Point Of View 2 [*Do not read until you've read the same chapter of ATW]

Chapter 86 Hanging By A Moment

"He's not going to jail?"

"No doll. James won't step foot in a prison." He cries into my shoulder, and that's when it hits me. Like a freight train. I sob in my best friend's arms while James's is being bombarded by the crazy Gallo girls and Lindsay. Even Maggie senses some kind of relief in the room as she jumps up James's leg while he stands, letting his sisters hug him.

After a good ten minutes of this, we are escorted back to the holding room to wait for Addison to fill in the blanks and answer any questions.

"So now what happens?" James asks.

"We won, Mr. Gallo." Addison smiles as she walks into the room. "You will be assigned a parole officer and, depending on where you choose to stay, fitted for an ankle monitor to wear for 6 months, but so long as you follow the house arrest rules you will not step foot in a prison."

James sits down on the couch, and I sit next to him, holding his hand with both of mine.

"James, I met with Addison this morning to go over things in case this was a possibility."

"Wait, you did? When?!" I interrupt the lawyer.

"It doesn't matter." Nate barks.

"Listen, James." Addison drags a chair over to sit across from us. "I just talked to Judge Capriotti about this. He is doing this out of compassion, ok? Because of your disabilities and the need for 24/7 care, he is giving you options on where you would like to serve your house arrest."

"W-what do you mean?"

"James. You can choose where you want to live for the next six months. You can live in your own home and have your sisters take care of you, or live in my apartment, though in a few months we leave for tour so your sisters would have to take over the last few months, or..." Nate pauses. "You can move into Julia's Avalon apartment, live with her and Paul, and she can take care of you."

WHAT?

James's eyes light up, and a hard lump forms in my throat. I let go of his hand and stared at him.

"Sir, you choose where you want to live." Addison nods.

"They'd let me live with Julia?"

My eyes begin to sting.

"I already talked to her doctor, and he ok'd it." She states.

I frown and look down at his hand I was just holding in disbelief. A tear falls down, and then another.

"With Julia. Of course. I'd live with Julia." He nods to the lawyer, and I can feel Nate's eyes on me. James didn't even take two seconds to think about his answer. He knew what he wanted right away. And it wasn't me.

"So here is the deal then, Mr. Gallo. Because you are choosing to live at The Avalon, an assisted living facility, Judge Capriotti said the rules are a little bit different."

I block out what the lawyer is saying. I'm still staring down trying to process this.

" It offers many different counseling opportunities for you to attend." I come back to life and hear Addison say.

"Hold on, James, you are willing to be an Avalon patient?? You don't have mental illness, and you don't have an addiction problem!" I blurt out.

"Trish. This is a good thing." Jonah begins. "The Avalon is staffed with plenty of nurses for James if he ever needed one. Julia can take care of him in her apartment with Paul's supervision. Her place is much bigger than 150 ft, and he has access to the outdoors with her backyard being part of The Avalon."

"And he wouldn't have to wear an ankle bracelet. The judge is going on your good merit. You made a mistake. Not from a DUI or drugs. From working too hard. Your character alone shows good merit. He's giving you a second chance at life."

"But you wouldn't want to stay at Nate's apartment? It's huge and you will have plenty of people to take care of you. Casey can walk the dog whenever, you'd have... " I look up at James. "Me..."

His eyes fall away.

Oh my God. He's choosing Julia over me.

"Trish...love, look at me." Nate moves to sit next to me and takes my hands in his. "You can go visit him whenever you like."

"At the AVALON?" I cry out. My heart physically hurts and that fucking lump in my throat is hard as a rock.

"If you were in his shoes and on home confinement. Couldn't drive. Would you stay at your apartment or mine, with me?"

"Well, yours. You know that! You're my..."My words fall and chin quivers a little. "Best friend."

"Exactly, doll. He wants to be with his best friend. Just like I would want you to be with me, you see?"

"And Jonah and I can take turns stopping by and walking the dog. There's a nice park right around the corner from The Avalon. It's not Griffith but it has plenty of room for Maggie to get her exercise. I'm sure once we go on tour, Lindsay will help out in that department." Casey smiles at James and gives me an empathetic look.

"So...no tour then? For you, I mean." I turn back to James who shakes his head no, now feeling bad for me from the way I'm reacting everything.

So that's that. I guess- we're done here.

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