Separated

Part 4

The doorbell rang, causing Stevie to stop what she was doing. She wasn't expecting anyone on a Monday's evening. She quickly dried her hands with a kitchen cloth and went to answer the door, mindlessly checking her appearance in the mirror on her way.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Jack, hey." Stevie gave him a one side smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Um..." He nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot, then held out a bottle of wine. "I was hoping you weren't too busy and up for some company."

Her eyebrows slightly knitted, trying to understand the intention of Jack's visit. She didn't necessarily want any company, but she also didn't want to seem rude. Suppressing a sigh, she stepped aside, opening the door wider for him to come in.

"I should have called." Jack said, now thinking it wasn't a very good idea, him showing up unannounced. 

"You should have, yeah, but it's okay." Stevie assured, with an encouraging smile on her face. "I could have gone out, you know."

"You? Really?" He teased, causing her to chuckle.

"You're right." 

"Where's Jade?" Jack asked, noticing how quiet it was.

"She's already in bed." Stevie led the way to the kitchen. "I was preparing myself a snack, I realized I haven't eaten today. Can I offer you anything?"

"No, no. I'm fine." Jack shook his head, placing the wine down. 

Opening one of the drawers, Stevie took out the corkscrew and brought it to Jack, while she went to get the glasses. "Does Melanie know you're here?" She asked, somewhat hesitant.

"Uh, she does. Yeah." 

Stevie lingered for a second, his answer didn't really convince her. "Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea." She said, changing the subject. "Adult company is refreshing."

"I thought you might want someone to talk to. After, you know..." Jack trailed off, handing her a glass.

"Actually, out of all the things, that's the one, I'm not really keen on speaking about." She said, walking out the kitchen and into the living room with Jack closely behind her. "It was a shock, to say the least. First of all, I want to try and wrap my head around it and talk to Lindsey, before talking about this with someone else."

"Sure, of course." Jack nodded. "I understand." Adding, he sat down on the couch, his thigh almost touching Stevie's. "A lot to deal with for you lately."

Stevie scoffed. "Tell me about it. Years of living in constantly tension filled environment, the divorce, finding out that... that..." She stopped. No, she didn't want to talk about it.

"Is Mick at least visiting Jade?"

"We didn't settle on some schedule, he can see his daughter whenever he pleases, but in the past two months..." Stevie thought for a moment. "Mick maybe had Jade over at his place twice for a couple of days."

"What an idiot." Jack said, making Stevie laugh. "Seriously. He had a wonderful woman by his side, he had a family. I don't understand, how he just could let it all go. Willingly." Jack added.

"We've had problems, Jack, a lot of them even before we had a baby. When everything happened, when we lost one of the twins, we started drifting apart." Her own words raised hope in Stevie's heart. She instantly thought of Amber.

"You deserve to be treated a lot better than Mick did, Stevie. If I were him-"

"Jack." She cut him off. "I don't really understand, what's going on here." So, she wasn't wrong, thinking that there was something, some kind of feelings, attraction Jack felt towards her. "You're telling me, how Mick was a fool, how he willingly lost what he had and you're... I don't know, you're on the same path as him."

"I-I-" Jack stuttered, then sighed. "I like you, Stevie."

"You have a wife and a son."

"I know." He sat hunched over, moving a hand through his hair. "But... the first time I saw you, my God, you looked gorgeous that day, you seemed so carefree. I remember your wholehearted laughter, when you ran around in the park with Jade, I remember your beautiful smile-"

"Please." Stevie interrupted him again. "We can't go down that road. I would never do the same thing to anyone like what Mick did to me. It hurts, Jack, it hurts badly."

Jack remained silent, his heavy breathing the only sound in the room. After some time, he turned towards Stevie, his eyes on hers. Before she knew what was happening, she felt his lips pressing against hers in a forceful, almost desperate manner. Quickly coming back to her senses, Stevie pushed at his chest, ready to yell, but she saw the look on his face and suddenly, she didn't know what to say. He seemed a broken man. Why, she didn't know.

"I'm sorry." Jack was the first to speak. "I- I'll go."

And he did, giving Stevie no time to respond.