Water Ch. 223 - If I Tried To Make Believe

 

 

Scratching her head as she walks down the stairs, she wonders why the house is so quiet.  She couldn't hear any noise coming from the kitchen and she didn't hear a television.  She pours herself a cup of coffee and heads off to find Jon.  Since he wasn't in bed with her and she didn't hear any noise, she assumes that he is out running, but checks his office to be sure. 

 

She walks into his office and sees that he's not there, so she sits at his desk, looks out the window and sips her cup of coffee.  It's a beautiful sunny morning on the Navesink River.  The birds are a plenty and their songs are loud.  Beth notices the buds on the trees and that daffodils are popping up all over the place.  Spring is on it's way, to New Jersey.  Turning in the chair, Beth is facing the desk.  Jon's laptop is open and on.  She checks to see what he was doing, maybe that would help her figure out if he was running or not.  She sees that he was in the middle of composing an email to someone named Melissa.  He had only gotten as far as:

 

Dearest Melissa,

 

Thank you for such a wonderful night.  There are no words to express how great and unforgettable the evening was for me.  It is one that I will look back on and smile

 

Was all he wrote.  Beth has no idea who Melissa is.  She's sitting there looking at the screen, feeling like she had just done something wrong.  She takes her coffee and leaves his office.  Her thoughts are racing.  Who is Melissa?  She runs the last week or so through her mind, he's not mentioned anything happening with a Melissa. 

 

She stops in the kitchen and takes a seat at the island.  She wonders where Maria is, she's always at the house before 7.  Her morning just isn't making sense to her.  It's only 7:00am and she can't even figure out why Jon went running so early.  Snatching the cordless receiver off the counter, she dials Jon's cell phone.  After a few seconds, she can hear the ringing down the hallway.  He left his phone.  She shakes her head, her confusion growing by the second.  Who the fuck is Melissa? she says out load, getting up to get more coffee.

 

She takes her coffee and goes back upstairs to their bedroom.  Switching on the TV, she sits on their bed with her back resting on the headboard.  The news is on, she sees it and hears it, but she isn't watching it.  Biting the corner of her thumb nail, a habit she has when she's unsettled she can't fight the urge to get up and see if he has his running shoes on.  In his closet, she flips on the light and sees that his favorite running shoes are on the floor.  Her heart sinks.  Why is she thinking the worst?  There has to be a logical reason or this. 

Who is Melissa? She swallows the lump in her throat and takes off down the stairs toward the garage.  When she opens the door, she's even more surprised to find out that he took her car.  His car was next to hers in the garage, why did he take her car.  What is going on?  Trying to form a thought, she stands there for a minute.  The one that she formed is Did someone call, is someone hurt?  She goes back into the house and checks the caller ID on the phone.  No new calls.  She can't hit redial, because she called Jon's cell phone.  Placing the phone back on the counter top she stands there, leaning on the island. 

 

After a few minutes, she finally snaps out of the fog that she was in and starts to get on with her day.  Letting all of this consume her wasn't going to do her any good.  She takes her shower and puts her running clothes on.  She didn't feel like running, but she needed to get out.  With all of her necessities strapped to her arm, she turns on the Bon Jovi tunes and walks out the back door. 

She thought about a walk down the river, but was quickly detoured when she noticed that there was an event going on at the neighbors.  Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she changed her route and walked down the street.  The music in her ears relaxed her more today than it has on any other day. 

 

The soothing sound of Jon singing always calmed her down and provided her the comfort that she needed when she  turned to music.  That was until Thank You For Loving Me came on in her play list.  The one song that she thought stopped her heart.  It was a two fold song, to her.  She loved it and she also needed it.  Richie played it for them at the twins visitation and it was played at their commitment ceremony.  Jon sang it to her, in her ear.  She couldn't fight the burning tears in her eyes, they rolled down her cheek with every word that he sang.