Justifer: From the beginning

Come and Get It

Justin nursed his now ice-cold cup of coffee. With only about thirty minutes before the start of his meeting he sat alone in the hotel lobby struggling to get his mind on work. No luck. His thoughts always turned back to Jen. Why was she pulling away? What had he done .. or not done? A feeling of desertion fell on him like a leaden weight.

'Does she not want to be married to me anymore? Does she think she made a mistake? No, that can't be it. We're happy! Aren't we?'

The questions swirled in his mind like an out-of-control twister and he found himself craving a cigarette to calm his rattled nerves. The gum was just not doing it for him today.

"Hey, buddy. Ready to go?" Ben's chipper voice burst through the foggy cloud in Justin's mind.

"I need a minute." Justin replied tersely, tossing a second piece of Nicorette into his mouth. Ben's good mood was annoying him. Plus, he didn't want to go to any meeting; he wanted to go home and work this out with Jen. But how could he fix what was wrong if he didn't even know what that was?

"If we're gonna be on time we really should get going. You wanna talk about what's bugging you?"

"Sorry, man. I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind. Let's go."

As they turned to leave Justin caught a glimpse of a familiar face crossing the lobby. Great. That's all he needed right now. Pictures of him and her plastered on the cover of every tabloid. Thankfully, she hadn't seen him and he quickly followed Ben out the door before she could. With any luck, she'd be long gone before they got back.

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It was just after sunrise when Jen left the house for the airport. The three days after her conversation with David had been a blur of activity making arrangements for the kids, the dogs, the house, and cancelling her meetings for the rest of the week and now that it was all done her first priority was Justin.

By the time she landed at JFK, a car was waiting to take her to her hotel and as she pulled up to the private entrance, Carolyn, Jen's east coast assistant, came bouncing out excitedly to greet her.

"Jen!" The cute, vibrant brunette yelled, hugging her boss like a long lost friend.

"Hi, honey. How've you been?"

"I'm so great and I'm so happy to see you! You've been away from New York for far too long."

On their way to the room Lynnie chattered on about the preparations she had made for tonight.

"I've taken care of everything you asked for. Your spa appointment is at three, Chris will be here at six-thirty...and.."

"Wait, why is he coming so late?"

"Well, I wanted you to have time to rest before he came. I mean, I know you're Superwoman and everything but even Superwoman needs sleep and she won't want to mess up her freshly done hair by sleeping on it."

"I can't argue with that." Jen conceded, stifling a yawn. "I'm pretty exhausted."

"I can tell. You look beat! Anyway, the car will be here at nine to take you to the Bowery."

"Thanks, Lynnie. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

"You set a great example, boss lady. You know I want to be just like you when I grow up... even though I am two years older."

Once they were in her room, Jen called to check on the kids while Lynnie made her some tea.

"So uhm .. my friend Mary's cousin's boyfriend works at the Bowery. He uhm .. he said he's seen Justin a few times and that he seemed really distracted and not like himself."