"We had dinner and talked for a long time," he said. "About the past and possibly getting together when I got home."
I opened my eyes and stared at him. He wanted to get back together with her.
How am I supposed to feel about that?
"I was in a bad place," he said. "I didn’t know what happened between us, and Julia was comfortable for me. I know you had your reasons, but I thought you’d moved on."
"So, you slept with Julia?"
"I took her back to her hotel."
"I don’t want the details, if you don’t mind." My mouth grew so dry I could barely swallow, and my stomach twisted and rolled.
"Jocelyn, listen to me." He moved his hand to stroke my cheek. "I didn’t sleep with Julia or anyone else while I was away. I didn’t want to. She invited me in, but I told her I had an early morning. I did kiss her goodnight and told her we’d talk when I got back."
"Have you?"
"Talked? No, I didn’t get a chance. They told me they saw you in the mall, and then I came to see you," he said. "The first chance I get, I’ll tell her how I really feel."
"Do you know how you really feel?" I didn’t mean to speak my thoughts, and the minute I said the words, I wanted to take them back. We had enough to deal with.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing," I said. "I’m getting cold. Can we go inside?"
"Of course." He took my hand and led me into the house. "My parents are in my father’s study. They always seem to be in the study when I have to tell them something important." He stopped once we reached the door. Seeing him look so nervous was like me having to tell Max all over again. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. I wanted him to know I was there for him.
"You can do this, Alex." I kissed his cheek.
He smiled at me, and I remembered how much I liked having him close to me.
Despite what was going on between us right now, I’d missed him, and I was just relieved to finally be able to see him again.
He rapped quickly on the door, but opened it before anyone could respond. He glanced inside, then stepped into the room. I peeked through, between his shoulder and the doorframe.
Jack sat behind his large, cherry wood desk, staring at his laptop, and Sarah lay curled up on the loveseat, reading a book. They both looked at Alex and smiled. Sarah was no doubt absolutely thrilled to have her son home, and her joy showed on her face.
"Alex," she said. "Where were you?"
I was still outside the door; they hadn’t seen me yet.
"I went to see Jocelyn, and I brought her back with me." He reached for my hand, gently encouraging me to follow him in. I suddenly felt as nervous as Alex looked.
"Really?" Sarah got to her feet, placing her book face down on the sofa. "What a nice surprise."
Oh, you’ll be surprised, all right.
I slowly walked into the study, sticking very close to Alex. My knees were buckling, and my body shook. I wanted to turn around, go home, crawl into my bed, and hide for the next several months.
"Jocelyn, how are you?" Sarah moved closer, but as soon as she got a good look at me, she stopped. "Oh, my."
"Jocelyn is going to have a baby," Alex said.
Thank you, Captain Obvious!
"So we see." Jack got up from the desk and walked over to us. "Hello, Jocelyn."
"Hi." I smiled. "I didn’t want to tell Alex while he was away."
