The thing about Jamie was that no one was supposed to know about her. And no one did really, apart from the close friend here and there and the odd family member that was a little more privy to information than the next family member over. Limited people with limited information, it was the way that JC liked things done – in theory. Justin always reminded him why his theory was flawed, but that was back before Jamie and the solo album and that thing with Eva Longoria, and back then JC wasn’t really listening.
Justin never thought about Jamie because in his mind she didn’t exist anyway, and that sense of comfort made things very, very easy for him. Especially now as he sat at the dining room table watching his three-year-old daughter, Casey, eat her peaches. Actually, she was JC’s and Jamie’s daughter, but Justin had just blocked that out of his mind. She was his and JC’s alone and that thought made him smile even brighter as he took a sip from his hot tea.
“All done!” Casey said as she finished chewing the last peach slice, and she lifted her hands up as if to prove her accomplishment.
“You are?” Justin asked with a false awe that always made her giggle. “Well I guess you can go play outside now. Wash your hands first, sweetie.”
“Okay, dada,” Casey wiggled off her booster seat and climbed off the chair running to the washroom with energy and quickness as her long, loose brown curls bounced to their own beat. They would never need a paternity test to prove that she belonged to JC.
Justin continued to drink his tea and observed the flawlessly blue Los Angeles sky. The forecast had said there would be light showers but that seemed pretty improbable. Rain in LA? Whatever. Justin ran through his schedule for the day: studio time, business meeting, script read through, pick up mom at airport. He somehow thought that settling down with JC would make things simpler, yet nothing really had changed at all. Only now, on top of everything else, they had to take care of Casey and Logan, not that Justin minded…most of the time.
Casey bounced towards the sliding glass door, and opened it with grace and strength before running out to her favorite swing on her playground set. She always picked the one closest to the slide and Justin remembered back to the day when they had first purchased the swing set and JC had put her on that very swing and gave her her first push. Justin liked those kinds of memories best.
“Postal guy,” JC said as he came down the stairs, scratching his messy brown curls and yawning from just having woken up. He was on the cell phone as he shuffled through the kitchen over to the fridge. “I think you may be onto something. Cool.” He pressed the off button and yawned again before grabbing a juice box out of the fridge and sitting next to Justin at the dining table.
“Chris?” Justin asked and JC nodded, tapping the mini straw on the table to get the plastic wrapper off before stabbing the straw through the hole on the top of the box and taking a long sip.
“He wants to name his album Postal Guy. I told him, ‘whatever dude’. Then he said he liked that better.”
“Why Postal Guy?” Justin finished his tea and focused all of his attention on JC and the small drink box in his hand.
“Because he feels he’s going postal. I don’t know, it’s Chris, who knows why anything?”
“True. I have to pick up my mom from the airport tonight. You coming with?”
“Ew, no,” JC said making a face and Justin raised his eyebrow. “I mean, do I have to?”
“You used to like her.”
“I like her, J. I just don’t like her like her. She’s like an in-law now. There are rules about these things.”
Justin rolled his eyes playfully and stood up, reaching over to plant a quick kiss on JC’s lips, mini-straw and all, he liked the taste of Juicy Juice grape flavor. “I have to go to the studio. I’ll be back later.”
“I won’t wait up.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
Another kiss and Justin was on his way out.
*
Kaiser Kennedy was an imposing man, with a blonde goatee and two large tattoos, on each arm, of skulls and bones and crosses and other signs that JC could never figure out nor cared much to ask about. He was always at the grocery store buying tofu and orange Slice whenever JC entered and it had taken JC two whole months to place his face. When he had finally figured it out he had let his grocery cart slam into Kaiser and simply stated, “Oops” before carrying on with his shopping. Yet Kaiser was still, to this day, always there when JC went shopping.
