"Why would I lie to you about something like that, Hallie?" Laura asked as she sipped her tea.

"Because you probably wouldn’t want to hear me tell you how wrong it was if you had fucked him last night." She said as she opened the blinds in her friends bedroom.

Laura squinted and blocked the sun away with her arm. Hallie pulled the string of the blinds slightly to get the sun out of her face. "How do you consider wanting to have sex with my own husband wrong? I’ll admit that my better judgment was impaired last night, but I don’t think I was wrong to miss his touch."

"On the one hand I agree with you completely, Laura. But on the other side of all this I would wonder why you would want to be with him if he is fucking Rachel too." She said as she laid across the bed. "Plus there is the whole issue with that baby over there. JC isn’t one to step out on his responsibilities and if it indeed is true that Nikolas is his son, you know that he won’t want to be a weekend father."

Laura looked towards JC’s house and thought quietly to herself as her friend continued to speak. Hallie got up and walked into the bathroom to get Laura some aspirin for her hangover. "Oh shit, I almost forgot. You got a FedEx today."

"Probably some record company mumbo jumbo or some lawyer bullshit. I’ll look at it later."

"Rick also called."

Laura immediately stopped what she was doing. "He did?"

"Yeah. He wanted to know what you were doing tomorrow night. He wants us to go with him to some party?"

"Yeah, Joey told me about it last night. Who else is going?" Laura asked.

"Your usual crew and a couple additions."

"Rachel?"

"Yep."

"Eh. Why not. Last night wasn’t so bad."

"It wasn’t so bad because you were drinking like a fish." Hallie laughed.

"Then I guess I will have to stick with what I know best."

"Whatever happened to you and Rick?"

"Nothing really. He got tired of being second when it came to my career…Which is understandable. But other than that we had a pretty good relationship." Laura started to laugh suddenly. Hallie looked towards her to find out what was so funny.

"He came by when I was visiting my mom and JC kept making these strange faces anytime we would talk."

"Guess I had to be there." She said sarcastically. Laura picked up a pillow and hit her friend with it.

"When are you going to open your gifts?"

"Maybe later. I’m too tired to do anything but lay down right now."

"Okay. Joey called earlier and wanted to go out shopping for a bit so I think I will hang with him today if you don’t need anything else."

"I’m fine. Go have fun."

"Want me to pick you up anything?"

"I’m good."

After Hallie left the room, Laura laid back down and snuggled underneath the blanket as she looked towards the window thinking about JC. Hallie’s words ran through her mind over and over again, ‘...he won’t want to be a weekend father.’

Laura slowly opened her eyes and looked towards the clock. "Oh shit. It’s 4:00? I can’t believe I slept this long." She said to herself as she slowly got out of bed. She walked downstairs and noticed that the house was immaculate and smiled to herself. She went into the kitchen and fixed herself a sandwich. As she was eating she noticed the FedEx letter envelope on the end of the counter. She reached over and got it and recognized who the sender was. She held the envelope in her hand and tried to decide whether or not she should open it. She set the envelope down and finished eating. She did everything she could to avoid the letter, but the contents of what was inside kept playing on her mind. She’d be in the middle of playing on the piano and she would stop what she was doing to look towards the bulky white envelope on the table. Nine o’clock rolled around and she finally gathered up the strength to grab the envelope and open it.

A few hours later Hallie came back home and noticed that all the lights in the house were off. She found it odd that Laura would still be in bed. She walked upstairs and knocked on Laura’s bedroom door. "Lar, you in there?"

There was no answer. She turned the knob and opened the door slightly and noticed Laura sitting in the chair by the window looking up at the moon. "You’ve been in here all day?"

Laura didn’t speak. "Sweetie? Are you okay?" Hallie asked her friend as she patted her head.

"You ever wonder what your life would be like if you made different choices?" she asked.

"We all do, Laura. But since we can’t go back in time, we have to live with our decisions. Why?"

"I just wish I would have done a few things differently."

