Teach Me How To Love Again

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Jill woke up in an empty bed, turning over to find her husband's pillow cold and untouched. She covered her eyes in the crook of her elbow and sighed.

She wrapped her white robe tightly around her body and made her way to the kitchen, hoping to see her husband asleep on the sofa but there was no sign of life.

It was evident that her husband didn't come home.

She began making her coffee and sat down at the breakfast bar, wondering how on earth she was going to fix this. She looked at the time and realized that she'd have to figure it out later. For now, she was needed at the Biden residence.

"Jill!" Beau exclaimed, running towards her when she arrived.

"Hey Beau-y. Where's your daddy?"

He pointed to the stairs.

Jill didn't actually have to ask, she could hear him upstairs, his booming voice scolding someone on the phone. She looked at her shoes for a moment as she eavesdropped before knocking on his office door.

"Come in," he responded plainly.

"Hey." She mouthed and he waved.

"Can't you kill this preposterous story?" Joe begged his communications manager, who told him that once the story was out, there was no going back, no matter how incorrect it was. The man on the other line suggested that they put out a statement, but explained to Joe that the rumor mill was running rampant.

Jill paced back and forth in his office as she listened to his battle with his team.

He slammed down the phone and rubbed his face.

"Jill, I am sorry," he sighed. "I had no idea that these bastards were stalking me. I'm going to file charges for trespassing."

"You couldn't have predicted that, it's not your fault," she reassured him.

"I expect them to come after me. I can deal with it. But coming after people I care about crosses a line and I am not going to stop until something is done about it."

Jill took a brief second to let his words sink in, but before she could really digest them, he spoke again.

"How did Bill react? He believes you, right?"

"Bill didn't come home last night," She explained.

Joe took off his glasses and set them down on the desk, folding his hands under his chin. "Jill, I don't know what to say other than that I am deeply sorry for all of this mess."

"As you said, you couldn't have known that the creepy photographer was hiding in your bushes. I will deal with Bill..."

She shivered at the thought of these men looming in the backyard, waiting to take a photo of Joe and the children. She put her index and middle fingers on either side of her temples and rotated them in a circular motion. He could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Look," Joe began. "Why don't you go and try to talk to him? I'll work on trying to get this story retracted. I can send the boys to my mother's."

"It's useless," she admitted. "He's not going to believe me."

"He has no reason not to. I know that photo looked bad but give it some time. I'm sure he'll come around."

The phone rang again. "Are you going to be okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going to go home and see if I can clear things up. Thank you."

He smiled a tight-lipped smile and picked up the phone. "Hello?"