When Kaiser first laid eyes on Logan Timberlake in the grocery cart that JC scooted around the store, he had pulled out his video camera and had gotten some pretty good shots. When JC had accidentally knocked over tomato cans on Kaiser’s foot causing Kaiser to lose his grip on his camera sending it falling to pieces on the floor, Kaiser had threatened to sue. JC had just apologized and said that perhaps it was best to sue the grocery store instead for stacking tomato cans precariously in the first place.
Kaiser had a name for two-year-old Logan Timberlake and it wasn’t a very nice one. “He’s the antichrist,” he had proclaimed and JC accidentally dropped a jar of pickles, contents and glass splattering onto Kaiser’s new leather shoes.
“I wish I wasn’t so clumsy,” JC had said and he called over the stock boy for assistance.
The truth of the matter was that JC didn’t completely disagree with Kaiser Kennedy about Logan at all. When Justin had first told JC, “Dude, Cameron’s gonna flip,” JC knew that Logan was a very special little kid.
“Let her flip,” JC had said and Justin had walked away annoyed mumbling, “At least my girlfriend isn’t in a coma.”
Logan popped up out of nowhere one day, the whole basket on the doorstep, baby wrapped in blankets with note attached to the front, routine. JC had written a song about it called, “Starting Out Life Lonely,” which he had ended up selling to Clay Aiken to record for some soundtrack for some lame ass movie about a girl and a guy and love or something like that.
“It ain’t mine, dude,” Justin had said as JC checked the kid out and after reviewing the icy, blue eyes, the makings of the curls and the signature nose, JC had held the kid outstretched towards Justin ala Rafiki in the Lion King and proclaimed loudly, “Behold, your son, for one day he will be king.”
“Fuck off,” Justin had said and he had locked himself in his room for two hours playing Halo.
So here he was years later, JC in the International Foods aisle looking at the selection. “Sale on tofu?” JC asked Kaiser as he threw some noodles into his cart.
“They never put tofu on sale. Damn LA nut jobs and their health kicks.” Kaiser looked at the cart and saw that only Logan had accompanied JC today. Kaiser shivered at the sight of the kid and looked at JC. “Where’s the namesake?”
“Pre-school. Wreaking havoc with the Witherspoon-Phillipes.”
“Now that would pay my rent.”
“I’ll see if I can score you some pics.”
“You rock my socks.”
“Ew, can you pass me the soy?”
Kaiser handed JC the bottle of soy sauce. “How’s that album of yours coming along?”
“It’s coming. Might work with Pharrell.”
Kaiser’s eyes flew open and then beaded into a small glare, “I hate when you fuck with me.”
JC laughed and waved as he left the aisle.
*
It had been days since JC had seen Lynn Harless, and he kissed her on the cheek after the obligatory big hug and told her she looked very lovely. Lynn smiled and told him he looked fit before picking Logan up and twirling him around. “Did you miss your favorite nana? Yes, you did. You’re so beautiful.” And on, and on, and on she went.
“She does realize she is that kid’s only nana right?” JC mumbled to Justin and Justin elbowed him.
“Don’t you have a club to hit or something?”
“Right, let me call Tara and Paris and find out where the place to be is at.”
“I hate when you mock me,” Justin pouted with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips and JC kissed him quickly knowing that the mocking was the true secret weapon of the relationship.
“Did daddy cook dinner? Yes, he did, didn’t he?” Lynn just kept going and JC rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen to get the gourmet macaroni and cheese he had made.
“I made up a dance, daddy,” Casey said as she pranced into the kitchen, doing a twirl and a jump.
“I made one up too, you show me yours first then I’ll show you mine.”
“Okay!” So she did, and then he did, and JC felt he was the clear winner.
“Ha! You got served!”
Casey just looked at him and blinked and JC quickly fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around the little girl. “You totally won, you’re so good!” He tickled her and Casey laughed trying to wiggle her way out of his embrace. Then Lynn Harless walked in and killed the mood.
“Did daddy make you macaroni and cheese? Yes he did,” she was carting Logan around everywhere and he looked truly bored.
JC got up and grabbed some plates. “It’s ready. I’ll bring it to the table.”