"Everyone does. But you can’t keep living in the past. You need to let that go and live for today. And if you’re smart, you’ll make better choices tomorrow. That’s what life is all about. Living for tomorrow. Not yesterday."

Laura looked towards her friend and slightly nodded in agreement. Hallie placed her hand on Laura’s shoulder to comfort her. Laura placed her hand over it and squeezed gently, "You always seem to know exactly what to say to me when I need advice. And you are absolutely right."

Hallie smiled and leaned down and hugged her friend from behind. "That’s what true friendship is all about."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello?"

"Hey, Hallie. Can I talk to Laura please?" JC asked.

Hallie rolled her eyes. "Let me see if she is here."

"That ‘let me see if she is here’ shit doesn’t work with neighbors, Hallie. I just saw her in the backyard."

Hallie started laughing, "Yeah, true.  But you know what does work?  Me just hanging up the phone.  But I'm in a good mood, so hold on while I go and see if she wants to talk to you."

She took the cordless and went down the hallway into Laura’s office. "JC’s on the phone."

"Okay. Thanks." Laura said as she went to take the phone.

Hallie covered the it and whispered, "I thought you weren’t speaking to him."

Laura pushed her friend out the door. "Thanks Hallie." She said as she grabbed the phone and shut the door.

Hallie went to speak but was startled by the door almost hitting her square in the face. She shrugged and headed back towards the living room to watch tv.

"Hello?"

"Hey…You left me a message on my voicemail?" he asked as he opened his mail.

"Yeah. I ummm…I need to give you some stuff to look over."

"Oh, ok. You want me to come over there or you come over here?"

"Are you alone?"

"Yeah, for most of the day. Why?" he asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I’ll come over there then. Give me a few minutes."

"Uhh…Ok."

"K. Bye." She hung up the phone and sat back in her chair, thinking about what she was going to do next.

A few minutes later there was a light knock on the front door. JC looked in the mirror and fixed his hair and clothes before taking a deep breath and opening the door."Hey."

"Hi." Laura said as she walked into the house.

"Why didn’t you come to the back door?"

"I drove. I have somewhere to go afterwards."

"Oh." He said as he motioned for her to follow him down to the studio.

She slowly trailed behind him down the steps into the sound proof room. Memories flooded back into her mind as she looked around. She hadn’t been back to his place in weeks. JC walked over to the sound board and grabbed a stack of papers and handed them to her. "Here are some of the things I have been working on. I looked over what you had and wrote above it with some additions and changes. If you don’t like them you can just cross them out. It was just a few suggestions I had."

Laura took them and placed them in her bag. She pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to him. He slowly looked over the first couple sheets and smiled to himself. "This looks good."

"Thanks." She never smiled back.

"So what did you need to see me about?"

"I just wanted to give you these and see what you had done so far. I also wanted to make arrangements ahead of time for when we need to actually work together on this. Once it’s over I can move on and you can get on with your life and your new family."

"So she did tell you about it..."

"Tell me about what?"

"The baby."

"What about the baby?"

JC looked up towards the ceiling realizing that she didn’t know what was going on. He told her to wait there for a minute. JC ran upstairs and grabbed a piece of paper and returned to the studio. He handed it to Laura.

"What’s this?" She said as she opened it up to read it. "Wow…99.9% chance, huh?"

"Yeah." JC sighed as he sat down in the chair.

"You yell and scream at me for keeping secrets from you and then you turn around and do the same thing."

"I thought you knew. I figured Rachel told you. The topic came up and she fully agreed to have it done as soon as possible. I got the results not too long ago. "

"Well, if you hadn’t noticed, I hardly speak to Rachel. It’s hard to look her in the face and not see visions of the two of you running through my head constantly."

"Do you really think that I would sleep with her while I am still married to you?"

"Well you moved her into your house. And from what I hear, that’s exactly what’s been happening. Or was it someone else who asked you to wash their back…Was it someone else who came over to my house wondering about another woman because you weren’t satisfying her the way you used to?"

