Double the Fun

Her chest ached something terrible at the hopelessness in his gaze. He said so much with that look, and she had to force herself to turn away from the window. She would always have that image of him ingrained in her head.

She dragged herself to the kitchen table and sat down. Moments later, she heard his diesel truck starting up and then fading in the distance. Her mother set the flowers and Jane’s cell phone in front of her.

“Look at me, sweetie.”

Lifting her eyes, Jane stared into her mom’s face. “You need to wake up, Jane honey. Life sometimes throws you a curveball, but you have to move on. You have to pick up the broken pieces, put them back together as best as you can, and start over. It’ll be hard. We both know that, and I know how painful it is, but life is too short to throw away the love that the three of you have.” She cupped Jane’s cheek and smiled. “I threw away my life on a man who wasn’t worthy. The only good thing that came out of my marriage to Charles was you, darling. Don’t give up on those boys, because they will never give up on you.”

Her mother kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave. Jane watched her go. She had never heard her mother admit that her marriage to her father was a mistake. There had been sadness and conviction in her mom’s words but truth also. She needed time to think, needed to sort out being with William and Rys. Knowing one of them would be having a baby, a baby who wasn’t hers, was a lot to take in. She loved those two for as long as she could remember. Jane had pictured a life with them, one that included a family.

Yeah, it was a lot to take in. She didn’t really want to deal with it right now; that was for sure. Looking at the flowers again, she let her fingers graze over the purple petals. Her phone lay in front of her. It was turned off, because the texts and calls from Rys and William had been too much for her to cope with. She turned it on, and a series of beeps alerted her to the numerous texts and voicemails. She opened up her messages, and texts from Rys and Will popped up. She read through them, tears prickling her eyes.

Will: Janey, please don’t shut us out. I know things are hard right now, but we need to talk.

Rys: Please, baby, please talk to me. I keep going over and asking to see you, but your mom says you’re not ready. Please, baby.

Will: Janey, not seeing or talking to you is harder than hell. Please, please give Rys a chance to explain.

Rys: I miss you, baby.

Will: God, Janey, I miss you so damn much.

Rys: We love you, Jane, and we will not let you go.

The last one was from Rys and sent just a few moments ago. There was so much conviction in his words that she knew he meant every word. Turning the phone back off, she grabbed her coffee and finished it. She had work in an hour, and sitting here thinking about how much she just wanted to go over to their house and wrap her arms around them would only make it one very long day.

Chapter 26

Half her shift was done, and Jane was doing a pretty good job not thinking so much about the Holden boys. Oh, who the hell was she kidding? All she had been thinking about was them. Her resolve to stay away had pretty much evaporated. She missed them too damn much to let this come between them. She would have to find a way to get over it, to get through it. Rys and William meant too much to her for her to just throw it all away.

They had been there for her during the hardest times of her life, and how was she paying them back? Pushing them away when things got tough made her a selfish bitch. Feeling a sudden burst of joy, she couldn’t wait until her shift was over, because she was going right to their house to tell them she was being a childish, selfish girl and that she hoped they could move on with their lives, because that was what she wanted to do more than anything… move on with their life, together.

She set a plate of chicken fingers and a burger down at a table in her section and turned to head back to the counter. Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and she turned to see Trevor and Missy on the other side of the front window. Their discussion was heated by the way Missy kept pointing her finger in his chest.