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“I have,” Jesse answered them, “but not for a long time.”
“What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?” Cord asked. “She seems more at ease with you than anyone, not even the people she grew up with.”
“She’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Jesse told him. “You can’t help but fall in love with her, can you?” he added to Craig who shrugged in agreement.
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Joel stated.
“I think the better question to ask is how does Paige feel about me or anyone else,” Jesse told him. “For a while there, I thought she was what I wanted, in a way she still is, but unlike some people I listened to what she wanted.”
“And that wasn’t you?” Sam asked.
“Not by a long shot, but when you work on a team like we do you become family. When Paige left, our family was shattered, we’ll do anything to protect her,” Jesse stated bluntly.
“But if she decided she wanted you you’d be fine with that?” Cord inquired.
“Nah…we’re friends, family. There are things about Paige only I know I’m sure and the same can be said vice versa. Don’t worry; none of us are going to steal her away from you all much as we’d like her back on the team with us.”
“Him you might have to worry about,” Hillary added nodding towards the pair where Paige was laughing again, her face outlined by the sun adding a glow around her they hadn’t seen for a long time.
“I might need to redo my bet back at HQ,” Sam said following her gaze and grabbing Joel before he did something stupid like go after the other man. “Easy there buddy, we don’t need another Rambo appearance.”
“If he thinks he’s going to step in simply because Aaron’s gone the man has another thing coming to him,” Joel said glaring at the picture they presented.
“Four weeks ago I’d have agreed with you,” Jesse said, “but this…that’s the Paige we’ve been missing.”
“Meaning what?” Joel inquired.
“Meaning she hasn’t been too happy the last few weeks, it was pretty obvious when Aaron showed that they weren’t a love match and I figured if you played your cards right, you’d win her back despite everything, but she hasn’t seemed like she’s about to budge during the last three or so,” he stated.
“Not since I told her the truth you mean?” Joel said trying to see if Paige had talked to him.
“Yeah…that was pretty dumb of the two of you. Then again, Paige wasn’t completely upfront with you about why she’d pushed.”
“How much do you know?” Joel asked.
“Would one of you explain what you’re talking about?” Cord stated as confusion rolled around the group.
“I don’t think Paige would like us discussing this out in the open,” Jesse said. “But to answer your question…I know everything about pretty much everything that happened in her life up until she left the team, though I know why she did and what happened afterwards too.”
“How’s that?” Joel stated.
“She spent a month at my place after and then one morning I woke up and she was gone. She’d left a note saying she needed to start over, and we got a call, by the time I got back she’d emptied out her place and her phone had been disconnected.”
“Hold on…Paige was staying with you after she left the team?” Hillary asked. “The entire time when we were trying to get in touch with her, make sure she was okay…you kept telling us she was fine. You sounded so sure, because she was with you. How could you keep something like that to yourself?”
“She asked me to. She knew if you all found out what’d happened, you’d suffocate her and she needed some space, time to heal.”
“Heal from what?” Moose asked.
“From an ectopic pregnancy that nearly killed her,” Joel stated. “She turned toyou? Instead of coming home and telling me, telling any of us…she turned to you.”
“Paige was pregnant?” Rabbit said looking around the group. “Who…when?”
“Christ…” Cord stated. “That would have been right after my heart attack. You both were at the hospital.”
“She found out she was pregnant and then we were called to Fairway and that situation was completely unexpected. The combination of the two and your heart attack changed something inside her and she couldn’t separate her emotions. We talked it out and she decided to leave the team and come back here but then she lost the baby,” Jesse admitted. “She was crushed, and it changed her again. You’re not the only ones she cut out of her life so don’t expect us to disappear anytime soon.”
“Jesse…” Paige yelled across the distance towards him as she ended a phone call. “Sorry Dawson…hey,” she said hurrying over to the group. “I need your help.”
