Returning Hearts

Chapter 20: Jealousy Sprouts

Jackson notices a silver corvette just outside August's parent's house and he curiously ponders who it could belong to as he gets Carter out of his car. He can hear August and a man laughing as he arrives at August's door. He knocks feeling a little annoyed of a man being with her. August opens the door as she is laughing. "Hey Jax."

Jackson's curiosity shows as he hands August Carter's bags moving past her uninvited inside. "Hey." Jackson's tone sounds irritated.

"Is this the Carter I have heard so much about?" Cade walks over to the doorway standing next to August.

August takes Carter from Jackson. "This is my little man."

"Hey Jax. It's been a long time." Cade extends his hand to Jackson.

Jackson looks annoyed toward August before looking back at Cade. "Don't call me Jax." Jackson continues to stare at Cade not taking his hand as he wonders if he is dating August. The thought of August being with Cade makes Jackson angry.

Cade shifts uncomfortably. "Well, I should be going." He moves in close to August kissing her on the cheek. "See you tomorrow."

Jackson fights the urge to slam Cades head up against the wall when he sees him kiss her cheek.

"Bye Cade." August looks at Cade as if she is apologizing as he closes the door.

Jackson looks around the room and sees alcohol bottles sitting around. He wonders how far things actually went. "That guy?" He tries to hide his anger. "Are you kidding me?"

August turns and walks into the living room sitting Carter down to play before gathering up the empty alcohol bottles.

Jackson feels his insides churning as he sees how beautiful she actually looks and he knows she dressed up for Cade. "Why don't you just focus on being a better mother?"

August looks angry at him as she stops what she is doing. "Excuse me?"

"I didn't stutter."

They stare angrily at each other in silence for a moment before August breaks the silence. "You can stop now."

Jackson looks at her unsure what she means. "What?"

"Being a jerk." August throws the glass bottles in the trash as her words make Jackson feel a little bad for the first time. "You have been so cruel to me since I came back. I get that your mad and hate me right now. I don't blame you for that, I know I deserve it but if you treat me like that again especially in front of our son I won't be nice anymore." August walks past him and opens the door making it plain to Jackson she wants him to leave. He feels like she just slapped him in the face as he stands frozen and speechless. "I would hate for you to be late for your date." August's confident eyes stir Jackson's insides and he quickly looks away from her walking over to Carter.

"Bye bud." He kisses Carter's head before moving back to the ajar door next to August.

"This is for you." August shoves a small box into Jackson's arms.

He sees it says For Jackson as he takes it before leaving silently.

Arriving home, Jackson sits down on the couch placing the box on the coffee table in front of him. He contemplates on whether to open it or to wait as he checks the time that reads 2:30 pm. He is due to pick up Isabelle at 6:00 pm so he knows he has time to kill.

He tears off the packing tape and moves the flaps of cardboard out of the way before pulling out a large book that has a blank dark blue cover. Opening to the first page, he sees a picture of a positive pregnancy test with the words Carter Jackson Frame born April 21, 2017 written below it. He slowly flips through the pages inspecting each picture of her pregnancy and picture of Carter as he feels a mix of emotions. There is a picture of Carter for every day of his life in the book with dates below each picture. As he comes to the end of the book, he sees empty pages and notices the last date with a picture reads March 15, 2018.