A/N: Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile - I haven't had much time to write. What I'd intended for this chapter went out of control, so I'm splitting this up and posting this part for now. Hopefully it won't take me two months to post the next part, but it's almost there.
Adam walked out of the design studio in shock, with Michael's words ringing in his ears. "I'm sorry that it's come to this Adam, but I'm going to have to let you go." Fired. He'd been fired. Of all the things Michael could have said to him, this was something he never in a million years expected. He walked down the sidewalk in almost a trance as he tried to wrap his mind around this. How had this happened? He tried to ignore the little voice in his head that told him he knew very well how this had happened. He'd been calling off work, or coming in late, for the past month. And he'd been distracted when he had been there. He thought he'd been covering and doing an ok job, but apparently not. He also had to face questions of what he was going to do now. He needed a job desperately. His dad had gone back to work some time ago, but only part time, and they really needed the money. He could get another job, somewhere, but how was he going to explain this to his dad? He couldn't have Jane finding out either, because that would lead to more questions that he didn't want to face. Maybe he could get another job quickly, and he wouldn't need to tell anyone, at least until he could come up with a believable explanation. Adam's head began to hurt as he thought about his situation. This was just one more thing that was spiraling out of control. Everything was a mess. He needed to talk to someone, and he found himself heading toward Grace's house. Grace could help him.
Grace was surprised to find Adam on her porch when she opened the door. "Dude, what are you doing here? Lying to Girardi about being at work again?"
Adam didn't say anything, but just looked down at his feet.
Grace noticed he looked pale and upset. "Rove, what's going on?"
"I got fired."
"What?"
"I got fired. I don't know what to do now."
"Why? I mean, did you get a reason?"
"Michael said I've been coming in late, and my work's been bad for the last month or so."
"The last month? You mean the time frame when you were cheating on your girlfriend?"
Adam was a bit taken aback by Grace's tone and her statement, but he forged ahead anyway. "Yeah. Listen, I need your help. I need you to cover for me, at least until I can get something else."
"What do you mean, 'cover for you'?"
"I don't want Jane to find out. If she asks you – "
Grace couldn't believe what he was asking her to do. "Oh, no. I'm not going to help you with this one. You lost your job because you were too busy screwing Bonnie and lying to cover your ass with Girardi. You got yourself into this mess, and you're going to have to figure out how to deal with it on your own."
"Grace, please. Just – "
"No. I'm not going to lie for you. It's bad enough that I stand there and listen to you lie to Girardi day after day. She doesn't deserve that, no matter what you think she's done to you. And neither do I. God, I hate being in the middle like this."
"I'm sorry."
Grace continued as if he hadn't spoken. "It's not just you that's in deep shit with this, you know? Once Girardi finds out, she's going to be almost as mad at me as she will be at you because I knew but didn't tell her. And Luke's going to side with his sister. You know how protective he is of her. You and I, we're going to wind up right back where we were two years ago."
Adam couldn't remember a time when Grace had seemed this angry with him. He almost couldn't believe she was yelling at him, but he also recognized the truth in her words. "I'm sorry, Grace. I really am. For everything. I never meant for things to turn out like this. I'll figure something out, ok?" He didn't wait for a response before pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and walking away.
If Adam had thought his life had been difficult before, it was nothing compared to what it was now. The days after he was fired were pure hell. He spent his time at school desperately trying to pretend everything was ok. His afternoons were spent job hunting, and his evenings consisted of him hiding out in his shed or just out walking, trying to avoid hid dad and Joan as much as possible without it seeming too obvious. It didn't make things any easier when Joan expressed her concern that she thought he was working too hard. The only thing he could think of to respond with was yet another lie. He felt a little sicker and a little more guilty with each one, and it was getting to the point he thought he was going to need to start a journal or something to keep all of his stories straight. Even his latest gift to Joan, a drawing he created with the airbrush pen she had given him, felt like a lie. He was hoping with everything he had that his gestures of affection would distract her enough that her concern wouldn't move toward suspicion, but he still didn't know how long he was going to be able to keep this up as each day was more of a struggle to hold it together.
By Saturday, Adam was wound up so tight he was ready to snap. Desperately needing some time and space to think things through, he borrowed his father's truck and drove to Mount Nashman. Maybe some fresh air and a hike could help him clear his head enough to figure some things out.
Adam parked the truck and was relieved to notice the small parking lot was otherwise empty. He looked forward to the solitude. As he started walking up the trail, his mind was filled with the things that were wrong in his life, which seemed like pretty much everything. Even his relationship with Joan, which he'd considered one of the best things that had ever happened to him, was now counted among the bad things in some ways. Her distance from him since the summer, and his inability to get closer to her had led up to this mess, at least partially. But Adam felt guilty placing any blame on her for this mess. He should have tried harder, or been more patient, or something. The past year had been so hard for her, with the Lyme Disease, Judith's death, and the lawsuit. Sleeping with Bonnie hadn't helped relieve the stress like he thought it might. Thinking about that made him feel more guilty, not only because he was finally admitting he had done it partly to get back at Joan for not sleeping with him, but because he'd treated Bonnie like a whore. Joan loved him, and Bonnie had cared about him, too, but he'd been so awful to both. How could he have ever thought it was "just sex"? It was so, so much more than that. It had started off with one lie, one indiscretion, and that snowballed out of control into the mess he was going through now. He'd hurt Bonnie, himself, and his Jane, even though she didn't yet know it. The thought of losing her hurt so much.
Adam was so wrapped up in is pain that he didn't realize how much time had gone by, or how far he'd gone. A sudden flash of lightning and crash of thunder jolted him back into the present. He turned around and started to hurry back down the trail, but the sky suddenly opened into a downpour, making it difficult for him to see where he was going. He tried to keep going for a bit, but soon realized he needed to find some type of shelter to wait out the storm under. A couple flashes of lightning lit the area enough for him to notice some indentations in the rock that looked deep enough for him to fit into. Soaked and shivering, he huddled out of the rain and hoped the storm would pass quickly.
Grace hurried toward Joan's house with her stomach churning and filled with dread. After the call from Mr. Rove that Adam hadn't come home, she couldn't help wondering if maybe Adam had done something to himself. This whole mess with Bonnie, and then losing his job, had left him as depressed as she'd seen him since his mother died. She couldn't help but feel she'd contributed to it too, with snapping at him and refusing to help him out with Joan after he'd been fired. She'd been upset, and her mom had been wasted yet again, and she had just reached the point where she didn't want to deal with anyone else's crap at the time. "Please let him be here. Please", she thought to herself as she ran up the steps on the Girardis' porch.
TBC...
