Chapter Forty Four

“Meet you out at the car." Jared tells her as he takes Shasta and left the house.
Mila ran up to her room along with Selena to change into more suitable clothes. "We’ll get breakfast on the way." Selena says.
She gave Mila a sideway glance. "He's happy to see you, you know." She says softly making Mila look up at her.
"You think so?" She goes to her window and watches him put Shasta in her car seat as Kristan was talking to him.
"I don't think, I know. He has this glow about him whenever he looks at you and his eyes light up."
Mila laughs as her face flushes. "Geez Selena, you make it sound like he’s in love with me, which we both know isn't true." She doesn’t see the look on Selena’s face when she made that statement because if she did, she would start questioning on Jared's feelings about her.
Sometimes Selena wondered if she should tell her about the secret love Jared has held for her through all these years, but then she thought of Stacy and went against it. She also needed to see where Mila's feelings lied when it came to her brother because if she didn’t love him the way he loved her then she wasn’t going to put him in any more pain than he already was.
Selena had no doubts that Jared was still be in love with her best friend. "Come on lets go, they’re waiting for us."
When they got to the hospital, Jared saw that Evan was waiting outside the entrance, most likely waiting for them to arrive. He turned off the car and stopped Mila from getting out the vehicle. "Hold on Mil, I need to talk to you for a moment, Sel could you take Shasta?" he asks her.
"Sure, see you inside."
As they waited for Selena to take the little girl out of her car seat Mila was wondering what it was that Jared wanted to talk about. She couldn't explain the sudden thumping of her heart against her chest. She also couldn't help but look at him. He looked so much more handsome this morning. He wore a plain white shirt with faded jeans. He had a necklace that looked like Shasta had made for him. He also had a watch on one wrist and a fight against Cancer wrist band on the other.
She could tell he kept his body in good shape because it really showed. His black hair was still in the same style it has always been. She had to admit he looked good, and it was giving her major butterflies in the pit of her stomach. She wondered then what would it be like to be in love with this man? Mila's eyes widen at that thought and looks away quickly.
Where did that thought come from and why would she think it? She hears the door shut and Jared looks over to her. "Evan’s here and I thought I would prepare you of it than for you to be caught off guard." he says with a look of worry and something else she couldn’t quite identify.
"Oh." she states, feeling a little nervous now.
Jared saw the nervousness in her posture and looks away. "This has to be hard on you seeing them again and meeting little Shasta. I know it’s a reminder of what was done but believe me when I tell you, Evan's changed for the better. He accomplished things I didn’t think he could, and I know it’s all because of that little girl, without her..." Jared sighs.
"I consider it a blessing that she came into his life." He finishes.
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she just sat there. He looks over at her again. "Are you still hurt and angry?"
She jerks at the question. "No I’m not, I'll admit I was at first. It was hard to hear about it when it first happened but honestly I didn't feel devastated as everyone thought." She says.
He frowns at that answer. “Then why did you leave?"
She didn't know what to say to him. She couldn’t explain her actions back then. "I don’t know, everything had happened all in one day. The big fight between me and you, losing your friendship then a moment later Evan breaks up with me and to top it off Kristan tells me that same night that she was pregnant. It was all just too much. I just felt I needed to get away."
Jared felt bad. She was right, that was a lot to take in especially for a sixteen year old girl. "You were gone for six years Mila." He says softly.
"Yeah I guess I wanted to start over in a new territory, meet new people, surround myself with unfamiliar things."
"Did it help?" he asks next, watching her with such intensity.
She laughs awkwardly. "In some ways it did, but no matter how I hard I tried I couldn’t stop comparing my new friends with any of you or stop myself thinking of what you would have said or done in a situation where things got out of hand."
Or the dreams she always had with them. Jared was in them more often than not, but she didn't tell him that. "I'm sorry." he says gently.
She looks over at him. "For what?"
