Free Whiskey Lullaby by Dawn Martens, Emily Minton Page A

about our issues, and then it would just go from there. I know he never felt that way for me, but I really thought I loved him. I’m so sorry, Julie.” 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.”
    Her words push me over the edge. I slap her across the face. “Best friend? I was your best friend , and you did this to me ?” I shake my head at her. “You were never my friend, Bec.” I don’t give her a chance to respond. She can kiss my ass and so can Jase. 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 that 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 am pretty sure its Bec and Julie. Bec 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 you’re pregnant?” 
    “No, he doesn’t, and I don’t know how or when I want to tell him yet.”
    Julie’s pregnant? She’s pregnant and sick, and she didn’t tell me , 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?”
    “It’s really none of your business ,” Julie says not looking at me, trying to walk by.
    I grab onto her arm and swing her around to look at me. “Not my business? You ran away nine years ago, kept my daughter from me, and you’re saying this time, it’s not my fucking business?”
    “Jase, don’t. Not here , okay?” she says quietly.
    “Why did you keep Jenny away from me?” I demand.
    “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 brothers visited my daughter all these years and never told me has me wanting to break their necks.
    “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 the building.

Chapter 13
     
    Jase
    I go home instead of going back to work. I just can’t deal with everyone’s shit today, and I can’t stop thinking about finding out Julie is pregnant. She wasn’t going to tell me. Was she going to try to say it was someone else’s? No, she wouldn’t do that, but she would run away. I am not going to let that happen again.
    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 and the glass breaks. Shit! I walk over and pick it up. I look at it and remember the day it was taken. We had just moved in together. We were so fucking happy. Why did I have to screw up so badly? 
    But I am not the only one who has made mistakes.