Love Song Series Box Set (11 page)

Chapter 12

Julie

I walk out of the bathroom and notice
Becca eyeing me again. I swear she spends more time staring at me than she does working. Ignoring her, I grab a package of crackers out of my purse. I take a bite as I walk past her and make my way to my office. Slumping into my chair, I lay my head on the desk for a minute, but the feeling doesn’t pass.

Suddenly
, the smell of Mr. Friedman’s catfish lunch hits me. My stomach starts to roll, and I know what’s coming. I sprint to the bathroom, barely making it before I lose what little I have in my stomach. God, will this never end? I was hardly ever sick when I was pregnant with Jenny, but I’m sick all the time now. I hope this passes soon. If not, everyone will know I’m pregnant. Climbing from the floor, I flush the toilet and go to wash my face.

Becca
is standing in front of the sink. She gives me a hesitant smile. “Are you okay?”

“
Yeah, I’m fine,” I say as I walk past her to throw water on my face.

“
When are you due?”

I freeze.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just have a virus or something.”

She laughs.
“Yeah, the kind that lasts for nine months.”

Shit!
If Becca knows, it will be all over town in a matter of minutes. “I’m not pregnant.”

She tilts her head to the side and gives me a look that clearly says I
’m full of shit. “Does Jase know he’s going to be a daddy again?”

“
No, he doesn’t,” I say, giving up on my lie. “I’m gonna tell him tonight.”

At least I am
now that I don’t have a choice.

“
That’s good. He deserves to know. He really is a good man.”

Hearing her defend Jase pisses me off.
“Yeah, I guess you’re a good woman too.”

“
I was hoping we could talk about that, about what happened.” she says timidly.

“
What could you possibly have to say to me? ‘I had sex with your boyfriend, and I liked it? Oh, and I have been chasing after him ever since you left.’ Hell, even now, I hear you and that bitch, Brittany, have been after him still.”

Becca
puts her head down. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. I was going through…” She stops for a second and shakes her head. “He’d just lost his mom. We were drunk, and it just happened. I’m sorry,” she says, and a tear runs down her face.

“
Okay, so that’s the one time. What about all the others? You two apparently cheated a few more times behind my back. What about then?”

“
There’s something I need to tell you about that, but first, I need you to understand how sorry I am. I didn’t really mean for it to go that far.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “That day you caught us, I was hoping you would. I planned the whole thing. You told me you were surprising him at work for his birthday, so I thought I’d get there first, so you could finally see.”

“
I’m not listening to anymore of this,” I say and try to walk around her.

“
Please. You were my best friend.”

H
er words push me over the edge. I have to get out of here before I lose what little control I have. “Best friend?” I shake my head at her. “You were never my friend, Becca.”

I don
’t give her a chance to respond. I walk out of the bathroom to get back to work.

Jase

I’m walking into Friedman Law offices to sign the visitation paperwork. I can’t believe it’s come to this. I wanted to work this shit out between us. I’ve tried to call Julie a hundred times, but she won’t even answer the damn phone. I figured she’d soften up after a few days, but it’s getting worse. I even have to text her when I want to see Jenny.

She didn
’t even bring Jenny to Pop’s this weekend; Bethany did. Jenny was kind of quiet too. I asked her what’s wrong, and she said her Momma was sick. I wanted to go check on Julie, but I knew she wouldn’t want that, so I spent the whole weekend worrying about her.

The sound of someone
being sick pulls me away from my thoughts. I hear talking, and I’m pretty sure its Becca and Julie. Becca better not be fucking with her again. I’m going to put a stop to this shit now! Their voices carry through the door.

“
Does Jase know he’s going to be a daddy again?”

“
No, he doesn’t.”

Julie
’s pregnant? She’s pregnant and sick, and she didn’t tell me. Not again. This can’t be happening again. I try to focus on what they are saying, but my mind keeps going to the image of Julie with my baby growing inside her. The sound of the door opening gets my attention. I look up, and Julie is standing there with her mouth hanging open.

I step forward.
“
Were you going to tell me this time or run off like a fucking bitch again?”

