"How are you finding things now it's a little more even?" Jess teased as she looked to Juliet's daughter Ava sat on her lap.
"So much better! Grace is loving it too." Juliet beamed back, showing her honest happiness for her family life.
Ava was now 10 months old and things had changed so much since she had been born. There had been ups and downs along the way and it had definitely not been easy but with time things were becoming more stable and Juliet was trying to appreciate every second.
"What about Matt? I'm guessing he's not here?"
Juliet shook her head before passing Ava the set of keys she was struggling to reach.
"He said he would try and make it but I don't know if he will."
"He's taking running the gang pretty seriously then?" Jess asked expectedly causing Juliet to laugh.
"Yeah! He's Jay 2.0."
"I don't know how that could ever be good."
Since Jay had been back in Ireland while he and Lauren adjusted to their new life with their baby Reece, Matt had taken over the gang. He had been ecstatic when Jay had passed it down to him and not held back from doing everything he could to make his best friend proud.
Although Juliet had been nervous to start with, Matt had shown her that he was capable of doing both. There were nights where he was out a little later than she would have liked but he would always make it up to her in some way.
"He's got a new confidence about him... it's weird but good. He is much happier."
"And what about you? How are you feeling?"
Jess' question was not unloaded and it was asked with particular reason; one that Juliet had previously been very reserved to talk about.
"I'm good yeah! I definitely think things have improved now. I feel normal." Juliet reassured and she meant it.
It hadn't been easy but since speaking up and fighting the stigma that surrounded it, Juliet had asked for help.
When Ava had been born she had not experienced the immediate glow of having a new born baby that was hyped by the world. Instead, she had experienced the darker side of it which was filled with guilt and constant questioning of why she was different.
She hadn't experienced it with her first 3, but onto her third, Juliet had suffered with post-natal depression.
It had been an experience she had not expected throughout the build up of her pregnancy but when she was faced with this new born baby that she just couldn't seem to bond with she felt completely hopeless. She craved that feeling she had with her first 3 but it just wasn't there and instead she couldn't shake the crying and the disconnect from something that was perceived as the happiest time in your life.
Although it had been tough, Matt had been by her side every step of the way and been the biggest support he had ever been. He had stepped up and been the man she knew he was and it was during this time that he finally earned her families respect.
There had been so many years where he had never lived up to their standards but during this time, he had proven himself in a way they never expected.
Whether it was with age or whether it was the traumatic period of seeing so much hurt in Juliet, it wasn't clear however, he had taken on that supportive role that Juliet had needed.
"I'm so proud of you both." Jess smiled as she reached out to squeeze Juliet's hand.
She knew Matt well and knew he hadn't always been the most sensitive soul yet when it came to Juliet, he would do anything to ensure she was protected and looked after.
"and you." Jess grinned as Ava reached her hand out too as she took hold of Juliet's.
"She won't be missed out." Juliet chuckled, pressing a kiss to her head. "What about Sophie, have you caught up with her yet?"
Nodding her head, Jess glimpsed over to where she was making her way around the group, socialising in her usual confident manner. It didn't matter what situation Sophie was placed in she would handle it with ease.
"Yeah she came over yesterday. Have you?"
"No, not yet but I'm dying to. I want to know when this boyfriend of hers is going to show his face. How long have they been dating now?" Juliet asked in curiosity.
"About 5 months I think. All I know is he works a lot."
"Which is basically Sophie." Juliet laughed.
"Exactly, so I don't think we will be meeting him for a long time." Jess added, knowing how true that was.
He was a workaholic and getting him out of New York seemed impossible. Sophie had insisted she had asked him to come here at some point and he had agreed but so far that had not happened.
"She seems happy though... I just don't know how Aaron feels about the whole thing." Jess began and Juliet instantly felt curious.
"Is he finding it tough?"
"Yeah! Jack's trying to help him through it all but he's still so caught up on her."
"I never thought them two would break up. I honestly thought they were in it for the long run." Juliet added, truly believing that Sophie had found her match when meeting Aaron.
Although they bickered, they just seemed to click. He accepted her love for work while she put up with his love for partying even into his 30's. The pair just seem to be completely besotted and they always made their relationship look like it was still new and exciting.
"Me too. I just think it all went a bit too far." Jess replied, trying to say it in the politest way possible.
Sophie's decision to go to New York had pushed Aaron to his limits. He could have dealt with London but he couldn't drop his life here in Brighton for the sake of her career progression. In his mind it was unnecessary and not suitable for the children but Sophie had been stubborn.
"Do you think if she ever came back they would get back together?" Juliet asked, even though she had an idea in her head.
