He stared at me the entire time and it felt like slow motion. Once he had the glass in his hand, he backed away and I could breathe again. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me and I didn't have the power to stop it. I moved away, making my way across the kitchen until I decide there was enough distance between us.
He drank the juice and placed the glass in the sink before walking to the front door. "Well, I have laundry to go home and do so, I'll talk to you a little later."
In a way, I was sad that he left. I mean, I kind of enjoyed the day as a family, it reminded me of when things were good between us, but him talking about laundry reminded me of some things I needed to get done. A few hours later, Emily got up and asked for her daddy. Cringing, I hated that she requested him first, and had to tell her that he left. It still hurt my heart to know that while she understood that he no longer lived with us, she missed him when he wasn't around. Emily threw a tantrum when I didn't give her the response she wanted, making the remainder of the afternoon uncomfortable.
Tuesday came around so fast and I was still running around gathering Emily's things when he knocked on the door. "Come in Jay." I called out.
He stepped inside and picked up Emily, kissing her and sitting her on his lap. I watched him brush her hair and pull it up into a neat ponytail. Grabbing her jacket, we rushed out the door and I giggled. "I'm impressed with your ponytail abilities."
He smirked, checking out his handiwork as he placed her into his truck. "What, I'm capable of doing things. I put her hair up sometimes."
I shook my head and laughed. "I know, she looks fine."
We drove to his mother's in silence and dropped Emily off. It had been a while since I saw Connie, but she hugged me anyway and told me that she missed me. I agreed to have lunch with her after the Thanksgiving holidays.
We spent a few minutes catching up and then I followed Jared out to his truck. He drove toward the toy store while questioning my relationship that had already ended. "How are you and Matt doing?"
I clenched my teeth, knowing that I was going to have to tell him that we broke up. The last thing I wanted was to explain the reason it ended. "We broke up."
His whole expression suddenly changed. "I'm sorry. You okay?" He asked, placing his hand on my knee.
"Why wouldn't I be? It's not like it was serious." It really wasn't, but I pretended that I could care less anyway. He'd just gloat about it anyway, bragging that he's the real reason behind it.
"Shannon informed me that Matt spent the night over there one night." He sighed, and glanced at me before continuing. "He happened to pass by on his way home from some girls house at like five in the morning."
Was this his way of asking if I had sex with Matt without coming right out and asking me? It wasn't like I owed him an explanation or anything.. "Jared, I didn't fuck him."
He then pretended that he could care less. "I didn't ask that! What you do is your business Kristen." He said, raising his voice, but I knew better, he got the response he wanted.
"You're the one who said that Shannon passed by! I'm just confirming that nothing happened!" I was now pissed off that he acted as if he didn't care. It was total silence after that. "What's happening with us? Why do you have such an attitude?" I asked just as we arrived at the store.
"I'm just trying to avoid a fight. So, I thought that the best thing for me to do is not speak." He said, smugly.
We didn't talk much until we stepped into the toy store. He picked out some new toys and even more clothes for her. I couldn't figure out if he was just trying to be spiteful. We were only in there for about an hour and I was ready to walk away from him. "Jared I'm getting hungry. You want to stop and have some lunch?"
"Yeah, but not here." He insisted as we were walking out of the store and of course, he got stopped to take photos with some fans. Once back in the truck he finally sounded more like himself, "Let's drop this stuff off at my place before we get her and then get some food." I nodded pulling the seat belt across my chest.
The drive back to his place was short and I helped him carry the bags into the house, following him into his bedroom. God, the room smelled like him, just the way our bedroom used to smell. He opened the closet doors and I moved behind him, holding the bags ready for him to shove inside. He turned around and removed them from my hand. His long slender fingers brushed along mine, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
