The Man That Got Away

Two

Time heals all wounds. This too shall pass. She was sick of hearing the excessively repeated phrases. Time passes; it does not heal. Her husband was dead and had been for three months; her heart had been torn out with his passing. Whenever she thought the gaping hole in her heart was healing, there were a million things to remind her of Nathan. She had a weeping wound but not in the true medical sense. There was no noxious matter to keep the wound from oozing. Just tiny reminders...his favorite coffee mug, the brown of her son's eyes so like his father's,  and the little love notes left here and there for her to find. The wound was wide open each time she remembered the man she'd loved for twenty some years. It wouldn't close. It wouldn't scab over or leave a scar. Would it ever? The gift of healing hadn't come to her yet, and she wasn't certain it ever would.

Her fingers toyed with the small folded piece of paper on her vanity. She'd found it in her coat pocket days ago. Jenny unfolded it delicately.

Honey, you should know that I could never go on without you...green eyes. – Love, Nathan

Jenny closed her eyes as she felt the tears forming. It wasn't an original love note from her late husband, but Nathan had always thought of her when he heard Coldplay's Green Eyes. Her mind hummed the song, and she remembered the night they danced to the song. She remembered how his arms went around her and how he'd sung the words in her ear.

With a knock on her bedroom door, she wiped the tears from her eyes and put the note in her jewelry box. "Come in," she said.

The door opened slowly, and Emmaline stepped inside. With one look at her mother, she sensed her pain...felt it pulsating the room. The teenager  understood; she still hurt from her father's death. Emma walked over to  her mother's vanity table. "Thought I'd tell you goodnight," she said softly, leaning down and circling her arms around her mother.

Jenny returned the embrace and kissed her daughter's cheek. "Goodnight, Em. I love you." She looked into her daughter's eyes. Blue like...she stopped herself.

"Love you too," Emma answered and left the room quietly.

But her daughter's eyes were blue. Blue like his eyes. Pale blue, intense, and piercing with intuition.

Her mind drifted to that night. The night she'd betrayed her husband by sleeping with his brother. Nathan was out of town. She couldn't remember  why, and she couldn't recall why she had decided to visit Jethro that  night all those years ago. Loneliness? Perhaps. She was lying to herself. At that time, she and Nathan had mutually agreed to take a break from each other. He was in Stillwater then, and Diane had left Jethro after draining his bank account and taking his grandfather's watch. She took a long sip of bourbon and pressed the glass against her cheek, letting her mind travel back in time.

Jenny entered the home of her brother-in-law. Why did he never lock his door? She walked through the living room, tossing her purse onto the couch. She looked around. Basement...that's where her brother-in-law would be.

Gibbs put the piece of sandpaper down when he heard heels hitting the floor above him. He knew who was walking across his kitchen floor. Jethro  smirked when he heard a cabinet door close. He refilled a jar with strong bourbon and waited for her to come down the basement stairs.

She came down the stairs with a clean glass in her hand. "Want company?"

"Do I have a choice?" he asked. He wanted to be alone, but he couldn't throw Jenny out of his house. All week he'd been plagued with memories of Shannon and Kelly. He wanted to wallow in happy memories until the bourbon dulled them away.

"No," the redhead answered, walking over to the work area. She opened the bottle and poured the liquor into her glass.

"I have glasses down here."