Chapter Nine
The time on the small hen shaped chicken on the kitchen wall read five in the afternoon and Jenny had done absolutely nothing today. She sat in her living room once again clicking through all the channels unable to find anything of interest. Finally, she forced her finger to stop clicking down on the faded channel button and placed the remote on her lap. The news flashed on and she watched as the world around her moved on.
"I can't take this." Jenny sighed.
She pushed out of the living room and found herself facing the front door rather than the staircase. Reaching out to the doorknob Jenny pulled the door open and pushed herself out unto her porch. Since yesterday, she had refused to think about Max, but now that she looked down to see his handiwork she could not help but let his face invade her thoughts. A smile broke her neutral expression and carefully Jenny pushed her chair a little further out into the ramp. It felt steady and well-built as she managed to make it down unto the pavement.
"Jenny Grant?"
She turned to face her caller and found no other than an old school mate from High School making his way towards her.
"Danny?" Jenny greeted.
"May I ask?" He gestured down to her chair.
Jenny looked down at her dead stems and felt her mouth twitch as she looked up at him. Danny had not changed a bit; his golden blond hair remained the same after High School, untamed with not a drop of gel to control it. His blue eyes still held a friendly aura and his great smile reached from ear to ear as he looked down at her. The freckles sprinkled across his cheeks had been the first thing that had captured her attention when she first met him. They had dated for nearly three months and then he had decided that it had been long enough. She held no remorse against him; he had let her down easy and kindly. Jenny had guessed Danny feared that maybe a bad rivalry would start between their mothers since they were neighbors.
"Had a bad hunting accident." She replied.
Danny pressed his lips into a thin line and ran a hand through his hair before turning over his shoulder. "I have to run an errand for my mother, but how about I come back later so we can catch up, say eight?" he asked.
Jenny found herself hesitating to nod her head but in the end nodded not really putting her hopes up.
"I'll see you then." He grinned.
Danny walked away and Jenny quickly retreated into her house closing the door so that the sun could not invade it. She paused for a moment as she turned to look at her empty residence and cursed. If Danny came back by some miracle, the last thing she wanted was to let him in here.
***
Max paced his living room watching as the time went by, Izzy resided in the kitchen where she had left off almost two weeks ago. This morning she had shown up, and Lord forgive him but he had really hoped she had not.
"This is crazy, impossible." Max muttered to himself as he turned to look at the clock again. The time read seven thirty and every time the red hand clicked, he felt his heart thunder with it. Why was it impossible to believe that deep down he missed her, he and Jenny had simply shared little but few words and a meal.
"I'm doing it again." He argued with himself.
He had a weakness for pretty faces, and that part of him still refused to leave him, or so he thought. The clock ticked again and Max growled under his breath as he ripped the clock from the wall and tossed it into the wastebasket.
"I'm going for a walk." Max called out.
"Dinner will be ready in half an hour." Izzy called out.
He said nothing more and hit the pavement quickly, his feet pushing forward in haste.
***
Jenny felt her heart stop when her front door rattled with a knock and adjusting her hair, she pinched her cheeks and took a deep breath. She answered with a bright grin as Danny stood with a charming smile leaning against the doorframe.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
She fought for words and found herself nodding and hated herself for it as she pushed away from the door to let Danny into the house.
"Wow, are you remodeling?" He asked.
"Yeah, most of this stuff was really old, and I wanted to make it more modern." She lied.
"I have a cousin who owns a furniture store, has great prices just in case you are wondering." He advised.
"That would really help, I'll have to look into that." She chuckled, forcefully.
"So, how did you say you ended up this way?" Danny asked.
"It's a rather long story, but to make it short I got injured while helping a couple of friends." She replied.
"I've been gone so long things changed a lot around here, I recently graduated from college, did only four years."
"That's great Danny, what's the next step?"
"I was actually going to start a little business here in Journey."
"What exactly did you have in mind?"
"A small Café." He replied.
"Just a Café?" She dared to ask.
"I'm going for a Barns & Nobles kind of theme. Caffeine and Books." He explained.
"Sounds cozy, I can't wait to see the finishing product." She retorted.
"Construction begins in a week. I got some pretty great prices from this construction business that started two years ago. When it is finished you are more than welcome to come."
"I'd like that, how far off will it be from your home?"
"About four blocks, I'm guessing you might want to take a Taxi there or maybe Gia and Frank can drive you." He advised.
Before Jenny could reply a loud rapping came at her door and Danny rushed to answer it as he stood from the bottom step. Her heart lurched to see Max come face to face with Danny whom greeted him a bit confused.
"May I help you?" He asked.
"I'm here to see, Jenny." Max replied.
His jaw clenched and his eyes darted past Danny to where Jenny was, clearly confused to see her guest.
"And you are?" Max asked, walking past Danny.
"Danny Recce." He replied. Danny stared after Max as he walked over to where Jenny was. It bothered her that he had to be so cold to him. Was Max in a bad mood? Had she done something to upset him? Her mind began to think about that.
Max studied him as a recognizable expression crossed his face, he stared down at him from head to toe a dark expression crossing his eyes.