Leaning back in the chair, JC crossed his arms and said, "I guess you don’t know me at all then."

Laura sat down on the opposite chair. "I don’t even know myself anymore, JC."

They both sat in silence. Laura placed the paternity papers down on the table and looked towards him. "Last week she told me that you hadn’t even asked for a paternity test."

He hadn't.  But after stopping by that same afternoon and listening to Laura throw innuendos his way, he needed to know for himself.  He had to have proof so that he could finally come clean with his mother about what was going on.  He had only told her that Rachel had left Jerry and that he was letting her and the baby stay at his house for awhile.  Which was technically true.  He just couldn't tell her anything else until he was sure.

"So what are you going to do?" Laura asked.

"I don’t know. I’ve been fighting with myself for a long time about this. And I know you don’t want to hear it, but I need to be honest with you. I still have feelings for Rachel. I have to sort through and find out what exactly it is that I’m feeling…But I am indeed feeling something. And knowing that she is the mother of my child makes that feeling a bit stronger."

Laura stomach began to do flips and all she could think about was getting out of there as fast as she could.  She didn't want him to see her as vulnerable and as hurt as she was at that very moment.  She refused to let herself cry in front of him.  As they locked eyes he said, "And then I see you, and…" He paused, leaning up and placing his hand over hers. "...I just need time to figure this out. I don’t want my son to grow up and not have me there. I’ve already missed a year. I don’t want to miss another day. I can’t live like that. And I hope you wouldn’t want me to."

"Of course I wouldn’t want you to, JC. I knew a long time ago that if this were the case, we would be no more. I guess that’s why I tried to keep her secret as long as I could. Part of me was trying to be a good friend. And the selfish part of me was trying to hold onto you as long as I could."

"I’m just having a hard time dealing with Rachel and the baby. I am having an even harder time looking at you the same way I use to. You kept this huge secret from me for a whole year. That’s difficult to imagine. And with the results proving that he is, it’s even harder to stomach. I can’t help but wonder what else you have kept from me."

Laura didn’t argue with him. She knew he was right to feel the way he did. "Then I guess that’s that." She said as she slapped her knees and stood up to leave.

JC got up and stood in front of her to block her path. "You're leaving already?"

"I can’t stay. I need to go."

JC grabbed her face in his hands. "You are an incredible woman. And I hope you know that you have a special place in my heart."

Tears began to form in her eyes.  She tried to shake her head away from his grasp but it was no use.  JC took his thumbs and wiped away the tears that had began to fall down her face. Laura closed her eyes and placed her hands over his. "Well I guess the feeling isn’t mutual…Seeing that you own my heart."

JC wrapped his arms around Laura and held her tightly. Laura didn’t want him to let her go, but she knew she had to break free before she lost her courage. She lightly pushed on his chest and backed away from his embrace.   He stood and watched her open her bag and grab a small stack of papers. She handed them to him and said, "I need you to sign these as soon as you get a chance. Once you are done just drop them inside the envelope and I’ll take care of it from there."

JC took the papers and began to leaf through them. "What is it? Something else from, Jerry?" He flipped through a few more pages and found himself having to suddenly sit down. He looked up towards her. "Divorce papers? What the hell is this!?"

"I know…I know…But our marriage can’t be annulled. And this was the only other alternative."

"What?" JC was still in a state of shock.

Laura went on to explain what the attorney had explained to her about any possibility of an annulment and how hard it was going to be in their situation.  "This seemed to be the quickest and easiest choice considering our careers and busy schedules.  It will be kept confidential. I trust my lawyer completely with this. So you don’t have to worry."

JC looked through the papers once more. "Wow. You really put a lot of thought into this."

"I was doing everything I could to keep it private, so that this wouldn’t hurt your career. There was nothing else I could do though."

"So instead of coming to me and trying to figure this out together you went behind my back and did this?"

"What is your problem? I told you I would take care of it and I did.  I thought you would be relieved that I brought these to you."

"Relieved? Why the fuck would I be relieved that you want to divorce me, Laura!"