some pressure. “That’s the thing,” she said quietly. “After that many years, after all that love and trust, what you did to me was unconscionable. I doubt any other human being could have wounded me so deeply.”
She pushed back her wineglass, then her chair. She picked up her briefcase and walked out of the bar.
The night was cold and dark, but for the twinkling of the Christmas lights. She was aware that the betrayal was not over for her yet. In fact, his desire to come back to her seemed only to make it worse. She had no idea she could hurt so much.
But then she had a vision of Scott with nothing left after taking everything he could from her. Scott, homeless and bereft. It was a very sad vision. Then the tears coursed down her cheeks.
* * *
Adele hadn’t seen much of Jake since that last big talk they’d had. It was almost a showdown. She’d given things a lot of thought and decided she would find a way to convince him they should get back on track, spend as much time together as possible and let their relationship evolve naturally. She felt they had missed a step in the development of their relationship.
She had to make Jake understand that after being friends for so long, it was awkward to her to change love to in love when she wasn’t sure exactly what that meant in the grand scheme of things. She cared for him, cared deeply. If she were to make a list of all the attributes she thought were important in someone she could be devoted to, Jake had them all. Tenderness, strength, integrity, honesty, kindness, wisdom...oh, the list was long and impressive. All that was lacking was that zing of passion she recalled from years ago when she fell hard for the useless professor.
She had come to learn that feeling wasn’t worth much without all the other things, but that wasn’t helping her right now.
She had tried explaining that to Ross who said, “Sounds to me like you’re taking him completely for granted.”
But of course she didn’t think she was doing that. She thought it was more probable he was trying to motivate her with his frequent trips to Jeannie’s house to look at her remodel plans or her tile choices. She had tile choices and remodel plans he could look at!
With that in mind, she fluffed and buffed, fixing her hair and makeup, and took off from her house to the market. If she found that Jake was once again heading to Jeannie’s, she just might scream. Justine and the girls were going to San Jose to a high school choir concert tonight, and Adele decided it was the right time to give Jake a piece of her mind. He was clearly avoiding her and trying to make her jealous. That was no way to lay the groundwork for a romantic relationship.
She had rehearsed what she’d say many times and did so again as she walked through the cold, foggy night to the market. Jake, I’ve had so many changes this year, my new job that will lead to a new career, my sister and nieces moving in, not to mention that I lost forty pounds and have a completely new lifestyle...and now I feel that I’m losing you! This isn’t the time to put restrictions or demands on our—
She stopped suddenly as the market came into view and outside the front entrance was a paramedic’s truck, a big fire rig and an ambulance. Lights flashed against the low hanging winter clouds. Had someone slipped and fallen? She picked up her pace. Then she saw a gurney wheeled out of the market. The paramedics appeared to be rushed, and one was holding up an IV bag.
She ran. Someone had stretched yellow crime scene tape across the street. A crime? she asked herself. The police were there, but they seemed to be working crowd control. She had a sudden horrible fear that it was Jake. Jake, whose father died of a heart attack at a relatively young age. She couldn’t remember offhand just how old he’d been. She raced up to the gurney just as they reached the ambulance’s back door.