Love Torn (6 page)

She climbed under the duvet and flicked on the TV.  There was some American cop show on.  She usually liked to laugh at how the actors posed for the camera and messed up their crime scenes rather than wear sanitation suits.  But this evening she didn’t care.  She watched it with her mind numb and her heart aching.  Macavity jumped up onto the bed and cuddled up to her, purring.

“Oh Mac, what am I going to do?”  She rubbed his ears.  “Men are rats, you know that?”
 

The cat purred louder.

“I knew you’d agree.”

Around ten o’clock,
she was hungry and made her way to the kitchen. 
She’d been crying again, and was in no mood to cook or prepare anything.
 
She opened the freezer and pulled out a tub of Ben and Jerry’s
ice cream.  She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and made her way back to
bed
.  She knew she’d have to
share a little of her ice cream with Mac, but he was worth it.  She smiled for the first time in hours at that thought.
 

Jackie changed over to the shopping channel and tucked in to the ice cream.  Mac woke up and begged for his portion. 

“The Vet will kill me if he found out Mac.  So don’t breathe a word, ok.”
  She spooned a little into the lid for him.

At some point between then and the alarm clock going off, Jackie had eaten the entire tub of ice cream and fallen asleep.  The TV was chattering away to itself.  Mac was asleep on the end of the bed.  She leant over to the clock and turned it off.  There was no way she was going in to work today.  She crawled out of bed and headed downstairs again.  She turned on her mobile phone and winced as it continuously beeped at her. 
There were
fifteen text messages and nine missed calls.  She knew
who
they were from and couldn’t face even checking them.  She dialled the number for Human Resources. 
Jackie
knew Angela Higgs would be in early
;
she was a workaholic with no life.  Jackie lied to Angela.  She told her that she had
Delhi
Belly and wouldn’t be in that day.  Angela bought it.  Apparently three other colle
agues, who’d been to the function had come down with it.  She heaved a sigh of relief as she hung up the phone.  That had been easy.  She climbed the stairs and went back to bed.

Chapter 8

Jackie slept until one o’clock in the afternoon when there was a thumping on the front door.  Whoever it
was,
also r
ang
the bell a lot.  Jackie froze in bed.  There were two possibiliti
es for who was at the door –
Kate or Jason.  She didn’t want to see either.  Eventually,
they
stopped knocking and ringing and went away.  Jackie sighed and climbed out of bed.  She had to get over this.

She showered and decided to go through the messages on the phone.  She couldn’t put it off forever. 
As she read the messages from Kate, she began to cry again.  It was clear that she was worried about her.
She listened to the voicemail messages and cried some more.  Even Jason sounded worried and that made her mad.  How dare he?  How dare he lie to her like that?

Jackie made herself a cup of coffee and opened the living room curtains.  She didn’t want to let the world in just yet, but she wanted some light.  She sat on the sofa feeling very sorry for
herself
, and began to make a plan.  She would start the search for a new job and
would
avoid Jason
as much as
she
could
do at work
.
  She certainly would not allow herself to be alone with him at any rate.
  That had to
be avoided at all costs
she told herself vehemently.

She grabbed last week’s local newspaper and started to scour the jobs section.  She didn’t notice the little face that appeared over the back garden fence. 

Kate had been so concerned over her, that she’d left work early and headed over to Jackie’s place.  She knew she was in.  Where else would she have been? 
Some awful thoughts passed through Kate’s mind about Jackie.
  She knew she’d been on a date and that was the last she’d heard from her.  Kate was desperate.  She clambered up the
back fence, and she
thank
fully
saw Jackie sitting in her little house.
  She ran round to the front and rang the
doorbell
.

Jackie swore under her breath.  Who was that at the door?
  She froze.  She didn’t wish to see either Kate or Jason. 

The person at the door started to hammer their
fist
against it.
  “Jackie, it’s me Kate.  I know you’re in there.  Please open up!” 

Jackie had no choice
.  S
he had to answer the door.

“Jackie
,
damn it – please!”  Kate cried.

She slowly moved to the door and unlocked it.  Kate was standing on the
doorstep
, worry clearly etched on her face.  Jackie stood aside
,
and
Kate walked in.

“What on earth is going on Jack? 
I’m worried sick!”
  She enfolded Jackie in her arms
,
and
Jackie sobbed.  She knew she couldn’t tell Kate why she was crying, but being held by her forced the
floodgates
open.

“Tell me what happened?  Was it that date?  Did he hurt you?”

Jackie pulled away.  “No.
No
,
honestly, it’s not that.”
  She sighed.  “I’m just not ready to talk about it, ok?”

Kate nodded.  “You want another cup of coffee?”

Jackie said she did
,
and
Kate sent her upstairs to get dressed while she made it.

Fully dressed, hair brushed and furnished with another cup of coffee, Jackie sat on the sofa listening to Kate tell her about how frantic she’d been all day.  Jackie felt bad.  Despite Kate’s knack of making any situation sound funny, she knew that Kate truly had been worried sick.  Jackie’s heart was tearing.  She longed to explain everything to her, but knew if she did
,
then anything that Kate had with Jason would be ruined.

