From a Table Away ✓

Thirteen

Andy was practically living with me these days. Something Laurie said really had fucked with him. He wouldn't tell me about it but I wasn't exactly shocked when later that week, a big envelope from a prominent divorce attorney in the Boston area got delivered to my house.

I find him looking over them one night when I returned home from working at the campus library. I had taken even fewer hours at the restaurant, not really able to stay up too late these days. This first trimester is kicking my ass. I'm tired all the time and the hormones... It was enough to drive anyone crazy. "Are we finally going to talk about the damn elephant in the room?" I ask, watching as he hurries to put the papers away when he hears me.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"That shit might have worked with Laurie but I'm better at reading people. What's going on?"

He sighs, rubbing a hand down his face. "This was all just shitty timing."

I exhale through my nose, trying to keep my composure. "What was shitty timing? Your son getting accused of murder? Your history with your father coming out? You and your wife divorcing amongst the first two, or me getting pregnant? Which is it, Andy?"

"That's not fair Celeste."

"No. What's not fair is loving someone who even now, I can never truly have. I understand the shit with Jacob. I really do and I would never have wanted any of this to happen, but it did. I got pregnant in the most cosmic of flukes and now we, not just you, have to deal with the consequences. If you didn't want your affair coming out, maybe you shouldn't have had one." I say, heading out to the recording studio to give us both some space.

I was playing around on the piano an hour later when a knock rang out on the door. "Go away Andy. I'm still really not in the mood to talk to you." I say through the door.

"It's Jacob." I open the door, taking in the kid in front of me. The stress from the investigation has taken its toll on him. Gone was the snarky yet sweet kid I met last summer. In his place was a kid that was scared shitless.

"Jacob, what are you doing here?"

"I needed someone to talk to, and I can't really talk to my parents. They're... they got enough going on right now."

"What's up?" I ask cautiously.

"Did you know, when you started seeing my dad... about me and my mom?"

"I had no idea. Your dad is a good person, I just think he was going through something that he didn't know how to handle and what happened next was him trying to deal with whatever it was."

"But you found out, about my mom, before the trial?"

I let out a deep sigh. "Yes. I'm truly sorry for the role I played in splitting your parents up Jacob. I wasn't strong enough to walk away." I say quietly. This kid was too perceptive for his own good. "But I still don't think that's the real reason you came over here. What's wrong Jacob?"

"They don't believe me, that I didn't do it. Especially not Mom. She's convinced that I did this horrible, horrible thing."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"It is. I can see it in her face. Dad, at least, is a little better at hiding it. But I can tell he's starting to doubt me too."

"I can't speak for your mom. But I know your dad is 100% sure of your innocence. But I shouldn't be the one telling you this. He's inside the house, if you want to go talk to him." He smile and nods.

"Celeste?" he asks, turning back to me.

"Yeah?"

"You're not too bad. In fact, I think you'd be an awesome stepmom."

I laugh out loud at that one. "Thanks kid. But I don't think your father or I are thinking about that at this point."

"Still, I thought you should know." He smiles before heading out. How Laurie could think that kid was capable of murder... I couldn't understand that.