Serendipity Strikes

20

Emmaline

The day after we received the paternity test results, Shawn left for tour.

There was a nice send-off for him, Brian, and Andrew. His parents, Jax, Jordyn, and I joined the guys for a very early breakfast at ZET's, a 24 hour restaurant near Pearson International Airport. Jax was wide awake and babbling to himself as he sat in his high chair next to Karen. I hoped he'd go back to sleep once we got home, but he was definitely overstimulated by being out this early in the morning. His whole schedule would probably be off.

"Is 4:30 too early for a burger?" Shawn asked. "I'm not feeling eggs or pancakes right now."

I yawned. "Get whatever you want. I'm going to have a spinach and feta omelette."

Everyone ordered their food after the waitress filled the standard white diner cups with steaming hot coffee. I desperately wanted some but opted for a glass of orange juice instead. My only hope for getting Jax to sleep was nursing him, so caffeine was out of the question.

"The response to your statement has been positive," Andrew said as he stirred some cream in his coffee. "The E!News segment last night was pretty straightforward, and they definitely took your side. I'm glad they mentioned that not a single person sent in any photos of you two together prior to Jax's birth, which we knew would be the case since you hadn't met."

We'd stayed up to watch it, which was one reason we were so exhausted this morning. The other was that we'd been up past 1:00 having sex.

"Let's hope the whole thing is over," Manny said. "It's completely unfair that you two were raked over the coals by the tabloids for a vicious lie."

I felt uncomfortable discussing this in front of Jordyn since her mother was the cause of our problems. She was sitting next to me, so I reached under the table and gave her knee a squeeze.

"It's okay," she said leaning towards me. "I know my crazy mom is to blame for everything, and I feel terrible about it."

Shawn heard her say this. "Shit. We shouldn't be talking about this. I'm sorry, Jordyn."

She shook her head. "It's fine. I just want everyone to know that I'm done with her. As far as I'm concerned, she's no longer my mother. What she did to you guys is unforgivable. I just want her to go back to Ohio and leave all of us alone."

Brian put an arm around his fiancée and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I hate that I'm leaving you right now, sweetheart."

"I've got work and school to keep me busy, plus a wedding to plan. I'll be fine," she assured him.

Shawn and I made eye contact briefly before we both looked away. Things were still weird between us. As much as I disliked that he'd be gone for six weeks, a small part of me wondered if we needed a break right now. Even though he hadn't said anything about it since the day after the scandal broke, I wondered if he was still mad at me. There was something off about him when we were together. We'd had sex twice yesterday, and each time was physically satisfying, but there was an emotional distance. It felt like he was fucking me instead of making love. This wasn't the only issue with our sex life. Ever since Mike died, it hadn't been the same because of my emotional ups and downs. Sometimes I desperately needed the connection with my boyfriend, but other times I didn't want to be touched because all my emotions were right at the surface, and even the pleasure he gave me could make me cry.