The dark atmosphere of the bar almost depressed him. Smoke rose into the air, drifting up to the lights to cast a murky haze throughout the place. The man in the dark sweater and jeans drifted to the bar, glancing around the place as if he were looking for someone in particular. The place was sparse on a Wednesday afternoon, save for two women at the bar and two men sitting at booths. sliding onto a stool, leaning his arms against the counter. His closest companion was the blonde woman, who looked to be in her early thirties. She barely glanced at him, then went back to her cigarette.
The bartender sauntered over and leaned against the counter.
"What d'ya have?"
"Gin and tonic," he muttered, running a hand through his closely-cropped dark hair and glancing over at the blonde sitting two stools down. The bartender slid him the drink, and he downed it before the man could leave.
"Fill me up" he said, sliding the man a twenty, as the middle-aged woman three seats down called him over to order a sex on the beach.
"I'll get yours once I'm done with her," the bartender muttered, walking over to the mixer."Sure. Wouldn't mind one of those myself," Jack said, the latter part more to himself.
The blonde smashed her cigarette into the ashtray in front of her, then slid over to sit next to him, sliding her drink along the bar counter with her.
"I'll make a note of that," she said flirtatiously. "You like it on the beach, huh?"
He grinned at her, accepting his refill from the bartender. "On more than one occasion, actually."
"What's your drink?" He asked, eyeing her now-empty glass.
"Cosmopolitan,"
"Classy," he remarked, as he motioned the bartender over again. The man gave him an almost frustrated look, but complied, going to make the woman's drink.
"So, you come here often?" She asked, twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger.
"Rarely. I don't get out much,"
"Oh, really? What do you do?"
"I'm a doctor. Spinal surgeon. So what do you do?" He pressed, desperate for more answers from this woman.
"I'm a fertility doctor," she said smoothly, taking her drink from the bartender, and stirring it. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm a photographer, really," she admitted, taking a sip, keeping her eyes fixed to his as she watched him over the glass. "I've been commissioned to do a book on bars in the States. A little boring, I think, but the money's good."
"Mmm," he nodded, taking a drink. "You married?"
It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Married? Nah, never saw the point. What about you?"
"Twice," he said, smiling sadly. "Didn't work out. Either of them. My first wife cheated on me, and my second couldn't stay around long. She likes to run."
"I'm sorry," she said, putting a hand out to touch his arm gently, her eyes meeting his and reflecting what he felt. They held the connection for a moment, before he broke away, taking another sip.
"Sorry," he said after a moment, staring ahead at the alcohol on display in front of them.
She shook her head, and he turned to look at her. "It's okay,"
"No, I mean, here I am, telling you about my shitty love life, I don't even know your name."
"I'm Julie," she said simply, giving him an almost shy smile.
"Jack."
"Jack," she repeated, the timid look gone, replaced by a coquettish grin. "So, you're a doctor. Figures," She eyed his hands grasping his glass, and smirked, her gaze lingering on his watch. "Nice watch. Anyone could take a one look at you and know you make lots of cash."
He glanced at his watch; an expensive gift to himself. What self-respecting doctor, after all, didn't own a $7,000 watch? Taking another sip, he found his eyes drawn to her sunglasses.
"Out of curiosity, how much do you make? You said the money's not too good. Must be pretty good, if you can afford Dolce and Gabanna sunglasses."
She reached up to remove the sunglasses and he caught a glimpse of her bright blue eyes before her gaze turned on the lenses. She inspected them for a moment, her finger running over the D&G logo on the sides, before sliding them back on her face.
"A gift. From an admirer of my work."
"You must be good, then."
"I like to think that I am. Though, I've always heard that doctors' hands are the best at everything."
"Strange," he said with a coy grin. "I've heard the same about photographers."
"Wanna get out of here? I know this great café a few blocks away. You'd like it."
Jack stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. I'm starving. And I'm buying."
Julie smirked, her professional manicured fingers drumming lightly on the counter. "If you insist."
"Yeah, of course I do."
"Well, alright. Let's get out of here."
---
By the time their food arrived, the two of them had definitely hit it off. He told her about his admittedly boring line of work, and she told him all about her life as a photographer. She was telling him about her time in Boston, when Jack heard the voice of the last person he'd wanted to see again.
"Doc?"
Jack turned in his chair mid-bite, and felt a wave of terror sweep over his body. Sawyer stood, leaning against the back of his chair, grinning like an idiot.
"Well, I'll be damned. Haven't seen you in–what, three years?. I'm in town on business. Never imagined I'd run into–" his voice faltered as he noticed Julie, who was watching him curiously. Jack watched as Sawyer's eyes narrowed as he searched the woman's face.
You going to introduce me to your handsome friend, Jack?" She asked, raising an eyebrow over her sunglasses to gaze coolly at the Southerner.