“Oooh, Logan, we’re going to eat at the table, yes we are.” And she left the kitchen. JC and Casey both just stared at the direction in which Lynn had left.
“Daddy, I like my nana better.”
JC smiled and grabbed the plates. “Yeah, kiddo. Me and you both.”
*
“All the tracks I laid today sucked. Just horrible,” Justin complained as he took off his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed, rolling his head around to ease the tension. JC climbed onto the bed in just his boxers and T-shirt and knelt behind Justin, planting a kiss on his head and then massaging his shoulders.
“Let’s not talk studio time. Let’s talk weekend vacation.”
“Weekend vacation, ooh that feels good, are you crazy? Yes, that’s the spot.”
“We have time. I thought it’d be cool to take the kids to Yosemite. You know, do a cabin in the woods, roast marshmallows, bury some dead bodies.”
“Maybe you have time, but I have no time. I’m booked solid.”
“Hey, I don’t have any more ore less time than you, I just…we could take time to do a family thing. We are a family remember?”
Justin bit his lip and put his hand on JC’s, stopping the massage with that one sudden movement, “I’ve got to get this album done. I’m freaking out here.”
JC sighed and took his hands away, moving to sit beside Justin on the edge of the bed. “I know you’re freaking out, that’s why I think the vacation is important.”
“You know how I am. It’s gotta be perfect.”
“We’re not different, J. We’re both perfectionists when it comes to the music, we’re both stressed about our respective albums, but you stress about the wrong things. You stress about whether the sound will make the song a hit.”
“I do not!”
“Okay, you know what, I don’t want to argue. Just….fine. We’ll just keep working.”
“Oh great, the guilt trip.”
“It’s not a guilt trip.”
Justin looked at JC, the frustration and worry clear in his eyes, “It’s just that. You’re on album number three. I’m doing the second one, the big follow up to the smash. I’ve put it off for so long and now if I fail, it’ll be horrible.”
“There are worse things in the world than failing.”
“No, there really aren’t,” Justin said and JC just nodded because that’s how Justin always felt about things. He hadn’t committed himself to a man just to change him, so JC just kissed Justin and told him that his album would be great, and if he didn’t like today’s tracks then he’ll just have to lay down ones he liked tomorrow. Justin felt guilty the whole night.
*
“This is officially the weirdest song you’ve ever written,” Dallas said looking over JC’s notebook. “Why the hell are you writing songs about the paparazzi guy that stalks you?”
“Dude, he stopped stalking after the live lobster incident, besides he’s done me some favors. The least I can do is write him a song.”
“He dreams of chai latte but only buys Slice, he needs pictures of my kids to buy himself a new life? This is insane!”
“It’s not insane. The Manic Street Preachers have a song about Kevin Carter, I can have a song about Kaiser Kennedy.”
“Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer.”
“Kevin Carter killed himself.”
“Kaiser Kennedy should follow in Kevin Carter’s footsteps.”
“Now that’s just mean.”
Dallas sighed and gave the notebook back to him, “You want it fast?”
“Well I’m not in the mood to sing him a love ballad.”
“I just…alright, dude, let’s just see what we can do here.”
JC went over to the piano and tinkled a bit trying to come up with an idea for the melody. “You know, D, Justin’s really freaked about his new album.”
“He should be, hey, this is a nice groove,” he moved his head to it. “But yeah, following up Justified, that’s a tough one.”
“Is it wrong of me to want him to fail?”
Dallas said nothing for a few moments as he played around with his groove. “I think that you wanting him to fail just shows how much you love him.”
“Damn, D, that’s deep.”
“Hey, I’m no expert. Just…this is gonna be rough on both of you, C. Jive’s releasing your albums at the same time. You know why they’re doing that.”
“I’m never talking to you about my love life again.”
Dallas smiled and shook his head. JC always said that.
*
“Daddy, I’m going to the park,” Casey said as she packed herself a small bag of chips and a juice box in her bright pink lunch tote.
“Be back before midnight,” JC said as he dialed his publicist on his cell phone and scratched his hip, causing his loose khaki shorts to move up and down.
