"Just leave me the hell alone, Eddie." She regretted the words the minute they were out of her mouth, but her pride wouldn't let her take them back. After everything that had happened today, she just couldn't take anymore. Eddie's first love was back in town. That was the first thing she had heard this morning, the one thing that had set it all off on this rollercoaster that seemed to have no end.
His face was unreadable as he stood there for what seemed like hours. She really wished that he would say something, anything, to break the silence. When he turned to leave without a word, she felt her heart break just a little bit more. She stood her ground as he walked out the door, not wanting him to see her fall apart. When the door slammed, she would have fallen to the floor if Rooster hadn't caught her and led her to a booth away from the windows.
"Talk to me, Janet. It might help and it certainly won't hurt" Rooster said as he slid into the other side of the booth. "What happened today?"
"I don't know where to start." She paused to think as she toyed with her charm bracelet. "After Eddie left for work this morning, Hannah came by. She wanted to let me know that Rory is back in town" Janet saw Rooster's questioning look and explained. "Rory was Eddie's first love. She left that same summer that Nick did and I guess she broke his heart. Apparently she wants to fix that now and Eddie seems agreeable to that" she finished with a big sigh. "What am I going to do? And if you give me the Christy Turlington speech I might break something"
Rooster had no answer to that. In the face of Janet's grief he knew that all he could do was be the friend that he had always been.
They worked together in companionable silence to finish closing the bar down. They had done this so many times that it was automatic and Janet was thankful for that. She wasn't sure that she was up to talking and was so tired that she was dreading the drive home.
A knock on the front door startled them both. Janet was confused when she looked out to see Ikey standing there.
"When you're ready I'm driving you home. Pizza Girl heard what happened and she's worried about you, so don't argue with me. I'll be out here when you're through." That wasn't the whole truth, but Ikey was smart enough to not say the rest. Janet would find out the rest, but it wouldn't come from him. Couldn't come from him. Pizza Girl had been worried but Eddie was the one who sent him to drive Janet home.
Janet was actually happy that Ikey was there. It was one more reprieve before she would have to face the empty night without Eddie.
Waving goodnight to Ikey, Janet closed and locked her front door. When the sound of his truck had faded away the full silence of her house was almost deafening. Kicking off her shoes, she headed for her bedroom to change into sweats. The first thing that she saw was the ratty t-shirt that Eddie had worn yesterday. Picking it up she held it to her nose and inhaled the scent of him. All at once it became too hard to hold the tears back. Holding on to Eddie's t-shirt Janet cried like she never had before. She cried for everything that she was losing and everything that could have been. Gradually, she became aware of her cell phone ringing. Pulling herself off of the bed, she went to check it and saw that it was Eddie. She didn't have the energy for whatever he had to say so she let it go to voicemail and turned it off. She would listen to the message in the morning. Maybe she would feel stronger in the light of day.
Eddie sat in his truck outside Janet's house and watched her shadow move through the house from room to room. He wasn't having any better of a night than she was and he would give anything to take back this day. He supposed that he should talk to someone, but the habits of the last 10 years were proving hard to break. He let his mind wander back to the start of the day, trying desperately to think of a way to fix this mess.
He had left Janet's that morning with a smile on his face. After all these months he was still amazed at how easy and uncomplicated it was. She had worked her way into his heart and his life in a way that he never saw coming and it was making him a happy man. He passed Hannah at the corner of Janet's street and gave her a wave as he turned towards work.
He had been working on some paperwork for a new account when he heard the front door open. Looking up he had seen Rory casually lounging against the door and the blood had drained from his face and he had been speechless.
"Did you miss me, baby?" She had said. The look in her eyes had belied her teasing tone. Eddie still knew her enough to know when she was afraid. He had regained his composure and pulled out a chair for her.
"What goes on?" he had asked. "It's been a long time" Concentrating had become hard as a lot of thoughts and emotions had flown through his head. He had wandered what she could possibly want after so many years. He had definitely not been expecting what she had said.
