"Jennifer" Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Jeremiah cursed. This conversation was not supposed to head in this direction. She raised her eyebrows waiting for him to tell her. "I... I.... I.... At the hospital I had them test your blood to see if you were a viable match but Jennifer..."

"I've been to the hospital twice ever since we got married. When I fainted and when I lost my baby. Which time?"

"Jennifer..."

"When Jeremy?"

"After you lost the baby" Jenna stiffened. She turned slowly and looked him straight in the eyes not believing him. He didn't. He couldn't. "Jennifer"

She got up and went to the bedroom Jeremiah hot on her heels. She was so tired of crying she wasn't sure she had any more tears left. Grabbing a suitcase she started throwing clothes in it not stopping to see what she was really packing. "Jennifer please don't do this." Jeremiah said unpacking whatever she packed. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine he could do something like that. Who in their right mind did that? Especially after what she had gone through? "Jennifer please. Would you stop packing and just listen to me?" he yelled.

"Listen to what Jeremy? Huh?" she screamed at him. "How could you do something like that?"

"I was desperate baby. I didn't know what else to do"

"Desperate? You were desperate Jeremy?" she hit him with the dress she was holding. "How dare you? No what gives you the right to do that to me? To go behind my back and betray me?"

"Jennifer I didn't betray you. Please don't say that" he told her trying to hug her but she pushed him away.

"Am leaving and you're going to let me go or so help me God I will kill you with my own bare hands." Jenna zipped the suitcase and put it down. Dragging it behind her she attempted to leave but Jeremiah stood in front of the door blocking her way.

"You're not going anywhere. We are going to sit down and talk about this like adults"

She scoffed "Talk. Now you wanna talk?"

"Yes baby. Please"

"Did you think about talking when you had doctors conduct illegal tests on me?"

"Jennifer it wasn't like that"

"Then tell me how it was like because I would like to understand. Tell me."

"I... My father called me when I was in the hospital waiting for you to wake up. He said T...... He said she was getting worse and that she needed a transplant soon. I acted without thinking because I was desperate. I couldn't sit back and watch someone else die. Tell me you understand. Please"

"I understand alright" she said "I understand that you are a lying bastard who only cares about himself."

"Jennifer"

"I understand that you don't give two shits about me and that's why you did that. Tell me Jeremy was any part of our marriage real? Oh wait. Did you know who I was when you approached me at the bakery?"

"No. I didn't Jennifer I would never lie to you like that"

"Are you listening to yourself?" Jenna lost it. This was definitely not the man she had married. "You kept insisting that we talk about your 'Terry' and when that didn't work you went behind my back and tested me. Without my knowledge or permission. And do you know what's worse Jeremy? I had just lost my baby. Our baby. And all you could think about was saving your precious Terry. Not me. Not our baby. But Terry. How do you think that's makes me feel Jeremy?" she yelled pounding her fists on his chest. She didn't think anything would ever hurt her more than losing the baby. This didn't hurt. It cut deep.

"Jennifer please hear me out" he was crying too but she didn't care. What he did was wrong.

"Jeremy how could you do that when you knew how I felt about her? How! How! How!"

"I love you baby please don't be like this"

"I can't take it anymore Jeremy. I can't. Am so tired I just want it all to end." she sagged to the floor Jeremiah going with her. He held her while she cried and she let him. Because no matter what he had done, she loved him.

After she had calmed down he lifted her in his arms carrying her to the bed. Peeling back the covers he got in with her pulling her into his body her back to his front. They didn't talk. She could feel his breath on her neck breathing softly. Seconds turned to minutes that turned to hours. At some point when she was sure he was asleep, she got up slowly making sure she didn't wake him. Picking up her suitcase she left taking her purse only. She couldn't take her phone knowing he would try to find her with it. Outside she took a cab and told the driver to just drive she would tell him where to stop.

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Jeremiah woke up stretching his hands in search of Jennifer. He shot up when his hands landed on the mattress. "Jennifer?" maybe she was in the bathroom. But the lights were off and even so he still checked. He went downstairs looking for her in every room he passed but she wasn't there. "Jennifer" he called out to his empty apartment. She had left. Even after he had explained everything she still left. Jeremiah lifted the coffee table and threw it against the wall.  Or at least he tried. It landed a few feet away from him cracking but not breaking. That just seemed to feed his anger.

He grabbed whatever his hands came in contact with. A vase, lamp, painting, cup, anything he could touch he flung it against the wall screaming in frustration. She left. Dropping on his knees, he clutched his head with both hands pulling his hair. This was all going wrong. It wasn't supposed to go like that. She promised she would never leave. No you promised you'd never leave her. She never made any such declarations. But even so, they were married. For better or worse that's what marriage was. She was supposed to stay because this was their worse. She was supposed to hate him for as long as she wanted but still stay. How was he going to fix anything if she wasn't there?

