Oh, he was going to love
it. Not because he loved her or anything, but because he would love that she was going to come crawling back out of utter desperation, that she would actually have to fall back on him, just like he said she would.
Especially so soon.
The honeymoon sure didn't last long.
Instead of calling, she decided to send him a text message, because that would be easier than calling him. It took her about five minutes to actually make herself compose it, and even after she pushed send it only said, "Hey, what have you been up to?"
The guest bedroom door opened then, and she looked up to see Matt.
For a moment, she got another glimpse of the Matt she had cared about, and his gaze softened a little bit as he came over and sat next to her on the bed.
Neither one of them spoke. There was really no more room for words, and none were necessary.
They would have probably sat there forever without talking, but the sound of Emma yelling at Anna about something and then a pause and a loud wail from Anna broke the silence.
Julie closed her eyes.
Matt sighed.
"You turned pretty quickly," Julie finally remarked without emotion. She was too tired for emotion. "What happened to that great guy I knew?"
Looking at the wall instead of her, he merely said, "What choice do I have, Julie?"
Not letting him get away with that, she said, "You have every choice, Matt. This is a free country we're living in."
"I can't just…uproot my whole family…"
"Exchange 'I can't' for 'I'm not willing to' and that sentence would be more accurate. I'm glad you're thinking about yourself though, because it's not like this in any way screws up my life. I'm an unmarried college student, so an unplanned pregnancy is a cakewalk for me," she said sarcastically.
Her phone chimed, and she sighed, opening the new text from Jack that read: "Fine. How's the husband?"
Rolling her eyes, Julie sat the phone next to her. Nope, she would sooner sleep in her car than go crawling back to him.
"I don't understand," Julie said, shaking her head. "Before you were fed up with Emma and how neglectful she is to you and Anna, and now… you're just her best friend."
"This is not an easy situation," Matt told her. "She's my wife, Julie. She's… been in my life for quite some time, and… really, we've only just met. You can't expect me to so easily discard my wife just because you're pregnant, can you?"
"Not because I'm pregnant— no. Maybe I thought you liked me."
Anna continued to cry from the other room, and Julie heard her call out, "Nana!"
Despite herself, Julie felt burning behind her eyes and she had to fight the instinct to run out and get Anna.
"You're picking her," Julie stated. "I shouldn't be surprised. I don't know why I am. I guess I just believed you when you… acted like you were fed up with Emma's…everything."
He said nothing.
After a moment, she shook her head. "That was foolish of me, I suppose. I know how men are—or I should by now. I really don't know what's wrong with me. I really should have known better."
The Matt she had known was quickly slipping away, that other Matt coming back into focus. "Well, regardless, we have a situation to deal with now, and Emma doesn't want you sleeping here tonight, so what I'm going to have to do is this. I know you don't have anywhere to stay, so I called my brother. He has a really nice apartment and you can stay with him for a little while. He's going to get you a job so that you can get back on your feet, and I will find out when I can get you to a doctor and we'll get this all over as quickly as possible."
Slowly, she turned her head and looked at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, obviously…neither one of us wants this situation, Julie. There's really only one logical way of dealing with it, and that's for you to get an abortion. I will pay for it, of course, and you can stay with Aaron as long as you need to so you can recover. I apologize for—"
"For being a bastard?" she interrupted, standing up and glaring at him. "Where was I when you decided for me what I was going to do with my body?"