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“Isn’t it too early?” Graham asks the doctor. “She’s due in December.”
“Four weeks ahead of schedule, yes. It happens. Don’t worry. I’m good at what I do. I will take care of them.”
“Can you text the gang?” Shane asks Graham before settling on a chair next to Juliette. She grabs his hands and holds on for dear life.
Graham nods and walks out of the room. Juliette and Shane talk, and maybe I should follow Graham, but I realize I’m one of the only two people Juliette and Shane have for support right now. The Davenports are out of town. Shane has his Vipers, but no other family. Zach’s parents are his foster mom and dad or something like that, but they live in Utah. This is my last chance to pull my act together.
I shoot a group text to my band (Jelly would tear me to pieces if I didn’t), and sit on the other side of Juliette’s bed.
“We forgot my hospital bag!” Juliette exclaims.
Shane kisses her forehead. “It’s okay. I’ll ask Graham to get it when he returns.”
“I can go.” I get off my seat.
Juliette grabs my hand and forces me to sit back down. “If you leave this room, you’re dead to me.”
I steal a glance at Shane. He chuckles and says, “I’ll go give Graham the car keys. I’ll be right back.”
He rolls away on his chair, and Juliette shifts to her other side so that she can face me. I take her hands and say, “I am so sorry.”
“You are—” She breathes through what looks like another contraction. “Why did you lie to me?”
“Because I thought I was in control and that if I didn’t let anyone know the truth, including myself, the issues would all go away.”
“Dummy.”
Dummy, dummy, dummy.
“Forgive me. I won’t pretend anymore.”
“But you still hate Shane.” Her eyes fill with tears again.
I consider my response for a minute, and when I answer her, I mean every word. “No. I don’t hate him.” When that changed, I don’t know, but I don’t grind my teeth whenever I see him anymore.
“Promise?” Juliette asks.
“Promise. We’re never going to be best buddies, okay? But I’ll admit he’s not that bad.”
She laughs a little at that, then sighs and whispers, “I’m going to be a mom, Jace.” Her eyes are huge, full of fear but also anticipation. “I’m going to have a daughter. I hope that somewhere down the road she’ll find a friend like you.”
Scowling, I shake my head. “Why would you wish such suffering upon her? She should have a much better one.”
Juliette pinches my wrist. “Did you ever imagine us like this?”
“No.” In my head, we were going to spar at thekwoonforever. She was supposed to roll her eyes at me every time I bought a new guitar. She was supposed to stay like when she was seventeen, wild braids framing her cheeks, worrying about nothing but what college to apply to. “But this is better. You’ll be a crazy good mom.”
“And you’ll be a crazy good uncle.”
“I’ll do my best.”
She warms me with the happiest smile I’ve seen in months, but then the contractions attack her again.
“Don’t you want any meds for the pain?” I ask.
“No. This is okay. Maybe later.”
She does not look okay to me, but I won’t argue. I do have something else to say though. “This may be the worst time to talk about this, but I need to tell you a few things.”
