Everything He Couldn't

<p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>One of my favorite songs growing up was Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Ironically enough I never realized I'd be living out those lyrics in my own life when I fell for my best friend's girl-and then my best friend John Schmitt died.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Add on the fact that she was pregnant with his child and that I'd been harboring feelings for Evelyn months before all of this happened and well now?</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Now the lyrics to that song don't sound so bad anymore.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>The worst part is I'm the one to blame for his death which made facing her an even harder pill to swallow so what did I do? Pretend like she didn't exist anymore even though it was virtually impossible because she was everywhere in our small town of Newberry Springs.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Flashforward six months and suddenly Evelyn finds herself in a legal battle she never saw coming and I can't just stand by any longer and pretend like my heart isn't in shambles.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>So I suggest the unthinkable.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>I offer to marry her help her prove that she's a fit mother and her daughter is being raised well despite John not being in the picture.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>But Evelyn doesn't know that being near her gets my blood pumping even more so after avoiding her for months.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>She doesn't understand that doing this favor for her is a way for me to gain retribution for John's death and take a chance to find out if she can reciprocate my feelings.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>And she doesn't get that by being there for her and loving her and her daughter that I'm doing everything that my best friend couldn't.</span></p>