Time To Live

Chapter 03: Sit Down

Jenna glanced nervously around the lobby of the hotel, clutching her large diaper bag to her chest like a shield. "I'm not sure about this, Brian. It doesn't feel right!"

Why did her sixth sense have to kick in now? Why hadn't self-preservation smacked her in the face a week ago? As Brian stood there clutching his sleeping nephew in his arms, he sighed. "We can go home without seeing anyone if that's what you want." Because, he was fully prepared for the onslaught that was going to befall them, but his little sister was not and he couldn't push her into the flames.

Having spoken with several of the band members yesterday, Brian knew that Jen was not going to be greeted with open arms. Her ex-boyfriend believed that she had aborted his child, erased him from her memory, and moved on without a backward glance. Of course, there was always the possibility that he was completely wrong, and Jenna would be met with open arms, but Brian had that sick, roiling bubble of bile in the pit of his stomach. Flashing neon lights were telling him to abort mission, but he had to stay loyal to his sister. Whatever she wanted, he would do.

She took a deep breath to attempt to calm her fears, shifting the bag to her shoulder along with her small black purse. "I want to be able to move forward. Most of all, I want to do what's right for Christian." She glanced around the glitzy lobby of the boutique hotel and frowned. "I don't know what to do anymore."

At the sound of her voice, the baby stretched slowly in his sleep and Brian smiled down at the little boy. He felt that he should stick to his initial story, wherein he had been the one to fill Jenna's mind full of this idea. He took a deep breath and tried to slip into his big boy pants. "Don't you think Christian deserves to have a chance with his father? Even if his dad is an asshole that his uncle hates, he deserves a chance at a relationship with his dad." He repositioned the baby then and took a seat on one of the large leather sofas in the lobby.

Jenna glanced down at her cell phone, at the text message from Ricky – Chris was in Room 1348. How tragically ironic. She sighed and set her bags down onto the furniture beside her sibling. "I'm not going to get my heart set on any big reconciliations. Rick said that he's dating someone new and that she's here with him." She paused then and glanced around nervously again. "But we're here, so I guess I'll just see what happens."

The expression on her face was stony as she headed toward the bank of elevators and hit the necessary buttons to bring her to the floor Ricky had instructed. He had replied to her text, promising to come right down and meet Brian and Christian while she went up to speak to Chris. Hopefully, it would be a nice, polite conversation but her bones were jittering.

Within minutes, despite her desperately small and anxious steps, she found herself standing in front of the black hotel room door. She knocked tentatively, softly, hoping that maybe no one would be inside. Maybe she could escape this entire ordeal by knocking too gently, and no one would respond.

She had been warned to expect another woman and so she was not entirely shocked when a tiny but gorgeous blonde opened the door, wrapped in a silk robe. Massive blue eyes peered around the edge of the door and looked her up and down slowly. "Yes?" the other woman inquired with a raised eyebrow. Her voice was soft but high, a little Minnie Mouse of a creature.