Saved (13 page)

The moment I hung up with Ellie, I could feel
my stress lifting away from me. Things would be so much better when
she got here. I’d felt so alone this last week. Even with Jeff and
I being so close, it still felt like I was lost.

Jeff walked up to me. He hugged me so tightly
that I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Was that Ells?”

“Yeah, she told me about Gunner’s dad. Is he
going to be okay?”

“Gunner said he should be. He said that his
dad probably needs to retire from the Army. His mom is doing
everything she can to talk to him about it. The fact that she got
him to go to the ranch for a few weeks blows my mind.”

“Well, it’ll be good for both Gunner and his
dad. They need to work on repairing their relationship, especially
with Gunner being married now. I don’t think his dad wants to miss
out on having grandkids someday.”

I looked up and smiled at Jeff. The smile he
gave me in return melted my panties.

“I sure as shit wish Josh and Heather weren’t
here,” Jeff said as he wiggled his eye-brows up and down.

Giggling, I glanced toward the house. Heather
was carrying out another box while Josh was on her heels, asking
her to put it down.

“Maybe we should make Heather ride with Josh
again,” I said looking back at Jeff.

He threw his head back and laughed.

“If she wants to come out to the ranch, she
either has to drive her car or go with Josh. I have the truck
packed full of shit.”

I had to laugh. Heather had just gotten her
car back from the dealership. There was no way was she planning on
driving out there again.

I looked over at her as she started to walk
up to us.

“Ellie is on her way back,” I said to
Heather.

She came to a stop with a confused look.

“Gunner’s father had a heart attack, but he’s
okay.” I explained.

Heather’s face turned white as she brought
her hand up to her mouth. She leaned over, like she was going to be
sick.

“Heather... honey, are you
okay?”
Shit.
I
didn’t even think about what I was saying. I suddenly remembered
that Heather’s dad had a heart attack while driving and that’s what
caused their car wreck.

Heather spun around and ran right into
Josh.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Heather, look at me,
princess. What’s wrong?” Josh asked, concerned.

Heather just broke down and
cried. Josh pulled her into his arms, and she completely lost it.
This was the first time that I’d ever seen her cry about her
parents. Trying to figure out what was going on, Josh looked over
at Jeff. Jeff mouthed
her parents
to Josh.

Jeff walked up to Josh, leaning in to whisper
to him. Jeff must have told Josh about Gunner’s dad and Heather’s
dad. Josh closed his eyes. Then, turning around with Heather still
in his arms, he started to walk with her into the house.

“Jeff, I honestly believe that is this is the
first time that girl has cried since her parents have died. She’s
been holding it in for so long. I knew that one of these days, the
damn was going to break.”

Just then, Jeff’s cell phone rang. He pulled
it out of his pocket and answered it without even looking at who it
was.

“Oh, hey, Rebecca.”

Jeff mouthed
sorry
to me. I turned and
walked toward the house. The last thing I wanted to do was have to
listen to him to talk her.

“Um… well, we’re kind of getting ready to
take a load of stuff out to the ranch. My truck is packed up, so, I
can’t help you with that.”

Before I walked in the front door, I turned
to look at Jeff. He was watching me, so I just gave him a smile
before I headed into the house. Since there was not furniture left
anywhere in the house, Josh and Heather were sitting on the floor
in the living room.

I sank down on the floor next to Heather. She
seemed to have calmed down. I reached for her hand, and she smiled
at me.

“Where’s Jeff?” Heather asked.

“Talking to Rebecca.”

“Bitch!” Josh and Heather said at the same
time.

We all started to laugh when the front door
opened as Jeff walked in.

“What’s so funny?” Jeff asked as he bent down
to look at Heather.

“Nothing, dude. Nothing at all.” Josh said
with a smirk.

Jeff gave Josh a dirty look. He turned back
to Heather. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Jeff, I’m fine. I just wasn’t
expecting that. Josh actually made me feel a lot better with his
stupid jokes.”