“You can’t possibly be allowing this child to run off to the park by herself,” Lynn Harless commented as she whisked herself into the den and JC yawned.
“She’s good. She knows how to get there.”
“Joshua, are you insane? This child is three and stalked by the paparazzi, someone can kidnap her and hold her for ransom!”
“Oh my God, Lynn, you’re right!” JC opened his eyes wide and looked at Lynn. “I hadn’t thought of that! Make sure she doesn’t fall off the jungle gym again.”
“The jungle…, Joshua! I am not taking this child to the park!”
“Hey, Mags, I’m returning your call,” JC said as his publicist finally answered.
“Joshua, I am taking Logan on a shopping trip. I do not have time to take your child to the park.”
“It’s okay, I can go by myself. I do it all the time.” Casey said as she headed to the door.
“Joshua!” Lynn said with panic in her voice.
“You’re kidding? They said that I had breast implants?” JC flipped through the new issue of US Weekly. “Double D’s? Holy fuck, I’d fall over!”
“Oh fine! Come on, Casey, but we can’t stay long,” Lynn said as she walked to the closet to take Logan’s stroller out.
JC and Casey exchanged smirks and a thumb’s up.
*
Justin was the kind of father who loved his children very dearly, but loved his music that much more. So much more that when the local paper printed two articles in the same issue: the first about how word has it that his album will be a failure, the second about how his mother and son had been stalked and photographed while on the playground, he immediately called his producer and told him to get the studio ready.
“The tracks are good, J. Real good. The sound is tight, the beat is hot…”
“Tight and hot? We’re not making a fucking porn!” Justin played around with some buttons, mixing things up here and there, getting more frustrated second by second.
“J, man, calm down, we’ve got this.”
Justin just looked at him and blinked. “I’m not artsy.”
“Artsy?”
“C is artsy. I’m not artsy. I want to be artsy.”
“Artsy?” The producer rolled his chair so that he was directly in front of Justin and looked him in the eye. “This is no time for you to have a change of heart. You have to sell this record. People don’t want artsy. People want something they can instantly connect with, something that will make them shake their asses. Artsy is for emo college kids and rock critics that like to sound like they know more about music than the average person. Let C be artsy. You don’t have to be.”
Justin looked at the producer and slowly nodded, “Yeah, yeah you’re right.”
“J, I’ve made millions doing this shit. You have nothing to worry about.”
And Justin believed him, so he recorded two more tracks and listened to the playback with his highly trained ears and felt the groove of success run through his body. C could definitely be the artsy one.
*
“You wanna hear my theory?” Joey asked as he tried to find the Finding Nemo DVD in the media cabinet.
“Sure, maybe,” JC shrugged as he crossed out the line he had written in his notebook and tried to think of something else to rhyme with the word “hunt” that wouldn’t get bleeped if it got played on the radio.
“I think that Jive put your albums together so they would cancel each other out. That way they can use that as the excuse for putting out our next group album.”
“That’s lame, Joe.” Maybe the word “bundt” would work. “Hey, how does this sound? You evade me, I’m ready for the hunt, why don’t you find me, so we can eat some bundt.”
“I know that you did not just call me lame and then go on to sing that lame ass shit to me.”
“Bundt doesn’t work does it?”
“Not even a little.”
JC crossed it out and delved into his mental vocabulary once more.
“I know you don’t want to admit it, C, but Jive wants us as a group. Your second solo album was amazing, yeah, but now that J’s this movie star they just know they can milk you guys as a package deal.”
“Okay, what about, You evade me, I’m ready for the hunt, why don’t you find me, before I have to punt?”
Joey blinked and looked back at the media cabinet, “Maybe the kids will want to watch Little Mermaid instead since your Nemo is clearly missing.”
JC put his notebook down on the side table and got up stretching his arms straight up into the air. “Maybe we should hit the beach instead. Casey hates watching TV anyway, and Logan only likes Baby Einstein. The freak.”