"Hello Max." Jenny greeted to break the silence. "Where is Izzy?"
"Izzy?"
"Your fiancée." She specified.
"Home. I came by to see if there was anything you needed."
"I'm more than alright, you don't have to worry." She reassured.
***
Max felt his gut clench to see Danny Recce standing before him. In her journal, Jenny had mentioned that the very same person who stood before him had been an old boyfriend. His hands fisted and clearly, he could not let go of the jittery knots growing in his stomach. He had let Jenny down the nicest way he could, because he feared that both their mother's would lose the friendship they had shared over the years.
"Do you two know each other?" She asked then. Max was allowing tension to grow in the air and that was a terrible move on his behalf.
"No, I've never met him." Danny replied.
The guy was clearly the happiest moron he had ever met, he was well unaware that his presence bothered Max more than a chick flick did. Something inside of Max nagged at him, like a realization he had yet to unravel.
"I'm Max Stevens." He muttered, shaking his hand in a firm grip.
"I'll...see you around Jenny, it was nice meeting you Max." Danny said.
Jenny's face fell but not so much that Danny could grasp the expression but Max clearly saw that it bothered her to see him leave. She said her goodbye, the words leaving her mouth as it be the last time they would see each other. Last night she had done the same thing when she had led him towards the front door. Max had been too stupid to reply because now he was well aware of every move she made.
"Old friends?" He asked.
"Old boyfriend." She chuckled, trying to be funny.
Her smile faded when he did not go along with it and silence grew as he stood there unable to find words to break the thick feeling in the air.
"Max, I will eventually have to grow accustom to this life, you should not have come today. Your girlfriend just came back, I think it's best that you go back home and see to it that you spend time with her." She said.
"I know, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright." He sighed.
Jenny pushed herself to where he stood and gently reached out to take his hand and forced him to look at her. The corners of her mouth lifted her smile clearly reaching her eyes. Max felt his face break into a grin as well and suddenly the raw guilt hit him too abruptly. It was wrong for him to be feeling good about the action.
"Please go home, get some rest and come by whenever you can, you should feel no obligation to me at all." She said.
Max gently wrapped his fingers around her hand and looked down to it. Why did something so forbidden feel so right? He was clearly not taking this as a friendly gesture like she was.
This is wrong because you are committed to someone else. Get a grip on yourself! His conscious told him.
Yet his heart was accelerating at a wild speed just by holding her hand. By far this was a breaking record for him, usually it took him a month to fall for a girl for just a few days. Though Jenny did not feel like just some girl, she felt special.
Why had he been cursed with such a weakness for women? He let go of her hand as he pictured Izzy sitting alone in their dining room table waiting for him to show. As he thought of her his phone buzzed.
"Goodnight Max." Jenny whispered.
He lifted his gaze to find her smiling at him, clearly so oblivious to what had begun to change in him. Max fiddled with his phone and finally answered after the fifth ring.
"Hello?"
"Are you coming home, the food is prepared?" Izzy asked.
Max locked gazes with Jenny and felt suddenly lost for words again as she looked away and made her way into the kitchen to give him privacy.
"Yeah, I'll be home in a bit, I just stopped by to see if Jenny was doing okay." He found himself confessing.
"How is she?" Izzy asked.
Max turned over his shoulder and made sure he was far from Jenny's ear shot as he scooted closer to where her living room was. He chatted with Izzy for three minutes, promised her he was coming home, and shut the phone down. Making his way into the kitchen, he watched as Jenny did her best to scrub her only fork and plate.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
He nodded unable to answer and walked over to the kitchen counter taking the plate and fork from her hands.
"You know things will change for the best one day." He began to say.
"For you?" She asked.
"No Jenny, for you, you can't alienate yourself like this." He protested.
"I didn't alienate myself from anyone, they left me." She replied a bit strictly.
"Like Danny?" He questioned.
He felt like a sixteen year old again as he let the jealousy knot his stomach in anger. Then he came to realize that with Jenny he was acting foolish like he use to when he had first realized his first crush.
"Danny...he was so sweet, I was really in love with him." She confessed, pressing her lips into a thin line.
"What about now? What did you feel when you saw him again?" Max asked.
Jenny chuckled and she shook her head as she pushed away from the kitchen skin. "I know what you are trying to do Max. It's pointless to try and pry old feeling from me. Danny and I were not meant to be. Now more than ever, plus he just graduated from college and is seeking to start a business here in Journey."
"I wasn't trying to pry old feelings from you." He reassured.
"I felt a bit confused, but nothing surfaced when I bumped into him. We were old high school sweet hearts, nothing more." She replied.
Max felt relieved and smiled saying nothing more as he set her dish and fork unto the small round table she had in her kitchen.
"I should go on home." He muttered.
"Please, be safe." She replied.
Max hated looking at the front door every time he departed from her house, as he neared it he clutched the handle and took a deep breath. It was getting harder and harder to turn the knob and walk out. Nonetheless, Max pulled the door opened and walked out saying goodnight to Jenny.