Jack wiped his sweating hands on his jeans, glancing at his companion, before nodding at Sawyer. "This is Julie. Julie, this is my–uh–friend, Sawyer."
Sawyer leaned forward to take Julie's hand, shaking it, still gazing at her.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked, frowning slightly.
She released his hand and took a sip of her Sprite, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not from around here,"
"Well, hell, neither am I. You ever been to Vegas?"
"Nope,"
"Tallahassee?"
She shook her head, her lips pressed together almost disapprovingly.
"Sydney?"
"Australia?"
He nodded, while she shook her head.
"I lived in Europe for eleven years," she said, speaking more to Jack than Sawyer, who had pulled a chair form another table and invited himself to their table. Jack shot him a look that went unnoticed. Sawyer leaned back in his seat, watching Julie for a moment, before giving a disbelieving nod and turning to look at Jack.
"So, Jacko...little extracurricular activity on the side? Freckles not living up to the task?"
Jack felt a vein in his neck twitch, something that had always happened whenever Sawyer made comments like these, even back on their island days.
"Don't," he muttered through his teeth, sending Sawyer a warning. He knew it was no use; the man would keep pushing.
"Never thought that Saint Jackass would throw away his good morals and cheat on his wife. 'Specially her. I always told you, if you fucked her over, I'd knock you a new set of teeth. But, this time–" he let out a low whistle in Julie's direction. "Well, maybe I could forgive you. Man's gotta dip his wick in other candles every once in a while."
There was a pained silence, and Jack cleared his throat, both nervous and embarrassed, for both of them.
"She know you're out runnin' around on her? Not a very good role model for your kids, Daddy-O."
"You've got kids?" Julie asked, her eyebrow raising above her sunglasses. "You know, I like kids. Tell me about yours. What are their names?"
"Lillian Katherine and Samuel Christian. Lily's seven, Sam's going on five. Just started kindergarten. Will you excuse us for a moment, Julie?"
She gave a casual wave of her hand. Jack stood abruptly, seizing Sawyer's arm in his own, dragging him toward the restaurant's interior. The man pulled his arm from Jack's grasp roughly.
"What the hell d'you think you're doin', Doc?" Sawyer demanded, rubbing his arm.
"Shut up," Jack hissed, turning to look briefly at Julie, who had turned her head away to give them privacy.
"She's cute," Sawyer remarked coolly, following Jack's gaze. "How about you drop her off on me and go on back and play daddy with your kids."
"Look, I'm not having a good day." Jack sighed, shaking his head.
"Y'know, I never really pegged you for the cheatin' type," Sawyer said coolly, glancing out at Julie, who looked annoyed, from what Jack could tell. He let out a heavy sigh.
"Look, Sawyer. Can you just–"
"You know somethin', Doc..." Sawyer said, narrowing his eyes and moving closer to the front window to get a better look at Julie. "She'd look just like Freckles if she was a brunette and her hair was curly. And if she had freckles. Kate got a sister?"
"No. She doesn't." Jack struggled with himself for a moment, before giving Sawyer a defeated look, his face beginning to turn red. "It's her."
Sawyer's expression changed to one of confusion and misunderstanding. He looked back out at the blonde, then at Jack, who looked like a child being caught with his hand in a cookie jar.
"I don't understand. What do you mean, 'It's her?'"
"That's Kate. She's wearing a wig. You can't see her freckles because she's got a ton of make-up on. She's wearing colored contacts too, they're blue ."
"What the hell are you–"
"We had a fight a couple weeks ago. Went for marriage counseling and everything. Our counselor said we should try and shake things up, he thought we were both getting too monotonous. Suggested trying to liven things up. He gave us suggestions, one of them was a kind of...it's like a role-play. One or both of us takes on a new identity or we interact in a new setting. It's supposed to be therapeutic and stimulative. We went for the mysterious stranger angle. It's easier when the kids are at school, that way we've got all afternoon to do it. It was my turn Monday, she was this famous celebrity and I was supposed to be her chau–" Jack stopped, half aware that Sawyer was gaping at him like a goldfish, and half aware that his own face was now bright red.
"You mean to tell me that little blonde out there actually is Freckles? And that she's wearin' a wig because you two have a boring love life and some quack suggested you should pretend to be other people?"
Jack nodded slowly. "Yeah, something like that."
Sawyer stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. Jack shifted uncomfortably, painfully aware that some of the diners outside–as well as Kate–were watching them curiously. Jack gave their seemingly captivated audience a pained smile, before looking back at Sawyer, who looked to be wiping tears from his eyes.
"Well, I've never heard of anything so damned ridiculous."
"You can join us, if you want, but you have to play along. Act like you don't recognize her, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I will."
"Sawyer, I'm serious,"
"Alright, man, I'm not going to ruin your little game. Come on, if you're payin', I'm eatin'."