Pictures And Some Memories

Thirty Nine: If You C Jordan

we're nearing the end, y'all.  six chapters to go!

hope you enjoy!

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ZACKY POV

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick....

We sat outside the courtroom in an eerily silent hallway, the court adjourned for lunch until 2 pm.

It was currently 1:30, and I couldn't stand the uncertainty before me when it came to my son.

Jourdan got to present her character witnesses first – her father, her supervisors, her AA sponsor, a few colleagues. They all gave glowing reviews for her mothering skills, how dedicated she was to her son now, how much she'd changed.

Even though every drug screening came back clean, I still couldn't believe the person who stood before me could possibly be any different than she was the day she left our son alone at just six months old. How she'd given me a courtesy call—if you could even call it that-- saying she just "needed a break" and then never came back.

No matter what, even if she was working full time and was sober for nearly six months – I just couldn't get past what she had done.

But – there was a small part of me that had liked the change of sharing custody with her over the last few weeks – how we had suspected her to be behind the leak until she messaged us both to apologize for it happening, and offered to keep Nicholas while we worked through the mess, no questions asked. We took her up on it, daring to give her a chance. And by God, nothing of note happened. He came back happy as ever, no signs of distress, even saying he missed her when we put him to bed the night he came back home.

I think part of me just wanted this edge over her, some sort of justice for all the shit she's pulled over the years. It felt better to hold a grudge than to forgive.

"Sorry to come back empty handed, but the coffee smelled so burnt I just couldn't torture you with it," Andi sighed, settling beside me on the bench with a huff.

"No, thank you, I don't think I could stomach it anyway," I admitted sheepishly, eyes glued to the window in front of us overlooking the beach in the distance.

"No matter what happens today, we'll get through it," she murmured, laying a supportive hand on my leg.

"I know," I sighed, turning to face her. "Thank you for being here."

"Of course, babe." She moved closer to me on the bench then, taking my hand in hers. We sat in silence for a while, watching the same plain view before us. I felt myself relaxing, though, just with her being there beside me.

Before I knew it – she was pulling me to my feet; we'd been summoned back into the courtroom, and I hadn't even realized it. She lead the way back inside, for which I was grateful. It was my turn for character witnesses, and she was doing a great job at hiding her anxiety about taking the stand.

My own parents took the stand next – followed by my band mates, our manager, and Jourdan's own mother.

"I'm going last?" Andi squeaked out, surprised and looking over to me, her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of it.

"We do save the best for last," Davis smiled, as Andi's name was called to the stand. She gave my hand one last squeeze before making her way to the stand.