Just Hold My Hand and Jump (sequel to Have You Ever Really Danced On The Edge?)

Chapter 3

*Vic's POV*

"What do you want from me?" Jaime screamed across the room at me. I was sitting in the corner of the sound booth as he paced the room rapidly. He had been yelling for most of the conversation, and I knew he had every right to, so I didn't try to calm him down.

"I don't know anymore," I answered quietly. "I don't know what I want at all."

"Do you love me?" he asked. It was the first thing he had said calmly in a long time. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm always going to love you, Jaime. But that's not the question we have to ask anymore. It's if we're still in love. And that's the question that I'm not sure if I know the answer." I sighed and felt tears tracing down my cheeks. He finally sat down, across the booth so that we were looking directly at each other.

"I'm still in love with you, Vic," he mumbled, and I felt my stomach drop. "How are we going to fix this?" I didn't mean to, but I laughed. He got loud again as he asked, "what's so fucking funny?"

"No, it's not funny," I answered. "But don't you think this entire conversation sounds a lot like Caraphernalia? I mean come on. How do we fix it? What if we don't want to fix it? How many times does a man have to have this conversation?" I laughed again and rested my head between my knees.

"The only common denominator in those two situations is you, Vic. Maybe you should look at yourself for that answer." Jaime got up again, and he walked toward the door.

"No, Jaime, stop!" I got up and grabbed his arm. "Look, don't go, okay? The first time I went through all this shit, I decided it wasn't worth fixing. And I regretted that for a long time, and there's no way I can fix it now. But I'm not making that mistake again. I'm going to fix this, no matter what I have to do." I looked up at him, and he looked back down at me. "Please?"

We stared at each other in silence for long time before he spoke again. "Cara slept with a few guys a few times. You've been cheating on me for years. With a groupie. While we've been married. With a child. Your puppy dog eyes can't make this better, Vic." He yanked away from me and made his way out of the building. I followed behind him, and when we got to our cars, I decided to ask.

"Can I at least keep Ainsley for a while? She's still my daughter, and no matter what happens with us, I don't want her to suffer." He was quiet for a while before he agreed to drop her off after school.

When my daughter came bursting through the door that afternoon, she had an envelope in her hand. I grabbed it from her and asked, "is this from the school?"

She dropped her bag by the couch and shook her head. "No, daddy told me to give it to you." I felt my heart race as I opened the envelope and began to read the letter.