JC arrived at the studio just before Amanda and Z took a lunch break. Amanda offered him a sort of half-smile but she didn’t reach for his hand, not that he thought to offer it anyway. Within five minutes they were in a corner booth in a small, upscale restaurant. Amanda ordered only a small salad (which she ate maybe two bites of) and a drink. JC just had a drink. Neither was really in a mood to eat.
"Josh, this isn’t working anymore."
"I’m sorry."
"So am I. You deserve better than this."
"So do you, Josh."
"So . . . I guess that’s it then."
"You’ll still see me, right? I mean with producing and stuff?"
"Yeah." Then he offered her a real smile. She stood up and hugged him. "No hard feelings?" he asked.
"None," was her reply. He dropped her off at the studio, both feeling like a tremendous weight had been lifted.
Chris found his wife sitting up, holding their daughter while their son slept peacefully in his bassinet. She smiled. "Where’s Gina?" he asked, noticing the empty bed in the room.
"Nursery. They still want to keep Marcus on oxygen for another day, just as a precaution, so she has to go to him."
"What about Joey?"
"With her, as far as I know." Her brow creased in concern. "She hasn’t spoken to him in almost 24 hours."
"But she got her way in naming the baby."
"Yeah. Marcus Nathaniel, not Joseph Anthony . . . I think he agreed out of guilt. Right now, he’s desperate for anything that would make her forgive him."
"He should be . . . but let’s not think about that right now," Chris said. "I have the best three reasons in the world to be happy right now," he said with a smile.
"Oh? And what might those reasons be? Busta, Korea, and FuManSkeeto?"
"Oh, you know it baby."
"And here I thought maybe you’d say it was me and the kids," she said, mock-pouting.
"Wench, you know that this family is the best thing that could ever happen to me," he said as he leaned in to kiss her.
Justin’s check-up went well. The doctor said he was progressing very well. "I expect a full recovery within the year," she had told Katie and Justin as they prepared to leave her office.
They stopped for a quick lunch before driving the two blocks from Dr. Perkins’ office to the hospital. They visited briefly with the new mothers. It wasn’t hard for anyone to see that Gina was putting up a very brave front. It was even harder to miss the fact that she seemed to have chosen to ignore her husband’s presence all together. Joey looked miserable and no matter how sorry they felt for him, they all knew he had brought it on himself.
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