“Baby Einstein’s cool, Brianna loved that show. But yeah, the beach sounds good.”
The beach sounded like the perfect place to come up for a nice, clean word that rhymed with hunt.
*
The answer was clear as day. Run. Justin looked at the notebook that was lying beside him and couldn’t get his eyes off the page. He picked up the notebook and wrote it out again. You evade me, I’m ready for the hunt, why don’t you find me, I promise I won’t run. “I like it,” Justin said to himself as he smiled and he almost began to write a note on the notebook to JC about how he hoped he liked his idea until a thought popped into his head. He took the notebook and quickly headed to the studio.
His producer looked at him strangely when Justin sang it for him but then he nodded. “Yeah, I can definitely work with that. I like that whole stalker premise.”
“Stalker premises have worked well for me in the past,” Justin agreed as he scribbled some more lyrics onto JC’s notebook. JC hadn’t had much to begin with so Justin was practically writing the song. He thought of it more as a guideline and ended up staying in the studio until five in the morning, writing, recording, and tweaking the song. At the end of it all, a masterpiece had been created and Justin looked at the producer with a big smile on his face.
“That’s it, that’s the one. We’re done. Send it to Jive and let them hear it.”
When Justin walked out of the studio with the sun rising behind him he felt a small pang of guilt, but he knew that JC would totally understand. He’d give him writing credit of course, and it was obvious from the notebook that JC was having problems with it anyway. In fact, by the time Justin got home and crawled into bed beside his sleeping soul mate, he knew that he had done the right thing.
*
“They loved it!” came the voice on the phone and JC smiled and hi-fived Casey while he kept his composure on the phone.
“They did?”
“Of course they did!” The Jive A&R guy sounded ready to jump through the line in excitement. “Said it was the best thing they’ve heard since Justin’s a week before.”
“Oh, damn, is that a compliment?”
“I’m not sure but go with it.”
“Cool. So they’re going to promote it and everything right?”
“Yep, equal promotion for the both of you. The music will speak for itself don’t worry about it. You’ll win out.”
JC laughed a little and shook his head, “There’s nothing to win out. I want us both to do good.”
“You will. Don’t worry about it.”
“Mike, why do you keep telling me not to worry about it?”
“Because there’s nothing to worry about, now go and celebrate, this is good news!”
“Yeah, thanks,” JC hung up and looked at Casey a moment before sitting beside her on the couch.
“You okay, daddy?”
“Yeah, kiddo. Just…music crap.” He twirled his finger in one of her curls.
“Logan talked yesterday.”
“He did? Did he say anything interesting?”
Casey shook her head, “Just dada.”
“Aww, did the Lynnmeister videotape it?”
Casey nodded, “She taped him in the potty too.”
“I don’t even want to know. You wanna help me celebrate at McDonald’s? We could do that whole Happy Meal thing.”
“Yay!” Casey jumped up all excited and JC went to put his shoes on.
*
When JC heard the song that Justin was contemplating putting out as his first single, it took him a moment to realize why it was familiar. “Run? Run doesn’t rhyme with hunt? And what the fuck, Justin!?”
Justin bit his lip and looked at the television news, “I can’t believe gas prices are that high. Maybe we should trade in the Escalade…”
“Justin…”
Justin sighed and pushed the “power” button on the remote. “I gave you writing credit.”
“Writing credit? You stole my song!”
“No I didn’t, you left it sitting there, I thought we’d collaborate on it. I mean you were obviously having issues coming up with a word that rhymed with hunt.”
“I was not! I just didn’t want to use cunt! But clearly I should have!”
“C, calm down.”
“Calm down? Uh, I’m sorry, when we committed to each other I don’t remember the part of our vows that said, ‘And will steal each other’s lyrics ‘til death do us part’.”
“You’re overreacting.”
JC just glared at Justin then put his hands up, “I give up. You know what, get the fuck out.”
“What? C, baby, you can’t be serious.”
