Double The Love (BWWM Pregnancy Romance Novel) (13 page)

Jasmine shrugged and gave Liam
an odd look. “Yeah,” she said, taking a sip of her juice. “Couldn't be
better."

Liam still appeared skeptical.
“About last night...”

“Last night was great,” Jasmine
interrupted, cutting him off in mid sentence. “Let's not over think it, okay?”

Liam sighed and dropped the
subject, but that didn't stop him from replaying it in his head. A few days
after Christmas, he decided that he needed a distraction. “I invited Andrea and
Jason over for New Years Eve,” he announced, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

Jasmine looked up from the song
lyrics she was jotting down in her journal. “Do you want me to make myself
scarce?”

Liam frowned. “Why would I want
that?"

Jasmine didn't explain. “What
time are they coming?” she asked instead, not wanting to put a damper on his
mood by bringing up the fact that she was still exhausted from Christmas.

“Around five on Saturday. I
know it’s a bit late, but they have to wait until Lily wakes up from her nap.”

“Lily?”

“Andrea’s daughter. She’s a few
months older than Maya.”

“Great,” Jasmine said, trying
her best to sound enthused. “I'll order some food.”

“That would be great,” Liam
said, flashing her a smile before sauntering down the hall to get Maya. “You're
the best.”

Chapter twenty-two

Jasmine tried her hardest to
dislike Andrea, but it proved a lot more difficult than she anticipated. She
was just way too nice, and to add insult to injury, she was the exact type of
woman Liam always went for. Drop dead gorgeous and sickeningly sweet.

Jasmine tensed in recollection
when Andrea mentioned that she was the woman who had picked up Liam’s phone
when she called him a few months back. “I remember,” she spoke up, look over at
Lily for a distraction.

It came as no surprise to
Jasmine that Lily was just likable as her mother was. Andrea had just started
her on table food, and watching her chubby little hands stuff anything and
everything into her mouth was beyond adorable.

“We should really baby proof
the house soon,” Liam spoke up as he rushed to stop Maya from following off the
porch into the grass. She was crawling all over the place these days.

“You definitely should,” Andrea
remarked. “Unless, of course, you want to find her tossing all your valuables
into the toilet one day the way Jason did with Lily.”

Lily.

Jasmine couldn’t help but
notice just how much the name suited the young child. With her kinky curls,
pink cheeks, and big brown eyes, she was definitely as pretty as a flower.

“So, Jazz,” Andrea spoke up,
wiping away the excess food on her daughter’s mouth. “Have you managed to get
her to sleep through the night yet?”

“Yes,” Jasmine said simply.

“Seriously?” Andrea looked
surprised. “Wow, nice work. I’m still having trouble with Lily. It seems like
she never sleeps unless it’s in my arms.”

“Well, I had a little help.”
Jasmine glanced over at Liam, and he smiled as he reached out to brush a leaf
from her shoulder.

Andrea had trouble keeping from
staring at the two of them. She liked Liam, and if they had both been single,
she probably would have pushed for something to happen between them. It wasn’t
meant to be though. As great of a guy as he was, he only had room for one woman
in his heart, and that was Jasmine.

When the food arrived, Jasmine
made her way into the kitchen to prepare it and Andrea insisted on helping.
“This is such a nice place,” she spoke up, taking it all in. “You and Liam have
set up a great life for Maya in such a short amount of time. It’s…impressive.”

“Thanks, but it’s only
temporary,” Jasmine said, preparing a salad to go with the pizza. “I’m getting
my own place as soon as I can get back on my feet again.”

Andrea looked surprised to hear
that, and she made a mental note-to-self to discuss this with Liam as soon as
she got the opportunity.

“I just don’t want to tie him
down you know? It's not fair to him. I made the decision to have Maya. I should
be the one to deal with the consequences.”

Andrea smirked and glanced out
the window at Liam as he proudly cradled his daughter in his lap. “I don’t
know…he looks pretty happy with the consequences if you ask me.”

“For now he is,” Jasmine
corrected. “I just feel like he works hard enough as it is. I don’t want to
wear him out anymore than I need to.”

Andrea nodded. “I know what you
mean, but think of it like this. You were the one who carried Maya around for
nine months, and you were the one who had to give birth to her. It’s only fair
that Liam shares some of the responsibility now that he can.”

Jasmine met Andrea’s gaze and
smiled. “I like the way your brain works,” she admitted.

“Yeah, well, I hope you like me
too.”

“Actually, I think I do,”
Jasmine admitted, genuinely meaning it. She’d stopped trying to hate Andrea
hours ago. There wasn’t any point. She was way too friendly.

“Well that’s a relief, because
I’m your new neighbor,” Andrea said, flashing her a smile. “I needed a change,
and Jason found us a super affordable sublet down the road. You should bring
Maya by sometime. I have some clothes that might fit her, and you seem like you
could use a little girl time. We can order some Chinese and watch a few movies
or something.”

