Alissa finally arrived at her cousin’s house and was shocked to see Brooke and Denise sitting at the kitchen table when she entered the house. She turned to leave when Denise called out to her.

“Please don’t leave.”

Alissa turned back around and walked over to the table. 

Before Denise could say anything else, Alissa burst into tears.

“I know you hate me for hurting your son Denise. I’m sorry I ran away like a coward but I just couldn’t face him.”

“I understand.”

“You do?” Alissa said, still crying.

“If I was in your position, I might have done the same thing. The problem is that you didn’t need to do it.”

Alissa sank into one of the chairs at the table. She was trying to gain composure.

“Yes I did.” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “Your son is an amazing man but he has a child coming and I know he’s going to want to be a part of their life.  He’ll do the right thing and try to make a relationship work with that woman. I wasn’t going to stand in their way and I wasn’t about to ask him to choose sides. I couldn’t stand being around and seeing AJ with someone else. It would kill me.”

“There is no woman.” Brooke said finally speaking up.

“What do you mean there’s no woman? I saw her with my own eyes!”

“That woman was a fake. Adam hired her to drive a wedge between you and AJ. The whole thing was a lie. There’s no other woman and definitely no baby!”

Alissa could feel the air being sucked out of her body. What the hell did she do?

 ----------------------- 

AJ called a family meeting with all the guys and apologized for hurting all of them.

“I’m sorry. I know that I’ve been a jackass for a long time and that I’ve upset all of you. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.”

Kevin was the first one to speak.

“J, you’ve been through hell. We all know you love Alissa and how much her leaving killed you. She should have tried to talk to you but she didn’t for whatever reason. None of us expected that you would just forget about her but we need you to come back to the land of the living.”

Howie and Brian nodded their heads in agreement.

“Let us help you. We’ll do anything we can for you but you have to talk to us.” Nick said.

“Alright. I’m going to try.” AJ said quietly.