“I thought we were avoiding each other,” I defend. “Trying to keep things simple.”
Yeah, avoid her unless I can’t keep my hands off her.
“What are you gonna do about it?”
“Do about what?”
“God, you really are being dense, you know that?”
“I don’t know, Carly. Since I’m so dense, how about you spell it out for me?”
Fuck sakes.
“Think about it. And think hard because if you’re not interested, don’t go screwing around with her heart. And if you’re fucking her, believe me, her heart has gotten involved by default. Aiden and I will call in favors and get her another job and we’ll rent her an apartment if we need to so we can get her away from you.”
“No, don’t do that. I want her to stay.”
“I bet you do.”
“I’m not using her. Well… I didn’t mean to.”
“Well, you’ve failed miserably.”
“Shit.”
“So, don’t treat her bad or I will get her a new apartment and you’ll probably never see her again until one day when I get to be her bridesmaid and then I’ll torture you by showing you pictures of her with her happily-ever-after!”
“Ouch. Fuckin’ direct hit, Carly Adler. Err… Carmichael.”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to tell her what’s going on in your life, too, you know?”
“Carly, back off. I’m not sure I want to talk about that with anyone.”
“That’s your call. I’m just sayin’, she’d be sympathetic.”
Like I want anybody else’s fuckin’ sympathy.
“Anyway…” I try to push the conversation forward.
“So, anyway, good. Now…” she huffs. “How are you?”
I give my head a shake.
“How am I?”
“Yeah. I know you’re not having a great time right now, Austin. We’re here for you, you know. Want me and Aiden to come for the weekend? We’ll stay in a hotel and we can all do something together. Have some fun.”
My new sister-in-law is whacked. Ready to punch me out one minute, offering to come be my support system the next.
“No, that’s all right. Not this weekend. I mean, if you guys wanna come to New York and stay at your apartment, I’ll go out and-”
“No. No no, we’re not looking to come there unless we’re coming for you. I’d love to come for just Jada, but she’s probably gonna be with her father and we have stuff going on here. We’ll think about it in a couple weeks maybe. If you need us, call us. Any word from the BFC?”
“The B-F-C?”
“Bitch-faced cunt.”
“Ha! Sienna? Not a thing.”
“Hm.”
“Yeah.” I agree. It is weird. But I’m sure it’s temporary.
“I wonder what her next move is. That girl is definitely playing chess, Austin.”
“She’s not smart enough for that, Carly.”
“That’s what Aiden says.”
“He would know. She’s barely smart enough for Checkers.”
“Hm. Grr.”
“Stay out of it,” I warn, not liking the sound of her ‘hm’. “You and Adele are staying out of it, right?”
“Of course we are. We wouldn’t want to put your court case in jeopardy. If she is pregnant with your baby, you’re dropping the charges, right?”
“Do you think I should?”
“It’s up to you.”
“I know. You said that at the hospital but what do you think? Really?”
“Adele doesn’t think you should, but she’s letting her anger at Sienna cloud her judgement. I do kind of think maybe you should consider it because I’m thinking of the baby. Though, that said, I’d fight for sole custody because she’s clearly not mentally stable. I’d fight for custody and make her see a therapist as a condition of her seeing that baby.”
That baby.
I grind my teeth.
“Anyway, if you need us we’re there. In a heartbeat. And Austin?”
“Hm?”
“You’re human, you’re under a lot of stress so you’re not thinking totally straight, but if you intentionally keep hurting Jada, I will know I’m wrong about you and that you’re not a decent person. Don’t make me be wrong about you, Austin, please.”
I sigh.
Two minutes after I end the call, I get a text from Carly. The message is the name of a hospital and it says Rahway, New Jersey.
Another text comes in a split second later.
Carly: In case you want to send flowers. Or something.
45
Jada
My father is being released against medical advice and he’s being a terrible patient.
Since he refuses to stay admitted, I’ve insisted that I go to the house with him and look after him, figuring what I’ll do is run back and forth between Austin and him. I’ll sleep there and during the day commute back and forth over to the condo and do any cooking, cleaning, and shopping that needs to be done. There’s no reason why I can’t do my job while I take care of my father.
I think Dad has only agreed in front of the doctors that I’ll be there because he thinks he’ll get a hard time if he doesn’t. He’ll probably try to make me leave once he gets into that stupid recliner of his.