because
they grew up in the same house.

“Nah, man. You look nothing like him.”

“Well, anyway, I did a little investigating
of my own, went down to the vital records office and ordered
Jacob’s birth certificate.”

“And?”

“And next to Mother, it says, Lenora
Williams. So we do have the same mother which is why I’m thoroughly
confused as to why he would write that we were first cousins,
unless my aunt is right. Maybe he wanted to anger me even
further…to start problems because he knew what he was about to do.
He was about to take his own life and didn’t care about all the
chaos he would leave behind.”

Their entrees came by and Carter ordered
another beer. Then he took his fork and dug around in the veggie
pasta.

Terrance took a knife and sliced a chunk of
Parmesan chicken and tasted it.
Perfect
, he thought, same as
it was when he was here last. “So your aunt told you that Jacob
wrote that stuff to get back at you?”

“Yeah…I didn’t believe her at first—”

“I don’t believe it at all. You tell me why
a man who knows he’s going to take his life make up some stuff like
that. It’s not adding up, Carter. People usually speak some hard
truths before they die. They don’t go around spewing out lies.”

“Yeah, but Jacob never liked me,
Terrance.”

“Yeah, he didn’t like you but yet, he
specifically requested that
you
take care of Shayla. That
doesn’t make any sense either. If you were my brother, and I hated
your guts, you really think I’m going to entrust my girlfriend,
fiancée or whatever to you?”

Carter shook his head. “I really think he’s
just trying to mess with my head.”

“Where’d you get the notebook?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Well, did Jacob leave it somewhere where he
knew you’d find it?”

“No. I wasn’t supposed to ever see these
notes and I wouldn’t have if—”

Terrance raised his eyebrows.

“Never mind that. Bottom line is, I’m not
supposed to have this notebook.”

“Then let me offer you my professional
opinion, bruh,” Terrance said, wiping his mouth and clearing his
throat.

Carter smirked. “What’s your
professional
opinion, Terrance?”

“If you just so happened to stumble upon
those notes…if you were not supposed to
ever
read or know
any of the stuff Jacob wrote in that notebook, then maybe it’s not
Jacob’s
birth certificate you should’ve requested at the
vital records office.”

Carter frowned. It hadn’t dawned on him to
request a copy of his birth certificate. And he surely didn’t have
a copy at home. Carter thought hard for a moment and said, “What
are you saying, Tee?”

“You know what I’m saying. Get a copy, check
it out and then you’ll see if Jacob’s notes are true or if he was
just making things up.”

Carter took a sip of beer, finished his
meal, parted ways with Terrance and drove by his home to see if
Shayla’s car was there.

It was not…

Ten o’clock at night and she wasn’t at home.
On a Friday. Where was she? He pulled up in the driveway, shut off
the engine and walked to the house. Man it had been a long time
since he’d been back there. He unlocked the door, looked around the
place. Nothing appeared out of order and the house was still neat,
clean and organized like he liked it.

He jogged upstairs to their bedroom and
noticed the bed was unmade – not typical for Shayla. She was sure
to make the bed whenever she got up. Did that mean wherever she
was, she’d left in a hurry?

After he checked every room in the house, he
called her again, left a voicemail asking where she was and if she
was okay. Then he sent a text asking the same, hoping she would see
and sense his urgency and respond.

Chapter 13

“No one should ever be this nervous to meet
their own father,” Shayla said, sitting across from Donovan at
IHOP. “I can’t even eat.”

“You’ll be fine,” Donovan told her, then
took a sip of coffee. “Do you remember anything about him?”

“Um…no…must’ve been very young when he left.
I don’t remember him at all. I don’t even know what he looks
like.”

“You do know he’s Caucasian…”

“Yes. I know that much.” Shayla grinned.

“Shrew…had me worried there for a minute.”
Donovan took another sip of coffee. “And just so you know, he’s
married…has two adult sons.”

“Oh my gosh! I have brothers?” she said with
tears in her eyes.

“Yep. You have brothers.”

“Do you know if they are coming with Jack
this afternoon?”

“Yeah. The whole family is going to be
there. That’s what Jack said, anyway.”

Shayla pinched her eyes and wiped tears from
the corner of them. “Wow. This is amazing.” She took a sip of water
then removed her cell phone from her purse when she heard it
buzzing.

“Carter?” Donovan inquired.

