But Saif was already gone.
Chapter 19
Saif paced the narrow hallway outside Jemma’s apartment, dragging a hand through his hair for what had to be the fiftieth time.
For thirty-seven agonizing minutes, he’d been trying to make sense of it.
Why had she been pushing a baby stroller?
Was Jasper raising a child now?Had he gotten someone pregnant?
Or was the baby… Saif’s?
The thought stopped him cold.Was he a father—and she hadn’t told him?
No.No way.That wasn’t Jemma.She was honest.Too honest.She would never keep something like that from him.
Right?
Which meant the baby had to be someone else’s.Or maybe Jasper’s?
But then he remembered that afternoon on the basketball court.They’d been shooting hoops, talking trash, panting between games.During a break, Jasper had asked, shyly, “Is it okay to be a virgin?”
Saif had taken the question seriously.“Of course it is,” he’d said, placing a hand on Jasper’s shoulder.“There’s no rush.And definitely no shame in waiting.”
Jasper had admitted it wasn’t a girlfriend pressuring him—it was his friends, all bragging about their “exploits.”
At fifteen.
Saif had laughed.“I guarantee they’re either lying or really bad at it.”Then he’d told the kid what mattered most—protecting a woman, making her feel safe, understanding the weight of real intimacy.
Jasper had looked so relieved, then they’d played for another hour after that.
That was what—six weeks before Jemma had left?
Yeah.That sounded about right.
So, no.Jasper wasn’t a father.Which left one possibility:
Jemma was the baby’s mother.
Saif couldn’t make it compute.She’d left him.Gotten a job.Found someone new.Had a baby.All in a year?
It didn’t feel real.It didn’t feel possible.
But the alternative—that the child was his—was just as hard to believe.
Because if itwashis child… she would have known before she left.
And she hadn’t told him.
A ding echoed at the end of the hall.The elevator.
Saif stopped pacing.
Jemma stepped out, laughing with Jasper.Pushing a baby stroller while also pulling some sort of cart behind them.
Rylan had been right.