“I am serious, pack up your shit, pack up your kid, and for the love of God pack up your mother and get the fuck out of this house.”
“But it’s part mine!”
The look JC gave Justin made Justin step back slowly, “I’ll take it off the album.”
“Good, and after you get a good night’s sleep somewhere else, I’m sure you’ll come back tomorrow with a million other ways to make this up to me. And I don’t mean sexually.”
Justin just frowned as JC turned and stomped out of the room. He had done a lot of stupid things but what had he been thinking when he had taken JC’s song? Was he thinking at all? Justin went to Logan’s room and found his son standing up in his crib, holding onto the sides and bouncing up and down laughing.
“You want out, huh?”
Logan stopped bouncing and looked at his father. “Dada.”
Justin smiled widely, picking Logan up and squeezing him tight, “I love when you call me dada!”
Logan laughed in amusement and Justin laughed with him, holding him tighter and realizing the he was using his son for emotional support. He didn’t want Logan to see him cry so he put him back in his crib and went to pack Logan’s diaper bag. He wiped the few tears that fell and wondered why it had always meant so much to him to seek the approval of the masses and be the one on top. Why couldn’t he be chill like JC? He loved JC for that alone.
“Alright, buddy, wanna go spend the night at the Four Seasons?”
Logan just bounced again on his legs and Justin took that as an affirmative answer.
*
On the day that Justin and JC’s solo albums came out, Jamie woke up from the coma. JC wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing but Kaiser Kennedy said that it might be good promotion for the album. “Think about it, they can’t say it was planned,” Kaiser stated and JC nodded. He had a point.
“Either way, I don’t know what to do. Should I call her family? Should I wait for them to call me? I mean, what do I do?”
“Are you cool with her family?”
“I’ve never actually met them.”
Kaiser blinked then shook his head before handing JC the pictures of Justin and Logan at the airport. “I don’t know what to tell you then. Maybe just call and get it over with.”
JC took the pictures and nodded, “Yeah that’s what I might do. So are J-Lo doing good?”
“They’re miserable, and you really should take them back already. Don’t you miss them?”
“Of course I miss them, but I’m still pissed. Besides, I want to see how our album sales do before I take him back.”
“How is that going to work?”
Casey ran over to her dad handing him a jar of peanut butter which he opened and handed back to her, “If his album does better I’m dumping him for good.”
“Dude…”
“Ha! So joking, man. Come on, you’re slipping.”
Kaiser stood up and shook his head, “He’s miserable, that’s all I’ll say. Take care.”
“You too. Oh hey, what’d you think of the song I wrote for you?”
“Oh, yeah, uh, did you have to kill me at the end?”
“That was Dallas’s idea, but it’s metaphorical.”
“Uh, okay, yeah, it was…yeah.”
JC smiled and stood up walking Kaiser to the door, “I’m glad you liked it. Drive safely.”
Kaiser shivered, maybe Logan wasn’t the antichrist, maybe it had been JC all along.
*
Justin had been convinced that when his album debuted at number one, JC would never talk to him again. To receive a phone call from JC telling him to come home had him both ecstatic and unnerved, but all that went away once he was in JC’s arms in the foyer. He cherished just being held and smelling the light scent of eggs, flower and chocolate on the man he loved.
“I made you brownies,” JC said as he grabbed Justin’s duffel. He ended up tossing it in the corner as he made his way to the kitchen. “Try some,” he said, taking Logan from Justin’s arms and Logan instinctively put his arms around JC, maybe missing him more than JC would have imagined.
“They’re really good,” Justin said after a bite and he leaned against the counter with a smile.
“Casey helped,” JC added and he held the bowl up to Logan so he could stick his hand in and play with the batter. “Has this kid uttered anything else since ‘dada’?”
“No, just ‘dada’.”
“Huh, maybe he’s a post-modernist.” Justin raised his eyebrow and JC just shrugged, “Never mind. So did you hear about Jamie?”
“Who hasn’t heard about Jamie? The Spanish soap I was watching was interrupted to cover the latest press conference from Jamie’s doctor. In Spanish, no less.”
