Anna just smiled at Julie, not understanding, and grabbed a fist full of Julie's hair.
Julie smiled at Anna's old attempt to keep her close, at the same time wanting to cry. "I'm going to miss you," Julie whispered, hoping she didn't lose her composure. It seemed to be much harder than she was accustomed to, and she figured it must be her newly fluctuating hormones.
Emma grabbed Anna, causing her to yank a good chunk of Julie's hair and said, "Don't touch my child."
Ignoring Emma, Julie forced one last smile for Anna and waved. "Bye, sweetheart."
"Nana!" Anna whined, swinging her body over so that she was reaching for Julie.
"Anna, stop it," Emma snapped, trying without success to straighten Anna's body to an upright position.
Before she humiliated herself by crying at Anna’s reaction, Julie strode to the door and with only a second's hesitation, swung it open, facing the gust of cold night air.
But standing in front of her with his finger suspended about an inch above the doorbell was a man, his brown eyes widened in mild surprise.
"You must be Julie," said the stranger, his gaze flicking down to her luggage. "Wow, you're in quite a hurry, I see."
"You're the brother?" she asked without preamble.
Blinking, he replied slowly, "Yeah, I guess I am. You're the mistress?" he responded.
Frowning at him, she said, "I'm sorry, you've wasted your time. I am not getting an abortion and your brother can kiss my ass."
He merely blinked, although his surprise was evident as he drawled, "Okay…."
"So… I know the whole arrangement was for me to stay with you until I get an abortion, but I'm not going to, so I'm afraid that you wasted your time and energy coming here."
"Your staying with me wasn't contingent upon getting an abortion," the stranger stated. "My brother can kiss your ass, too, as far as I'm concerned. I really don't give a damn whether or not you keep it, I'm just here to fulfill my end of the bargain. Now, my car is right there," he said, gesturing out to a vague outline of a vehicle in the dark night. "If you would like to give me your bags, we can leave hell a little bit sooner."
Julie blinked at him.
"Hi, Emma," he added belatedly, glancing over Julie's shoulder. "Now, are you ready?" he asked, taking the suitcase out of Julie's grasp and wheeling it out of the house.
"But… I just told you I wasn't going to do the whole…whatever it is you and Matt arranged. I'm a big girl, I'll take care of myself."
He glanced up at her. "You have somewhere else to go?"
Her shoulders sagged just slightly. "Not…exactly."
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Then don't be an idiot. Come on."
"You're very bossy," she stated, reluctantly following him. "And you have my stuff."
"I am trying to be nice," he stated. "Would you like to carry it yourself? I won't beg."
Julie frowned at the back of his head, not really able to make out what his hair looked like because it was so dark.
"What was your name again?" she asked, wanting a name to associate with the grumpy brother.
"Aaron," he said, opening up his trunk and pushing the handle of her suitcase down, picking it up and putting it in his trunk. "Do you want your other bags back here?" he asked.
Uncertainly, she shook her head no.
He slammed the trunk shut and went up to the driver's side of the car, sliding into it and starting the car.
Then he looked up at Julie impatiently. "Are you getting in?"
“I don’t know, this could be a trick; you’re not going to murder me and dump my body in a ditch somewhere, are you? I’ve seen things just like this on the ID channel.”