AJ awoke late in the evening to the furious ringing of his doorbell. After leaving Nick and Jenna's house and driving all the way back, he arrived home tired and depressed. He'd been asleep ever since. He rubbed the palm of his hands over his eyes before stumbling out of the bed and making his way to the door. The fog of sleep still clouded his head.
He hit the switch to turn on the porch light and glanced out the small window on the door to see who was there. His heart pounded in hope when he saw Jenna nervously pacing on his front step, and he quickly unlocked the door.
"Jenna what's wrong?" He cried when he opened it, ushering her into his house. Her face was swollen and puffy, her eyes red and full of tears. She could barely speak. He had an obvious idea about what was wrong, but he wasn't sure, things had been way too messed up to figure out.
He watched her sit down on the couch and went into his kitchen, hunting for something to calm her down. After deducing that he had neither tea nor coffee, he uncorked a bottle of wine and poured them both a glass. Returning quickly to her side. He handed her the wine and watched as she sipped it slowly, her hand shaking as she lifted the glass to her lips.
He sat down next to her, picking up a small remote control and with the click of a button he lit a roaring fire in front of them. The warmth felt good on his face, as he waited for her to calm down, refilling her glass as she finished the wine. He calculated in his head the amount of time that had gone by since she'd stepped on the boat. Almost exactly sixteen hours, and she'd driven all this way to knock on his door. He had so many questions to ask her.
"Jenna what happened?"
"Why did you leave?" She asked with a furrowed brow, turning his way and looking into his eyes with so much pain inside.
"I don't know," He said nervously. "When you didn't come out I just assumed-"
"That I found him on the boat." She sighed as he nodded, reaching out across the table and grabbing his cigarettes. He held the crumpled pack out to her, and she quickly took one, letting AJ light it for her. Her hand still shook as she took a deep breath of smoke, something she only did when she was extremely upset. She'd quit smoking just after she and AJ broke up. He knew something bad had gone down, unfortunately he had an inkling about exactly what it was.
"Well." She continued, no longer crying, and a little more calm. "I found him. I found him in bed with someone else."
"Were they?" he said with trepidation, regretting the question the minute he asked it.
"They were finishing." She stated bitterly, a new flow of tears starting to fall from her eyes.
"What happened." AJ asked, sickened by the thought of Nick cheating on Jenna with Howie's wife.
"I didn't know what to do." Jenna cried, taking another cigarette. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I just watched. I know that sounds sick, but I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Throw something at them, leave, yell, blow up the boat. I just couldn't think, so I just stood there." Jenna shook her head and set the glass of wine back on the table.
"Eventually they saw me. I didn't even hear one word they said to me, I just nodded as they talked. Then somehow they seemed to think things were resolved, that I was okay with them screwing each other while I was out of town."
"Jesus Jenny." Aj sighed as he heard a phone ringing. Jenna sat a moment before realizing it was her own. She pulled it from her purse and said a quiet hello. AJ could see by the look on her face that it was Nick on the other end.
"I'm fine. I just went out for awhile......Yes, Nick I'm okay......I know you're sorry........Yeah, tomorrow night is fine.......I love you too......Bye"
Her head hung low as she ended the call, "I'm sorry, he couldn't know I was here."
"Why not Jenna?" Aj said suddenly angry over her love and forgiveness of Nick. "Is that such a bad thing? Or are you afraid he'd think you were cheating on him with me, just like he cheated on you with Christine!"
Jenna's head shot up to look at him, a new anger flashing in her eyes.
"You knew didn't you?" Jenna screamed through the sudden tears that erupted. "You knew and that's why you didn't want me to go home. You fucking knew!"
"Jenna I-" AJ panicked as she flew off the couch.
"Save it Alex. I never said it was Christine. I never told you who it was. Godamnit, how could you keep that from me, how could you let-"
"I'm sorry Jenny." He said as she broke down, walking to her side, rubbing his hand on her back.
"So what is this, some big secret that everyone knows about but me? Am I the laughing stock of you guys?"
"I don't think anyone else knows. I mean, I've never seen Nick with her before. It probably just happened." He stammered.
"God, now you sound like them." She said, slumping back down on the couch.
"What are you gonna do?" AJ asked meekly, sitting down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"I don't know."
"You can't tell me you're gonna stay with him after this?" Aj said, his jaw hung open.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do. He wants me to go out to dinner tomorrow night to talk about everything." She sighed. "I think he's genuinely sorry Al, I've never seen him remorseful like this."
"Are you insane Jenna?" AJ screamed. "What is it going to take for you to realize Nick's no good for you? How can you keep giving him chance after chance when he does nothing but hurt you and let you down?"
"I don't know. Maybe I am insane, but I love him and I can't help but want to make it work."
"What good is it to love the guy when he doesn't love you back." AJ said flatly. "Do you think the way he keeps you tucked away in that house and separate from everything else in his life is some expression of love? It isn't Jenna, it's to keep you from seeing what really goes on, what he really does. Things like cheating on you left and right, with the wives of people he says are his friends. You're delusional if you think you can change him. You can't. He can't love you the way you love him, he's incapable of it. All he knows how to do is hurt you Jenny, and I can 't see you hurting anymore, it kills me."
He watched Jenna's eyes well up with tears. "I won't let you stay with him Jen. He's destroying you." AJ took her face in his hands lightly, making her look him in the eyes. "Please Jenna, leave him before it's too late. Before he crushes you completely."
A silence fell between them, and he watched tears drip off her face onto the floor in the glow of the fireplace.
"You're right." She finally
muttered.