Their Heart Search: Bethany & Jordan's Story (Search Series) (14 page)

“Jordan?” she questioned.

“Hi Grace, can you meet somewhere to talk?” he asked rubbing the back of his neck.

“Everything okay?” she asked. He loved Grace. She was concerned for her daughter always. She was nothing like Meredith.

“Fine. I think anyways. I just wanted to talk about some decisions I’m thinking about making.” Bethany needed space and that meant he did as well. He loved her but he had to back-up a bit.

“You’re not leaving?” she asked.

“No Ma’am,” he responded firmly.

“Okay, well I’m at the house come over we’ll have coffee and talk.” He nodded knowing full well she couldn’t see him before hanging up.

He walked back into her bedroom. She was an angel. His angel, but he had to heed Raiden’s words she needed room to maneuver. “Be back, beautiful,” he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek.

“Where are you going?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Just to talk with someone. Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” She looked unsure, but nodded and settled back down.

He didn’t want her to worry. And she would’ve if he said he was going to talk with her mom. She probably would worry for a couple reasons in fact, but Jordan was on a mission. Make sure Grace knew his intentions with Bethany were the purest possible.

He had just arrived at Grace’s house, and she met him at the door. “Jordan, welcome,” she said sweetly as he was climbing out of the car.

“Hi Ma’am, thank you for agreeing to this,” he said walking towards the door.

“Warning you right now, I am not Meredith Coretti.” Jordan nodded.

“I made a mistake, something I would never consider trying to repeat,” he responded.

Bethany had told her mom what had happened between him and Tai. Grace and Jordan hadn’t ever talked about it though till right then.

“Come in.” She smiled warning out of the way and forgotten. He knew Grace didn’t like what had happened. Hell, Jordan was still kicking himself for what he did to Tai. Meredith shouldn’t have done what she did, but Jordan should have pushed her away and he didn’t.

“So what’s going on, Jordan? Is my baby okay?” Jordan prepared his coffee and then sat across from her at the dining room table.

“I don’t know. She was pushing me away this week and I knew it wasn’t about her commitment to Raiden anymore. She told me today about Kai.” Grace sat back in the chair and sighed.

“I hated having to do that, but when she came to me we knew we didn’t have a choice. If Kai saw her pregnant he would’ve known it was his.” Jordan nodded.

“Do you think it might’ve changed things for him?” Jordan asked sipping his coffee.

“If I thought that baby, along with my baby could reach Kai Lukas I wouldn’t have done what I did. I knew at that point Kai was lost to us.” Jordan understood that completely.

“I love your daughter, Grace. I never knew I hadn’t really loved till I met her.” Jordan paused.

“But…?” she prompted.

“But she needs space and being so close all the time is making it hard on me to be patient. I want to be patient.” She nodded.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“Another job. I don’t mind staying at the apartment but we have a ton of shifts together coming up. I think if we weren’t working together it would help us both.” Jordan hated that, but it was the truth. They needed a little time apart.

“Well, I could use a full time receptionist.” She winked. “I’ve tried to get Bethany to leave the diner, but she doesn’t want to.” She frowned.

“I’ll take it!” Jordan jumped at the chance.

“Great, just call the diner tomorrow, or hell just tell Bethany when you get home.” Jordan laughed. Bethany was the assistant manager. He finished his coffee and desperately was ready to get back to Bethany.

“Take care of her,” Grace added.

“Always. Thank you.” She nodded as she walked him to the front door and let him out.

Bethany

She woke up to her phone ringing and Jordan gone. Where did he go? She remembered him saying he would be back, but she had no clue where he had gone to. She looked at her phone,
‘Tai calling.’

“Hey, Tai,” she answered rubbing her face to wake up.

“Did I wake you?” Tai questioned.

“Kind of, but I should get up anyways.” She laughed.

“Sorry about that. I was hoping we could talk a minute.” Uh-Oh Bethany thought. This was going to be a Jordan talk.

“Tai, if this is about Jordan, I just need time.” Tai sighed at her words.

“Bethany, I know he’d give you anything, but if you ever need to talk about it I wanted you to know I was here.” Bethany smiled.

“So am I going to be Maid of Honor?” Bethany asked, changing the subject she knew Tai was there when she needed her. She also knew Jordan would listen to her as well. He was great.

“You know it.” Tai laughed not pressing the
‘Jordan’
subject. Right then, Jordan walked into the apartment.

“Got to go, Tai.” She clicked the phone off. Tai would understand that Jordan had walked in.

He closed the apartment door and leaned against it. She couldn’t read him and that worried her. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he replied, crossing his arms in front of him.

She swallowed, “Where did you go?” she asked.

“I needed to ask your mom something.” Her eyes widened.

“What was that?” she questioned.

“I needed to know if I could work at the clinic.” She shifted on the couch so she could face him comfortably.

“You have a job, you want two?” He shook his head. “I’m confused.”

“Me too,” he replied.

“Are you mad about what I told you?” He fiercely shook his head.

He took a step forward, and then another before stopping at the arm of the couch. “Bethany, I love you. I know you know this.” She nodded. “I also know I promised to never push and that means creating space when needed.” She swallowed and he continued. “I love being with you, but my fall is complete. We have a stretch of twelve shifts coming up together and half of them doubles.”

“Yes,” she replied cautiously.

