Page 80 of His Best Friend's Baby

“No, it’s not.” She shook her head and reached to grab his hand, but he pulled away.

“I’m not who you think I am, Julia. That man doesn’t exist. I’ve been trying to tell you that for weeks.”

Dinner was silent and painful from that point. Ben was fussy and keyed up from the tension between Julia and Jesse. She tried to distract Ben with a few toys and crackers. For herself, she couldn’t eat anything and as if to spite her, as if to make sure she wrung every moment of misery from this night, Jesse ate his meal and then hers with excruciating slowness. But finally, they walked out to the sensation of dozens of eyes tracking them.

They exited the building and Julia sighed with relief.

“Thank God, that’s over,” she muttered.

But just outside the door, in the lineup, a woman stopped them. She was older, gray and hunched over with age, but the hate in her eyes was fresh. Real. Behind her an older man pulled out a cell phone.

Jesse swore under his breath and moved farther away from her.

“You’re Mitch’s widow, aren’t you?” the woman asked, her voice cracking with indignation.

Julia could only nod and hug Ben close.

“And that’s his little boy?” she asked.

“Let’s go,” Julia whispered, ignoring the woman.

“You should be ashamed of yourself. After a good man like Mitch you’re going to lie down with this animal?” the woman said and Julia flinched. She turned to Jesse, who stared at the woman, his beautiful lips twisted with ugly, cynical mirth.

“Good to see you, too, Mrs. Alistair,” he said with terrible, fake cheer.

“You monster, you have no business—”

“Have a good night,” he said. “Give my best to Agnes and Ron.”

He curled his hand around Julia’s elbow and tugged her away. Julia went, drifting in his wake, moored by his hard grip on her elbow.

She’d stumbled into another earthquake and the fault line ran right between them.

She’d wanted to prove him wrong, show him that he belonged in this place, that the past was the past and the only person still holding him accountable was himself.

It had backfired. And the distance between them seemed insurmountable now.

When we get home, she thought, clinging to hope like a lifeboat in a storm, we’ll sit outside, and watch the stars come out. We’ll talk about this. I’ll kiss him and tell him I love him. That will fix things. We’ll make love and it will be okay.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BLOOD RAN in Jesse’s mouth from the force with which he’d been biting his tongue. He’d wanted to stand up in that place and scream at his accusers. Tell them all of Mitch’s sins, every secret he’d ever kept for the man, all of which had ruined his own name.

Jesse wanted a clean slate, a fresh start. But even as the urge filled him, he knew it was fruitless.

His only fresh start would be out of this town. He’d fooled himself long enough. He thought of Rachel, Mac, Amanda and his new niece or nephew and his chest went tight. He ignored it. He could convince Julia to go with him. There was no way she’d want to stay so close to Mitch’s folks after all the stunts Agnes had pulled. She’d realize that they had a better chance of making it work if they left New Springs.

Once they got back to the house, Julia took Ben into the bedroom to read to him and put him to bed. Jesse grabbed his cell phone and made the call he should have made long ago.

“Are you postponing this again?” Chris asked as soon as he picked up. “You said a week, two weeks ago.”

“No, I am calling to give you a definite date. But it’s two weeks from now.” Jesse ran his hand through his hair. Cedar shake? Was he nuts? Putting that shit up was like surgery. He should have just tarred it and called it quits. But Julia had come into his life and screwed with his brain, his plan, his whole damn life.

“Jesse, this is getting crazy.” Chris laughed. “If you want to stay there, just stay there.”

“I don’t want to stay here, it’s just been tougher leaving than I expected.”

“Then don’t. Look, man, there will always be a job here for you if you want it. But—”

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