Jeff smiled and then looked at me, and his
smile faded just a little.

“Ari, do you think I could use your Jeep for
about an hour?”

“I thought we were getting ready to leave for
the ranch, Jeff. Man, we’ve got a lot of shit to get unpacked in
both the cabin and your place. Where the hell are you going?” Josh
asked Jeff.

“Rebecca’s car won’t start, and she’s tried
to call everyone she could think of to give her a jump.”

“Can’t she just call a tow truck or something
for Christ’s sake? How the hell has she managed without you for the
last seven months, Jeff? This is getting insane.” I said as I stood
up.

Jeff stood up and ran his hands through hair
and then down his face.

“What am I supposed to do, Ari? Just leave
her stranded? What if something happened with the baby and she
needed her car?”

“Come on, Jeff, even I can see this for what
it is. You mean to tell me that this girl couldn’t find one person
to come and help her. Jesus, dude, you’re not that stupid,” Josh
said as he stood up, holding out a hand to help Heather up.

I reached into my purse and threw Jeff the
keys to my Jeep before I headed toward the back door.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do while
you rescue Rebecca?” Josh asked, annoyed.

As I walked into the backyard, I had to lean
over and rest my hands on my knees, because I couldn’t catch my
breath.

I felt someone’s hand on my back. I stood and
turned around to see…Heather.

“I’m sorry, Ari. He left to go help her.”

“Motherfucker, I can’t believe it. He left?
He went to her?”

Heather had tears in her eyes again.

I stood up straighter. “Don’t you dare shed a
tear for that bastard, Heather. Do you hear me?”

I stepped around her to go back into the
house. Josh was looking out the front window. I walked up next to
him, and he bumped me with his shoulder and gave me the sweetest
smile.

“I’m sorry, Ari. I hate to see that bitch
coming between you and Jeff.”

I looked over at Josh and smiled at him. “Who
are you? And what have you done with Josh-the-man-whore?”

Josh threw his head back and laughed. “Well,
I guess it’s time to grow up and find someone worth being faithful
to.”

“Really? Do you think you found that person?”
I asked bumping my shoulder against his. He looked down at me and
gave me the sweetest smile.

“I think so. It’s just a damn shame that she
doesn’t feel the same way.”

I turned around to see if Heather had come
back into the house yet.

“Josh, give her time. I know she likes you.
Just…give her some time to let you in.”

“Shit, Ari, I’m trying. I’m trying to do
everything that I can think of to prove to her that I’ve changed,
but she just keeps saying that she wants to be friends only. I
don’t really know what else to do but wait.”

I took a deep breath in and let it out
slowly.

“That’s all you can do. Wait.”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

JEFF

I knew Ari was going to be
pissed when I got back. I shouldn’t have left without talking to
her.
Fuck!
I
slammed my fist on the steering wheel. By the time I got to
Rebecca’s apartment, a friend had gotten her text message for help
and showed up. Right as I was pulling up, I got a text message from
Rebecca, saying she didn’t need me.
Too
fucking late now.

I parked and started to get out of the
Jeep.

“Jeff! I’m so, so sorry, honey. I tried to
send you a text as soon as I could. I hope this didn’t cause too
much trouble for you,” Rebecca said.

“No, it’s okay.” I looked over at the guy who
was doing something to Rebecca’s battery. I started to walk over
and he slammed the hood shut right before I got to it.

“It’s okay, dude. I took care of it. Nothing
that a little bit of Coke on the battery posts won’t fix.”

I just looked at the guy. He seemed nervous.
I turned back around and looked at Rebecca, who had a huge smile on
her face.

“Well, since you’re here do you want to see
the baby’s room?”

Fuck me.
“Sure, but I really need to leave in like two
minutes, Rebecca. Everyone is waiting on me.”

Smiling she hooked her arm with mine and led
me into her apartment. After we walked through the living room, she
opened up the door to a room that was pretty much filled with boxes
and shit that looked like it needed to be put together.

“Wow, what the hell is all of this stuff?” I
asked.

