Page 85 of His Best Friend's Baby

“He has everything to do with it,” she whispered. “You’re choosing him over me.”

Jesse opened his mouth to deny it, but she couldn’t stomach any more denial. She was after the truth now.

Julia stepped around Jesse, hoping to slay one dragon for his sake, and her own. “I’ve kept my mouth shut for a long time about your son, but I can’t do it anymore. Mitch was no saint, Agnes.”

“How dare you try—”

“He cheated on me, Agnes. A dozen times. He lied. He drank too much and he gambled. He didn’t take care of us. He fed us to the wolves. He did the same thing to Jesse when they were young.”

She turned to Jesse for backup. His flesh and body stood there, but he’d already left and suddenly she knew where she went wrong.

He was right, her forgiveness was never going to save him. He didn’t need it.

She suddenly felt as though she’d been dipped in ice water. A chill unlike anything she’d ever felt covered her, filled her.

“What do you need, Jesse?” she asked, ignoring Agnes. “Do you need this woman to forgive you?” She pointed at Agnes. “Will that free you? Make you better?”

“I will never forgive you!” Agnes yelled.

Julia shrugged. “Well, there’s your answer, Jesse. She’s not going to forgive you. So you’re just going to have to keep paying for the sin of being Mitch Adams’ friend for the rest of your life.”

“He killed Mitch. That’s his sin.”

Julia yanked the envelope from the woman’s fist. “Your hothead son engaged the enemy and because of that they crashed.”

“I don’t believe you,” Agnes cried.

“Of course you don’t. I’m the lying, cheating whore your son never loved.” She took a deep breath and finally got her rampaging emotions under control. “If you ever want to see your grandson again, you’ll leave now. Before you do something that I could press charges against.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Pretty sure I would.”

“Agnes, let’s go,” Ron said, pulling his wife from the doorway. “We don’t want to jeopardize our relationship with Ben.”

They turned away and Julia slammed the door shut. She faced Jesse, shaking her head.

“I thought I could reach you. But no one can, can they? Even if Mitch came back from the dead, you’d still find a way to be responsible.”

“Julia, it’s not that simple.”

“Of course not.” She headed for the kitchen. All her mistakes were so clear now, like footsteps in snow. She’d thought she was taking care of herself, she’d thought she’d managed independence after years of feeling like Mitch’s chattel. But she’d relied on Jesse far more than she’d ever relied on Mitch. Jesse took care of her son. He drove them around town. He let them stay in his house. She wasn’t taking care of herself, she was falling right into another earthquake. She’d left the Adams nightmare for a worse one with Jesse.

It really was time for her to stand on her own two feet.

She could call a cab and get a hotel room out by the highway until she found an apartment. Then she would be done with Jesse Filmore and his guilt and her terrible need for him that came hand in hand with her love for him.

She grabbed her purse and took out her phone, but before she could dial he grabbed the phone, gripping her hand, hard.

“Julia, please, I want to talk—”

“Let me go,” she said, unable to look him in the eye. This distant battered man could break her heart and that was one thing she didn’t need right now. “I need to make a call.”

“Who are you calling?”

“A cab.”

“Julia, you don’t have to leave.”

She jerked her hand and cell phone away from him and called information for the number of the only cab company in New Springs.

Twenty minutes. She had twenty minutes to pack, wake her son and rip the skin from her body.

Why did love have to hurt so much?

Jesse stood in the hallway in front of her son’s room, his arms across his chest like a sentinel.

“I want to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing to say,” she sighed. “You’re leaving.”

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