Isabella (The Mitchell/Healy Family #2)(33)
Author: Jennifer Foor

After being with Tate, I needed someone that could give me their all, not just what they had left. Maybe it was selfish, but I had a child to think about, so settling wasn’t an option.

As much as I was falling for him, I knew what we had was only going to be temporary. I’d start to get huge, and if that didn’t scare him way, when the baby came it would change me. At some point he’d realize that I was nothing more than a reminder.

While biting off all of my fingernails, I heard a car pulling down the road. The motor shut off, and I prepared to be bombarded with hugs from someone in my family.

I heard my dad’s voice first, beckoning me from the kitchen. “IZZY!”

I got up off the couch and made sure the hoodie I was wearing covered my stomach. The first thing he noticed was my weight. I wrapped my arms around him and watched him pulled away and look at my face. “The last time I saw you, you were skin and bones. You look so healthy.”

I raised my brows and pretended to be totally offended. “Geesh, are you sayin’ I’m fat, daddy?”

“Never. You just look great, that’s all. I’m glad to see you put on a few pounds.”

My mom gave me this look, and I feared she could see right through my fake smile. She leaned forward and hugged me without addressing my weight. That was a big red flag, considering that she was always more vocal. “Your brothers drove themselves. Callie and Cammie came with them.”

“What about Josh?”

“He’s got football this weekend in Virginia. To be honest I’m surprised your brothers wanted to come. It’s not like they care about a wedding.” My dad was being stupid if he didn’t know the real reason.

I raised my brow and let out and air-filled laugh. “They like to drink, and they know it’s free here.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “I’ll kick their asses if they wreck another golf cart.”

“Yeah, get in line behind uncle Colt. He was pissed last time.”

My mom grabbed my arm to catch my attention. “Dad and I just wanted to stop by and see you first. I need to go help your aunt Van with dinner. We’ll see you in a bit, honey.”

I watched them leave, and out of the corner of my eye something was approaching the house. My brothers whipped around on the golf cart, pretending they were about to run into the porch. They both hopped off laughing, while climbing the steps with their small bags. “What’s up, sis?” Jax hugged me first and then waited for Jake to do the same thing.

“You look different,” Jake announced.

I pulled away and made sure my sweatshirt was protecting the bump in my belly. “My hair is longer.”

He shrugged and went inside, letting the obvious change in my appearance go without a second look. Jax pulled me to the side once we were in the kitchen. The serious scowl on his face let me know that I wasn’t going to appreciate what he was about to say. “You heard from your boy lately?”

“My boy?”

“Tate. Have you heard from him?”

I scrunched up my face and sat down at the table. “No. Why would you even ask me that?”

He laughed again, just as Jake came in. “I heard about it too, bro. His ass got shut down.”

“What are y’all talkin’ about?” As much as I didn’t want to hear the mention of his name, obviously I was curious.

“Mom ran into his parents at the salon. His mom said that he’d been in the hospital for an apparent suicide attempt. He drank drain cleaner. What kind of idiot does that shit?”

I swear that my heart stopped beating for a second. All of the hate that I’d felt for my cheating ex was gone. “Why would he do that?” It was sickening to even imagine.

Jake came over and grabbed my arm as he spoke. “Get this. You know that chick he was seeing behind your back?” He paused and waited for me to nod. “Apparently she found out he’d been cheating on her and broke up with him. I guess the dude couldn’t deal with it. I mean, one minute he’s planning a wedding with the chick, and the next it’s all gone. His mom said they’d been dating since elementary school or some shit. Then to add to that, he got in huge trouble at that new job. He showed up intoxicated, and tried to beat up his manager. They fired him that same day.”

I looked down at my hands and tried my hardest to not let my brothers see my anguish. I’d been the reason that Jenn had broken up with Tate. I’d caused her so much pain that she’d pushed him away. The worst part of that was knowing exactly what I was doing. This was no accident. Then to imagine how upset he was, it was almost too much to fathom. Then on top of it all, he’d lost his job as a direct result of this all playing out. “So he’s okay now?”

“Aside from being insane, yeah I guess. Did you know he was with this chick the whole time you were together? That is so f**ked up.”

I cocked my head from side to side. “Not really. It wasn’t until the end of us seeing each other.”

“Well like he said, it’s f**ked up. We would have beat his ass sooner if we knew about that,” Jax added.

I knew I had to call Tate. Against my better judgment, I had to reach out to him. Guilt was already eating away at me. I’d taken everything away from him out of anger. Now he’d lost it all, and wanted to end his life. As angry as I was at what he’d done to me, I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I was carrying his child and did nothing to make it better. “That’s terrible. I haven’t heard anything. I’ve been workin’ a ton, and busy with life here. It sucks for him, but he made his choices.” It hurt me to lie through my teeth. “Listen guys, I really need to get ready. Do you mind givin’ me some privacy?”

As soon as they agreed, I rushed into my room, closing the door behind me. To prevent them from hearing me, I turned on my music and sat inside of my closet. With shaky hands I dialed his number that I’d never been able to forget.

He picked up after two rings. “Bella?”

“Hi, Tate. It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah, it has.”

The line was silent. I knew we both had hard feelings.

Since I didn’t want to bring up my brothers, I came up with another way to let him know that I was aware of his situation. “Listen, my mom’s here and she told me that you weren’t doin’ so good. Is it true? Did you try to end your life?” I could feel the burn in my throat starting and knew my emotions were a reaction to imagining him dead. No matter how much I tried to hate him, something so serious reminded me of all the reasons that I loved him in the first place.