Although she kind of felt like a trophy, she couldn't begrudge Aaron his satisfaction. All things considered, Matt deserved to be under the impression that Aaron had taken over Matt's former mistress right out from under him.
It made her feel a little bit whorish, but she shrugged that off as probably being because she was inside a church, so the moral bar was raised.
Anna caught Julie's gaze then, and when she noticed Julie Anna grinned and waved. "Hi!" she called.
Smiling a little sadly, Julie raised her left hand and waved back. "I miss her," she murmured to Aaron.
"Who?" he asked absently, then noticed the interaction. "Oh. Yeah, that… kind of sucks. Considering the history, you probably don't get invited for play dates, huh?"
"I wonder what Anna will be like when she gets older," Julie mused.
Grimacing, Aaron said, "I don't even want to think about it."
"She's such a sweet baby," Julie said.
"Yeah, she is, but she's doomed. Matt and Emma are her role models," he reasoned. "Just look on the bright side, you'll have your own in a few months, you can make sure he or she grows up following your standards."
Scoffing slightly, Julie said, "I think we might want to raise the bar a little, Aaron. I'm telling the baby I conceived by swallowing a watermelon seed."
Chuckling, Aaron said, "I don't think that will hold up for long."
"Then I'll say that I don't know who the father is because I was in a coma and when I woke up I was pregnant."
"These are the days of our lives," Aaron said a touch mockingly.
"I used to have such good morals," she said on a sigh. "I never should have had to lie about this. I should have had a baby with a decent man who would actually play a part in my kid's life."
Glancing over at her he said, "Well, it's not too late. Not like you're beyond redemption."
"I'm in the blueberry stage, Aaron. I think I'm slightly past being able to give this baby a decent father."
Shaking his head, he seemed to disagree. "That's not entirely true. There are guys out there who…considering your baby won't really have a father… they would take care of the kid like it's their own. Not right away, of course, but when you guys get serious. You're not that far along, you still have plenty of time to meet someone."
"Yeah, but since the baby won't really be his, what if he treats the baby differently?"
"Then dump him," Aaron said with a slight smile, but she could tell he wasn't joking. "If he's not an asshole then he's going to know that regardless of any mistakes you might have made—you are still young, those happen—it's not the baby's fault. If he's worth your time, that won't matter."
Biting her lip a little, Julie hesitated before asking, "Would you personally date a woman who had a baby?"
"Yes," he answered without hesitation.
"And you'd be… a father-figure if things got serious?"
"If she didn't mind, yes," he said with a nod. "Honestly, since I can't have kids myself… I wouldn't mind that at all."
A little grin blossomed on her face then, and although she didn't investigate as to why that might make her happy, it definitely seemed to.
Since it wasn't really time to find a seat yet, Aaron and Julie walked around. The idea was to mingle, but since Aaron wasn't much of a mingler and Julie didn't know anyone except people who didn't like her, they mostly just ended up walking around, looking at the purple flower arrangements and saying hi to a couple of people.
Eventually they went and found their seats, no longer wanting to mingle, and they just sat there waiting and talking a little bit. People began filling up the pews and the person at the piano took her seat and started playing some music.
"See, this wasn't so bad," Julie said quietly.
"It's not the wedding I was dreading, it's more the reception."
Grimacing, she said, "I hope you're hungry, because I don't feel like running to the bathroom in heels, so I'm thinking I should discreetly dump my food on your plate."
Shaking his head, he said, "Nope, I'm going to be drinking, I don't want to eat much either or I'll get sick."