Jennie
The moment the door was closed, we both breathed a sigh of relief. Lisa ran a hand through her hair and then smiled.
"Well, that was... where are you going!?"
I had turned on my heel and headed back for the bedroom. My confident, and polite facade falling away the moment that the agent was out of the house, I marched right back to what I had been doing before she'd arrived. I could play the loving, doting wife well enough for a few minutes but it was clear that wasn't who I could be long term.
"Jennie." Lisa said, entering the room behind me as I dragged my suitcase back out and tossed it open, continuing to pack. "What are you doing!?"
"I'm still leaving, Lisa." I told her, too spent by my own anger to argue. "I need some space."
"But what you said in there, about being glad I did it, about how I did the right thing." she replied, stunned.
"I meant it. But you still lied to me. For the last two years, you lied to me. You had my number. You knew where I was. You never called to tell me about my father's heart attack, about Irene's financial burdens, or about taking on any of it yourself."
"I didn't want to force your hand. You left for a reason and, if you were still in New York, then you weren't finished with whatever it was. I was still holding out hope that you would come back someday, that we could see each other in a new way, the way we have been for the last week and a half. I didn't want to be the person who called to tell you about your dad or the one who tried to help you reconcile with your family before we got to reconcile things between us. I didn't... Jennie, I didn't want to be friend-zoned again."
"So you didn't tell me about my dad?"
"I should have, is that what you want me to say? I should have called you anyway. After four years of radio silence from you, I should have called you up and been your shoulder to cry on. Just like I was throughout all of college. Jennie, I will be there for you. I will support you and hold your hand through anything you need me to. But I can be so much more than that for you. I want to be. I just... wanted the chance." she said. When I didn't stop packing, she took a step forward and continued. "I thought Irene would tell you, I hoped she would, because it would have been better coming from her. But she couldn't get a hold of you and, by the time I realised that you still didn't know, it was too late. I would have looked like the asshole for waiting so long to tell you."
I looked up at her, raising a brow.
"I see the irony in that statement, yes." she sighed. "And maybe I was being a little selfish. But I wanted this chance with you. So I stayed out of things with your family until your sister asked me for help, for the money. I had plenty of it and it didn't feel right saying no. I wanted to tell you, Jennie. I wanted to tell you so bad but Irene didn't want me to. She didn't want you to know that she needed the help, that she couldn't do it on her own. So I ended up right in the middle of things anyway, despite my best efforts to stay out of it."
I said nothing, just shoved the last of my things into my suitcase harder and slammed it shut.
"Jennie, this last week has been the best week of my life." she confessed and I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes at the brokenness of her voice. "Please, don't leave. If you just stay, we can figure this out. If you just stay, I promise I will make it up to you."
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and, lifting my suitcase, headed for the door. "I need some space, Lisa." I told her firmly, striding through the hall and to the front door. "I need some time to think about all of this."
I approached the limo outside. Kevin had been leaning against it, tapping away on his phone. At the sight of us exiting the house, he stood up straight, pocketing the device and watching our approach.
"Take me to the airport, Kevin." I muttered, stopping at the trunk to stow away my bag.
Kevin's eyes slid from me to Lisa who was running up behind me.
"Jennie, please. Look at me." she plead.
I took a breath and then turned to face her.
"Every time you say you need space, you leave. And, Jennie, you don't come back."
I saw the terror in her eyes, the fear that she was losing me, that I truly wouldn't ever come back and she would never see me again. Part of me, most of me, wanted to assuage those fears, caress her cheek and promise that this was short-term, that I only needed to think about things between us where I could think about it clearly, away from her. But the much smaller part of me, the part that always seemed to dictate my actions, was the instinct I had to pull away. I'd done it with my dad, I'd done it with my sister, and now I was doing it with Lisa.
This was what I did, I realised. I ran.
"Let me go, Lisa." I told her, voice firm as I left my suitcase by the trunk and opened my own door to the backseat. "Let me go and find out."
Then I stepped inside the limo and shut the door behind me, finally letting the tears stream down my face now that she could not see me from the outside. I almost expected her to open the door and pull me out, to keep begging me to stay, but a moment later, I heard the trunk close and then Kevin was climbing into the front seat and pulling out of the driveway. He drove for a moment in silence before he spoke.
"I know it's none of my business, Mrs. Manoban, but..."
"Kevin." I interrupted, my body shaking with quiet sobs as I did. "Partition."
