Water Ch. 224 - But Know That If You Walk Out On Me That Darling I'd Be Gone

 

"What are you doing out here?" Jon asks Beth as he walks up behind her. 
She had gotten back from her walk and decided she would sit on the riverbank.  They had a few benches put in before their commitment ceremony and no one has used them yet. 

She doesn't respond to Jon, so the closer he gets, the louder he gets, "Beth!"  She still doesn't respond.  Walking up on her and scaring the hell out of her, he sees that she has ear buds in.

"Jesus Jon, you scared the hell out of me." she snaps at him, her heart racing from being scared.

Sitting down next to her, he leans over and kisses her cheek, "Sorry, babe.  What ya doing?"

Beth looks at him and sees that he's dressed pretty casual, further making her feel like she's crazy  "Where did you run off to so early?"

He looks at his watch and sees that it's almost 10:00.  "Did you forget that I had the Today show interview this morning?"

"How can I forget when I knew nothing about it?" she asks.

He shakes his head, "Babe, you need to pay attention to your calendar.  It's been on there for weeks."

She gives him a blank look, because now all that she can see is his email.  All she can see is Dearest Melissa.  "I told you that I don't pay attention to it, specially when the kids aren't here.  What was the Today show for?" 

He moves in closer to her and puts his arm around her and they sit there and watch the river roll by.  "It was just about the album.  People are having a hard time understanding how we can go from an album like Have A Nice Day to Lost Highway. It was a P.R. move that Paul made."

Beth nods her head, understanding what he's talking about.  The sounds are completely different, and she loves both albums.  It escapes her why they always have to explain themselves.  They're musicians doing what they do - why question it all the time?  "What's on your schedule for the rest of the day?"

He squeezes her, "It's wide open.  What do you want to do?" Kissing the side of her head, she leans into him.

Softly she asks, "Who's Melissa?"  She feels him get a little tense.

"Melissa who?"

She sits up, pulling herself away from him "The Melissa that your were composing an email to." 

"An email?" he questions her, buying himself some time.

Looking him in the eye, "Who is she Jon?"  Jon stands up and walk to the waters edge.  He knows he has to tell her, and he planned on it - just not now.  He didn't want to tell her now.  He was hoping to make the problem go away and then tell her about it later.  Much later, if ever.

"Jon." she's getting impatient and wants to know.  "Who is she and what happened on the night you will never forget?"

With his hand tangled in his hair he turns to her and says, "She's a photographer."

"And?" her heart is racing because she feels that it's on the verge of breaking. 

"We slept together." Her heart is on the ground and she feels like she might vomit.

"What do you mean you slept together, and when?" she gets up and starts to pace.  She can't walk up to him, the urge to slap him is too great.  She can't walk away, the balance of her life rests in what he may say next.  "Do I know her, Jon?"

He looks at her, knowing that he is breaking her heart, but he promised no secrets.  "When you left me and went to California.  When you went into hiding.  We did a photo shoot for the album and when it was done, we hung around and had too much wine." he holds his breath, knowing that she is about to come unglued.

She looks at him, trying to process what she just heard.  "Okay." was all she could say. 

"Just okay?" he mumbles, wondering if she had heard what he just told her.

"What do you want me to say?  You have crushed me Jon." the tears start to flow, and his are not far behind. 

"I'm sorry.  I know I should have told you, as soon as I was able too.  But we were going through so much and I didn't want to lay that on you." he walks up to her and tries to take her hand. 

She pulls back, "Don't.  Don't touch me." this time she walks to the waters edge.  She is dying inside and all she can think about is that email.  "The night meant a lot to you Jon?  What made it so unforgettable?" she's getting sarcastic now. 

 

"Babe, I'm sorry.  She was there at the darkest time of my life and with you running away, I was lost.  I had to much to drink and she made me forget about you, even if it was only for a little while.  And I know that's no excuse." he tried to take her hand again.

 

"How many times did you fuck her Jon?  Was it here in the house?" she demands to know.  "Where Jon?"

 

"What does that matter?"

 

"WHERE and how many times?" she yells at him.

 

"It was once and at the hotel where the shoot took place, it was in the city."

 

"Why are you contacting her now?  Why?" 

 

Jon takes a deep breath and starts with, "She contacted Paul about 2 weeks ago and said that she was pregnant."

 

"Are you fucking kidding me?"  Beth is furious.  "Did you not use a condom?"  The look on her face told her what she needed to know.  She turns and heads into the house.  She is getting out of there as fast as she can and she has no idea where she's going.

 

On her heels, "Beth, don't leave.  Let's talk this through."

 

"Talk about what?  That you fucked another woman and never told me about it?"

 

"I've had sex with a lot of women and you don't know about all of them?"

 

"Really Jon, you want to go there?"

 

"Where?"

 

She stops and gets in his face.  "You have screwed another woman since we met and neglected to tell me about it.  Not because it's my business, because it's really not - with the exception that you have fucked me since then and didn't give me the option of practicing safe sex.  Who knows what you could have given me.  Jesus Christ, you never told me."  She's storming through the kitchen now, grabbing her keys and purse.

 

"Will you stop?" he pleads, practically begging.  He reaches for her arm and stops her.  "Don't leave."

 

"Fuck you." and she's out the door.  In the driveway, he gets in front of her and she walks around him.

 

"We have to talk about this, Beth."

 

"We need to talk about that I left you because your WIFE is crazy and she threatened my life and the lives of our unborn babies?  Or do we need to talk about that we had to bury those twins and get on with life." she pauses for a minute, "Was that cervical infection something that you fucking gave me?"  She stomps around him with her anger level at it's highest that it's ever been. 

 

"If you leave, don't ever come back." he yells to her, and he means it.

 

The tears rolling down her face have made a mess of the mascara that she put on before she went on her walk.  She always looked presentable when she left the house.  She looked back at him as she opened her car door and said, "Thank you for loving me."  She got in her car and drove away, leaving Jon in the driveway screaming and yelling in his strongest New Jersey accent.