“That sounds great, actually.”

“Cool, and Jasmine?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not after Liam.”

Jasmine was relieved to hear
that, and she was even more relieved when she met up with Andrea later that
month and was informed that she'd started seeing a barista from a coffee shop
nearby.

“I was sure he was gay when I
first met him,” Andrea revealed. “It seemed too good to be true.”

“How so?”

Andrea shrugged. “Honestly?
He's too hot. I haven't had a guy this attractive express any interest in me
since high school.”

“Oh come on. You're a total
babe.”

Andrea gave Jasmine a grateful
smile. “Want to know the craziest part?”

“What?” Jasmine questioned. “He
has a huge dick too?”

Andrea laughed and gave her a
playful nudge in the side. “I wouldn't know. We haven't gotten that far yet.”

“What is it then?”

“It turns out that he's a
single parent too. He has a son not much older than Maya. I met him the other
day.”

“No way!” Jasmine exclaimed.
“How'd that go?”

“Really well, actually,” Andrea
said. “He's adorable, and Martin’s a great dad.”

“What about his mom?”

Andrea shrugged. “Apparently
she was a one night stand who got freaked out by the idea of a baby messing up
her career. She’s an aspiring model. Martin said she signed over her parental
rights to him as soon as she gave birth.”

“So she isn't in the picture?”

“It doesn't seem like it.”

“Sad,” Jasmine said, shaking
her head. She tried not to be judgmental, but she couldn't fathom the
rationality behind a mother abandoning her child. It didn't make a lick of
sense to her.

Andrea let out a dreamy sigh.
“I doubt it will work out. I mean, usually when something seems too good to be
true, it is isn't it?”

“Not always,” Jasmine said,
giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Come on. I've got a cheesecake in the
fridge with our name on it.”

Andrea followed her into the
kitchen. “I like our friendship, Jazz,” she said, taking a seat at the table.
“You make feel less alone in this whole single mom thing.”

Chapter twenty-three

Jasmine sprung up from her seat
and rushed into the living room when she noticed Lily’s grubby hands on her
journal. It was just her luck for leaving it out.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” Andrea
exclaimed. “It’s not ruined is it?”

Jasmine hesitated and turned it
over in her hands in search of any damage. “Nope,” she said, exhaling a breath
of relief. “It’s just full of song lyrics anyway. Nothing too important.”

Andrea looked intrigued.
“Really?” she questioned. “Do you mind if I have a peek?”

Jasmine hesitated. If it had
been anyone else, she would have said no without a second thought, but Andrea
had become one of her closest friends. She didn’t see any harm in letting her
take a look. “Sure,” she said, handing her the journal and excusing herself to
put away the leftover cheesecake.

Andrea was quiet as she flipped
through the pages, taking her time to read each quickly jotted word. When
Jasmine reentered the living room, she was shocked to find that she was wiping
tears from her eyes. “Is this about Liam?” she questioned, pointing a red nail
at a song entitled
‘That Night’
.

Jasmine nodded.

“Jazz, this is really good
stuff,” Andrea said. “They’re nothing like the songs I’ve heard of yours on the
radio.”

“Yeah, well, you can thank my
record label for that. They’re so picky about what songs they deem worthy of
being commercialized.”

Andrea perked up when a light
bulb went off in her head. “Do you know what you need?” she questioned, not
giving Jasmine any time to respond. “You need a producer. A
good
producer. Lucky for you…I happen to know just the girl.” She tilted her head to
the side and smirked. “Did I ever tell you that I studied music theory at
Julliard?”

“As in one of the top music
schools in the country?”

Andrea nodded. “Look, I know
this might seem a little out there, but I really think we could create
something amazing here. You already have the lyrics. All you’d have to do is
sing them. I can handle the rest.”

Jasmine was quiet as she
thought it over. “I don’t know,” she managed, still skeptical. “Are you sure
you have the time?”

“Are you kidding?” Andrea said,
speaking excitedly. “Lily just started preschool. All I have these days is
time. Look, Jazz…I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this since I
graduated. All I need you to do is give me a chance. I promise you won’t regret
it.”

Jasmine fidgeted with the pages
of her journal. “Alright,” she agreed, flipping it shut. “It’ll be fun.”

And fun it was.

Jasmine and Andrea spent
everyday for the next month recording. A month after that, Andrea handed her a
flash drive, and Jasmine was astounded by what she heard when she plugged it
into her laptop. Her voice was as pure and unaltered as she’d ever heard it,
and the background instrumentals were so flawless they nearly brought her to
tears. It was far and above anything the producers at her record label had ever
done for her.

“Andrea, this is amazing!”
Jasmine exclaimed when the final song came to an end. “I don’t get it…how’d you
manage to do all of this so quickly? It took the producers at Century a month
just to finish even one song, and here you are presenting me with twelve of
them!”