Essence of my life

Chapter 7

Jackie was too much for Caitlyn to take. She sighed slumping onto her rusty old couch filled with papers as she saw the charming man in front of her, feeling tensed as he fidgeted with his coat. The sun was rising up the horizon and the birds were now slowly waking up and were chirping merrily. The early morning chill was making her skin erupt into goose bumps as she was only clad in her night wear and eyed the man in front of her in a navy blue suit, looking oddly prim and proper, even when it was early in the morning.

She rolled her eyes and got up from the couch, raking her silky raven black hair back with her slender fingers and crossed her arms. It has been more than fifteen minutes sitting in this awkward silence but Jackie didn't utter a single word.

Might as well make some coffee and breakfast, she thought and walked into the kitchen, throwing one last glance at the perfectly still man, sitting on one of her chairs.

When Caitlyn was blissfully sleeping in her perfectly kept bedroom, she heard an incessant beeping on her cell phone and woke up grumbling. She hated when her sleep cycle was disturbed without her consent.

"What?" she barked on her phone.

"Miss Mackarren," the most alluring voice spoke in her ear from the other side of the phone and she jerked awake.

"Mr. Baxter?" she frowned and looked at her watch; it was 5:45 in the morning!

"Could you please open your front door?" he abruptly asked.

Why would he want her front door open? Unless he was standing outside by himself!

"My front door?" she asked, her heart beat elevating every passing second.

"Your front door, miss Mackarren. Open it," he replied, really annoyed.

She leapt out of her bed and sprinted towards her front door. Her couches were filled with piles of papers on which she was working on. Other than that, the house was okay.

She opened the door with more threshold than necessary and saw the man who caused her heart to be in a frenzy as soon as she woke up.

"Mr. Baxter, what are you doing here?" she asked, worried and saw him feeling a little tensed. He eased his way in as Caitlyn's petite figure wasn't enough to block him out. He slumped down on the chair and kept quiet, staring down at the floor.

Caitlyn was done cooking and brought down a tray full of her delicious food in front of him, onto the coffee table. He stared at all of the food in front of him and looked at her a little confused.

"Might as well eat up as you decided to keep quite all day and sit at my place like a rock," she shrugged.

He smiled.

He finally smiled and Caitlyn's heart sped up several notches. She turned away from him, pretending to pick something up as she tried to calm herself as well as her traitorous cheeks which were showing off what his small smile affected her like.

"Thank you for the breakfast," he sipped the coffee and looked back at her.

"Mr. Baxter, aren't you supposed to pick up your mother?" she eyed him curiously and he sighed.

"That is why I am here, Miss Mackarren."

"But, isn't your mother coming late in the morning? Like, at 10?"

He groaned out loud and startled her. "Okay, I accept it!" he groaned, "I am scared!"

Jackie Baxter is scared of picking up his mother? Whom was he kidding here?

"Scared?" she asked.

"Are you trying to mock me, Miss Mackarren?" he raised an eyebrow and she quickly nodded a no.

"But why?" she asked.

"I haven't seen her for 3 years! How am I supposed to meet her now?" he yelled.

"Just the way you always do?" she suggested.

"That is lame," he commented.

"Why does you being scared bring you to my house?" she crossed her arms. She didn't like anyone calling her lame and Jackie was no exception. She was a headstrong woman and she knew it.

Jackie was getting the signals of her getting pissed off. That was wrong! He came there to her house to ease his tension by her soothing words! Not to mention, she never said anything remotely soothing to anyone up until now. But he could always try! He loved challenges and this woman was the biggest and the most mysterious challenge he ever found! He wasn't gonna let go of her so easily!

"I thought that were gonna accompany me?" he asked in turn.

"I will," she frowned.

"I came to pick you up," he shrugged.

"This early in the morning, Mr. Baxter?" she raised a brow. "I'm sure that you remember me saying that we will meet at 9, which is to come after three hours from now. So, what are you doing here again?"

This woman was tough! And was too straight forward! She wasn't even slightly considering the fact that Jackie was her boss and that she has to be polite to him. She only knew one thing from this harsh world and that was self defence. Verbal and physical. People called her names as she was all alone and lived on her own. No one ever understood the difficulties of being alone and earning for yourself and simultaneously dealing with the ruthless world. Accusations and name calling definitely got her temper to the peaks.

"Caitlyn," he said in the most soothing voice and her frown lightened slightly. "I told you that I am scared and I needed to talk someone. But then I realised that I couldn't possibly talk to my father about it and nor had friends with whom I could talk about all these to. The only person who flashed in my mind was you and I came here without thinking any further. I am sorry to have disturbed you in any way inappropriate," he said, his tone quiet and rose to his feet to walk away.