He saw Janet's lights go off and he smiled, hoping that she would be able to get some sleep. He leaned back in his seat and replayed his conversation with Rory in his mind.
"Eddie I'm in trouble and I don't have anywhere else to go." She hesitated before she continued. This wasn't something that could just be blurted out, but she had to tell someone and she still trusted Eddie. Eddie was looking at her expectantly and looking into his eyes she found the strength to say her darkest secret. "Eddie the reason that I've never been back is because my husband wouldn't let me. In fact he wouldn't let me do anything. I've been his punching bag for the last 9 years and I can't take anymore. Please help me. I know you don't owe me anything but I have nothing else. I barely had enough money for the bus here. I just need a place to stay for a few days until my passport gets here. I'm going to live with my parents in Rome, but I had to get a new passport because he destroyed mine. He's frozen my credit cards and bank accounts and he took all the money that I had saved. I called my parents and they are sending money, but I need a place to stay until then." She said all of that in a rush, barely stopping to breathe. She knew if she stopped she would lose her nerve.
Eddie took a moment to process everything that she had said. For the first time since she had walked in he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the long sleeves she was wearing. He could see that she was barely holding it together. What she had said was obviously the tip of the iceberg, but he saw that it was all she was capable of at this time. He went around the desk and pulled her up into his arms and tried to give her a small measure of comfort as he said "Of course I'll help you. Go to the house and make yourself comfortable. I have some stuff to do but I'll be there soon. You'll be okay with Phil, I'll call him and tell him you're coming. You can take my truck."
He had walked her out to the truck and told her how to get to the house. As he watched her drive away he hadn't noticed Janet and Hannah in the coffee shop across the street.
Janet had turned her lights off but she was far from asleep. She had put on Eddie's t-shirt and crawled into bed but sleep had not come. She laid there and replayed parts of the day in her head.
By the time they had paid for their coffee and made their way outside, Eddie was gone. He had driven off in Nick's car without even noticing Janet waving at him from across the street. How could he not notice her car. Only a blind person could miss her big hunk of American muscle car parked among the family sedans and mini-vans. She hated to think that he had seen her and ignored her but she really couldn't think of another explanation. Looking over at Hannah she saw the same thoughts reflected on her friends face. After she dropped Hannah at the vet's office, she headed to Eddie's house to try to find him. She wanted some answers.
After he finally convinced Eddie that he could handle the job alone, Nick had dropped him at the house with a word of warning. "You had better tell Janet that Rory is here before it gets weird."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't know what to say to her" Eddie replied. Giving Nick a wave, he went in the house.
Phil and Pizza Girl were waiting for him in the living room.
"You'd better go check on her" Phil said. "The shower has been running for a long time now"
Upstairs in the bathroom he found Rory huddled in the shower. He could hear her sobs through the pounding water. He reached in and turned the faucets off and pulled her out. Putting his robe around her he turned her around to face him. Through her tears he couldn't understand anything she was saying but he got the gist of it. The relief that she felt at being safe had let the dam break on her tears. All Eddie could do was hold her and rock her until she had cried herself out. He was still sitting on the floor with her in his lap when Janet came up the stairs. He could see the devastation on her face but he couldn't get up fast enough to stop her from turning around and going back down the stairs. Rory pulled herself away from him and gave him a searching look.
"You love her" she said with a touch of wonder. "I never saw that one coming. You better go get her, we can talk some more later. Just watch yourself, he'll probably figure out where I am and I don't want any of you hurt"
Eddie promised her he would be careful and went after Janet but the sound of tires squealing outside told him that he was too late.
Janet spent the rest of the day just driving around, trying to make sense of what she had seen. At 2:30 she headed to the bar to go to work. No matter what, a girl had to make a living. It was a busy night with a lot of college students so Janet didn't have much time to wallow in her misery and was surprised when Rooster called last call. Just when she thought she had avoided Eddie all day, she looked up and met his eyes when he came into the bar. The anger that she felt in that moment surprised her and she lit into Eddie without letting him get a word in edgewise. And then she ended with those terrible words. "Just leave me the hell alone, Eddie."
