Beautiful Mistakes

Sighing, she leaned back on the couch and wondered how she had managed to make such a damn mess out of her once-promising life.

As if prompted by that thought, she heard the door open and Aaron came back into the living room, looking as gruff as ever.

Julie waited, looking at Aaron questioningly so as to prompt him to share some information, but he just silently went back to assembling the bed.

Finally, when she realized he wasn't going to say anything, she prompted him, "So, that was Matt, huh?"

He glanced up at her briefly. "Yep." Then back to the bed.

She nodded, trying not to pry, but intensely curious about what was said. "Just…calling to chat?"

With a sigh, he said, "No, he was calling to see if you had changed your mind about the abortion, and he wanted to know where you were sleeping…just checking up on you."

Despite herself and despite how everything was turning out, hearing that he was calling to check on her caused a strange, not altogether unpleasant sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Must be hormones, she decided.

"Oh, and since I'm not much help," Aaron added as an afterthought, "Matt's going to come over tomorrow when you get off work to talk to you."

And just like that, her stomach dropped out of her body.

"What? I don't want to talk to him!"

Shrugging, Aaron focused on the mattress. "He wants to talk to you. He said you guys need to discuss the situation."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "He wants to discuss changing my mind to suit Emma's wants and desires."

Shrugging, Aaron said, "He just said 'discuss the situation.'"

"But I don't want to discuss the situation. He's just going to make me angry; I don't take well to being bullied."

"Then don't let him bully you," Aaron responded easily.

Eyeing him a bit suspiciously, she said, "You know, for being his brother, you really don't seem to be on his side."

"I'm not taking sides—this isn't my issue, it's his. What he does with his life, what mistakes and decisions he makes—that has nothing to do with me. Matt and I are brothers, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get involved in his business. I've tried to get involved in his business before, and it blew up in my face. From here on out, he's on his own. The only reason I'm helping him out with you is to return a favor—I can't stand being in someone's debt. After this, I

don't care how many nannies he knocks up, it's on him."

With that, Aaron seemed to be done talking, as he dismissed Julie and went back to quietly preparing her bed.

Julie sat there looking at the ground, contemplating seeing Matt again.

She really should call Jack. Instead of letting Matt and Aaron use her to settle a debt, she should call her old familiar devil, the one who had no effect on her womb or her heart, and just use him until she could get herself on her feet.

A mean thought, she decided, but not one she was going to rule out just yet.

"Dammit," Aaron muttered, running his hand through his hair and sighing.

Julie's attention was caught, and she looked over at him, then glanced up at the clock.

"You know," she began, “On top of opening at an ungodly hour tomorrow, I have a final and it's getting kinda late."

"I'm sorry, princess, I’ll try to hurry," he said sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "I wasn't done. I was going to suggest that we be adults for one more night and just share your bed, then tomorrow we can worry about blowing up the…boat."

"It's not a boat," he muttered. "I guess we could do that though. I need to get up early, too."