Absence Makes the Hart Grow Fonder
Author's Note: A little one shot about how the stresses of real life can cause non-existent problems.
Jennifer Hart let herself fall into the softness of the upscale linens that graced the large king bed in the Penthouse Suite of one of New York City's finest hotels. And then sighed.
She loved her work, the research, the writing, and meeting fans, but this book tour commitment still had two weeks to go. Two very lonely weeks, she sighed again. Loneliness wasn't normally an issue for her. After all, meeting countless new faces throughout the day could be wearing and a little time to herself was often desperately needed. She might as well admit the real issue, she missed Jonathan.
Marriage to a successful man who ran a global corporation could be challenging. Over the course of their marriage, Jonathan had always balanced professional and personal demands well, but over the last year or so, his focus had definitely been on the professional side. Though to be fair, so had hers. She wasn't upset with him, and did understand. Her own career went through periods of intense travel or demands on her time and Jonathan was always supportive. Different time zones and agendas just made it all a lot more difficult. For example, while she'd been preparing for her book tour, he'd been getting ready to come home from an extended visit in China. More often than not they relied on text messaging to connect, which in her opinion was not enough.
Trying to escape her thoughts, Jennifer situated her robe-covered body against the large upholstered headboard. Room service had brought her dinner a little while ago and though the salad would keep a bit longer, she let herself enjoy the glass of wine while she checked her email.
As always, she scanned to see if Jonathan had sent her anything, and smiled when she saw an email from him sent earlier in the morning. There was no subject and the message only said we really need to talk. To be honest, the note seemed odd, but she quickly chalked it up to him being hurried or late for an appointment. Otherwise, most of the other notes were work related, but she found a few personal emails from friends. Handling party invites and committee work agendas didn't take long but the last note was from her friend Nancy, who had sent a quick message with a link to a local magazine's society page.
She clicked the link, and found a photo of Jonathan. The photo was dated the day before, from Las Vegas, and he flashed the camera a big smile, with his arm around a young blonde woman, his left hand very noticeably without his wedding ring. She double clicked on the photo and when it opened in a larger display, she studied it for evidence of alteration, but to her it looked authentic.
Jennifer took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then looked again. Her stomach knotted, and a cold pressure settled in her chest.
She'd never had a reason to doubt Jonathan's fidelity, the picture must be just one of those impromptu photo ops. Perhaps with an acquaintance or colleague. Jonathan was wrapping up a few days of "team building" with some of his executives, white water rafting near the Grand Canyon, so him being in Las Vegas wasn't so far fetched. But then what about the email that said they needed to talk? Were the two things related?
"This is silly," she said out loud, and picked up her phone and dialed.
"You've reached Jonathan Hart, leave me a message and—" she hung up the line before the message could finish.
She was not this kind of woman, she berated herself. She and Jonathan had a strong marriage, even if they hadn't seen each other for a few weeks or talked for several days, there was no reason to let doubts take hold of her imagination.
Jennifer picked up her wine glass, drained the rest of the liquid, and headed toward the large soaking tub in the bathroom. She pulled the tie from the luxurious robe, letting it fall on the tile floor just in front of the tub, now nearly full with warm bubbles. Catching a glimpse of her body in the full length mirror across the room, she thought she still looked good. More importantly, she thought Jonathan thought she still looked good. She shook her head, as if the movement would shake the thoughts free, and let her toned body settle into the water.
It hadn't worked. She wrapped the towel around her hair and put the robe back on, pulling tightly on the belt before returning to the side of the bed where she had left her phone and opened the email there too. No amount of rationalizing could keep her from thinking about the photo, and possible repercussions. She had countless friends who'd had long marriages that after 20 or 30 years had called it quits. Is that where she and Jonathan were headed? Is that what he wanted to talk about? She looked at the photo again, and threw her phone down on the bed in frustration.
Jennifer settled into the chaise next to the bed with her laptop, and chewed on her nail while staring at the screen. Just do it, she coached herself.
She scrolled down to the email from her friend and copied and pasted it in reply to Jonathan's earlier email and added a brief message: Is what you want to talk about related to this photo? She pressed send before she could change her mind.
Within minutes she received an email back: Yes, will talk to you in a few minutes.
Well, that's a good sign, she told herself. He wouldn't want to have a serious conversation over the phone, so he will just call and tell me about the photo and that will be the end of it. The self doubt almost instantly reappeared. But, what if he has to tell me whatever it is to get it off his chest and he doesn't care enough to talk to me about it in person?
"Jennifer Edwards Hart, when did you become this insecure, needy woman?" she said out loud.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. After a quick tug to tighten her robe, she peeked through the peep hole, saw a uniformed porter and opened the door.
"Mrs. Hart, you have a few deliveries."
Jennifer stepped back to allow the man in, but he was quickly followed by others, who paraded into her suite with a wide assortment of flower arrangements until every surface of the parlor area was completely filled. After the last porter left, there stood her husband, with a soft smile on his face.
"I've ben thinking about you, can you tell?" He stepped forward, kissed her cheek, and closed the suite door behind him, dropping his overnight bag to the side of the entry hall.
"What are you doing here?"
"Missing you," he whispered, moving in to kiss her lips. When he tried to deepen the kiss, she moaned but pushed against his chest and pulled back.
"What's wrong?"
"What is it that you wanted to talk about?"
"You'd rather talk then let me kiss you hello? Darling, is everything okay?"
"No, it is not!"
