Best Friends are Forever.

Chapter 3

 Four months after the conversation between Jason and AJ about his new girlfriend found AJ as “Best Woman” at Jason wedding to a now 3 month pregnant Amber.  And worst of all her suspicions where confirmed when Amber threw a huge fit when Jason announced that AJ was going to play the part of “Best Man/Woman”. To the point of accusing Jason of cheating on her with AJ.  He put his foot down and said either AJ is in the wedding at his side or there will be no wedding.  Amber backed off and put on a sweet face blaming her outburst on pregnancy and wedding jitters.  Till the day they came back from their honeymoon.  She cornered AJ in her own home and flat stated that AJ is to stay away from her husband.  When AJ pointed out that that was Jason’s call not hers. Amber exploded accusing yet again that she and Jason were sleeping together and had been all along.  Even accusing that at least one of AJ’s children was Jason’s. 

AJ had had enough she ordered the woman out of her house and until she could show more respect she was not welcome back. 

When AJ had tried to make contact with Jason she was told he wouldn’t take her calls and eventually changed all his numbers cutting off all connection to her She later learned thru a friend that Amber had told Jason that she had come over to AJ’s to make amends and that AJ had been cruel; calling her fat and that Jason only married her because she was pregnant.  Three weeks after the wedding AJ found herself without the one constant in her life other than her family.  The shoulder she went to was no longer just out of reach from time to time it just wasn’t there anymore.

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AJ thought her life could not get worse till two years later she was told by her husband of six years that he wanted a divorce.  All he would say is that she would never be able to give him what he wanted and that it was for the best for both of them. He also kept making reference to a shadow between them that was never going to go away.

It hit harder when David showed up in court for the divorce and custody hearing with none other than her former best friend Jason Johnson to represent him.  Jason spent the entire court session with a disgruntled look on his face and rarely made eye contact with her.  After being awarded the house, her car and primary custody with joint scheduling of her kids plus alimony she didn’t ask for. AJ went to her mom and cried for a week. 

Two weeks later her father died of a massive heart attack.

AJ would not let go of her kids at the funeral.  She just wanted it all to end.  All the heart ache and pain.  She wished throughout the entire funeral that she could just go back in time and fix what ever had gone wrong so her life would be right again.  The three most important men in her life had abandoned her in one way or another.

During The Services at both the Church and the Grave site AJ never noticed Jason. He Stayed in the back and spent the entire time wishing there was something he could do to make up for all the hurt he caused her and wishing he could be there for her now, just as she was there for him when his mother died of cancer while he was in junior year of college. But he knew that she would never forgive him for his betrayal of their friendship.

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AJ’s cousin, Jeff, would stop by periodically to check on her after the death of her father. Other than being her cousin he was one of the only other person she felt she could confide in.

He seemed to always have gossip on all the family members and was never shy about sharing it.  Sometimes he would even tell her about Jason, but AJ did her best to tune him out but one day.

Not even a full month after her father’s death Jeff told her that Jason and Amber where getting a divorce. According to him, she finally showed her true colors.  “Turns out the baby might not even be Jason’s.  It is presumed that she got pregnant off a one night stand she had while “out with the girls”. Jason is devastated.  He filed for a divorce as soon as he found out.  Sad part is because of her Jason now has very few friends.  She found ways of chasing them all off in some way or another. Or turned him against them” Jeff looked at her pointedly. “If only he had listened to you in the first place.” 

AJ later found out that Jeff was actually referring to a second child.  She never heard that Amber was pregnant again hell she never even found out the sex of the first one.  Her heart ached for days with wanting to comfort him but she felt her comfort might not be welcome. 

She sold the house that she and David bought together. Then bought a house on the other side of town, in the neighborhood she grew up in, trying to get away from the pain and memories.  The kids seemed to take to their new school with no problems and soon had a lot of new friends.  Luckily her father had left her with a rather large trust fund that made it easy for her to spend most of her time at home with the kids. As well as a primary share in the bakery with her brother.  To make sure there was still some kind of income.  The alimony went into a savings account for just in case.