Rebecca let out a giggle and started to walk
into the room.

“Well, it’s the crib, basinet, changing table
and other things like that. I have a hard time leaning over and
such, so I haven’t had a chance to put it together. My brother was
going to help me, but he never seems to have the time.”

I looked around. There was a ton of shit. The
walls were white, and I remembered her saying that she wanted to
paint them.

“Don’t you need all this stuff out of here to
paint the walls? Who’s going to move all of this? You can’t do it,
Rebecca.”

When I turned to look at
her, the smile on her face was almost one of victory. I was
beginning to think that Josh was right. She’d planned for this to
happen. This was all just a way for me to get over here to see all
this shit and feel sorry for her.
Fuckin’
A.

“I know I can’t move it, Jeff. That’s why I
was hoping that you would be able to help me. The sooner, the
better before the baby comes.”

“Well, you have until the middle of August.
It’s just the middle of June, so you have two months.”

Rebecca frowned. “Yes, I know, but I don’t
want to wait until the last minute. I’m getting bigger by the day.
I need this taken care of, like, soon. Are you free sometime next
week, maybe?”

I hate this.
I was so torn. For the sake of the baby, I wanted
to help her, but I knew Ari was going to flip the fuck
out.

“Let me talk to Ari, and I’ll get back with
you. I really have to go.”

As I turned to walk away and she grabbed my
arm.

“Wait a minute, Jeff. This
is
your
baby. What
do you need to talk to Ari about? I mean, is this how it’s going to
be? If we have a birthday party, are you going to have to ask Ari
if it’s okay for you to be there? This is not going to
work.”

I just stood there looking
at her.
Is she serious?

“Listen, Rebecca, you dropped a huge bomb on
me last weekend. My whole goddamn world has just been turned upside
down. What I thought was going to be my future has just possibly
changed. So, yeah, Ari is a big part of my future. My goal in this
life is to not hurt her. If that means talking to her about any
decisions I make regarding this baby until it’s born then so be
it.”

“I’m sorry, Jeff. I didn’t mean to seem
insensitive to Ari. Of course, I understand your need to talk to
her, but for fuck’s sake, we’re talking about painting and putting
together some baby furniture. I’m not asking you to move in with
me. I feel guilty for not including you in things up until now. I
mean, you missed out on feeling the first kicks, the sonogram, and
discovering that it was a boy. I’m just trying to make it up to you
by including you in all of this. If Ari can’t see that… well, I
hate to say this, but that’s her problem. If she was more secure in
your relationship, then she would understand.”

“Ari is not insecure in our relationship,
Rebecca. Listen, I really have to go. Let’s plan on doing the
baby’s room next week. I have someone coming out to the ranch to
take a look at the horse stables. I’m not sure what day he’s
coming. After I find out, I’ll get with you, and we’ll plan
something.”

Rebecca smiled. Reaching her hands up to my
shoulders, she kissed the side of my cheek. “Thank you, Jeff. It
really does mean a lot to me to have you a part of this. Again, I’m
sorry you made a wasted trip over here.”

***

I walked out to Ari’s Jeep
and jumped in. I looked over at my phone on the seat and saw my
notification light blinking.
Shit.
I picked up my phone and noticed I had four missed
calls and one voice mail from Ari.

She had called about three
minutes ago. I listened to the voice mail. She said they were
giving me another ten minutes and leaving.
What the hell?

Immediately, I called her back.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sorry, I left my phone in the Jeep. I’m
on my way back right now.”

“Whatever. We have everything loaded in both
vehicles. Do you want me to just drive your truck? Josh is getting
bitchy, and we’re ready to leave.”

“No, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just
wait for me.”

“Fine.” She hung up.

Jesus.
Waiting for this baby to be born was going to be a long two
fucking months.

***

I pulled up to the house and parked on the
street behind the trailer that was hooked up to Josh’s truck. After
tying something down, he jumped off the trailer.

“You think that pussy truck of yours is going
to be able to pull that trailer?” I asked.