Heather looked over at Ellie, who was smiling like the Cheshire cat at me.

“Wait a minute. Y’all didn’t know that Rebecca would be there?” I asked.

“How the fuck would we know that, dickwad? I had this appointment already set up. Her appointment was supposed to be next week. She said she had tried to call you to tell you that she had to change it to today. Funny though, huh? I bet you never got a phone call from her, did you? Oh, but wait. I’m sure she’ll have an excuse. Her call must not have gone through since you were in Mason,” Ari said.

My heart started to beat faster. Shit, I just fucked up big time.

Ari turned to her dad and said something to him. I didn’t even hear what she had said my mind was spinning so fast. Rebecca changed the appointment day? Why? She’d told me she was going to drop the restraining order against Ari first thing this morning, but she didn’t. I looked back at Ari. She was just glaring at me.

“Ari, I’m so sorry, baby. I guess I didn’t realize where you saw Rebecca at and.”

“Just stop. I can’t do this anymore with you. You need to make a decision, Jeff, and you need to make it soon. I’m not really sure how much more of this I can take,”

Ari turned and walked off with her father.

I just stood there. I didn’t even know what to think. What does she mean I need to make a decision?

“Are you just going to let her walk away, Jeff or are you going to go after her?” Ellie asked me with a confused look on her face.

I started to jog over to Ari and Mark. “Ari, please wait a second. Please!”

Mark stopped walking which forced Ari to stop. She turned and looked at me. The look on her face about gutted me. She looked so unhappy, and it was my fault.

“Ari, baby, please just ride back to Mason with me. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I really am. Please don’t walk away from me.” I could hear the pleading in my voice.

Mark looked at Ari. Sweetheart, what do you want to do?”

“Fine, but don’t expect me to talk to you for awhile you ass-wipe.”

Ari turned and gave her dad a kiss goodbye. “Thank you for your help, Daddy.”

“You’re lucky that I was able to get this taken care of, Ari. You really need to try and avoid this girl, especially if she’s going to go out of her way to get you in trouble.” Mark said. Then, he looked at me and gave me a look that should have killed me on the spot.

“I know, but I really didn’t expect her to be there, Dad.” Ari hugged her dad one more time before she headed over to where everyone else was still standing.

I needed to take care of something, and I needed to do it right away.

As I walked back over, I heard Heather jumping all over Josh.

“I swear, Josh, if you look at my breasts one more time, I’m going to haul off and punch your ass.”

Josh started laughing. “Wow, a little time in the slammer and you’re all bad ass Heather.”

“Push off, Josh.” Heather said.

Josh walked up to Heather and leaned in to ask her something. Heather took a step back and walked a few feet away from everyone. Josh followed.

Jesus, this group of friends, I swear.

“I’m starving from my time in the slammer. Can we grab something to eat before we head back?” Ellie asked.

“As long as it’s quick, sweetheart. My mom called this morning and said that she and Dad would be in around six tonight.”

Ellie clapped her hands and jumped up in the air. “Oh my gosh! They’re coming in a day early. Let’s just head back to Mason then. I know Heather wants to go home. She plans on coming back out tomorrow and staying until Thursday morning. We can just drop her off on the way home.”

Just then, Heather walked up and kissed Ellie on the cheek. “Thanks, Ells, but I’m just going to have Josh drop me off.” Heather said.

She walked up to Ari and hugged her good-bye.

“Thanks for the interesting day, Ari. If you need anything, you know you can give me a call anytime, right?”

“Thank you Heather. I love you, girl. I think it’ll be okay,” Ari said.

We said our good-byes, and I watched as Josh and Heather walked away. Ari and I stood there, not saying a word.

“You ready to go, Sweetheart?” Gunner asked Ellie.

Ellie nodded and took Ari’s hand. They started to walk on ahead.

We had to stop three times so Ari could use the restroom. What the hell was wrong with her? Ellie kept saying it was her nerves.

I took the opportunity to step outside the truck to call Rebecca.

“Jeff! Hey! I tried calling you this morning, but couldn’t get through.”

“Is that right? What were you calling about?”

“Well, I’m sure you already know the answer to that. I’m guessing you’ve already been to the police station to bail your crazy girlfriend out of jail.”

I instantly got pissed. I didn’t want to get Rebecca upset, so I pulled the phone away from me and took a deep breath.

“I just want to know why you didn’t drop the restraining order like you said you would. In fact, you did a one-eighty Rebecca. Why were you at the doctor’s office today? I thought your appointment was next week.”

There was nothing but silence.

“Rebecca? Are you still there?”