“Jamie’s doctor speaks Spanish?”
Justin rolled his eyes and ate more of the brownie, “Have you talked to her yet?”
“No, but I talked to her mom. They want me to bring Casey to the hospital to see if Jamie will remember her.”
“Wait, what do you mean if she’ll remember her? She never met her.”
“Yeah, see, I tried to explain that to the mom, but she wasn’t gettin’ it.”
“Weird.”
“Yeah.”
The two boys looked at each other a moment, only the sound of Logan’s hand in the bowl drifting between them.
“I really really missed you,” Justin said, breaking the silence first.
“Yeah, same here.”
“I’m never doing anything like that again.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Justin smiled at JC and took Logan from his arms, “How about if Casey re-bonds with Logan while we…uh re-bond in a different way.”
JC laughed and called Casey in from the backyard where she was playing.
*
“What do you mean she never met her?” The doctor was in his mid-forties, wore glasses, and had a slight, blonde mustache. JC thought he kind of looked like a stereotypical car salesman, only without the row of cars behind him.
“When Casey was born, Jamie fell into a coma. She never even got to hold her.”
“So then why does her mother think that she’ll help her remember?”
“Because she’s crazy? How should I know?” JC just shrugged and looked through the observation window. “So like, she really doesn’t remember anything at all? Not even like…anything?”
“She remembers a few things, we think that she may end up regaining the majority of her memory over time.”
“That’s weird.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well I mean, over time we all lose pieces of our memory in the natural aging process, so it’s kinda weird that she would regain memory as time goes on. Just saying.”
The doctor looked at JC for a moment and then moved on, “Would you like to see her?”
“Oh yeah, sure,” JC said and he waited for the doctor to open the door before thanking him and walking in.
Seeing Jamie up close after all those years was a very strange experience for JC. She still had her long, brown hair, which in all honesty had been the first thing that had attracted him to her. She still looked young and very much the same as she did over three years ago and he felt as if he had got stuck in some time warp.
Jamie looked up at him with her brown eyes and blinked after she recognized him. “JC.”
“That’s me. You look good.” He sat beside her bed and held her hand because it seemed right for the situation.
She smiled, still confused, but softly said, “Thank you.”
“So, yeah, so uh, yeah.”
“What does she look like?”
JC was startled by the straightforward question but he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet. He showed her the picture and Jamie smiled a little as she studied it.
“She looks like you.”
“Yeah, she gets that all the time.”
“What’s her name?”
“Casey. Because it kinda rhymed with JC and we thought it’d be funny. We told her she could change it if she wanted but she said she’d keep it for now.”
Jamie just looked at him, her smile becoming brighter. “You haven’t changed. Who’s we?”
“Oh yeah, me and Justin.”
“Justin? That’s sweet. He’s helped you take care of her?”
This hadn’t been a conversation that JC had been prepared to have, but he took a deep breath and decided to go for it anyway. “Uh, it’s a little more complicated than that. See, Justin and I are like, living together, you know?”
“Oh,” and then the truth slowly dawned on her, “Oh,” and then she really started getting it, “Oh, oh,” and then she got it, “Oh!”
“Oh, oh oh oh, the right stuff!” JC bit his lip. “Sorry, had to, you set it up so well…”
“You’re gay!? Since when are you gay!?”
“Since you fell into a coma and Justin was there to help me take care of our child.” He smiled hesitantly and Jamie just blinked and blinked some more.
“I don’t know what to say,” she finally managed.
“Yeah, me neither. How about I leave you to make sense of the world and I’ll bring Casey by tomorrow so you can meet her?”
“That…yeah, that sounds good.”
JC nodded and stood up, squeezing her hand again and giving her a kiss on the forehead, “Bye, baby.”
Jamie just nodded and JC left.
*
“I told you, didn’t I tell you?” Joey loved being right and Justin just humored him as he tied Logan’s shoes.
“You called it, man.”