He sat down on the couch in front of her and took her hands in his. “You need time. I can give you time, but in order to do that I have to put some space between us. I love living here, but working with you as well is just too hard. I need to take a step back.” She understood completely. It probably was best they didn’t work together. She shouldn’t have taken him there for a job, but she didn’t have another idea at the time.

“Superman, I’ll work on it.” She felt a tear fall from her eye. He quickly wiped it away with his thumb.

“I understand. I want you to take your time. I would be crushed if you jumped in before you were ready and then shoved me away. I’m here, Bethany, really I am.” He kissed her cheek and stood up. Walking towards the hall bathroom and closing himself in it. She sighed for a few reasons. One, she wanted him. Two, she was scared. And three, she knew she was damn lucky he was putting up with her indecisiveness.

Jordan

He was sitting in the bathroom. He had said what he needed to say, but now he just needed distance. He wasn’t going anywhere. He loved her, but he was going to do things right this time. To do that, he had to step back and let her come to him. He stared at his phone he wanted to make a call. Now that he was actually in Aishan, Jordan hoped he would answer.

“Hello, Jordan,” he answered plainly.

“Hello, sir.” Jordan replied.

“I’m not sure what you want to talk about, but I got your apology.” Jordan sighed.

“I’m glad and I’m not sure what to say either. Guess I just needed your voice.” While Jordan was close with his mom his dad was a different story. Dale was always good to him and reminded him of the father he wanted.

Dale sighed, “Tai said I didn’t have to be nice, but I don’t have a choice.” Jordan laughed a little.

“Tell me about this friend of Raiden’s.” Jordan smiled at Dale’s words. This was what he needed, but he figured it would be a long shot.

“I cared about Tai, but I never knew what true love was till I saw the way Raiden looked at her. I didn’t think I would ever find that, and then I walked into the diner and she was at their table smiling and laughing. She was beautiful and I was sunk immediately. I got it then.” Jordan explained.

“Good for you. Are you treating her right?” Jordan thought about the question and the answer. Was he?

“I’m trying to, but things are complicated right now. I’m giving her time. She knows how I feel though and I don’t plan on letting her forget.” Jordan answered honestly.

“Jordan, I have to know if Meredith is still calling you,” Dale stated.

“She was for a while but I haven’t heard from her since the last time we spoke and I hung up on her for her suggestion.” Shit! He shouldn’t have mentioned that she had a suggestion.

“What suggestion?” Jordan sighed. He had no choice but to answer the question now.

“She wanted to know why I was giving up on Tai. Why I was just letting another man have her. I told her I didn’t love Tai. I care about her, and I love her just not like that. She said to think about what we could have if you and Tai married.” He heard Dale gasp. “I couldn’t even respond, Dale, I just hung up. She called back five times before giving up.”

“Okay, very good. I’m going to get back to my daughter,” Dale responded.

“Yes, of course, sir. Thank you. And I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he responded before hanging up the phone. Jordan stared at the phone for a minute finally feeling like that part of his life was now settled.

Bethany

She had to work and Jordan hadn’t left the bathroom. She wanted to say goodbye, but she needed to let him be. He was sunk, she knew that. She was being selfish, but she just wasn’t ready to release her heart. She arrived at work and groaned when she checked the schedule. Great, she had to work with Gloria Keller for the five hours.

She was preparing the tables in her section when Gloria walked in on the arm of Kai Lukas. What the hell was he doing?

Kai glanced at her. “Bye,” he said before kissing Gloria on the lips.

“Bye, Lukas. See you later?” She asked in a cooing voice.

He winked, “You know I’ll be waiting.” Holy shit! What the fuck was that?

Kai stepped out of the diner and Gloria headed towards the back, a smile laced on her face. Kai Lukas and Gloria Keller, didn’t make any sense. His father would kill him if he was doing more with her than using her as a toy in the game.

She escaped to the bathroom and called Raiden. She got his voicemail, which she expected with Dale in town. “It’s urgent, call me when you can,” she said quickly hanging up the phone she exited the bathroom and started working. An hour into work and her phone started ringing. She had to make this quick. She escaped out the backdoor and answered.

“Bethany, what’s up?’ he asked immediately.

“Gloria.” Okay, so it wasn’t much but she needed to make this quick.

“What about her?” he questioned.

“She’s ummm…” She looked around to make sure she was still alone. “Kai’s bringing her to work still.” She heard him sigh.

“This isn’t good if Kai is still using her this isn’t good at all.” She sighed this time because he was right.

“Ear to the ground, Bethany. If Kai still has tricks, I need to know them. He’s not taking Tai or Aishan from me.” Raiden growled in her ear, but she understood.

“For sure, Raiden. Got to get back to work.” She ended the call and shoved the phone in her pocket as she opened the back door and slammed into Gloria.

“Talking to your boyfriend?” she questioned with a hiss.

“No, Raiden had a question.” Gloria rolled her eyes as Bethany tried to push past her.

“He doesn’t love you. He chose her.” She seethed. Did she think Bethany really cared about that?

“I’m happy for him. Looking forward to being Tai’s Maid of Honor.” Gloria’s eyes widened and Bethany finally got past, not allowing her to respond.

Jordan

Jordan had walked into the clinic, it was the first day he was working for Grace. “Morning, Jordan.” she said as he entered.