Jack Who? (Book 1 Draft Version)

PART TWO~CHAPTER : 36

♪♫••═════ PART TWO~CHAPTER : 36  ═════••♬ ♭

 JACK

I miss you

3:32 AM

I docked the phone and rolled away from it staring into the darkness as a fresh slew of tears filled my eyes. Was I actually supposed to respond to a middle of the night text when it was our first communication after almost two weeks apart? This fight or whatever it was had gone way beyond text intervention.

Jack had continued to call or Facetime Tristan almost everyday, but didn't use my number. Two days after our fight, a phone addressed to Tristan had arrived in the mail. A four-year old with a phone! It obviously kept my fiancé from having to go through me to talk to our son.

Did it mean we were broken up?

I cried or teared up every day at some point. At some point every day, I reprimanded myself for being caught up in a fantasy. Foolishly, based on some physical and imagined spiritual connection, I had taken off to California with a guy I had only really known a couple of weeks, even if that man was the father of my child.

It was understandable now why celebrities broke up all of the time if they were all bipolar narcissistic jerks like Jack. Unfortunately, I would always be tied to Jack in some way by our son.

My life had fallen into a pattern similar to the days before Jack. Only, there was no forgetting Jack.

Even though I had relocated, my job status had still technically been on family leave. When the casino had called to update, I had made a rash decision to take my old shift back.

Sanity.

The hours of slot machines ringing in my ears, and the business of counting craps or dealing blackjack left little time for thinking. As far as I was concerned, that was a good thing. Anything that kept me from my own thoughts was a good thing.

Olivia had been a great support, and I opened up to my mother when helping out while she recovered. Clayton had begun dating Gina from the casino, and both seemed intent on keeping my spirits up.

"Marissa," Clayton's voice came from behind me, causing me to jump from my reverie. "Tap out pretty lady." Clay was still a flirt and before moving away, he addressed my table of black jack players. "Isn't Miss Rissa the prettiest woman in the room?" 

I knew that meant that Gina wasn't in the room yet. It was a joke between the three of us. He had happily settled down his philandering ways and I was happy for him. It felt strange to take orders from Clayton. A few months before Tristan's surgery, I was promoted to pit boss. Now, in coming back to work, I was a rotating dealer.

Clearing my hands, I clapped out and weaved my way through the busy room to the employee exit. During the fifteen-minute break, I checked my texts. Re-reading the one from Jack the night before.

I miss you

I scrolled up to the one two weeks before.

'Whatever'

Then on up

'Taking a break like you said'

Then the one before.

'I've been thinking about your ass all day :P'

There in backwards order, in a few texts was the phenomenon. EVERYTHING HAD BEEN FINE AND THEN IT JUST WASN'T. How did that even happen?

But I knew the truth. Everything hadn't been fine. I had been happy. Even in some sort of love. But it had only been the surface hiding everything deeper. Things I didn't want to think about. The strip club. The paternity test. And numerous little personality conflicts between the two of us.