Chapter 12.

Juliette flew to the next venue that evening. She arrived at 5pm, in time for a quick sound check and then quickly went to get ready. The night flew by so quickly, and instead of going to the after party, she made her excuses and went back to the hotel to get her rest for the next day. She still had 4 more nights to get through before the short break in the tour.

When she got back to the hotel room, she was surprised to see there was no news from Avery. No missed calls or texts. She felt a familiar sinking feeling inside. She felt sad.

The next day Rayna was coming out to see the next performance and so she set up a meeting for 11am with Rayna, Glenn, Emily and Bo. These were people that were on her side and she needed to let them know what was going on. They were people she could depend on and she knew it was important they knew, so she could surround herself with support that she needed. This would be especially true if Avery really was going to pull back.

They met in her hotel suite. She got them to all take a seat in the lounge area while she paced back and forth.

"I have something to tell you," she paused, "Umm, well, I have to tell you something important."

There eyes didn't leave her and they all sat quietly waiting. No doubt they were wondering what controversy she was dealing with this time.

"I'm pregnant, and before you ask, yes it is Avery's. I've only just found out, I'm almost 12 weeks," she breathed in and out again and looked at them and braced herself for their response.

"What?" Glenn stared, open mouthed.

"Congratulations," said Bo.

"Oh my goodness!" said Emily, smiling and opening up her arms to embrace Juliette. "Are you okay?"

"I was really worried, well I am still, but when I saw the baby at the scan, well, I knew, I just have to do this. I can do this. Right?" she looked so nervous and scared, but her eyes shone with the notion of a new challenge.

Rayna jumped up. "Of course you can do this, it's great news."

Juliette was relieved at her response but sensed her worry. "I'm sorry Rayna, this wasn't planned, but I am going to work so hard before this baby is born. I will be back as soon as I can and I won't let you down."

"I know it. It will be fine, and I will help you all I can." Rayna smiled, "we can still make this work."

The two women shared a silent mutual understanding, mother to mother, woman to woman.

The next few days passed Juliette by. It was like she was on another planet. She had so much on her mind, so much to think about. The lack of communication from Avery was really upsetting her. She had had minimal texts from him. They were only checking in texts, just seeing that she was ok. He hadn't called her once. She was so worried she was losing him altogether.

The day finally came to head back to Nashville. Juliette was so relieved. She was exhausted. She got home and just wanted to sleep. When she got home, she checked her messages. Deacon had left her a message to call him back so she did.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Deacon. I just got back from the first leg of my tour. I'm just returning your call?"

"Ah, yes Juliette, hi! Thanks for calling back. I was just wondering. I'm doing a special night at The Bluebird tomorrow night, and I was wondering if you would sing with me?"

Juliette thought for a minute. "Um, I don't know…"

"Come on Juliette, I really want you to do it. Please!"

"Ah, sure, okay, yes. I'll do it. Thanks."

They chatted for a bit longer and then rung off and Juliette went to bed.

Avery sat on his couch at his apartment next to Deacon. He had stopped by to ask Avery to sing with him at The Bluebird the next night for a special show he was doing. Avery was hesitant and a little distant and Deacon had instantly picked up that something was wrong.

"Hey buddy, just tell me what's up." Deacon smiled, encouragingly, as he had taken his seat.

Avery looked perplexed. He really didn't want to mention it to Deacon without clearing it with Juliette but he needed to talk to someone. He felt like he was bottling it up all inside and didn't want to talk to Juliette about it, as he didn't want to add to her burden.

"Please don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"I won't tell a soul," said Deacon, truthfully.

"Juliette's pregnant. It's mine," he nodded slowly, as he processed what he had just said. It was the first time he had acknowledged it to anyone other than Juliette.

"Wow, congratulations. So, what ya gonna do?"

Avery sighed, "I told Juliette that I am gonna be there for her, and help her raise the baby."

"Right, but you're not happy?"

"Well, it's a shock of course, not something I was planning on doing anytime soon. But, seeing the baby on the screen. I realised that we could do this. I could be a Dad. Well, I'm going to try. But my worry is, that I can't help Juliette financially. This bothered me before this happened, so now even more so. I mean, I want to provide for my kid. I don't want Juliette footing the bill for everything. But also I just worry, mostly on what I'm missing. I still love Juliette, and being without her, ugh, I don't know. Everything is a mess, and I just don't know what to do. I mean, look at me, I'm a nobody. Juliette has always been out of my league and now we are having this baby and well, what do I have to offer?"

Deacon smiled. "You have a lot to offer, have you thought about taking Rayna up on the producing job?"

Avery replied quietly. "I think of it a lot actually."

"So why don't you do it? For the baby's sake?"

"Yes I guess it makes sense. It will be hard working with Juliette again though."

"I think you need to talk to her instead of me, tell me how you're feeling. My advice is, don't miss out on your kids upbringing. Do what you need to do, but ultimately, don't lose the one person you love, if everything is telling you to give her another chance. You two are great together. She made a big mistake, sure, but I can promise you this, she will be punishing herself relentlessly for this. She's got a lot of problems, and we both know she's trying hard to overcome them now, and that is largely down to her love for you, and how bad she screwed up. I've been there, it is a tough place to be."

Avery let Deacon's words sink in as he left.