"For the fight we had before you left. When I found out you were leaving...I didn't want your last memory of me to be like that."
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking their own thoughts of what could have been if Jared had seen her right before she left. She wondered to herself, ‘What would she have done if Jared had told her to stay? If he said his goodbye, if he had stood there with her family as she walked away, would she have gone? Would she have broken and not go? Well there’s no point thinking on it now because he hadn’t been there, and it has been six years now.
"You ready to get this part over with?" he asks her.
"Yeah lets go. I want to see my grandpa.”
They get out of the car and walk to the entrance. Mila couldn’t help the feeling of her heart flipping at the sight of Evan. He had really cleaned up nicely and the years had made him more handsome. He stood there staring at her with a longing that Jared only recognized. He wore a blue buttoned up dress shirt that he rolled the sleeves to his elbows and hung lose from his dark blue jeans. His hair was a bit longer than she remembered and it had a messy look to it that actually went well for him.
She stops right in front of him as did Jared. "Hello Evan." She says as casually as she can manage.
He smiles at her. "Hello Mila.”
Jared’s heart felt like it was being wretched from his body, and he couldn’t stand it another minute longer. "I’ll see you guys inside." And starts to walk off.
"On Jared, Stacy is here. She’s waiting for you in the lobby." Evan tells him.
Jared just nods, avoiding looking at Mila and walks inside. She frowns, that was the second time she had heard that name. Who was Stacy? She was just about to ask that when Evan asks, “How are you?"
"Fine at the moment, I don’t know how I’ll be in a few minutes when I see my grandpa but as of right now I'm okay."
He looks at her for a long moment. "I meant how are you, after all this time?"
"Oh, well I'm doing great. I met your little girl, she’s adorable, looks just like you."
"Thank you...Mila I'm so sorry about everything. I never meant to hurt you." He pleads.
"It's okay Evan, it happened a long time ago. There’s nothing that can be changed now."
"Do you still hate me?" He sounded vulnerable.
Mila looks at him with bewilderment. "I never hated you Evan. I didn't then, and I don't hate you now. I just needed to be on my own for a little while."
He gave a big sigh. "Do you think we could, I don’t know, go for a walk later and catch up?" he hopefully asks.
She smiles. "Sure, sounds great."
He grins and indicated for her to go on ahead of him inside. They both arrived in the lobby just in time to hear Kristan say, "What is she doing here? She’s not even family. She doesn't belong!"
"Well excuse me for being concerned about someone I've come to care about!" A unfamiliar female’s voice replies back with just as much hostility.
Mila looks at a tall red headed beautiful woman who looked like she could have been a model. She had long glorious legs and a frame to cry over. She was face to face with Kristan. It was like a battle against the beauties.
“Kristan stop it right now! It’s not up to you whether she can be here or not. Cale would want her to be here, and you know it." Jared says harshly.
Her parents and grandmother were beside themselves. Selena and Shasta was nowhere to be seen. "Oh I don’t mind her love. She’s just beside herself with jealousy because I have what she can never get and that’s all I need to know to keep on ignoring her baby tantrums." The red headed smirks at Kristan, who got angry and was about to lash out if Evan hadn’t grabbed her at the last moment and pulled her outside while she was screaming, "I'll kill that bitch!"
The woman in question just laughs which pissed Kristan off even more.
"Well that was ridiculous to act such a way in a hospital." Mila’s mother scoffs and she really did look appalled.
"She's just an immature spoiled child who isn’t used to getting her way. She just needs to grow up and act her age." The woman states.
"You’re the same age as she is Stacey." Jared says to her.
"Exactly." she says back.
Mila smiled at that. She didn't know why but she liked this woman.
"Oh there you are honey." Her father comes around as he sees her.
Everyone turns to look at her and Mila felt... a bit awkward. "Hey mom, dad." She says as she gives them hugs and kisses.
"Mila I want you to meet Stacy Lawerence..." Jared starts to say and then sighs. "My fiancé."