With a quivering sigh, Jade places her cellphone face down on the kitchen island and begins to massage her temples. It serves her right, everything that has happened today. She should've known that not telling Beck she was pregnant would come back to kick her in the ass one day...and it's kicking her hard.
She had just gotten off of the phone with a woman named Tammy Evans, who had immediately introduced herself as Beck Oliver's lawyer. Jade had almost been too terrified to speak to her at first, scared that she was calling to inform her that he was going to try and sue her for full custody of Avery and that she might lose her daughter. She realizes that it was a far-fetched scenario, and that she has a very good lawyer of her own who would be able to fight for her own rights, but she couldn't help but jump to the worst-case scenario.
Thankfully, Tammy had only been calling to tell her that Beck had requested a paternity test...which Jade can't blame him for. If the roles were reversed, she would probably do the same. A child is a huge responsibility to take on, she knows that better than anyone at this point, and paternity isn't something that should be handled lightly. Still, she wishes that she hadn't gotten herself into this situation. She and Avery had been just fine on their own...why did that have to get messed up?
Jade stands up from the stool she had been sitting on, startling Willie, who had been sleeping at her feet while she was on the phone.
"It's a small, fucked up, world after all, isn't it boy?" She sighs as she scratches him behind the ears "I'm screwed."
She grabs her wine glass and walks over to the refrigerator, retrieving the open bottle of alcohol from inside. She doesn't drink often on weeknights, and it's even less often that she has a second glass after her first, but tonight a second feels more than necessary.
As she finishes pouring her next glass, she hears her phone start vibrating on the countertop. Quickly, Jade re-corks the wine and returns it to the fridge, kicking it closed with her foot as she moves to grab the device.
At first she fears flipping the phone over to see that Tammy is calling her again, but she's more than relieved to see her best friend Cat's contact lighting up the screen instead.
"Hey..." Jade answers as she heads towards the sliding glass door out to the back patio "You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice."
"Hey, Jadey..." Cat greets her "I have Tori here too."
"Like there with you?" Jade asks as she sits down in a patio chair and takes a sip of her wine
While not it's not impossible for them both to be together, it's also not likely. Cat lives in New York with Robbie and their girls, and Tori lives in Nashville with Andre and their boys. If the two of them had plans to see each other...Jade probably would have been invited too.
"No, she merged my call in." Tori explains "We need to talk to you."
"So you've heard, huh?"
"Heard what?"
"About Beck?" Jade is confused "He knows about Avery."
Why else would they be calling?
"That explains a lot..." Cat sighs
"A lot about what?" Jade asks "I've had a hell of a day, you guys. I need you to get right to whatever your point is."
"Avery texted me today..." Tori begins
"And me." Cat cuts in
"Right, she texted both of us." Tori continues "It said 'did you guys really go to high school with Beck Oliver?', Cat got the same one. Neither one of us knew how to respond because, well...we weren't sure if that was supposed to be a secret or not."
"What did you say?" Jade sighs
"Nothing." Cat assures her "We didn't want to tell her anything until we talked to you."
"So, he found out?" Tori asks "How?"
"He's filming a movie here." Jade explains "I stupidly agreed to let them use the diner as a filming location, and I didn't find out he was attached to it until after we had signed all of the paperwork. He saw her picture in my office and asked how old she was, I lied and said she was younger but somehow he found out the truth...and he put two and two together on his own."
"Shit."
"Fuck, Jade. I'm sorry."
"Serves me right for not telling him in the first place..." Jade shakes her head "Now I'm dealing with lawyers and paternity tests...it's a huge fucking mess."
She looks down at the wine glass in her hand, it's already close to empty again.
"How'd Avery take it?" Cat asks
"I'm not sure she knows yet." Jade admits, swirling what's left of her wine around in the glass "I haven't told her at least."
"Why'd she text us then?"
"He had to find out how old she was somehow..." Jade sighs "She was watching them film for a bit this morning, I'm wondering if he tried to make small talk with her and she told him she was fifteen. I don't know how else he would've found out."
"You have to talk to her, Jadey."
"I know I do..." Jade nods "She went to the beach with her friends, I've been waiting for her to get home. I just got off the phone with Beck's lawyer, actually. He-"
"Fuck."
"He wants to have a paternity test done." Jade finishes "And I don't blame him."
"Can't say I do either."