Two months. He looked for her everywhere he could think of. He tried calling that first day and when the phone rung a few feet away from him he broke it. He called Robert and together they looked for her. Asked everyone who knew her. Jeremiah even got Miranda to tell him the names and addresses of all the girls she knew when she had stayed at the group home. He knocked from door to door asking if they had seen her. When he couldn't find her he gave up going home. But everywhere he looked he saw her. Standing in the kitchen trying out a new recipe. Throwing her clothes everywhere claiming he was a control freak when he tried to pick them up. Brushing her hair when she got out of the bathroom. Waiting for him in the bedroom wearing one of the lingerie he bought for her in Paris. She was in every corner he looked.

He turned to alcohol. Hoping it would help him expel her from his mind long enough to sleep. His dreams were filled with her laughing. Always laughing. Jeremiah wished he could take time back and undo all the things he did. His stupid mistakes had cost him the love of his love and now he was lost without her. He remembered that they never got to pick a house. Every time he would schedule a viewing something would come up making him postpone his plans. He should have built her one instead of looking for something that was close to what she had wanted. He had money for a reason dammit. He barely went to work not caring about anything anymore. He'd lost her what reason did he have to live?

Jenna went to California. She didn't know how she got there. All she did was take a cab and let the driver take her anywhere. So long as she paid, they didn't ask questions. One however took her to the airport where she booked any available plane ticket. A flight to California was almost full and she took it. Once there she booked a hotel. Something that wasn't expensive so that she wouldn't be noticed. She had her own money meaning she never touched a single penny that Jeremiah deposited in her account every month. The first week was the hardest. It always is.

She spent it cooked up in her hotel room doing nothing. Room service had to threaten her that they would kick her out to get her to actually leave so they would clean it. Mary, the lady who always did her room was nice always trying to chat her up. She never stopped encouraging Jenna to go to the beach. For her the water calmed her thoughts whenever something was troubling her. So one day Jenna got up and went to the beach and was surprised to realize she liked it. Ever since then she would wake up early, find a nice spot and watch people all day. For her the best part was watching the kids running around, building sand castles. She joined them sometimes enjoying their innocence. What she wouldn't give to be that young and innocent again?

At night she would go back to her room and face her demons alone. Many are times she woke up drenched in sweat calling out for Jeremiah. She hadn't forgotten him. That was her problem. You didn't decide to stop loving someone. Just like you didn't choose to love them in the first place. So yes she wanted her husband even though she was the one who left. She needed someone to hold her at night and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She was hurting and lonely with no one to turn to. She wished Jeremiah hadn't betrayed her like that. Maybe by now the pain she had felt because of losing her baby would have dimmed and she would have started to heal.

Maybe they could have fixed their mistakes and start a fresh. But him deciding to perform those tests without her permission? It was like pouring salt to a wound. Thinking about how she must have looked all pale and weak after loosing her baby, she didn't understand how he could see her like that and still betray her. What kind of a person did that? It was cruel and heartless. She didn't think she could look at him and not resent him. Where was the good, generous, kind man she had married?

One day Jenna was walking down the street when she saw a small bakery. She went in because it reminded her of a time when she had been normal. Waking up late everyday and running to work had been normal for someone like her. At that particular time she lived like most people did. With simple worries like what she was going to eat for dinner or why she wasn't waking up early like she was supposed to. She missed being that girl. "Hello. What would you like to order?" a young girl of about eighteen asked her.

"Coffee. Black with a piece of cake." Jenna said. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten cake. Of course she'd told her husband that first time they met that she didn't have a favorite food but secretly she really liked cake.

"Onto others news business tycoon Jeremiah Maxwell was seen leaving a restaurant drunk. Sources say that the magnate separated from his wife a few months back resulting to him breaking down in public places. Apparently he isn't coping well and has lost major deals that would have brought him millions. People are still speculating as to why his marriage ended so abruptly. The New York stock market....."   Jenna zoned the reporter out.

This was why she didn't watch TV or go to places they had one. He was always on the news for one thing or another. She had turned on the TV in her room that first week and cried even harder when she saw his face plastered on it. She tried not to care about what he was doing. Told herself if she didn't see him she wouldn't think about him. Out of sight out of mind. Wasn't that how it worked? But seeing him like that on TV, being dragged outside by security, hurt her more than she would have thought.

He was still her husband. And no matter what he did she didn't wish him unwell. If he was hurting, she hurt more. Jenna sat there thinking for the first time about what to do. She considered her options carefully going through every idea she had. Whatever step she decided to take next, would determine her future. She couldn't hide forever. She ate the cake the waitress placed in front of her without looking and when her taste buds registered the flavor, she looked down realizing it was a red velvet cake. Oh how life had a way to make her remember things she had forgotten.

Upon arriving back at the hotel she was staying, she got out her suitcase and started packing. Her mind was already made up on what she was going to do. She could see it all clearly now. Why life had put Jeremiah in her path. She stepped aside looking back at her past from a different view. Everything was all a piece in a puzzle. And the moment she left that hotel room, she would place the last piece in its rightful place and finish the game. That was the only she was going to rid herself of her demons. It was the only way she ever going to be happy.

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