Insecure

Chapter 20.

*1 week later*

Today was the day that everything was changing. After school that day, Laura called Nurse Russell. Within' a couple rings, she picked up. "Hello Laura."

"Hey. I had a question."
"Yes?"
"Can I meet with you tonight? I have great concern."
"Tonight? Yeah, I get off work early, so I'll swing by your place around eight?"
"Sounds good."
Laura ended the call and cracked her knuckles. She felt like a different person ever since Jayce came into her life. She was finally happy, and she would be damned if she was going to let some teacher of hers mess that up. She was going to settle this once and for all if it's the last thing she does.

~~~~~~~~

"Laura, are you sure that you know what you are doing?" Lilly asked, watching Laura get ready for when the Nurse comes.
"I'll be fine. I just need to know a solution to getting Mr. Russell out of my life like this."
"What if she brings him with her?" Lilly asked.
"I doubt she would," Laura replied, sighing. "If you don't feel safe in my house when she comes, feel free to leave."
Lilly was surprised. "Laura, I'm not leaving. What if something bad happens? No one will be here to call the police..."
"Lilly, trust me on this." Laura turned to look at her best friend. "I can do this."
"Does Jayce know about this?"
"Jayce is out with his father right now, so he will never know."
"You have to tell him, Laura."
"I will after it's over."
"You're seriously scaring the hell out of me."
Laura looked at her again. "Lilly, answer me this. Do you want me to talk to the Nurse to find a way to get this creep out of my life, or do you want him here every night trying to get me to sleep with him? Which one?"
Lilly looked down at the floor. "The first one."
"Exactly."
Before anyone could ask anything more, the doorbell rang.

~~~~~~~

Jayce was sitting in a booth towards the back of the restaurant, waiting for his "father." I can't believe I'm doing this. He checked his watch and saw that his father was 10 minutes late. "I might as well just leave," he told himself, gathering his stuff.
Then, he heard a voice behind him.
"Stay right there. I'm here." His father sat down, smirking.
"About time. I'm giving you a chance here, and you're late. Figures."
"Come on. Traffic was bad."
"You're talking to me, not Mom."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." He looked up. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because my son is so grown up," he replied, his smirking slowly starting to fade. "But, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to patch things up. I can't stand you and your mother hating me."
"We sure do have a good reason," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
He put his hands up in surrender. "Yes I know. I left you guys 10 years ago, I know."
Jayce looked at him with disgust. "Just left? Oh no, father, or whatever the hell I'm supposed to call you. You did a whole lot more. You did leave, but you left something...You left a shattered little boy wondering what he did so wrong that his father didn't want him anymore. His mother tried telling him that his father just had business he had to do, but it was all a lie. I could see through the lies like my mom was trying to avoid, but we both knew. You weren't ready to be a father. You wanted to be a man-whore which hurt me like hell. It was the most painful thing I ever had to go through," Jayce stopped to wipe tears that were falling down his face while his father sat there speechless.
"Yeah, I felt the same way. Speechless and worthless....I grew up without a father, and I had to help be a parent and try to be a kid until my mom found someone else when I turned 14. Other than that, I just wanted to die, but I knew I couldn't because I could never leave my mom like you did. Don't worry, sir. I will be there for my family, and I will never, ever leave them to sleep with 10 different women at one time."
"Jayce, I'm sorry. I should've never left. I just didn't know how to handle the pain anymore..."
"Pain? What pain?"
"I was losing your mother. We were fighting all the time and we losing the connection. I just thought, we were done, so I had go."
"You didn't even call....Not on my birthday, Father's day or Christmas. I would understand if you needed some breathing air, but you never spoke to me again."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well, me too."
"Does that mean I don't have a chance?"
"Chance with what? Seeing my future wedding, my future children, my future grandchildren? Hell, I don't know. Maybe I don't want to risk my children asking me, "Why isn't grandpa around? Does he even like us?" Dad, I can't..."
"I understand."
"Good." Jayce looked down at his watch. "I have to go."
. His father just nodded as Jayce excused himself. He walked out of the door with tears streaming down his cheeks. His father watched him go as he felt his heart sink. That didn't go as planned.

~~~~~~
Laura and the Nurse were sitting down, sharing a bowl of trail mix as they were discussing what to do with Mr. Russell.
"I just can't let him harm my baby. I'm extremely happy with Jayce, and I don't know why he hates him so much," Laura started.
"Right. And, to be perfectly honest with you, it's not you guys he's after," the Nurse said, taking another handful of mix.
"Then, what's his problem?"
"You remind him of his wife," she noticed Laura's funny look, so she said, "Let me explain."
"Please do," Laura said, leaning back.
"When his wife was younger, she looked just like you. She was beautiful and sweet like you, and well...he lost it. Him and his wife were fighting the day he tried to rape you or whatever, and you looked like her, so he wanted to take his anger out on you. Now, he is after you because he wants his wife back. He can't get his wife, so he goes after you. I don't understand it, but it's whatever."
"So, he needs to get his wife back if we want him to leave me alone?"
The Nurse nodded. "How are we going to do that?"
"I have a few ideas," Nurse Russell said, smiling. "You do?"
"Of course. It's not like I work with her or anything. Mr. Russell thinks she's in another state, but that was a lie...."
"A lie? So, she's here?"
"I work with her so yeah, I think so."
Laura smiled. "Do you talk to her?"
"Here and there. Small talk really, but we never bring up his name," she said, running her fingers through her brown hair. She had curly brown hair that was either pulled up in a ponytail or bun, and she was in her scrubs right now. She was a neat and thin woman; Laura couldn't believe this woman was single.
"Is this woman single? His ex-wife, I mean."
"Yeah, she has been for awhile now...." Nurse Russell trailed off, looking at her phone. "We just have to find a plan for them to meet up on 'accident'. And, I think that we can do it."
Laura nodded and smiled to herself. I'm getting my life back. Finally. This was the last thing she needed to get rid of until she was able to live without someone stalking her, using her. She smiled again and started throwing out ideas for the plan to get Mr. Russell back with his wife, well ex-wife.
"Do you really think this will work?" Laura asked Miss Russell.
"It should. We just have to be smart and sneaky about this."
"Agreed." Nodding, she said, "I don't think I would be to this point if it wasn't for you. This must be weird doing this to your brother. I'm really sorry that this is how it worked out---"
She waved it off. "This isn't the way I wanted it, but this is what I have to do."
"Are you sure? I can always----"
"No, we're doing this. Yes, he's my brother, but he needs to be held responsible for his actions. Just because he wants his wife back doesn't mean he needs to interrupt an innocent girl's life."
She just nodded. "Thank you."
Miss Russell stood up, heading for the door. "I should head home. Long day."
"Understandable."
Having her hand on the door, she turned and said, "Things change tomorrow."
Laura smiled as she watched the door close. Things change tomorrow. That was a really neat sentence, Laura thought to herself. I'll be so glad when all of this is over. She stood up, walking towards the window. She started to treasure the snow glistening down her driveway, yard and even on the neighbors roof. She never really liked winter, but tonight made it look so beautiful. This horrific season turned into a beautiful, magnificiant view. This is where things change. I'm taking my life back. He will not ruin this for me. This is what I always wanted. I have it. She rubbed her stomach. He WILL not take this from me.
"I'll protect you, baby."
She sighed and turned back to her couch.