"MOM!" Jade hears a door open and slam shut again from inside the house "I'M HOME!"
"Avery just got home..." Jade tells her two friends "I should go talk to her."
"Do you want us to respond to her messages?" Tori asks
"Yeah...tell her the truth." Jade decides "But don't do it until tomorrow morning. I want her to hear it from me first."
"Alright." Tori agrees "Good luck."
"Thanks."
"We love you, Jadey." Cat says "Tell us how it goes, and let us know if you need anything."
"Thank you, I really appreciate it."
Jade says goodnight to her friends, finishes the rest of her wine in one gulp, then stands up to return inside. Avery is nowhere to be found, but Jade can hear the shower running down the hallway. With a sigh she picks up the beach bag her daughter had discarded on the kitchen floor, no doubt full of sand, sets her wine glass in the sink, and heads to the laundry room. She tosses Avery's towel into the hamper and begins shaking the sand from her bag into the utility sink when she hears the shower turn off. No less than ten minutes later, Avery is calling out for her again.
"Mom?"
"Be right there!"
Avery is waiting for her in the kitchen, clad in her typical pajama outfit - a pair of running shorts and an old t-shirt, just like Jade wears. Her hair is dripping a bit, still wet from the shower, as she moves from cabinet to cabinet looking for a snack.
"How was the beach?" Jade asks her
"Good." Avery shrugs "We went boogie boarding, the waves were good tonight."
"Sounds fun."
"It was."
"I just got off the phone with your aunts." Jade tells her "Avery, we need to talk."
"Yeah, what's this about you knowing Beck Oliver?" Avery glances over at her mother "He said he knew you when you were my age."
"So you've talked to him?"
"Yeah, when I came back from letting Willie out this morning security wouldn't let me back in. He helped me out." Avery explains as she moves to another cabinet "He said I look just like you did when you were my age."
"Well, you do..." Jade can't help but smile a bit "Avery, I-"
"I can't believe you never told me you knew him." Avery laughs "I mean, that's kinda a big thing to leave out."
"I know, I'm trying to-"
"Do we have graham crackers?" Avery asks "I'm feelin' s'mores."
"Avery Olivia." Jade says seriously "I'm trying to talk to you!"
"Shit, okay...sorry." Avery raises her hands in mock surrender as she turns towards her mother "Mom? What's wrong? You look upset."
"Yes, I went to high school with Beck." Jade begins "Yes, I knew him. We dated for almost four years..."
"Are you seri-"
"I'm not finished." Jade cuts her off, tears forming in the corners of her eyes "Yes, I'm being serious. We broke up right after we graduated, right before his first TV show premiered...and a little less than a year before you were born."
"Mom..."
"Avery..." Jade is crying now "Beck is your father."
She watches the expression on her daughter's face change four times in the matter of just a few seconds. Avery goes from concerned, to confused, to scared, to angry.
"You've always made it seem like you didn't know the guy that well!" She exclaims "Like he was a stranger you had a fling with and then forgot about! But now you're trying to tell me he's one of the biggest actors in the world?"
"Avery, I-"
"No!" Avery snaps "No! I grew up watching my dad on TV and seeing his face everywhere and I had no idea! My friends have crushes on him! I fucking talked to him today! And I had no fucking clue!"
Normally Jade would scold her daughter for raising her voice like this and for swearing, but she knows that right now Avery needs the outlet. It doesn't seem like she would be able to get a word in right now anyway.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Avery is crying now too "Why didn't he tell me? This morning when I talked to him, why didn't he tell me?"
"He didn't know then..." Jade explains as she collects herself "But he does now."
"You didn't fucking tell him either?" Avery shrieks "Mom!"
"Avery, we were so young..." Jade begins "He had just-"
"Don't!" Avery storms past her, out of the kitchen and towards her room "I don't want to fucking hear it! I hate you!"
She slams the door behind her, causing the frames on the walls to shake and both Willie and Jade to jump. Jade feels oddly calm, even in spite of the fact that her daughter had just told her that she hates her for the first time. She tries to tell herself that it's coming from a place of anger and that it isn't true, and that Avery just needs time to calm down...but that fact didn't make it any easier to hear.
"Told you I was fucked..." Jade sighs as she kneels down next to Willie "Sorry, boy. The next few weeks are going to be real interesting for all of us."