Chapter 264 He Actually Did Such a Thing!
Josephine and Laura were strolling along, chatting about who knew what.
Claudia was trailing behind, holding Jeffery and laughing about something.
Stuart couldn't take his eyes off Josephine, while Jair's gaze kept drifting to Claudia.
When Josephine and Laura got to the cashier, they found out their bill was already paid.
That's when Josephine spotted Stuart.
"Did you pay the bill?" she asked him.
Stuart shook his head. "Nope, Jair did."
"Jair, we can't just let you do that," Josephine said. "How much was it? I'll Venmo you."
"No need," Jair replied. "If you feel bad, just treat me to a meal next time."
Josephine chuckled. "Deal."
Jair turned to Claudia. "Claudia, can we talk for a sec?"
Claudia, who hadn't been paying attention, looked up when she heard her name. "Me?"
Jair nodded. "Yeah, if that's cool."
Josephine quickly reached for Jeffery. "Claudia, Jair wants to chat. We'll wait outside."
She hoped Claudia could finally let go of whatever was bothering her.
Laura felt the same, so they both left Claudia behind.
Stuart quickly added, "I'll wait outside too."
He hurried to catch up with Josephine.
Claudia broke the silence first. "Jair, what do you need to say?"
"I'm sorry," Jair said.
"If it's just an apology, I accept," Claudia smiled. "If that's all, I'm leaving."
"Wait!" Jair said. "You promised to help me design clothes before."
"That's not needed now," Claudia replied. "I want my clients to come to me because they like my style."
"I really do like it," Jair insisted.
"Do you even know what my design style is?" Claudia asked.
Jair went quiet.
"Jair, I'm leaving," Claudia said with a slight nod. "Goodbye."
"Claudia!" he called after her, but she didn't turn back.
Outside the restaurant, Stuart had barely said three words to Josephine before Jeffery started giving him the stink eye. Just as he was trying to figure out how to get some alone time with Josephine, Claudia walked out.
"That was quick," he couldn't help but say.
"Jair didn't have much to say," Claudia replied. "Josephine, let's go."
Stuart watched as Josephine and the others left.
He turned to Jair with a smirk. "What happened? That was fast. You're really not smooth at this."
Jair shot back, "You're the one who's not smooth."
Stuart retorted, "I'm pretty smooth, actually."
"What's the point?" Jair said. "You got a girlfriend or what?"
Stuart went silent.
But then again, neither did Jair, so they were both in the same boat, unable to laugh at each other.
Later, Jair's jacket did end up at Stuart's company.
As Emily's engagement date got closer, Josephine had picked out her dress.
Steven hadn't come back yet, but he was already sending gifts.
Flowers, jewelry, bags—something new showed up at Josephine's house every day.
But Laura was so used to it, she didn't even bat an eye.
It made Josephine so mad she wanted to smack her.
She wanted to sit Laura down and share her own experiences and hard-learned lessons.
Meanwhile, Claudia had designed a few outfits for Jeffery and wanted his opinion.
So she took Jeffery away.
These days, Josephine was juggling work and taking care of Jeffery, and it was wearing her out.
Even though Jeffery was a good kid, he was super clingy.
Now that Claudia had taken Jeffery, and after chatting with Laura for a bit, Josephine started feeling uneasy.
"What's up?" Laura asked, noticing her discomfort. "You feeling okay?"
"No," Josephine said, rubbing her temples. "Call Claudia and see if she's done. I want to pick up Jeffery."
Laura teased her as she pulled out her phone. "You finally get a break, but you still can't stop worrying about Jeffery. Hey, Claudia's not answering."
The phone rang over ten times, but no one picked up.
"Maybe she's busy?" Josephine took her phone. "I'll text her. Forget it, let's just go over there."
They quickly headed to Claudia's studio, only to find she hadn't returned.
How could that be?
Claudia had left with Jeffery at least two hours ago!
Two hours should be more than enough time to get from Josephine's house to the studio.
Josephine's heart started to race, and she swallowed hard. "Laura, what if something happened to Claudia and Jeffery..."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Laura gave her a reassuring pat. "Don't overthink it. Maybe Claudia took Jeffery out to play."
But her calls weren't going through, and messages weren't being answered.
Josephine panicked even more. "I'll check the surveillance cameras!"
Laura asked, "Which cameras are you gonna check?"
Josephine replied, "Gonna check the ones around my place, see where she headed, and track her down."
"Will they let you check?" Laura frowned, then took out her phone. "I'll hit up Steven, see if he can dig something up."
Josephine instinctively wanted to stop her.
Laura was still in a cold war with Steven, and she naturally hoped they would reconcile, but she didn't want Laura to have to ask Steven for help because of her.
Josephine suggested, "No, I'll call Liam."
Laura agreed, "That works too."
But Liam's phone wasn't reachable either, probably because he was in surgery.
Laura said, "Looks like God wants me to call Steven."
Josephine smiled helplessly.
She thought, 'Alright, it didn't matter who called whom first. If this call could help them reconcile, it would be a good thing.'
Steven answered the call, and before he could even greet Laura, she directly assigned the task.
Steven immediately became serious. "I'll have someone check right away. Laura, wait for me, I'll come back today."
Before he could finish, Laura hung up.
Josephine was furious. "Where are your manners?"
Laura said, "Oops, slipped."
Josephine wanted to hit her.
They waited in the car for about ten minutes before Steven called back.
He said, "According to the surveillance footage, Claudia took Jeffery to an amusement park. It might be too noisy there, so she didn't hear the phone."
Hearing this, they finally relaxed.
But Josephine still felt a bit uneasy, as if she had been overthinking things.
Meanwhile, Steven hung up and quickly called Jair. "What's the situation now?"
Jair looked serious. "I'm on my way there now. Don't worry, Stuart is there, Claudia and Jeffery will be fine."
Steven gritted his teeth. "Sure it's Robin's crew?"
Jair confirmed with a hum.
Steven said angrily, "Can't believe he pulled this off! This time, not even the Baileys can save his sorry hide!"
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