After a while,
Kate asked; “Do you fancy some good news?”

Jackie smiled weakly, “Yeah, I could do with some.”

“Well,
as
you know
, I was adopted at the age of three when my parents died in a car accident.
I’ve been searching, with the Salvation Army, for my brother, and they
found him!”

“Are you serious?  That’s great news!”  Jackie shot out of her seat and hugged her friend.

“When will you get to meet him?”

“I’ve already met him.  That’s what I wanted to tell you on Saturday night.”

“Seriously?”

Kate laughed; it was a hearty laugh and reminded Jackie of Jason.  “Yes, seriously.  You are not going to believe this.”

Jackie laughed at her friend.  Kate had a way of telling a story that made it exciting.  Jackie was pleased that she’d found her brother.  She deserved it.

“He’s been under our noses all this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…”
Kate stopped her explanation as the
doorbell
rang again.

Jackie groaned,
and
Kate got up.

“Don’t worry I’ll get it.”

Kate went to the door, opened
it
and squealed with delight.  Jackie half-rose from the sofa to see who was at the door.  It was Jason,
and
he had Kate in his arms.  Jackie fought the tears back.  How was she going to deal with this?

Jason strode into the tiny living room, holding Kate’s hand.
  He
looked at Jackie’s puffy face.  “What’s wrong?  What happened?”

Jackie shook her head.  She couldn’t speak.  She was scared that it was all going to come out.  She wanted Jason, but Kate was more important to her. 
If the truth came out, then Kate would be hurting too.

“Jackie,
please
tell me.”  He pleaded.

She shook her head.

Kate stepped in, “She’ll tell us when she’s ready.  Do you want a coffee Jason?”

He nodded.  Kate fetched him one, and Jason sat staring at Jackie.  He tried to reach for her hand,
and
she snatched it away.

Kate returned and handed Jason his coffee.  She sat back down on the armchair and resumed her narrative.  “I was telling Jackie, that the Salvation Army found my brother.”

Jason grinned at her.  Jackie wanted them to go, she just wanted to hide and cry.

“Well, as I said, he was under our noses all this time, and we didn’t know it.”

“Yeah, you said.”  Jackie responded sulkily.

“Jackie
,
wake up!  Can’t you guess?”

She shook her head, “No.  Guess what?”

Kate threw up her hands in exasperation.  “Jackie, I’d like you to meet Jason
Prentice – my brother.”

Jackie sat open mouthed.  She stared at them both.

“Say
something
!”  Kate cried.

“Your brother?”

“Yes, my brother.”  Kate laughed.

Jackie stammered, “B… but I saw you.”

“When?”  Jason asked.

“On Sunday, as I left.”  She mumbled.

Jason laughed.  “Is that what this is about?”

Jackie burst into tears; she couldn’t help it.

Kate’s eyebrows rose, “Oh I get it. 
Jason was your
date?
  You saw us as you left, and thought… oh.” 
She picked up the now empty coffee mugs and headed for the kitchen to le
ave Jason and Jackie alone.

Jason inched closer to Jackie on the sofa.  Jackie stood up and moved away from him.

“I’m sorry.”  She muttered.

“Why be sorry?  It’s an easy mistake to make,
and
I was aloof about the meeting.  I wanted to tell you all about it, honestly I did.”

“I feel like an idiot.”

He smiled at her.  She did love that smile.  “Can I hold you?”  He asked.

Jackie looked down at her feet and nodded. 
Jason reached out and drew her t
o him.  He kissed the top of her head. 

“Jackie Forbes, I love you.”

She pulled back and looked at him in shock.  “What?”

He snorted.  “I have for some time now. 
I just
didn’t know how to approach you.  Then, when I almost hit you with the door on Saturday, I was given the perfect opportunity to get close to you.”

Jackie flushed at the remembrance of
Saturday
.

“Now, I understand if you don’t feel the same way about me.  I just ask you to give me a chance.  We’re good together, you and I. 
I’d like to spend time with you outside of the office.
  What do you say?”

Jackie looked up into his eyes but remained silent.  All her worst fears of the past twenty-four hours had come to nought.  He was declaring his love for her.  He wanted her in his life.  She was speechless.

He bent his head towards her and kissed her.  The kiss was gentle at first,
but
soon the fire ignited between them.

He spoke again, his voice husky with passion, “Jackie, I love you.  Will you be mine?”

She smiled
up at him
.  “Yes, I will.”  Jason kissed her again.

Jackie
was glad she was no longer torn between the man she loved and her
best friend.
  There was no need to choose
any
more
.
 

Kate appeared at the door to the living room.  She smiled at
them, grabbed her
bag,
and quietly slipped out of the
front
door. 

Their kisses deepened,
and
they heard the front door click behind Kate.  Jason picked
Jackie
up and carried her upstairs where they
made love.  In the early hours of the night, before they finally fell asleep, they talked about and planned
their future together.  

~
43
~