Southern Charm

Chapter 15

JESSIE

In the middle of the night, I woke up to Trace, who was not in bed. The bathroom light was on, so I sat in bed and turned on the light on the nightstand.

"Trace?" I asked, wondering what was going on. I started to get out of bed, hobbled on my good leg to the bathroom doorway, and held onto the door frame for balance.

Trace's head was hung over the toilet, and he turned to look at me. He looked pale, and I didn't know what to do. I was already injured myself, so what could I possibly do?

"Jess, what are you doing out of bed?" Trace asked. "You should be sleeping. I'm sorry to have woken you."

"I wanted to make sure you're okay. It's okay that you woke me. Is there anything I can get for you?"

Trace shook his head. "No, I'm about to come back to bed. I got sick, but I think it's passed for now."

"Are you sure? I can't hold your hair back, but I can get you a wet washcloth. I want to help."

Trace stood and put his forehead against mine. "I promise I'm okay. Let's go back to bed."

Before I could complain, Trace scooped me up in his arms and placed me back on the bed. He even put the covers over me and then returned to the bathroom. I heard him brushing his teeth, and then he crawled into bed beside me, kissing me.

"You're something else. I love you."

Trace smiled. "I love you too, firecracker. Get some sleep. I've got my appointment in the morning, and Meghan will take you to yours."

I nodded. "I forgot about that. Are they going to change your medication or up the surgery?"

Trace shrugged. "I'm not sure. Let's talk about this in the morning. I'm tired."

Trace rolled over on his side while I stared up at the ceiling. I couldn't move much due to my injuries, so sleeping wasn't always comfortable. It left me a lot of time to think about things like wedding planning. I had plenty of time to do that and hadn't even begun.

Once morning came, Trace and I both went to our appointments. Meghan took me to mine, and the doctor reviewed my injuries again. Nothing had changed much, but the healing process was going as expected. All was great until we were leaving the doctor's office.

"Jessie?"

I turned to see Lainey Jones, her arms linked with Max  Lane, or should I say Max Jones. She was showing a nice round bump. I had no idea she was pregnant. 

"Hi," I said, not moving from my position. Meghan's eyes were on me.

"How are you?" Lainey asked. Max was staring at me, and all I could see was hurt in his eyes. Was it because he still felt sorry for what happened? He should. He never apologized.

"I'm okay. I'm healing well. Congratulations on the pregnancy." I smiled even though, inside, I was feeling jealous. Don't get me wrong; I was more than happy with Trace. It's just the things that could've been that didn't happen.

"Thank you. We're expecting a boy! We found out the gender today. It was nice to see you," Lainey said with a bright smile. She looked happy, and Max did too.

"You too." Meghan and I turned to leave, but the tears I held back fell down my cheeks the second we did. I couldn't help myself. Bringing up the past isn't something I should do. I should move on and get past it, but this one thing I couldn't seem to get out of my mind since the interaction with Max at the stadium.

Meghan helped me into her car and noticed the tears on my face. "Hey, what's wrong?!"

"It's nothing," I said, wiping my tears. I pulled down the mirror in the car and noticed mascara now stained my face. Great.