Chapter 1418 - Dinner In Las Vegas (7)

Sarah found Aiden sitting on the side and eating grilled kabobs.

He noticed that her mood is off. "What happened?"

"I am anxious.", Sarah stated the obvious.

"About?"

"Anna and Jeff."

Aiden exhaled in frustration. If Jeff is here he would whack him few times. First, they went after Akmal, ruining a perfect gambling night, he was falsely accused of assaulting a seventeen years old girl, then it became a group event and now Sarah is upset because Jeff messed up? And that is only in the last twenty-four hours! What else will spoil this honeymoon? Will there be a volcano erupting? Or a meteorite?

Aiden wondered, why can't they just spend a week in the honeymoon suite completely naked, indulging in carnal pleasures like any other normal newlyweds. Yeah, he forgot: they are not normal.

"They will figure it out.", Aiden uttered.

"What if they don't?"

Aiden realized that Sarah has something on her mind, and she will not drop the topic easily. Well, they need to talk about it and get it out of the way. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… Will you still be working at White corp.? Or at the White foundation?"

Aiden paused when he realized that this is serious. "What about you?"

"I don't know… I see that Anna is upset but I thought that Jeff will fix it and now I'm afraid, what will happen if he does not fix it? What if they split up? We are all connected. And it's not only us, it's Ellie and Jasper and Emma and Charlie and all our friends. Will they need to pick sides? Will we need to pick sides? Divorces are never easy. How will they split the kids?"

Aiden kept the food aside and pulled Sarah to sit next to him. "OK. Relax. Don't freak yourself out. Do you think that we can do something?"

Sarah shrugged helplessly. "I know that when we were going through rough patches, we had each other, our friends, our family… and Jeff is by himself. He does not open to others easily, and even if he wants to, he can't talk with many people because of his position. I believe that if he had someone trustworthy with him, a third party who would tell him honestly and objectively that he is straying from the right path, he would fix it sooner. Because if I know one thing, that is: he loves Anna. But he had no one to tell him and it reached this far. Of course, Steve is there, but he is emotionally distant with an equally low EQ. Steve and Jeff are a brilliant match in terms of business, but when it comes to relationships they should just give up and hug each other to sleep."

Aiden thought about Sarah's words. It is undeniable that Jeff is one of the smartest people he knows when it's related to business, but in terms of relationships, his intelligence is negative. Aiden remembered that it was him who told Jeff that he is in love with JoAnna because Jeff didn't know what to make out of his unusual behavior and thoughts. Aiden hid his laugh behind a cough when he remembered Jeff showing up with flowers and dressed up casually (read: ridiculously) in order to be more approachable. Yeah, Jeff needs a lot of help.

"You want me to talk to him?", Aiden asked Sarah.

Sarah felt guilty of just pushing this on Aiden. "I think that we should do it together. Not to tell him how to fix it, but maybe to hear what he has to say and to give our point of view. Jeff is on his own, and probably struggling to understand what and why it happened. And even if that is not the case, it would help him to know that he is not alone."

"You support him?"

"This is not about supporting Jeff or Anna. The two of them are together, and I choose to support them because I know that he loves Anna and that she loves him. And I know that both of them are hurting and they will hurt until they find a compromise. I believe that if they split up it will be because they didn't talk about it. I mean… I know that just talking will not fix this mess, but they need to start with it. The two of us argued, and in a moment of anger I wanted to leave and stay away from you, but under all that anger I only wanted us to work it out so that you can hold me again. So…", Sarah paused and looked at Aiden expectantly.

"Can we leave that for tomorrow? It's late. He is either sleeping or drunk."

Sarah nodded in agreement.

"Try this, it's good.", Aiden offered one kebob.

Sarah rejected his offer. "I need to talk to our girls."

Aiden gestured toward her right. "If you are going that way, take a plate with food with you. I'm sure that Michael is hungry. They are like that for more than an hour and I didn't see any of them eating."

Sarah looked in the direction Aiden pointed and saw Michael sitting on the ground and holding in his arms Oni who is… sleeping.

Aiden watched Sarah go toward the grill to get food for Michael and then his sight moved to the left and he could see JoAnna and Bridgette sitting on the bench and talk in a somber mood.

Aiden cursed inwardly, why are all these things happening during their honeymoon? But unless this is resolved, Sarah will be worried, and he can forget about being carefree and enjoying. He stood up and walked toward Sophia and Felix with a plate half-full of kebobs in his hand.

…

"Felix, can we have a word?", Aiden gestured with his head to the side, indicating that it should be in private.

Felix understood that it will be man-to-man talk. He kissed Sophia on the cheek. "I will be right back, ma chéri…"

"Is this about Jeff?", Felix voiced his thoughts when they were out of the earshot of others.

Aiden confirmed. "Yes."

Felix told him what Sophia shared earlier. "I am aware that since they are together, Jeff is making JoAnna bend in order to accommodate his lifestyle and this is much more than just one woman getting too close."

Aiden didn't think about the situation so drastically, but that will not change his decision. "I see that you believe that he severely messed up…"

Felix was surprised that it seems how Aiden's attitude softened up. "And I remember that I came to you to talk about this one hour ago and you told me that if you meddle you will do him a disservice because he needs to figure it out on his own. And there was even something about Sarah being upset."

"Well, it seems to me that your opinion changed, and you think that we should stay out of it.", Aiden voiced his observation.

"You are right about that.", Felix said. "He messed up repeatedly and because Anna didn't throw a fit, he kept on pushing it to the point of Anna breaking down. A pregnant woman is the most vulnerable. And the first pregnancy is scary. Her body is changing in inexplicable ways, and it's messing her up physically and mentally. For Jeff, this was the worst time to be negligent."

Aiden felt that every word Felix said is valid but… "Do you remember when I messed up with Sarah? We went to the cabin in Canada."

Felix didn't need more than a second to remember. "Yeah. We almost died in the avalanche."

Aiden ignored Felix's sarcasm. "At that time, both you and Jeff agreed that it was my fault. I messed up. But under that snow, you and Jeff sat with me and gave me advices on how to fix it. And later, when Sarah had an episode and I wanted to take her to Fairfield, both you and Jeff went with me to the airport. You were confident that I messed up, but you helped me. Don't tell me that you don't see Jeff as a friend, because I know that he sees you as one. And I am sure that you are closer to him than you are to me."

Felix could not deny that Aiden is right. When he found out that Sophia was pregnant (the first time), Felix was visiting Jeff and JoAnna and Felix remembers that in all that turmoil, Jeff was sitting by his side on the sofa and silently giving him his support. And Felix remembered that they shared styling tips in the bathroom at the Orion Enterprise annual meeting, and many other times they spoke and shared a laugh, and he can't deny that he and Jeff are friends.

"What do you want us to do?", Felix asked.

"Are you up for a conference call? He needs us."

Felix nodded and followed Aiden inside the mansion.

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