Love, Scars, & Shooting Stars

Chapter Thirty-One

"You can't be serious," Julie said, gaping at her Ex across the table of the swanky café he had chosen for their meeting. "Why in the world would I ever allow that to happen?"

"Because he's my son, too," Garrett responded abruptly.

"Oh, is he now?" Julie sneered, her ire rising. "That hasn't seemed to matter much to you during the past twelve-plus years."

"Well it matters now!" he snapped hotly, and then lowered his voice and fixed her with a pleading gaze. "Jules, please—I want to see my son."

Julie tore her eyes away, feeling weak to Garrett's charms even after all these years.

"What for, Garrett? To satisfy your curiosity? To ease your conscience?" she asked, a tremor creeping into her voice. "Have you even considered for one second what it would do to Finn, to have you suddenly breeze into his life, only to breeze right back out again?"

"It wouldn't be like that—"

"Garrett, you live three hours away, when you're not on the road with your band, that is," she reminded him, using details of his life that he had shared with her earlier in their meeting. "How could it possibly be any different?"

"Because I would make it different! I could move closer, get a regular job," he vowed. "Actually, I've already started looking into it. I'll do whatever it takes, Jules..."

Julie stared back at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. Why couldn't he have felt this way twelve years ago?

"What about your music?" she asked softly.

Garrett snorted, and a bittersweet smile tipped up the corners of his lips.

"Nobody wants to hear my music, Jules," he admitted. "I'm 37 years old, and I'm a goddamned wedding singer, playing in a band with guys who are half my age! And I'm starting to realize— Do you remember back when we were together, how every club I played in always had that one guy?"

Julie nodded. "The past-his-prime guy who's twenty years older than everyone else there, yelling 'Freebird' and trying to score with girls who are half his age? Yeah, I remember."

"Well, sometimes I look at myself, and I feel like... that's me now, I'm that guy. I've been starting to think that it might be time to hang up my guitar and start living a normal life, with a house and a yard and a family. And then, when I saw you at that wedding reception, I knew it was some kind of sign, telling me that I'm right, that it's time for me to settle down."

Julie choked on her tea, the warm liquid spewing forth from between her lips to spray a fine mist over the table between them. She coughed and sputtered as Garrett mopped up the mess with a napkin.

"Garrett," Julie said, finally able to speak. "We're not a family."

"Well, no, not in the traditional sense," he allowed. "But how often does that really happen anymore?" He peered intently at her over the table. "Julie, I know that I hurt you, and that you and I could never be together again—shit, I was lucky to have you the first time around! But we do have a son together, and I haven't been there for either one of you the way I should have been, but I'd really like a chance to make up for that. I swear I'm ready, Jules— I'm ready to be a father to my son."

His jet black eyes were raw with desperation, and Julie looked away too late as her resolve began to crumble. What if Garrett was telling the truth? What if, in her attempts to protect her son, she ended up doing more damage by denying him a relationship with his father? And what if Finn wasn't her sole motivation for keeping Garrett out of their lives? Was she truly aiming to protect Finn from being hurt, or was it her real intent to protect herself? Sinking back into her chair, Julie let out a long exhalation and raised her eyes to Garrett's once again.

"I'll think about it," she said.