She did it again! She scared the man who thought of her and rushed to her in the time of his need thinking that she would help him. People often thought that she was grumpy and egotistical and never came to her. Not that she wanted them to either! She hated it when someone started bawling about all the silly things in their life. She had her own things to worry about and there was no one for her when the man she loved had left and shattered her into pieces. Was it wrong to have their first kiss in the wedding they were gonna have? Was it wrong of her to decide that they were gonna be independent until they got married? Anyway, the man was bound to leave. She never had happiness last for her any longer. And nor will she have. Or so she thought.

"Stop," it was a small squeak and Jackie turned to her in surprise. Caitlyn Mackarren was asking him to stop? Was this all real?

He turned around and found her staring at the ground, feeling a little embarrassed. A slight tinge of pink covered her cheeks and Jackie could give away anything at the moment to keep her looking like that.

"Pardon?" he asked. He needed to clarify if what he was hearing was true.

"You- you can talk to me," she barely made it in a whisper, which nearly made Jackie's day. Why her only permission of letting him stay gave him a sense of achievement, he didn't understand. Many women were begging on their knees just for him to give his attention, but this particular woman was making him beg! What makes her so different than the others out there? And her being cold to everyone around, gives out that she has something that troubles her a lot. And that trouble, Jackie intends to find and finish, no matter what.

---

They were in the airport, waiting for the arrival of the legendary Lisa Baxter. Jackie was having a debate with himself on which kind of flowers he should gift his mother.

Father asked me to do it right and make it memorable, he said.

But his anxiety made it look like he was more careful about presenting himself rather than the flowers.

I am going to see her after 3 years, was his only reply.

Whatever it was, he was trying his best to impress his own mother. Being the youngest son meant that he had to fight for the attention of everyone in his family and even after all these years and whatever Jackie has achieved, he still feels that he needs to impress everyone.

"She is here," his breath hitched in his throat.

Caitlyn saw everywhere, but found no trace of her. But in reality, Caitlyn didn't know how she looked like. Basing on Jackie's age, she should be old and probably have the looks of an aged woman. But she didn't find anyone of that category there. Maybe Jackie's anxiety made him have hallucinations?

"Where?" she asked.

"She is walking towards us," he whispered.

She looked at the women who were walking towards them. Nope, not anyone remotely close to Caitlyn's imagination. Maybe he was really hallucinating!

"Mr. Baxter, I really don't-" she came to an abrupt stop as a woman, who looked slightly older to her stopped in front of them. She was beautiful beyond belief and had a fragile, petite frame. Those chocolate brown eyes were strikingly similar to the man next to her and had long hair. So long that it went down way past her hips. Caitlyn could only stare as she had never seen a woman so beautiful and with such a strong presence before, that made people turn their gazes towards her. Who would've thought that these kinds of women still existed. But little did she know that everyone around her thought the same about her as well!

"Looks like someone found themselves a woman!" she cooed as soon as her gaze fell on Caitlyn.

"Mother!" he said with wide eyes as Caitlyn suddenly went blank because of her sudden assumption.

"What? Oh my god! She looks beautiful and way better than the past bimbos that you have dated until now!" she scrunched her nose on the thought of those bimbos she had mentioned. "She looks like a strong woman!"

This was Caitlyn's end of her calm composure and she was done with it. Never had she ever thought that a day would come when such a beautiful woman like Lisa herself would praise her! She instantly blushed and stuttered and Jackie had never in a million years had expected this to happen! He had to say, his mom was a miracle worker and with this, he had lost all the anger he had pent up on her. It was gone and was filled with happiness. Just in the blink of an eye!

"Mother," he nearly shoved the flowers into her hand, "welcome back."

"Oh yeah! I am back!" she smiled gently, "Jackie, forgive me?"

Jackie oh-so wanted to forgive her, but something was stopping him.

"Oh, please! You know that I love you!" she pulled him into a tight embrace into her petite frame and Jackie turned into a puddle of goo. That was his last string of being angry with her.

"I love you, mother," he finally admitted.

"Yeah, I knew it!" she fist pumped. "And, as for you, young lady, I have so many things to talk to you!"

Apparently, she is still in the assumption that Caitlyn was dating Jackie and as soon as she pulled that topic again, she stuttered.

As much fun it was watching Caitlyn that way, but Jackie knew that he had to be a gentleman and put a stop to his mother's assumptions.

"Mother, let me introduce you to Caitlyn. Caitlyn, she is my mother, Lisa Baxter, and mother, she is Caitlyn, my secretary," he stressed.

"The one who spoke to me on phone the other day?" she asked, suddenly realisation hitting her.

"Yes," she squeaked.

"Oh my god! You are still too beautiful! Wouldn't have minded if you were really his love interest," she casually shrugged. She had no idea what her casual comments were doing to those two people before her. "Anyway, nice meeting you. Let's go!"

With Jackie's mother in the picture, looks like there are going to be a few advancements in their lives from now on.