Two Days Later
Justin
"I'm not going. What's the point in going to relationship therapy is half the relationship isn't there?" I spoke over the phone with Amari.
"She could help you on your part." Amari laughed.
"She could do that when you get back." I scoffed starting to brush my teeth.
"Well, I already told Lana to come get you so you better hurry up." Amari said. "You know she doesn't care how you walk out of the house as long as it's on time."
"Amari..." I whined.
"Bye! Love you!"
"Love you too, I suppose." I said.
She blew me a kiss through the phone before hanging up.
I finished getting ready and by the time I made it downstairs, Lana was already in the house waiting for me.
"Amari gave me strict orders to drive you to and from therapy." Lana said waving her keys at me. "Let's go."
We went out and got in Lana's car as she started it, she began to speak.
"Why was Tyler's wife over here?" Lana asked pulling out of the driveway.
By the tone in her voice, I knew she had already made up her mind about why Danielle had been over.
That was the same tone Amari spoke with whenever I ate the last of her Zebra popcorn and she wanted me to confess.
"I don't know." I shrugged looking out of the window.
"You don't know or you don't want to tell me?" Lana asked.
"I honestly don't know." I said. "You ran into her. So why was she over?"
"She was delivering this." Lana held up a CD case. "What is it, Justin?"
"I don't know." I shrugged again grabbing the CD from her.
"You're real clueless whenever it comes to you needing to know stuff. I don't like that." Lana shook her head.
"Well, if you're hoarding my mail how am I supposed to know?"
Amari
"This is my favorite ball." Kyler said showing Tyler. "Because momma got my name put on it."
It was a crocheted baseball with Kyler Rose stitched into it.
"Really?" Tyler asked examining the ball. "That's awesome! Have you ever been to a real baseball game?"
"No." Kyler shook his head.
"How about I take you to one someday?" Tyler asked.
"Really?" His little round face lit up.
"Really. You just let me know when you want to go and I'll come get you." Tyler smiled at him.
We had to make a decision Today.
We either took him back home with us or had to come up with another way of keeping him a secret.
Tyler had made up his mind on the first night and when I told him that he was being irrational and thinking for that moment only, he went off.
"I don't think you should be the one to make this decision." Tyler had said. "You've made all of the decisions regarding him up to this point. You chose to give him up, you chose to do it in Pennsylvania, you decided that he shouldn't be able to be traced back to us. Your body, your decisions. But now he's a real person, Amari. I don't care if Janice will end up with hurt feelings. He's my son and I want to take him back home with me. I should be able to do that. If you don't want Justin to find out about him, that's fine. He'll just be a child I had with some chick I cheated on Danielle with. Your name won't even come up."
"That's not what I meant..." He cut me off.
"I know that." Tyler waved a hand at me. "I'm just saying, I don't need your approval to take Kyler back to Arizona with me. Janice technically voided the whole adoption thing when he was a baby. I'm still his legal guardian and can take him whenever I'd like. That's what I'm gonna do. With or without your support."
Who was I to deny him his own flesh and blood?
I had done that once before and I wouldn't cross that line with him again.
If Tyler wanted to take Kyler back home, I would let him.
I would tell Justin all about this myself.
I would even introduce the two of them.
My problem didn't sit with introducing Kyler to everyone, it was forcing him out of this life and into a whole new one. Hurting my cousin.
No matter what I chose to do, someone would end up hurt and that wasn't my intentions.
At this point, I had to do whatever was best for Kyler. Whatever kept him safe.
And that was clearly taking him home.
Justin
"Yeah. I don't know." I shrugged. "I think we're in a good place right now."
"Are you really?" Jessica asked writing in her notebook. "Or are you two in a state of euphoria because of the pregnancy? How will you both feel once the pregnancy is over?"
"Happy? I don't get what you're asking." I shook my head.
"Justin..." Jessica sighed thinking for a second. "Where is Amari?"
"She's on a business trip." I said.
"And how have you felt being separated from her?" Jessica asked. "Not the baby. Amari. How have you felt being separated from Amari?"
"I've been fine." I squinted at her. "It's not the first time we've been apart. It's not even the longest. I miss her, yeah. But I'm alright. We talk all the time."
"Just making sure." Jessica nodded writing. "This whole time you've been talking about Amari and the baby. I've met people in broken relationships who don't even realize their relationship is broken because of the overwhelming feelings they get from having children. You know a child can't fix a broken home, right?"
"Yeah, but our home isn't broken." I shrugged.
"I know that." Jessica said. "Anything you want to disclose before our time is up? Remember, whatever you say will be talked about with Amari in the room next session."
"No. I'm good." I gave her a fake smile.
Man, I hated her.
Amari
"If we take him home, everyone gets to meet him. He gets to live with his real parents and Danielle won't be able to do anything stupid." I explained to Janice.
"She's married to Tyler." Janice pointed at Tyler. "She's be his guardian, technically."
"She won't because I'm divorcing her." Tyler shook his head. "The only reason I haven't yet is because of this situation."
"You only want him so you can fix your problems." Janice said with tears in her eyes. "I actually love him."
"So do we." I said. "Janice, I fell in love with him the moment I first laid eyes on him. When he was just a picture. Seeing him now just makes me realize how much we missed out on. We're not doing this to hurt you, it's just for the best."
"Amari..." Janice shook her head crying.
"You can come back home. Your parents miss you." I said sitting beside her. "You can have your own child. You're a fantastic mom, Janice. You can still be apart of Kyler's life, too. I'm not gonna force you out of his life."
Justin
I sat on the couch finally being left alone.
Lana had dropped me off back home and I had to start getting ready to go again.
My old college roommate was coming to town and I promised to hang out with him, but I had a few hours before then.
The disk Danielle had left shined in the sun annoying me.
I wanted to throw it out, but my curiosity just wouldn't let me.
"Might as well..." I mumbled to myself grabbing the CD.
I put it into the DVD Player and waited for it to load on the Tv.
There it was.
At first, I was confused. I didn't know what I was watching, but the moment I saw Amari appear on screen, I stopped thinking and started paying attention.
There was no sound.
She approached Tyler and they went into his office.
The video should've cut off, but instead it just kept playing.
5 minutes of watching random people walk around the building before Amari was back.
She kissed Tyler and just as she was leaving, I saw it.
The long sleeve shirt was tight on her stomach.
Her round, firm stomach.
It was only visible for a second before she pulled the cardigan close and rushed away.
I grabbed the remote and started to rewind the video just to pause it on that one specific part.
There was no date on the screen, but I don't think I needed one.
Amari was pregnant in that video.
How could it not have been recently?