"Yeah, I think the love is still there both ways but I don't see Soph coming back. She is buzzing."
Jess had definitely seen the change in her best friend therefore, although she missed her like crazy she knew New York was good for her.
"It's sad though... seeing Aaron with the kids alone. It doesn't seem right." Juliet mused.
She often saw him down at the school when they were both dropping their kids off and although it wasn't all that different as he usually did it while with Sophie due to her work schedule, it was the conversations she heard from others that bothered her.
People liked to gossip and they had always been bitchy and against Sophie's working mum life however, it had been made ten times worse now.
"He's handling it well considering." Jess agreed, as she had heard talk from the guys at the garage that he was very good at putting on a brave front regardless of what he felt like on the inside. "I think Jack and Zaiden want to get him away on a lads holiday or something... he needs a break from dad life for a bit I think."
"To figure out who he is without Sophie, I guess." Juliet added knowing what a relationship was capable of doing to a person.
When you stuck with someone for so long it was very easy to lose sight of who you were without them. You became a pair and everything you did related back to your partner in some way or another. Therefore, after a breakup it was always so crucial to take time to yourself and learn who you were and how you had grown in that time yet that wasn't easy when you had children to look after.
"Exactly. I think it will be good for him."
Glimpsing over in the direction of Jack and Aaron engrossed in conversation, Jess appreciated this moment of happiness between them. Not only had things been rough for Aaron, events had been occurring at the garage and in Jack's mind, that had her uneasy.
"How are things with you and Jack then?" Juliet went onto ask, noticing where Jess' attention was.
"Yeah, really good!" She replied with a smile before letting it drop slightly. "The issues are with him and that garage."
"Why? Is he working a lot again?" Juliet asked curiously, knowing that was something that seemed to cause a lot of arguments in their relationship.
"No... he's just been in a weird mind frame about the whole business. I don't know what is going on with him."
"What do you mean?"
"Someone has offered him a lot of money for it and he's considering it..." Jess began with a sigh. "I don't know what he is thinking though because that garage is his life!"
Juliet was looking just as shocked as Jess had been when the news had been announced to her. The difference being, she had been in front of these sleezie businessmen when it had happened.
He had called her into the garage one day, completely out of the blue and when she had finally arrived, there had been a group of men in suits sat in Jack's office.
Heading in with concern and confusion, Jess was very quickly filled in on the situation at hand and she had not been happy about it.
A company who had a chain of garages had put an offer in to buy Jack out and claimed that it would benefit him too. They had offered a lot of money and also suggested that he could continue working at the garage yet he would be managed by a bigger team.
In Jess' mind they had just found a successful business and wanted to snatch it up to make the extra cash for themselves however, Jack had surprisingly been soaked up by their ideas.
"Why is he considering it? I don't understand?" Juliet asked frantically.
They all knew how much the business meant to him and how he had worked hard to keep it going therefore, it didn't make any sense.
"I don't know... he claims it's the money but I think it's deeper than that." Jess began with her theory on the whole thing dying to be shared instead of being hidden within her. "Things have been tough with the business since his mum's been sick. He's missed days at work, he's closed the garage on numerous occasions and that ended in a loss of money some months."
Jack's mum Louise's illness had obviously been the priority for the whole family as they wanted to give her the support to feel better. As a result, Jack had disowned the business on many occasions and although no one else saw it as an issue due to the circumstances, he did.
A few closes and a few months off less income wasn't a big deal to his own family or employees yet Jack was not taking it lightly.
"He's angry at himself?" Juliet clarified and Jess nodded her head.
"He's blaming the loss on his ability to run the business. I think he sees this whole selling thing as a way of handing it over to someone who can do a better job."
"But that's crazy! It's the family business, his business!"
Jess felt the exact same shock at Jack's frame of mind as Juliet did yet she was struggling to help him see it differently. He had a bad way of dealing with things that went wrong and tended to just shut down as a result.
"I'm just scared about his mental state too. After what happened when things went wrong with Addie, I'm scared he'll fall back into that place again. He doesn't talk about how he feels, he bottles it up."
"He's probably scared of being seen as weak or looking like he can't do his job as a dad and husband right." Juliet suggested and it was an accurate guess.
Those two jobs were the most important ones for him so whenever he wasn't okay, he felt as though he was failing his family.
"I honestly just want to hug him so tight and make him talk." Jess glimpsed back over at the man she loved so much.
He didn't look hurt or down, instead he looked his perfectly happily self but that was the biggest issue. He was so damn good at hiding when something was wrong.
"God, men can be more work than they let on." Juliet sighed as she followed Jess gaze before her phone caught her attention as Matt began calling. "You think you know them but they never fail to keep you guessing."
...
