Chapter Thirteen
The house lay silent and only the faint tunes of the radio gave it some sort of life as Jenny laid sprawled on her living room floor once again. Settling her giant box of crystal beads next to her she rummaged through the colors uncertain of what she wanted to create.
Gus Flair had taught her how to play chess yesterday and the best thing she could offer him for showing a slow learner such a tricky game was a key chain. Jenny scrunched her legs so that they knotted into an Indian sitting position and quickly lost herself in the small gift she would offer Gus when she went back to the park.
A knocked echoed at her front door and she froze to listen to who it might be. When the front door opened she watched as Max approached the open archway to the living room and leaned on it.
"Hey."
Jenny looked to Max, his arms crossed over his chest and for the first time a smile did not greet her.
"Is everything alright?" She asked, a bit puzzled.
"Why wouldn't it be?" He replied a bit stiffly.
Jenny felt the slightest sting hit her chest as she looked down to the key chain she was making.
"I'm sorry I asked?" She muttered.
A few nights ago Max had seemed understanding, caring, and even a good listener, but it seemed that today he had awakened on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe he had regretted confessing to her that he had feelings for another woman. Maybe Max was tired of coming here because guilt kept driving him back. On the other hand, something must have happened between his girlfriend and him. Jenny scrambled to pick the right motive for his actions and with a large wave of sad emotions overcoming her she bit down on her lip refusing to show as much.
Max was tired of coming here, she could tell, and maybe she was wrong about that, but she also knew he was regretting opening up to her. He was quick to catch the lies she always said for some reason and so this time Jenny put the best role-play she would ever have to do. She hated lying and she hated begin alone but what could she do when it was her curse.
With a sigh she looked up at Max who was starring at her intently. She ignored the strong gaze and forced a smile on her face, one that made her cheeks hurt and her eyes crinkle.
"I have great news...my uncle Jeffrey heard about what happened...I know, better late than never, but he's offered to take me down to New Mexico for a while. It's only a week vacation, but I figure it's better than anything I have going on." She lied.
Silence lingered and Jenny forced herself to look away from where Max stood.
"Max, I don't know if a cat's got your tongue but if y-you and Izzy are having issues then I strongly suggest you go on home." She whispered.
"A week." He said, instead.
"Yes."
"When?"
"I fail to see why you care?" She challenged, feeling anger choke her.
"You're right, why do I?" He replied.
Jenny felt a metaphorical hand squeeze around her heart and she felt her breath choke her as she gripped the beads in her hand.
"Max I hate to say this, but it's best that you go home...now." She strongly suggested.
***
He had come with the intention of seeing her for the last time, and it pained him that he was hurting her to save his engagement. Jenny's face broke and he could clearly see the pain it caused her to have him act in such a harsh way. Out of reaction Max pushed away from the wall and knelt down to where Jenny failed miserably to gather the large box of beads.
"I'm sorry, Jenny I didn't mean it." Max tried to reason.
"Are you drunk?" She snapped.
"No...Jenny I swear I take it back." He confessed.
"Max, you are really confusing me...you come here and act so hospitable to me and then suddenly you snap? Do you have some sort of medical condition, are you delusional?" She asked.
He pulled the large box of beads away from her hands and she failed to pry it away from him as he set it behind him.
"I'm not crazy...I'm just..."
"Tired of me? You don't have to keep coming back here! I've told you this numerous times!" She snapped.
He watched as only her left eye teared and out of reaction he reached over to wipe her damped cheek. Jenny closed her eyes, sighing, and it was virtually the break to his control as he inched closer. His lips grew nearer and Max froze as he realized the bold action he was about to make. Before Jenny could open her eyes and see, he inched away.
"I'm such an animal!" He growled under his breath.
***
Jenny scooted away from Max and held herself, trying to set her thoughts right. Max was probably having the same problem as he knelt there trying to reach out to her.
"I get it." She whispered.
"Get what?" Max replied.
"You feel guilty for confessing that you feel something for that other woman, and maybe Izzy and you are having a hard time trying to work things out. Is that not why you are angry?" She asked.
Max stood and turned his back to Jenny setting his hands unto his hips. "I worry that maybe I am only interest in her because she...she makes me feel different." He whispered.
"What does this other woman make you feel that Izzy doesn't?"
Max turned to look at Jenny and ignored the question for the moment as he neared her and hoisted her up unto her chair.
"Max?" She persisted, when he did not answer.
"She makes me feel...whole, when I'm around her I feel complete, like I'm not missing anything in the world. With Izzy, well she's is always gone, mostly on business trips." He confessed.
"Maybe that is why you feel whole with this woman, you are trying to seek out in her what Izzy lacks, that's not very good Max. The best thing to do in order to avoid breaking your fiancé's heart is to sit down and talk with her. Tell her how it is affecting you that she is always gone. A relationship is not all about sex, it also includes begin able to trust and confide in that someone. If intimacy is all there is between Izzy and you then you haven't really grasped at the reason why you want to marry her." She said.
"Intimacy is not all there is, there isn't anything? I feel like I have been married to her for years, and we have grown apart after a while. Truth is we haven't gotten married and already...I'm...I'm going through a dry spell with Izzy." He confessed.
"Have you been married before, is that why you call yourself an animal, because the other women you were with always ended up getting hurt?" Jenny questioned.
"Yes and no, part of it has to do with that. When Alex began to investigate Vicky's case, I began to follow her around, not because I was a stalker but because I wanted to help a friend. Izzy had been gone for more than a few days that time and I began to develop feelings for Vicky. I felt so much shame for coveting what did not belong to me. I knew Alex had gone through hell and back and I confessed to him what was happening to me. I stepped away and left them alone, only heaven knows what stupidity I would have committed." He muttered.
"Do you really fail to listen to what you are saying?" Jenny pointed out.
"Like?"
"Max, you covet other women because Izzy is not around, maybe deep down you still love her and that's why it pains you to feel something for another. Talking solves many problems and like Alex and Vicky's case, you can avoid that by being honest with her. Tell her the truth, well not entirely but partly. If you say there is another woman then it will not solve anything. The last thing a woman needs to hear is that her man has found interest in someone else."
"What if she won't listen, what if she ignores what I have to say and I go out of the whim to...," Max pressed his lips together and sighed feeling against the wall.
"Then that befalls on her, you did your part to explain to her what was going through your mind like any good man would do for his girlfriend when he loves her. If she refuses to listen thinking too confident about your relationship together than she sought out her own broken heart." Jenny explained.
"I don't want to do the things I did before." He whispered.
"Can I lend you an ear and listen to your story?" she asked.
"It's not very pleasant." He warned.
"Past is the past and the future is the future." She advised
Jenny smiled and Max felt his heart melt to see her be so forgiving after he had treated her wrongly. He settled unto the ground and tried to find the right words to begin with.