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“I bet.” Julie couldn’t stop smiling. She’d only seen Molly shortly after she was born and the baby was beautiful, especially with Melissa’s red hair.
“Enough about us.” Melissa voice lowered. “How are you, Jules? I’ve been really worried about you. We all have. Me, Sarah, Ev, even Nicole has been asking how you were doing.”
Julie bit her lip. “Mel. I don’t know where to begin. I think I’m in trouble.”
“What do you mean?” The worry in Melissa’s tone was exactly what Julie didn’t want to hear. Her friend didn’t deserve this burden.
“Don’t do this. I know you, Jules. You were about to open up and you shut down. Don’t. If you don’t tell me, I’m getting in my car and driving to Corpus.”
“No.” Julie began pacing her living room. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll tell you everything.” A few seconds of silence was exactly what Julie needed to gather her strength. “Mel, the drinking…I can’t stop. I’ve tried, but it’s so hard. I’m getting really sick trying. I can’t even begin to tell you all the symptoms. It’s like if I don’t have some amount of alcohol in my system, I start shaking and feel like I’m going to throw up. The sweating and almost fainting—” Julie’s staggering breath cut off her words. She was so close to just breaking down into a hysterical panic attack that she couldn’t breathe.
“Calm, sweetie. It’s going to be all right. The first step was admitting you need help. It’s only going to get better from here.” Melissa’s voice soothed her. There was no disapproval or disgust in her tone and immediately Julie felt better.
“I don’t know what to do.” Julie sat on the couch.
“What you’re going to do is come stay with me for a while.”
Julie jumped back up. “Oh no. I couldn’t do that to you and your family. Plus, I guess you could say I’m under house arrest. Ayden wants an officer watching over me at all times.” Julie listened to the way that sounded and stopped pacing. “Not because of the drinking though. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything stupid. It’s just, I’ve been getting these packages from some stranger at work and apparently they found their way into my place. No big deal.”
The tone in Melissa’s voice rose an octave higher. “No big deal? But you just said they got in your apartment.”
“Yeah, but I left the stuff with Ayden. I’m sure they’ll do fingerprints and find the guy within the week.”
That seemed to calm Melissa down. “Well, I hope so. Ayden is a good cop. If the guy can be found, he’s the man to have on the job.” Melissa sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? Ayden wouldn’t mind. Hell, he’d probably feel better with Connor and Channing watching over you than you being there by yourself with just a cop outside.”
“Well, it’s not just any cop, and let’s just say the hottie has a partner, his brother.”
Melissa instantly perked up. “Oh, yeah? Do tell.”
“Well, the cop’s name is Aston Simms, and his brother is none other than—”
“Londyn!” Melissa squealed again. “I heard he was back.”
Julie felt her smile disappear. “Yeah, he’s back all right, already trying to move himself back in. He actually tried to tell Taylor that I was his.”
Silence from Melissa made Julie’s stomach drop. After all, Mel had been there when she and Londyn had first met, and she knew how serious they had become before the jerk bolted.
“You loved him, Jules. Do you think you’ll be able to forgive him?”
The bottle of vodka screamed Julie’s name. Damn, she really wanted to drink right now. “He left me. Just left…”
“From what I’ve heard, he didn’t have a choice. The case he was working on got really dangerous. Stuff got leaked about who he was and, this is just pure speculation on my part, Jules, but I really think he left to protect you. If they discovered Londyn had a love interest, it could have turned out badly.”
Julie let the words sink in. Maybe Melissa was right. Maybe Londyn had to leave like he did. “Perhaps. I guess until I really get to talk to him I won’t know for sure. He did mention something along those lines.”
“I think I’m right. Just do me a favor and give him a chance. I know what you two had was real. And, now that I know he’s watching over you along with his hottie brother, I feel a lot better.”
Sounds in the background indicated to Julie that Melissa’s men were home, along with their daughter. “Thank you for talking with me, Mel. I should be getting to bed.”
“All right, but I’m calling to check on you tomorrow, and you better answer your phone.”
Julie laughed. “I will. Love you, girlie.”
“Love you more.”
Julie smiled and hung up the phone. She felt better already. Now if she could just find something to do to take her mind off of drinking, she’d be all right. She looked around the empty apartment. It was so quiet without Taylor here. The thought had her returning to her room. She grabbed the ring and took it out of the box.
She loved Taylor, but she couldn’t deny that a part of her still had feelings for Londyn. She slid the ring on her finger and held her hand out. It was beautiful. The most perfect ring she’d ever seen. Before she got too attached, she quickly put it back in the box and placed it on her dresser.
