the eras of us ⎹ Lana Parrilla & Jennifer Morrison

Chapter 17

A few weeks had passed since the night of the mini-reunion at Lana's house with Ginny and Josh. Since then, Jen had reestablished contact with them, a prospect that filled her with happiness. After the end of Once Upon A Time, the blonde had distanced herself from the people she had grown to love during her time in Vancouver, with the exception of Rose—her best friend.

"What are you thinking about, babe?" Marcus's sudden voice emerged from behind her, accompanied by his hands resting on her waist.

"Some old friends," Jen replied, continuing to cut the tomatoes in front of her.

"I noticed you've been spending more time on the phone recently."

"Yeah, Josh sometimes sends me pictures of his kids, and they're just so adorable. Do you want to see a few?" She turned around, locking eyes with her fiancé.

Instead of answering her question, he simply shook his head and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh," was all the blonde could muster in response, attempting not to reveal her disappointment in his disinterest.

"What exactly is your relationship with Josh?" Marcus suddenly inquired.

"My—my relationship with Josh? We're friends, and he, Ginny, and I used to be really close." Confusion was evident on her face as she asked, "Why?"

"Can I not ask my future wife about her relationships with other men?"

The blonde blinked at her fiancé's words and couldn't suppress a small grin. "You're not jealous right now, are you?"

"Of course not," he replied so coldly that Jen's grin faded. "I just don't want you to forget who you're engaged to."

"Marcus—"

He interrupted her with a simple movement of his head, saying, "Just continue lunch. I'll be in a meeting, so don't come into my office for the next hour, okay?" He leaned forward to kiss her lips before stepping out of the kitchen.

Jen watched after him, a whirlwind of emotions tumbling through her body—What the hell was that?

Jen stood in the kitchen, her mind racing with confusion and a hint of frustration. She tried to shake off the unsettling encounter with Marcus and refocus on finishing lunch. As she chopped vegetables, her thoughts lingered on the odd tension that had unexpectedly emerged between them.

Despite her attempts to distract herself, Jen found it challenging to concentrate on the task at hand. The familiar ringtone of her phone interrupted the silence, prompting her to glance at the screen. It was a message from Lana.

"I wonder if you have your hair up in a ponytail right now or loose around your shoulders."

Jen couldn't suppress a light chuckle as she raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" she simply typed back and didn't have to wait long until the little bubble appeared on the left side of the screen of her phone, showing her that the brunette was typing.

"Are you gonna enlighten me about your hair?"

"It's up in a ponytail," the blonde wrote, adding, "I'm cooking right now."

"Oh, what's on the menu, and am I invited?"

Jen laughed before sitting down at the kitchen table, where a glass of water had stood untouched for the last twenty minutes. She took a few sips before replying, "Grilled Chicken Caprese Salad. And yes."

"Is Marcus home?"

"Yes."

A few seconds passed without another bubble showing up on the screen. Jen furrowed her eyebrows in confusion but patiently waited until the little bubble appeared, only to disappear again. She wondered if the brunette typed something in and then changed her mind to rewrite it.