"Can you tell me –" he tried, but watched her turn and head to the bedroom. "Darling?" When he saw her standing at the window, staring out at the New York skyline, he tried again, with concern this time. "Jennifer? What's wrong?" He stepped up behind her and placed his hands on the back of her upper arm.
She easily shrugged him off and turned toward the bed to retrieve her laptop. She was trying to be calm, but the reaction was too fresh and her emotions too close to the surface. She was seething inside, their time apart creating doubt.
She picked up the laptop, the image front and center, and handed it to him. "Anything you want to tell me?"
Jonathan studied the picture, trying to see what she saw, and then put the laptop back down on the bed. He pulled his own cell out of his jacket and typed in his passcode, then after a few more slides and clicks, turned the phone screen to her. "Does this look familiar?"
She took his phone, where he had pulled up the same picture, except in this version, there was a man on the other side of the woman too, whom she recognized as one of the members of Hart Industries' Executive Team. "So this is David's lady friend?"
Though he'd kept a serious demeanor thus far, this time he smiled. "No, this is David's daughter. Charlotte?"
Jennifer looked again. "Charlie?! Are you serious, that can't be her! I haven't seen her in—"
"About fourteen years. She's twenty-six now and one of the youngest managers at the Wynn Las Vegas. David wanted us to see how his little girl was doing and have dinner before everyone headed home from the rafting trip."
"Oh, Jonathan! Wait, what about your wedding ring? You're not wearing it in the picture."
'You mean this wedding ring, the one I never take off?" He held up his left hand where his band was right where it always was.
She nodded.
"There's a Cartier store at the Wynn and one of the diamonds in the band was loose. I had it repaired while I was there. As I recall, you pointed out the loose stone the last time I saw you."
"You're right, I did," she responded softly.
They both stared at each other, both serious.
"I'm sorry, Jonathan, I made a horrible mistake."
"Yes, you did."
"I trust you, and I love you."
"I know you do."
"This is killing me, Jonathan, say something, please."
He pulled off his leather jacket and tossed it on the bed, and kicked off his loafers, then led them toward the large lounge chair in the corner near the window. He sat down, and pulled her hand and gently tugged down so she landed in his lap. He kept one hand on her back and let the other caress the side of her face and then pulled her forward for a gentle kiss.
He pulled back, "I'm not mad, not even a little, but we do need to talk."
She continued, "You should be furious with me; I really am sorry."
"Well, if you're really sorry, then I need to be really sorry too. I've been going crazy myself, that's why I sent you the email and why I flew out."
"What do you mean you've been going crazy?"
"Go get my phone, it's in my jacket, and look at the photo."
She slid from his lap, found his phone, and pulled open the photo again. "What am I looking for?"
"Notice anything odd about David?"
She squinted as she studied the picture, and then realized what he meant. "Jonathan, what happened? Did you run into trouble?"
"No, he ran into my fist."
Jennifer sat on the ottoman across from the chair where Jonathan was still sitting, and turned toward her husband in shock. "You punched one of your best friends? Why?"
Jonathan looked down in embarrassment before looking back at his lovely wife. "He was teasing me about what you were doing when we were apart. It was foolish, we'd both had a few drinks, and I knew he was kidding, but something about the way he said how you had admirers all over the world ready to see to your every need just got to me."
"And so you hit him?"
"Well, I learned later that he was goading me for a reaction, but yes. I punched him, and then he returned the favor."
"Darling, are you okay?"
"Of course, we're both fine. David and I had a long talk that night, and he made me see a situation that I've been ignoring."
"What situation is that?"
"That I'm not happy when I'm not with you. That you and I are better together. Most of all though, that I've built and continued to grow a company that in many ways runs itself."
"I can't say I disagree with him, but what does that all mean?"
Jonathan pulled her back to sit with him, and toyed with the end of the belt from her robe once she was settled. His silence continued for a few minutes, and once he'd gathered his thoughts, he looked back up. "When Max died, a part of me died too. He'd been a very large part of my life for a very long time."
Jennifer nodded in response, not surprised to see the deep emotion etch his features.
"I think I allowed Hart Industries business to take over my time because it meant I wouldn't have to focus on how much I missed him.
"That's very understandable darling, and it may be why I've overbooked myself too. Max was a very important part of our family. I miss him every day."
"Me too."
"But, darling, we can't let go of the connection we still have to each other. That's how I've been feeling. You're off doing your thing, and I'm off doing my thing and we don't have anything in common."
"We still love each other!" he started to defend.
"Of course we do, that's not what I meant, but in the past we had adventures together, or you would come with me or I would come with you when we had commitments out of town."
"Right, but it's different without Max."
"It is different, and it's not going to be the same, but it doesn't mean it can't still be wonderful. I think we already know the answer. You have a great team at the office, and after this tour, I can pull back."
"So you don't mind if you have a roomie for the rest of your tour?"
"I can't think of a better way to get through it."
Jonathan smiled, "I've missed you so much." He let his finger drift across her jawline and then pulled her close for a kiss, instantly deepening once their lips touched.
After a moment, she pulled back.
"A guy could get a complex, pulling out of my embrace twice in one night?"
Jennifer smiled, and shook her head and took a deep breath, but wouldn't meet his gaze. "Earlier while I was trying to process what I thought I saw in that photo, it occurred to me that you were straying because you no longer found me attractive."
He saw the doubt in her face. "It only seems fair that since there was a misunderstanding on the rest, that you'd give me a chance to demonstrate how incredibly attractive I do find you." He lifted her chin so he could see her eyes.
She smiled then, and flirted back, "I guess it would be the fair thing to do. Just for the sake of clarification of course."
The End