Is this destiny?

~Los Angeles~

It's Friday afternoon, Jeff is in his office giving folder with documents to Steve. "Finish that, and you can go home for the day."

"Boss, your availability..." Since Jeff took two days off from work without any announcement, Steve is worried that it will happen again. Those two days were like a nightmare for him. Everyone was asking questions, needing decisions, and he had no answers and no power to make calls, not without his Boss.

Jeff guessed what Steve was going at. "I will be in Reno over weekend... available. And from Monday I will come to office, as usual."

Steve sighed in relief.

"Next time I will leave instructions." Jeff waved with his hand indicating to Steve to leave.

Steve left worrying about what that 'next time' means. Will his Boss suddenly not show up for work, again?

...

Jeff finished last items on his to-do list and thought about his upcoming visit to Reno. He plans to talk with his parents about canceling agreement with Lambert (Isabella's dad), and to let them know about JoAnna.

Jeff is aware that Aiden just recently introduced Sarah to his parents, and he wants to ask him how it went. He called Aiden.

Now that Jeff was back at work, Aiden was much less tense. "Hey, big brother!"

"I'm going home for weekend to talk with father and mother. I was hoping I can use your experience to come up with my strategy." Jeff went straight to the point. "When you talked about Sarah, how did it go?"

"Mom was fine. You know that she puts us first. As long as you tell her that you have genuine feelings toward Anna, she will be OK."

"That's it?" Jeff was not sure that things can be so simple.

Aiden was not sure what more Jeff expects, so he thought of next step. "You can let her meet with JoAnna? Or show her some photos so she does not think you made her up."

Jeff frowned. "I don't have photos."

"That's easy. Go online and search for JoAnna Hill. I will text you few tags you can use for social media. Just focus on what you need. Find few photos you can use and don't get distracted."

'What does that mean: focus on what you need?' Jeff wondered. "How about dad?"

Aiden was at a loss here. "I don't know. Mom took Sarah to meet dad. It would be good if you get mom to accept JoAnna first, and then ask her for advice related to dad."

"Makes sense... Thank you. You helped."

"OK. You know how to find me... I'm not like someone who turns off his phone and disappears from the face of Earth!"

"Funny. Since when you became a comedian?"

"Hehehe, bye! And good luck!" He hanged up.

Jeff looked at his phone thinking of calling JoAnna. He called her as soon as he reached LA two days ago, but she told him not to call her anymore unless he settles things on his end. His subsequent calls ended up lost in her voicemail.

Jeff sent her a text: "Anna, I miss you. I will get this figured out soon, I promise." He sighed while scrolling up the message history... 50+ messages from him, only one reply from her, to his first message:

[Jeff]: "I'm about to board plane to LA."

[JoAnna]: "Have a safe trip."

After that, all other messages from him have status 'read' but she didn't respond.

~Fairfield~

At the same time while Aiden was on the phone with Jeff, Sarah got a call from JoAnna. "Hey, baby sis!"

"Hi, Anna... what's up?"

"You know I should lay low, to avoid Greg, right?"

"Yes…", Sarah was wondering where is JoAnna going with this introduction.

"I'm staying home... but mom is not here, and dad is busy with his project, so I'm super bored."

Sarah understood JoAnna's hints. "You want to come here?"

JoAnna was relieved that Sarah seems not to object the idea. "Yes! Can I? Only for few days..."

"No need to explain. When do you want to come?"

JoAnna exhaled in relief. Part of her was worried that Sarah has some other plans, or maybe just wants privacy with Aiden. "How about Sunday?"

"Sure... oh, no... "

JoAnna's heart dropped. "What?"

Sarah thought for a second before continuing, "Actually, it's not a problem. Slight a change in plans, but not a problem."

"What is it?"

"We are heading to Los Angeles on Sunday evening, and will stay there for a week. Come with us."

"LA? I don't know..." That is where Jeff is. JoAnna does not want to see him until he resolves things on his side. Anywhere else is fine, but idea of going to Los Angeles is making her nervous.

Sarah liked the possibility of JoAnna coming and decided to do her best to convince her. "You haven't seen my new place. We have plenty of room, it's even bigger than this one in Fairfield. Great views. It has a pool! And a gym downstairs. Streets are full of shops and restaurants that you can check out while we are at work, there is a number of great parks, farmers market only two blocks away... come, come... please?"

JoAnna was hesitating. 'I need to get out of here, and I would like to see Sarah's apartment... Maybe Jeff will not find out I'm there, but even if he does, it's not like I can avoid him forever.' She decided to give in. "OK. I would like to see it."

"Great! I will send you the details of our trip, so you can plan accordingly."

...

Sarah was all smiles when Aiden walked out of the study room after talking to Jeff.

"Guess what?" Sarah hopped excitedly toward Aiden.

"What?" Her good mood was contagious. As soon as he saw her wide smile, he was smiling as well.

"JoAnna will join us in LA!" Sarah exclaimed.

"What?" Aiden panicked on the inside. 'What kind of bad luck is this?'

"She is bored at home, so I called her to join us to Los Angeles. We can even arrange to meet with Jeff if he has free time. Maybe for dinner? Now that they know each other I'm sure they have things to talk about..." Sarah babbled excitedly while Aiden could not believe which way this is going.

"Yeah... I'm sure they have topics in common." He mumbled.. 'I need to make sure Jeff does not find out that JoAnna is staying with us.'