“I know, I’m so good. So yeah, when are we getting in the studio to do that group album?”
“I don’t know, Joe. I’ve gotta go on tour, C’s gotta go on tour, I’ve got a movie to make, C’s got a … well he’s probably busy, I mean, it might be a year.”
“A year will fly by quick. I’ll get Chris and Lance together to start coming up with stuff.”
“Isn’t Chris doing his solo album?”
Joey snorted, “Chris has been working on his solo album for years.”
“True enough,” Justin said as he set Logan free on the floor. Logan crawled to the corner where he began to untie his shoe.
“So how are you doing with this whole Jamie being alive thing?” Joey asked getting serious and Justin folded Logan’s baby blanket absentmindedly.
“She was never dead.”
“Yeah, you know what I mean.”
“It’s alright. I mean, Jamie’s nice and she’s cool with us and everything. I don’t know, I guess I’m jealous.”
“What the hell are you jealous of?”
“I don’t know, maybe that Casey will never have to go up to JC one day and ask who her mother is?”
“Aw, man, hey, it’s all right,” Joey said putting a hand on Justin’s shoulder. “Maybe she’ll pop up one day and, you know, I don’t know, just…yeah, it’s alright.”
Justin nodded at Joey’s attempt of comfort and put a smile on his face, “No, it’s all good. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
“Exactly. Hakuna Matata, man.”
“Bri’s on her Lion King kick again?”
“The kid’s obsessed! It’s madness.”
Justin laughed and looked over at Logan who had untied both of his shoes and laughed even harder.
*
Kaiser Kennedy put the pictures before JC and pointed to the woman beside Justin. “That’s Logan’s mom.”
“Are you sure?” JC looked at the pictures, not recognizing the woman at all. She looked thin, petite, blonde, and like a good candidate for a Girls Gone Wild promo.
“How long have I been researching this for you? Yes, I’m sure. I’ve gone through all my video footage, all my photos, all of my written encounter documentation and this is it. Approximately nine months before Logan’s birth, Justin was with this unidentified woman. Cameron was shooting a movie in Toronto and I was the only photographer there to capture Justin with another woman.”
“What a sleaze,” JC said looking at the pics. “If I didn’t love him I’d kick him in the balls.”
“Yeah well, that’s between the two of you, what I did find out about the girl was that she was an aspiring actress. Her name and where she ended up however are unknown.”
“I think this might be good enough,” JC said gathering the photos together. “Thanks, K.”
“Yeah yeah, just buy me some Tofu next time you see me.”
“You got it!” JC looked through the pictures again and smiled.
*
“Happy anniversary!” JC handed Justin the photos and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Happy anniversary, babe,” Justin smiled and looked down at the photos and frowned. “Okay, explanation?”
“That’s your baby mama.”
“Huh? How? Huh?”
“A friend did me a favor, these are paparazzi pics taken almost exactly nine months before Logan’s birth.”
“I totally remember this girl,” Justin said as he flipped through the photos. “Wait, I slept with this girl?”
“Uh, I think you’d know better than me the answer to that?”
Justin continued to flip, chewing on his lower lip in thought. JC sat beside him and watched him with a smile knowing that Justin was grateful for the information.
“Damn, I can’t believe I slept with her. She was…weird.”
“Yeah well, she did leave the kid in a basket in front of our door. I’d be shocked if she wasn’t weird.”
“True, wow, my anniversary present isn’t nearly as informative as this.”
“Oooh, what’s my present?”
“Is daddy talking with dada on the bed, yes he is!” Lynn’s voice floated into the room as she walked by with Logan in her arms.
Justin laughed, “That’s your present.”
“You suck.”
Justin laughed again and shook his head, “Me, you, the kids, camping, cabin in the woods, you can kill my mom, throw her in the lake and totally get away with it.”
JC jumped up and down and pounced on Justin all in one swift swoop, “I love you.”
“Yeah, me too,” Justin replied.
“Are we going to close the bedroom door for daddy, yes we are,” Lynn said and the door was shut.