“I um… I had to change the appointment because I was having more Braxton Hicks contractions, and I got worried. But Dr. Wyatt said everything was going to be okay. I just need to take it easy. I’m so sorry you couldn’t go. I wish I had a better way of trying to get a hold of you besides your cell.”

I saw Ari coming out of the store. She was drinking down a bottle of water like she was dying of thirst. Fuck, I hope she’s not getting sick.

“Listen…I can’t talk right now. Yeah, I, for sure, need to be at that next appointment. The next few days are going to be busy for me. Unless you have an emergency, maybe you can lay off the phone calls for a few days okay?”

“Oh yeah, sure. No problem, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you in a few days.”

“Yep, and Rebecca, let’s just stick with Jeff, okay?”

I hung up with Rebecca and opened the door for Ari to get into Gunner’s truck. She quickly fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home. I never took my eyes off of her. Something wasn’t right, and I needed to find out what the hell was going on. I had the strangest feeling that she was hiding something from me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

JOSH

I just needed to get Heather back to her apartment and out of that shirt, so I didn’t have the urge to keep looking at her damn chest.

“Heather, can I ask you one question?”

She let out a long drawn-out sigh. “Yes.”

“Why the hell are you dressed like that? It’s so not you!” I said with a laugh.

“Why are you laughing? You don’t think I have the body to dress a little sexy? Well Bruce certainly thought I had a nice body. He couldn’t keep his eyes off my chest even though I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”

I looked over at her as I laughed my ass off. God, I love this girl.

Whoa…what the hell?

“I’m glad to see I can amuse you, Josh. Really, I am. It’s a long story that I would rather not get into if you don’t mind. I just want to get home and get my boobs off display.”

I glanced at Heather as she looked at me.

“Josh, are you okay? You’re white as a ghost. Listen, I’m not mad at you or anything. Ari wanted me to get information on Rebecca’s due date. She said this guy was a breast guy and that I had the best breasts out of all of us. I mean, it was such a stupid idea. The only reason why I went along with it is because Ari’s pregnant, and I feel bad for her.”

Wait…what?

I pulled into a gas station and threw the truck in park. I needed air.

Heather jumped out of truck and came around to where I was standing with my head ducked down and my hands on my knees. I felt like I couldn’t get any air in.

“Oh my gosh, Josh. Are you okay?”

The moment her hand rested my back, I felt it the electric shock every time this girl touched me. Oh my god, what the fuck is going on with me? And did she just say Ari is pregnant?!

It took me a few minutes to get my breathing under control. Jesus. This had never happened to me before. I looked up at her, and her eyes caught mine.

I love her.

Holy shit, I love her.

Heather bent down to look at my face. “Josh, you’re really starting to scare me. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

I did everything I possibly could to not look at her damn chest.

“I need just a second, Princess. Just give me a second.”

Heather stood up and took a few steps back. Then, she threw her hand over her mouth.

“Holy hell. Oh my god…I just told you about Ari. Is that why you’re freaking out?”

Umm…no…. “Yeah, I guess it just took me by surprise.”

“Josh, you can’t tell Jeff! Ari made us promise not to tell anyone.”

“Heather, don’t you think Jeff has the right to know that Ari is pregnant with his baby? I mean, did Ari not learn anything with Rebecca?”

“Of course, he has the right to know. I don’t disagree with you on that one. Ari just doesn’t want to stress him out. She’s trying to hold off until Rebecca has the baby, so they can find out for sure if it’s Jeff’s.”

I stood up, leaning against the truck. “Holy hell, this is so messed up. I mean, I know that Jeff wants to have kids with Ari so much, and he would be over the moon if he knew she was pregnant, Heather. I don’t understand why Ari is waiting to tell him. So what if Rebecca is having a baby and it turns out to be Jeff’s? He’s a good guy. He’ll do right by both of them.”

I shook my head. I silently thanked God that I’d never found myself in this situation. I looked back at Heather, and she was just staring at me.

She tilted her head to the side, smiling.

“Okay, spill it. What really happened just now? There’s no way you’d have that type of reaction just because you learned that Ari is pregnant. Plus, you were acting funny before I even said she ewas pregnant.”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened, Heather.” That was the truth.

“Okay. Well, are you better now? I really want to get home and change out of this shirt and skirt.”

I let out a laugh as I got back in the truck.

Heather just rattled on and on the whole way to her apartment. I didn’t think I’d ever heard her talk as much as she was talking right now.

I pulled up to her building and parked the truck.

She sat there for a minute, like she was thinking something over.

“Do you want to come in for a glass of sweet tea or something?”

Fuck yeah, I do. “Sure, I’m not in a hurry to get anywhere.”

***

We sat together in her apartment for almost two hours, talking about everything and anything. I told Heather about my desire to take over my father’s furniture-making business, and she told me about her dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher.