Page 57 of His Best Friend's Baby

He was silent.

“Thought I’d come in and say hello.”

“Hello,” he practically barked.

Tired of being pushed around and playing games, Julia threw her hands in the air. The idiot had been kissing her just a few hours ago.

“You’re worse than a sixteen-year-old. Either you like me or you don’t. Whichever it is, stop playing this game with me.”

“Sorry,” he said, his head stayed bowed. “I’m sorry.” His hands flexed on the wood he held and the moment stretched. He breathed and so did she. She blinked. Toyed with the hem of her sweater. “Stay. I’d like you to stay.” He watched her over his shoulder and then finally smiled. “I’ve been a jerk for so long I’ve forgotten how to be anything else.”

The smile, more than anything, gave her pause. Enchanted her, really.

“Okay.” She nodded.

“You can sit.” Jesse pointed to a wobbly old stool to his right.

“Thanks.” She lowered herself onto the stool, hooked the heels of her battered tennis shoes on the rung and tucked her hands under her thighs. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at this oak.”

Hmm. This was going well.

“Rachel and Mac are having a baby.” He wiped his stubbly chin with his hand. “They want a cradle.”

“Are you going to make it?” She didn’t know he could do that sort of stuff. But the image of Jesse as a woodworker, covered in sawdust, hammering things, made her warm.

“I don’t know.” He leaned against the workbench and crossed his arms over his chest. The soft gray flannel of his shirt pulled across his shoulders with the movement.

“They must be so excited.” A baby. She remembered that feeling of holding a treasure in her body, a secret that only she knew.

“I think Amanda’s more excited than anyone.” His smile pulled and stretched his bruised and puffy skin.

“I had a weird moment with Amanda and Agnes today,” Julia ventured, stretching out into the unclaimed territory between them. Friends.

“I can imagine. Agnes is a sociopath.”

Julia wished part of her didn’t agree with him. “Do you know Amanda was arrested? Agnes seems to think Amanda started a fire.”

Jesse shrugged. “You can’t take anything Agnes says seriously.”

“She’s beginning to freak me out,” Julia admitted. “She’s so possessive. I mean, I would understand her feeling that way about Ben, but she actually forbid me from saying your name today.”

Jesse laughed.

“That’s why I stayed friends with Mitch for so long,” he said. “Even though the guy had everything, I felt sorry for him.” He picked up another piece of wood.

“I did, too,” Julia said, so relieved to be talking about this. “I feel like I had to come all the way out here to finally understand him and—” she blew out a long breath “—forgive him, I guess.”

“He doesn’t deserve that from you. Not for what he did.”

“But who could live with the kind of pressure Agnes and Ron put on him? I used to wonder why he lied so much, about the dumbest things. But it all makes sense once you get to know his parents.”

“The first time Mitch did real bad on a test—” he looked over his shoulder at her “—Ron got a copy of the test and made Mitch stay awake studying until he got every question right. Mitch was awake for two days straight.”

“That’s awful.”

“Yeah, it got to the point where the way my own dad dealt with things just made a lot more sense.”

“What did he do?” Julia didn’t want to ask but had to know.

“He drank mostly. He got pretty violent.”

Jesse began piling the wood on the bench under the stronger light that was clamped there.

“I’m sorry,” she said stupidly, sensing all the pain under those words.

“Don’t be. I’m over it.” He shrugged, his shoulders tense despite the casual words.

“I never knew my dad,” she said.

“He ran off?”

“He was military. Career.”

“Sometimes that can be worse,” Jesse said and it was so true there was nothing she could add to it.

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