8. Second Chance At Love

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“So she knows it's a boy?” Reagan asked as he sipped on the over-sweetened mojito that went straight to his brain. He winced as he placed the blue food-dyed drink down. 

Joanne nodded, though all she really wanted was to overturn the mojito on his head. 

She did not like him here. She did not like that he was sitting, absolutely relaxed, on the lawn chair with his arm draped lazily over her chair while all she wanted to do was eat her nails while she wondered whether the doctors had missed out on some major brain bleed when Reagan got his nose broken. 

“Yes, yes, the gender reveal was three months ago, Mr. Knight!”

Joanne rolled her eyes. It did not help that one of Talia's friends thought the sun shone out of Reagan's ass and tried to start conversations with him. 

For Christ's sake, he was not a celebrity. He was just a less-than-human piece of crap! 

Reagan gave her a polite nod but did not entertain further interaction. He turned back to his wife. “So why a separate baby shower?” 

Joanne sighed. But she decided that it was better to just entertain this headache than have the other headache butt in on the conversation again. “Because Talia's in-laws are here from India and wanted to have a traditional baby shower.”

Reagan looked around. “Do you see anything traditional about this setup?” 

She rolled her eyes. “The traditional stuff is over. This is like a reception.”  

Reagan snorted. “The baby isn't even born but-”

“He is already so loved.” Joanne cut him off, giving him a blank stare. 

Reagan's jaw clenched. “Our child is also loved.”

Our?

Our?

Joanne didn't know whether to laugh or slap him. “Yes, my child is very much loved.” She patted her belly, flashes of the blood and pain and pure agony of losing her invading her senses immediately. 

Her heart thundered in her chest. And she found herself jumping to her feet. “I need to use the washroom.” 

Reagan was about to get up when she shot him down with a look before hurrying away. 

“My name is Adeline, by the way.” The other woman chirped as soon as Joanne was gone. “I am a friend of Talia's.” 

"I'm aware," Regan nodded, trying to keep his voice as polite as possible. He didn’t want to snap at a guest at his wife’s friend’s baby shower. But the woman was getting on his nerves at this point, because now that Joanne was not at the scene, she thought it was absolutely necessary to keep him entertained with her boring insights on baby showers and what all they could have done better to make this function much more interesting. 

Regan kept looking over at the signs that led to the washroom. Joanne wasn’t coming back, was she? She had been gone for over twenty minutes, and the woman didn't even call to inform him that she was caught up with something else. 

Suddenly, a dread of some sort engulfed him, and he rose to his feet. 

"Mr. Knight, where are you going?" Adeline asked, trying to follow him like a lost puppy. He ignored her and speed-walked to the washroom doors. 

He reached the place to find that it was empty - Joanne was nowhere to be found.

Regan cursed as he pulled out his phone from his suit pocket and dialed her number. 

He waited and waited until the call went to voicemail, and then he tried again and again and again, but she was not picking up.

The hand on his arm had him whipping around in relief, which only lasted a moment - only to be replaced with confusion and horror. 

“Hey there, stranger.” 

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Joanne hated herself for leaving the event because of Reagan. 

He did not deserve that much importance in her life. 

Nor did Talia deserve to have her leave without a proper goodbye. 

But she had to leave. Especially now that she knew that all of it was going to happen again. 

Serena Cole. 

The love of Reagan Knight’s life. 

Joanne had spotted her at the party. 

Flashbacks of her similar appearance in the past made its way back into her memory. 

Joanne cringed at how oblivious and unassuming she had been, fan-girling over the very woman who would end her and her unborn child’s life-

She stopped her train of thoughts right there. 

No. 

She had no one to blame but Reagan Knight for what had happened. 

To get a third party involved was plain stupid, pathetic and unnecessary. 

Her phone started ringing again. 

When Reagan’s phone calls stopped coming, she had assumed that he had reunited with the love of his life. So why the hell was he calling again? 

She contemplated for a moment too long.

“Lady, should you not be taking that call?” The cab driver asked her. 

“Some phone calls are better left unanswered.” She replied. 

The driver snorted, shaking her head. “Trust me hon, if there is one thing that the forty-three years of my life has taught me, it is that it is better to communicate than to assume.” 

Joanne returned the smile of the woman who believed that she had given her a really good piece of advice. And Joanne also believed that it was a pretty solid point if it wasn’t for her. 

As for Joanne, she knew what was coming. She knew what would happen. 

She knew that if she did not leave, she would end up dead. 

And Joanne did not think that she was given a second chance at living these six months again only to end up dead. 

This was her chance. 

Let Reagan Knight have the love of his life. She did not care anymore. She did not love him anymore. 

She might have come back to life in the past, but her heart was long dead and cold. If a single muscle in it still managed to beat, it only had love for her child. 

Let Reagan have his love. Joanne was going to have hers. And they were going to live far away from him. 

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