“
I was going to tell you,” Julie says, looking to the floor instead of at me.

“
When? Were you going to wait until this one was eight?”

“
I can’t talk about this right now,” she says as she tries to walk past me.

I grab onto her arm and swing her around to look at me.
“You ran away nine years ago, kept my daughter from me. I’m not gonna let that happen again.”

“
Jase, don’t. Not here, okay?” she says quietly.

“
Why did you keep Jenny away from me?” I demand. I’m not sure where the question comes from, but it’s one I want an answer to. If I discover why, maybe I can keep it from happening again.

“
You hurt me, Jase. When I told everyone I was pregnant, they told me not to tell you. They said you weren’t in a good place. Pop and your brothers came out every few months to visit. I kept asking if it was time to tell you, but they said you weren’t ready.”

Hearing that my own father and brother
s visited my daughter all these years and never told me causes my breath to catch. My own family saw her. They saw how wonderful Jenny was and never gave me a chance.
Fuck!

“
I’m not signing visitation papers. You can stick them up your ass. I’ll see my daughter whenever the hell I want,” I say to her and walk out of the building.

Chapter 13

Julie

Jase leaves
, and I feel sick all over again. Becca is still in the bathroom when I rush back in to empty my stomach. She hands me some paper towels quietly. “For what it’s worth, I really am sorry, Julie,” she says.

“
Sorry for what? Sleeping with my man or treating me like shit since I moved home.” At this moment, I don’t really care what her answer is. It’s just easier to focus on her than what just happened with Jase.

“
I’m sorry for all of it.”

“
Why though, Becca? You were my best friend. Why did you have to do that to me?”

She shrugs and looks away.
“I can’t explain it. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“
Then why the bitch act when I came back?” I ask, not believing she’s sincere.

“
Let’s just say, Brittany rubs off on a person,” she says, shaking her head.

I stand up, flush the toilet,
and head over to the sink to clean up again. “How could you become friends with her anyway? You’ve hated her as much as Kristen and I ever did.”

“
After I screwed everything up with the two of you, I was alone. I needed a friend, and she was there. Two messed up souls… we just clicked, although, half the time, I still hate her.”

I just shake my head. I want so badly to reach over to
Becca and hug her, but I’m still hurt by what she did. “I can’t say I forgive you. I wish I could, but I just can’t.”

“
I understand,” she says, as she swipes away a stray tear.

“
I have to get back to work,” I say as I walk out of the bathroom.

Heading back to my office, my phone starts to ring.
I pull it out of my pocket and stick it to my ear before looking at the caller ID. “Hello.”

Silence…
“Hello.”

I can hear someone breathing, and I know it
’s him. Too tired to deal with Dean, I end the call and sit down at my desk. Folding my arms on the desk, I rest my head on top of them.
What am I going to do now?

Jase

I go home instead of going back to work. I just can’t deal with everyone’s shit today. If I see my family, I may kill them. Right now, all I can think of is wrapping my hands around their throats and squeezing until I feel something snap.

I walk into my apartment and throw
my keys across the room. They hit the picture of Julie and me that’s hanging on the wall. It falls to the floor, sending shattered glass everywhere. Shit! I walk over and pick it up, remembering the day it was taken. We had just moved in together and were so damn happy. Why did I have to fuck everything up?

I look at her beautiful smile and think about how much I miss her.
I know I don’t deserve her, but I’m not the only one who’s made mistakes. Yes, I cheated on her. I get it; I really do. I hurt her, but do I really deserve to lose my children because of it? I sit on my couch, itching to grab the bottle of whiskey, but I don’t. Instead, I pick up the phone and dial Matty’s number.

“
Hey, bro.”

Hearing his voice sends my anger through the roof.
“You visited Jenny? You actually went to see her and never told me?”

He
’s quiet for a second before he finally comes clean. “Yeah, I did.”

“
How the hell could you do that to me?”

“
At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“
At the time? What about now?” I ask, angry as hell.

“
It was the worst decision I ever made. You’re a wonderful father. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he says, his voice filled with emotion.