It was him but Shayla didn’t confirm. She
only read Carter’s text:

Been at the house since ten last night.
Where are you, Shayla?

“Does he know you’re here?”

She was so engrossed in her thoughts, she
hadn’t heard Donovan’s question. Instead she was focused on Carter
being at home alone.

“Shayla?” Donovan said to get her
attention.

“Yes?”

Her alert, bright eyes sent a smile to his
face. “Does Carter know you’re here? With me?”

“No.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

Shayla shrugged.

“Being tight-lipped again?”

“I just don’t think it’s appropriate to talk
in depth to you about my marriage. I mean, I know he’s your friend
and all but—”

“Not necessarily…we went to college
together…we’re not tight or anything like that.”

“Then why’d you conspire with him to follow
me around when I was living here?”

“Just returning a favor. He pulled some
strings…helped me get my position at Zenadel Electronics and I owed
him.”

“Men,” Shayla said, shaking her head.

“What?”

“Y’all do the craziest things to get a woman
but don’t have the slightest idea how to keep her.”

“You must be talking about your husband
because I don’t have that problem,” Donovan said with arrogant
eyes.

“Anyway,” Shayla said, because it was time
to change the subject. “I wanted Carter to be a part of this, but I
couldn’t bring myself to call him.”

“Do you not want me to be there?”

“Well, I assumed you were going to be so you
could introduce us.”

“Okay, so after the introductions, do you
want me to stick around?”

“No. You don’t have to,” Shayla took a sip
of coffee. “I suppose I could get my long lost father to drop me
off at the hotel.”

“I tell you what…I’ll take you to meet him,
leave to give y’all some time to play catch up and then I’ll call
you to see when you need me to pick you up. That way, I can see to
it that you arrive back safely to your hotel.”

“That’s too much.”

“It’s fine. Really.”

“Okay, Donovan. If you say so.”

At six, Donovan drove Shayla to the park
where they had agreed to meet Jack. She was fidgety and anxious
when they arrived, her palms sweaty as she scanned the area,
looking for who she thought Jack might be.

“Okay…um…he said they would be at the picnic
spot number five, near the water. And I think that might be them
over…there, so let me park.”

Shayla quietly stared in their direction
while at the same time taking in the beauty of this place. The
trees were beautiful, covered in bright orange, yellow, reddish and
brown leaves. The sun stayed hidden behind the clouds on the
overcast day. It looked like it would rain any minute.

Donovan shifted the car in park and shut off
the engine. He looked at Shayla and said, “You ready?”

Shayla nodded. “As ready as I’m ever going
to be.”

“All right,” he said, sounding more excited
than she did.

Shayla opened the door to get out. Donovan
followed, and they took the sidewalk, heading straight for the
picnic area where her father and his family were sitting.

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,”
she whispered to Donovan.

“Believe it. It’s seconds from
happening.”

As they got closer, she got a good look at
Jack. He was a tall, thin man, around the same height as Donovan
and he had gray hair but still looked young and distinguished. He
wore some khakis and a polo, had his hands snuggled comfortably in
the pocket of his pants.

“Shayla?” he said as she stood in front of
him now.

“Hi,” Shayla said to him.

“Hi there, Jack,” Donovan told him, reaching
to shake his hand, then waved at the rest of the family. He leaned
down and whispered in Shayla’s ear, “I’m gonna go. I won’t be far,
so if you feel uncomfortable or ready to go, call me. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Donovan walked away, heading for his
car.

Shayla then returned her attention back to
Jack.

“You grew up to be such a beautiful, young
woman,” Jack said.

“Thanks,” she said, staring at him. “I’m
sorry for staring. I’m trying to remember you but I don’t.”

“You probably wouldn’t. I moved to Virginia
a long time ago, when things didn’t work out with your Mother.”

Shayla glanced at the two young men and the
woman standing behind him.

“This is my wife, Gail and those are my
boys, Jack, Jr. and Jeremy.”

“Nice to meet you, Gail,” Shayla said
shaking her hand because a hug seemed inappropriate. Gail was a
pretty, brown-toned woman with short, auburn hair. She looked to be
much younger than Jack and she seemed pleasant. Moving on to the
boys, she said, “Wow. I can’t believe I have brothers. Hi guys,”
she told them and both Jack and Jeremy hugged her, which brought
Shayla to tears.