Still sitting in his truck, Eddie could hear those words echoing in is head. He had been so thunderstruck that he had been unable to reply. All he could do was leave so that he didn't say something to make the situation worse. A man could only take so much suspicion. Now he wished he had said something, anything. He had to talk to her to explain everything, but she still wasn't answering her phone.
"Well, this has gone on far too long" he mused to himself. Pulling his keys from the ignition, he found Janet's house key and stepped from the truck. He never saw the person who hit him but he sure felt the bat that hit him in the back of the head. Being a big guy had always been an advantage in a fight but 5 on 1 was a little too much for him. When they were finally through with him he could barely see out of his swollen eyes but he could hear clearly enough. The big one with the bat leaned close to him and said "Tell Rory that this is her first and last warning. Come home or else." Anything else was lost as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Janet had finally given up on sleeping. The sun would be up soon so she went to open her front drapes. She was surprised to see Eddie's truck parked right in front. Looking closer she felt her heart stop when she saw Eddie crumpled on the ground. Without even stopping to put on shoes she ran out to Eddie. Thank God he had a pulse and was starting to move around. She saw his phone on the ground near him and picked it up to dial 911. The wait for the ambulance seemed even longer than the night before had, and she spent the time bargaining with God. She made every promise to Eddie that she could think of, the last 24 hours became a distant memory.
When he woke up in the hospital the first thing he saw was Janet. Her hair was barely combed and she was wearing his ratty old football t-shirt. She had never looked more beautiful to him. She was curled up in the chair next to him, with her hand on his and he wondered how long she had been there. He looked at her for a few minutes before he squeezed her hand to let her know that he was awake. When she opened her eyes he could see the toll that everything had taken on her. She looked back at him for a few seconds before she got up and headed for the door.
"I'll go get the guys. They've been waiting for you to wake up. They have some things to say, things you're probably wondering about." She almost made it out the door before she heard Eddie's voice.
"Janet, I can't leave you the hell alone. I was coming to tell you that when they jumped me. I need you in my life and everything you saw was just a misunderstanding. I don't want Rory back I was just trying to help a friend." The speech just about wore him out but he had to say it, to make sure that she heard it before anything else happened.
When she paused at the door he knew he had her.
Janet stood at the door with a whirlwind of emotions going through her. She really wanted all of that to be true, she needed it to be true. The truth that she had admitted to herself in the hours beside his hospital bed was that she couldn't picture her life without Eddie in it. She was mortified when she heard what he had to say next.
"Besides, I vaguely remember someone promising me some things while I was laying there on that street. I plan to collect on those promises." He patted the space on the bed beside him, hoping beyond hope that she would take him up on the invitation.
Janet really wanted to climb up there with him, but she was still ashamed that she had mistrusted him. She was feeling guilty about what happened. If she hadn't been mad at him he wouldn't have been there out in the middle of the night. It was killing her and she just didn't know what to do about it.
As for Eddie, he'd had enough.
"Janet, for pity's sake, get over here. You have to let yesterday go. I'm tired of all this fighting, so get over here and give me a kiss. Don't make me come get you".
"I'm so sorry Eddie" she said as she approached the bed. She had more to say, but as soon as she was close enough he reached out and pulled her to him. He didn't give her the chance to say anything else. He spent the next few minutes kissing her thoroughly and completely. By the time he was done, Janet had forgotten what it was she was going to say. Just then the guys came through the door. Chaos reigned for the next few minutes as they filled Eddie in on everything that he had missed. Owen told him how they had hidden Rory in Ikey's apartment. Nick told him that her parents had come through and that he had put her safely on a plane to Rome a few hours earlier. After they assured themselves that Eddie was indeed okay they reminded him to call Phil and made their exit. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Eddie and Janet wanted to be alone.
Once again Janet tried to tell Eddie how sorry she was. He didn't even let her get one word out before he pulled her into the bed with him.
"So, let's talk about some of those promises that you made. I'm here and alive so start paying up."
Janet could tell she was not going to win this one so she just gave in and snuggled up next to him in the incredibly small hospital bed.