“
It’s not worth a hell of a lot when you consider I didn’t get to watch my little girl grow up.”

“
I know, bro,” he says simply, not trying to defend his actions.

I can either keep bitching, or I can get to the point of my call.
“I need you to pick up Jenny and bring her over here.”

“
Shit! Are you and Julie still on the outs?”

“
You don’t even know the half of it, Matty,” I say, letting out a deep breath. “She’s pregnant, and she didn’t tell me. She hid it again, man.”

With that, I end the call and toss the phone across the room.

Julie

The day ends
, and I head home. A few minutes later, Matty shows up. “Hey, what are you doing here? You usually don’t stop by until the weekend,” I ask him as I open the door.

Matty looks
uncomfortable. “Um, Jase was hoping I could pick up Jenny and bring her over to visit for a bit.”

“
Oh, um, yeah, okay,” I say hesitantly, wondering if Matty knows what happened at the office today.

I yell out for Jenny and
tell her to get ready to go to her daddy’s. I then lead Matty to the kitchen and grab him a glass of tea. We both sit down at the table. He’s not talking, and I’m starting to get uncomfortable. I can tell Jase told him what happened, and he’s upset with me. “Just lay it on me.”

He looks at me, and I can see pain in his eyes.
“Please tell me that you weren’t going to run away this time.”

“
No!” I say through clenched teeth.

“
Then, why didn’t you tell him?”

“
I was going to tell him. I really was. I just needed a little time.”

He looks
me in the face, searching for the truth. “Are you sure about that?”

Jenny coming into the room saves me from answering Matty
’s question. She’s excited to see her daddy. She has Matty out the door before I even get a chance to say goodbye.

“
Make sure to remind your daddy about your birthday party this weekend,” I holler out the door. I watch them until the truck is out of sight, then I head to the living room and lay on the couch. I start to think about all the things I should have said to Jase, but I’m so tired that within minutes, I’m dreaming. The sex dreams have stopped, and even the nightmares of Jase and Brittany are gone. Now, my head is full of silent phone calls and two men that hate me.

Jase

“I’m here!” Jenny shouts as she runs through the door. She comes right to me and throws herself in my arms. I hold her close and instantly feel better. Having her here is just what I need. Matty comes in the door a minute later. He’s carrying a pizza in one hand and some Disney DVDs in the other.

“
Your daughter made me stop off to get pizza and hit the Red Box,” he says as he places the pizza box on the table. “I didn’t mind stopping to get this stuff, but I am not going to watch
Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure
, so I’m out of here.”

I laugh and nod my head. I understand completely. I wouldn
’t watch this shit either if it wasn’t for Jenny, but I’ll do anything to make her happy. If she wants to watch crappy movies, we will watch crappy movies.

After Matty
leaves, I grab us a couple of sodas and paper plates. Then, Sweet Pea and me veg out in front of the TV. We’re about halfway through the first movie when Jenny turns to me. “Why is Momma mad at you? Did you kiss another girl again?”

I just stare at her for
a minute. Fuck, it’s hard being a parent. “It’s complicated, and it’s kind of personal, just between me and your momma.”

“
That’s what Momma said, not the personal stuff, but that it’s complicated. I think being a grown up is stinky. Everything is complicated.” She takes a drink of her soda before looking at me again. “I don’t know why you just don’t write her a note and ask if she likes you. That’s what Logan did to me yesterday.”

Oh
, hell no! “Some boy’s writing you notes?”

“
Logan writes me a note almost every day, but yesterday, he asked if I liked him. He wants to know if I want him for a boyfriend, but I don’t. All the girls give their boyfriends their cookie at lunch. No one’s getting my cookie,” she says, stuffing another bite of pizza in her mouth.

I can
’t keep from chuckling at her words, feeling better than I’ve felt all night. “Good. You keep it that way. Boys are bad news.”

I give her a quick kiss on the top of her head and finish eating my pizza. As soon as I
’m done, I spread out on the couch and pull Jenny in front of me. Within a few minutes, she’s out. I follow closely behind.