*James*

It seems Julia may have damaged her relationship with Paul. He is known for not giving second chances. In all the years knowing him, he has never once extended a second chance to a woman. I don't see him changing that now. He has completely distanced himself from Julia. He talks to Nate very little, mainly because Nate is his boss, so he has no choice.

 I'm not sure how I feel about this. In a way I feel bad for Julia. She ruined a good thing. If I had to choose to see her with Nate or Paul, I would have rather seen her with Paul. He's a decent man, not that Nate isn't, but Paul is also a stable man.

But Nate has this hold on Julia. I don't know what it is about the man. It's not the money. It's not his good looks. Something deeper. Whatever it is, it keeps drawing Julia back in. It's not healthy.

"Hey... you're off in your own world again, Jamie." Lindsay pokes me in the ribs while helping me with my salad.

"Sorry." I murmur, still concentrating on other matters and not on her. Lindsay, like Julia, has the patience of a saint when it comes to taking care of me, but I've noticed she still has a lot to learn. I try not to get frustrated with her over the little stuff but am feeling on edge today.

"I can't eat this, Linds. I don't know who you gave me a salad. It's too hard." I snap and slam my fork down onto the plate, gaining Nate's attention as he glances up from his laptop on the couch.

"Oh." Lindsay frowns. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Just... I don't know... can you make me a sandwich or something else, please?" I push the plate to the side and drop my head in my hands.

"Of course."

"Sorry, Linds. I didn't mean to-"

"No. It's ok!" Lindsay perks right up and fakes a smile. She makes me a ham and cheese sandwich and helps me grip it properly before sitting back down next to me. While eating, my mind begins to race.

"Linds... how are we gonna make this work?" I ask, making sure my voice is soft so Nate can't hear our conversation.

"What do you mean?" Lindsays blue eyes sparkle and her smile fades.

"This. Me. Everything. It's a lot and-"

"I can learn." She rests her perfectly manicured hand on my thigh and gives me a slight squeeze. "No salad when you're a little off. Got it."

"But you can never tell when I'm a little 'off'. That's the thing. And it's why it was too hard for me to be in my sisters care." I admit. "And you travel for work so much... I just don't see where this is going."

"Are you breaking up with me over a salad?"

"No! No, I'm ju-just. Sorry. I don't know what m-my problem is today." I inhale deeply and take another bite of my sandwich.

"We can figure it out as we go, ok?"

I nod with a half-smile on my face but in the back of my head I realize I am just like Julia.  I'm gonna need stability. Like Nate, Lindsay can't provide the one thing I am going to need.

Stability.

*****

*Trisha*

I give in and finally agree to go to the Avalon to visit the other half of our circle.  But it's awkward as all hell. I assumed Jonah and Casey would have been here before us to cut the tension, but Evan and I were the first to arrive. Evan catches up with Paul while me and James sit on the couch.

"So I hear you've been getting cozy with your ex?" I break the silence and James laughs a little.

"Which one? I have a few here." He jokes, putting a smile on my face.

"Lindsay. She's here often...." I nudge him and raise a brow.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing. I don't know... I'm hard to take care of." The joking has stopped and James is unusually serious. It's not something I'm accustomed to seeing from him. He is usually so light and carefree. Not today. Clearly, something is eating at him.

"It just takes a little time and learning your cues, that's all." I explain.

"Yeah," James lets out a sigh. "She just travels a lot for work and stuff. She's around as much as she can be, but the reality is... I need more."

I frown and study his face. I never should have ignored everyone here. I never should have stopped visiting James. What an awful thing for me to do to someone I consider a good friend. And now we will be leaving in just a few more days. All that time wasted.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around lately." I take his hand in mine. "I was being a brat and I know it."

"Yeah, you're a little stuck up, you know that?" He smiles brightly at me and the old James shines through.

I look down at my phone and see the time. Then look up at Nate.

"So, I figured, since you only have a few more nights here, we could order your favorite Italian food for dinner?" 

Before Nate answers there's a knock on the front door, and Paul lets Jonah and Casey in. A full house once again, which is fine by me. 

"Hey, I grabbed your mail for you." Jonah hands Nate a stack of mail. "And I grabbed your mail for you too." He lifts up another stack of mail that is James. 

Julia is the first one to sit down next to him, knowing he can't open mail.  He doesn't have to even bat an eye, she just knows. I think that is what James is talking about. Being around him all the time, Julia knows what he can and can't do. Lindsay is still learning. I can see how that could be frustrating for James but it's not her fault either. She has a job. A job that pulls her away in different directions often. I can understand that.

I observe Julia opening envelopes, showing each item to James, and placing every piece of mail neatly on his lap for him to read. When he is done she moves to the next piece of mail. They have a silent system, like they have been together for thirty years.

