My Safe Place to Land

Chapter 41

Patrick's POV:

We drove to downtown Los Angeles. My divorce hearing was in an actual courtroom because we were fighting over custody of our kids. We pulled into a parking garage. Ellen grabbed my hand and I turned to look into her eyes. She asked, "You ready for this?".

I took a deep breath and answered, "Yes.".

I brought her hand closer to my lips and kissed her hand and we proceeded to exit the car. 

As we walked into the building, I saw Ron and Kristin, Jill's parents standing there with Jill herself and our kids. Jill's face was all red and cut up. I questioned myself on why her face looked like that. After thinking for a while, I knew what could've happened. Ellen whispered into my ear, "I'm going to go use the restroom.", and she unlinked our hands and she walked away. 

After Jillian saw Patrick on his run, it made her blood boil to even think about him with another woman. She was only going to the house to pick up the last of her belongings but now that Patrick was the only thing on her mind, she had other intentions. 

She pulled into the driveway of her former house, put the car in park, got out of the car very aggressively, and slammed the door of her BMW. 

She opened the garage and walked inside the house. She went upstairs into her room and saw Ellen peacefully asleep on her bed. She rolled her eyes and proceeded to grab the last of her skincare products. She then grabbed the rest of her clothes. Since Ellen basically took over the master bedroom, all of her clothes were mixed with Ellen's. She grabbed what she thought was hers and went into the kid's rooms to grab their toys and belongings. 

She went out to her car and put everything in her car and went back inside into the kitchen. She felt that she had to get revenge on her "husband" for leaving her. She saw all of the alcohol that was in the house and poured all of it out in the sink. She then proceeded to smash every bottle on the floor. She tried to be as quiet as possible. 

When she completed her task, she was ready to leave her past behind her. She looked at the mess she made. She took one step and slipped on the slippery floor and fell face-first into the glass that was on the floor. She picked up her head and felt glass in her porcelain skin. She wiped off the glass and picked herself up off the floor. She brushed off the glass that was jabbed into her legs. As she carefully walked to the door, she heard her bedroom door open. She quickly opened the door and ran out of the house, in pain. 

I watched her walk away and asked, "Jill, what happened to your face?". 

Jillian proceeded to wipe a tear-off of her face before it hit the band-aid that was under her eye. She didn't respond to my question. She just stood there in silence.

Breaking up the awkward silence, Ron said, "So, is that the girl that you left my beautiful daughter for?".

Every nerve in my body wanted to punch Ron in the face, but I knew better. I took a big sigh. Kristin bumped his shoulder as a sign to stop causing drama. "Nice to see you too.", I said as I hugged T and kissed the boys. I walked inside and proceeded to find Ryan, my lawyer. 

I approached him and shook his hand, "You ready?", he asked me.

"Yes.", I said and we walked into the courtroom. We set down our stuff and got ready. 

Ryan and I were talking. All of a sudden, the crowd and the jury all turned and gasped as Jillian walked in. They saw all of the band-aids and cuts all over her face. Ryan turned to look at me and asked, "What the hell happened to her.? Did you do anything?".

I turned around to look at him, "No I didn't do anything, I swear. However, I think I know what happened.".

I reached to the table to grab my phone to show him the picture of all the glass on the kitchen floor, "So I went on a run this morning, and as I was running, Jillian drove by. My guess was that she went to grab the rest of her stuff and the kid's stuff that was at the house. I came back to the house and she was gone. I walked into the kitchen and saw all the glass and Ellen picking it up. I think she committed a break and entering.".

Ryan took a big sigh and sat deeper into his chair, "This isn't good. Whatever you do, keep that photo on your phone.".

After Jillian and her lawyer sat down at the table across the aisle, the Judge spoke up and said, "Okay, first you two, please state your names, address, and telephone number."

As we stood up, Jillian and I made immediate eye contact. I spoke up first and said, "My name is Patrick Dempsey, my address is...", and the court hearing proceeded.