"Junk. junk. And junk." James says as Julia shows him each opened envelope.

"How about you? Anything good?" Julia asks, turning to Nate who jumps a little while fumbling to fold the paper. I watch him tuck the envelope behind other shit and furrow my brows at the suspicious ass.  

"Nothing. No." He stiffens up.

"You're hiding something. What was it, your Victoria Secret's credit card bill?" Julia smirks teasingly and grabs his mail.

"Jules, No! Wait!!" He yanks it back, startling all of us now.

"I was only kidding; I wasn't really going to read your mail." She hands him back his mail. "Sorry."

"No doll, it's not that. I could care less if you read my mail."

"You're being weird. What are you hiding?" I squint my eyes at my best friend. "We ALL want to see what you're hiding now. Take his mail." 

"Jule..." Nate shakes his head.

"Fine, I'll do it." I huff and grab Nate's mail before he has a chance to fight me on it. "I'm the one who has to do your budget for you anyways, you dumbass."

"Trisha..."

I open the envelop and see a hefty medical bill. "Oh, no biggie. I will pay that tomorrow when I have my laptop. It's just a stupid medical bill from when he had his vasect-" I immediately freeze up. I don't think Julia is aware of this. Hell, I'm not even sure Nate knows I know. Casey happened to drop the ball on that a while ago in conversation.

The room falls silent, and all eyes are on Julia.

"You knew?" Nate looks up at me then glares at Jonah, thinking he is the one to tell me.

"I said nothing." Jonah defends himself and turns to Casey, who is beet red.

"Sorry. It slipped out." She cowers behind Jonah.

"Jule, I was going to tell you..." Nate turns to Julia. She didn't know. He had kept this information from her. Why?

"Why? That's your business." She tries to show no emotion, but her voice cracks, giving her away. "But when? I never saw you in pain. I could have helped take care of you."

"The weekend I had a bad headache.... I lied to you. I was no longer feeling symptoms of my detox, I was recovering from having the vasectomy. I don't know why I lied."

Shit just got real.

"That's why you slept over?" She glances at Jonah who remains silent.

"I was going to tell you." 

"We're not together, so you shouldn't have to feel like you need to tell me anything." She frowns and looks away. 

I hand Nate back his mail and give him a slight shrug. In return, he gives me a nasty look. Hey. He fucking lied. That's not MY problem. He should have told her the truth right away. She probably wouldn't have cared.

"I just didn't want it to be a thing. A big deal or anything. That's all."

"It takes a while to get those appointments. You made it when we were together." Her voice trails off.

"It's not like that, love."

"Like what? Like the fact you made an appointment to get fixed while we were dating, knowing full well I can't have kids? How do you think that makes it look? Then you lie about it? Fake a headache so I don't know you're recovering from a procedure? Sounds to me like you were planning on cheating on me all along. Making sure you can't get anyone pregnant. Like Mila."

My eyes widen hearing this. The girl has a point. If she can't have kids, and Nate was a faithful man, why get fixed? But we all know Nate. He's a playboy through and through. In a way I'm proud of him for making the decision since he CLEARLY has made it known he doesn't want children. That much we learned the hard way. But, yeah, he could have gone about it a different way instead of lying.

"Jule. Stop. That's not - it wasn't like that." 

"It's fine." She stands to her feet.

"I TOLD you this was a bad idea! I don't keep anything from her." Nate points his finger at James.  Oh boy...

"Did everyone but me know? Everyone's in on it and happy to lie to my face that my, at the time-boyfriend, was planning on cheating on me all along? That's great, guys." Julia huffs. "Did you think I would freak out? Tear apart bathrooms?"

"Babe..." James leans up and grabs her hand pulling her to sit on his lap. "It's my fault. I told Nate not to tell you. I thought you'd take it the wrong way."

"Yeah, well. I guess I did." She snaps, gets off his lap and walks out to the backyard. Maggie follows.

"This is YOUR fucking fault, Gallo. I was most likely going to tell her."

"You WERE NOT. I call bullshit." I scoff obnoxiously. "You would have told me too then. I'm the one who makes your appointments, does your finances, pays your bills. You weren't going to tell anyone."

"Trisha, it's his body. His personal decision. He didn't have to tell anyone if he didn't want to." Jonah explains but I shake my head.

"You were planning on cheating all along weren't you, Playboy? Let me guess. Mila Giovanni. God, I don't blame Julia for thinking like that. You're making it pretty obvious. And the fact you made the appointment when you were still in a relationship with a woman who can't have children? How do you THINK she'd take it? She SHOULD be mad, you dumbass!"

"Jesus Christ, can we stop with the Mila Giovanni shit ?!" Nate jumps up and heads out the Avalon door, letting it slam behind him...

Playboy fucked up.... again.

*******