Chapter Four
Jesse ran back to his street and spotted Aubrey's red sports car parked on the verge outside their house. She had clearly just arrived at the house as he heard her kill the car engine and he watched as she gathered up a few things from the front seat before opening the door and gracefully stepping out of the car, shutting the door carefully with her hip. He caught up with Aubrey at the bottom of the house steps.
"Hey Bree, how you doing?" He said, slotting his hands on his hips and twisting from side to side to avoid getting a stitch. Aubrey continued to climb the steps, ignoring anything else around her, completely in a world of her own. Jesse rolled his eyes and sucked in his cheek. "Ignoring me as well huh? I'm getting a little bit sick of this now."
Aubrey reached the top of the stairs and flung her head over her shoulder, knitting her eyebrows in confusion. Or was it anger? Jesse wasn't quite sure which it was. He watched Aubrey take the car keys from her pocket and aim them towards her car, clicking the button twice to lock her car. She turned the keys in her hand until she found the one for their front door. Juggling the items in her hands, she almost dropped the lot as she thrust the key towards the lock.
"Aubrey, let me help -"
"-Whoa ... whoops ... it's okay, I've got it, I've got it!" Aubrey laughed out, jabbing the key into the keyhole and twisting it to pop open their front door.
Jesse sighed and hopped up the steps after Aubrey. He was actually getting rather annoyed by the silent sisterhood treatment now. Beca could be mad at him for whatever it was he said in their fight but Aubrey was his friend too and she really had no business getting involved. He followed Aubrey through the front door, ducking under her arm as she absentmindedly scanned the wide hallway whilst holding the door wide open. She pushed the door shut with her foot.
"Beca?" Aubrey called out. "Becs?"
"In here." Beca called back making Jesse startle a little. He hadn't clocked his wife in the kitchen when he came in. He sat on the bottom of the stairs to take off his running shoes as Beca rounded the corner, leaning on the door jam as Aubrey unloaded her armfuls of stuff onto the chair. Opening her arms wide, Aubrey swept Beca up into a warm and friendly hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend and patting her on the back for a few moments.
"How are you feeling?" Aubrey asked as she released Beca.
"Just tired." Beca replied, leaning forward slightly and wrapping her cardigan tightly around herself. "I'm not sleeping. I just feel so empty."
"Then talk to me!" Jesse said, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. Both Aubrey and Beca turned away from him and continued down the hallway talking to each other as they entered the sunny kitchen.
"Are the kids with Amy?" Aubrey asked and Beca nodded, filling the kettle with water.
Jesse was confused as to why Amy had the children. She rarely had them to stay over anymore especially with a young son of her own. He wanted to spend time with them and try to heal the rift in his family. He was getting so frustrated now, almost angry. He stood listening to Aubrey and Beca talking quietly in the kitchen, discussing goodness knows what. He was clearly being ignored.
Turning sharply, he went to open the thin door in the hallway a few feet from where he was standing. It was the door to his basement. He would go down and find that bloody locket he had bought for Beca and show her he was still committed to the relationship even if she was intent on letting it all fall apart. He twisted the door knob and was surprised to find it locked. His blood began to boil.
"Who locked the basement door?" He yelled loudly, his voice echoing around the hallway and stairs.
He was met with silence.
"This is still my Goddamn house!" Jesse bellowed, shoving a pot plant from the small table by the door. He watched it crash to the floor; the earth and broken pieces of pottery skidding across the wooden floor. With the sound of the smash, Jesse felt his anger dissipate. He turned towards the door under the stairs which held their cleaning supplies; hoping to find a broom to sweep up the mess, berating himself for having lost control.
The sound brought Beca and Aubrey running from the kitchen, stopping in the doorway to look at the damage all over the floor. Jesse stuck his head into the cupboard, slightly embarrassed.
"Is there a window open?" Aubrey asked. "Did the wind blow it over?"
"No, he's here, isn't he." Beca said sadly.
"Is he?" Aubrey remarked. "I hadn't noticed."
"Jesse, just go." Beca said softly, the wobble in her voice so apparent. "We don't need you anymore."
'Oh, that's charming!' Jesse thought, withdrawing from the cupboard in order to say his piece. He stopped as he watched Aubrey envelope Beca again. She pulled away from Aubrey, clutching her belly, sinking into the dirt on the floor, the tears dripping down her face. He jerked forward, wanting so desperately to hold her, to make this all right but his legs felt like lead. Aubrey was down on the floor with her friend now, holding her tightly, rubbing circles onto her back.
As annoyed as Jesse was, yet at the same time wanting to reach out to Beca, he couldn't stand to see her cry. He was the cause of all of this pain. He would make this right. He would book a table at their favourite restaurant, order fine champagne and they would talk all this out and start working on everything getting back to normal.
"I'm going to shower." Jesse said to the two women on the floor, clicking the cleaning cupboard door noisily with a bang. "When I come back down. I'll clear this mess back up. And I'll book us a table at Les Chef's for 7.30 tonight. And we'll talk everything through. Okay?"
Beca looked up and gazed towards him. He took that as a sign of understanding as he made his way up to his bathroom. Showering quickly and dressing in his favourite red sweater, he took a moment in their bedroom to look at the photos adorning the walls. These were happy times and full of fond memories. He ran his fingers through his damp hair and calmly walked back down the stairs.
He wasn't overly surprised to see that the mess in the hallway had been cleaned up and everything tidied away. Trudging into the kitchen, he saw Beca in the garden quietly dead-heading a few flowers while Aubrey talked to her, her hand always resting on the crook of Beca's back. He walked over to the notice board to get the number for the restaurant and was surprised to see a message written in Beca's neat handwriting on the whiteboard with the reservation number for the restaurant. She had already booked a table. His heart leapt a little with relief that he might finally start to understand where it had all gone wrong.
He calmly walked to the basement door and twisting the knob left and right, he found the door wasn't locked after all and with a heavy sigh, he walked down the basement steps to find the locket he had remembered earlier. He looked around at all the boxes littering the various tables and shelves in his man cave. He started to shift a few around, opening up the dusty cartons and peering instead.
Knowing he had some time and while it would seem that the rest of his family were currently occupied, Jesse looked through the contents of the boxes for hours. They were filled to the brim with old scores, half written lines of code, ideas boards and he found boxes and boxes of old tapes, CDs and DVDs. He didn't remember bringing them down to the basement but he thoroughly enjoyed going through everything.
However his joy was short lived as he peered down at his watch in the gloom of the basement.
"Fuck!" He squealed as the digits read 20.23. Standing up quickly, he spilled everything from his lap as he sprinted up the stairs, brushing himself down as he ran up the steps two at a time. He burst through the door into an obviously empty house. He coughed as a cloud of dust followed him.
"Fuck." He said again, looking down at himself to remind himself what he was wearing. He would simply have to go to the restaurant as he was, he couldn't miss their reservation.
Realising Beca had clearly gone without him, he ran to the front door, slamming it shut behind him. He jogged down to the main street searching for a taxi to get him to Les Chefs quicker. Luck was clearly proving not to be on his side as the street was completely empty.
Knowing the restaurant was only three or four miles towards the downtown, he began to run, hoping against hope she would still be at the restaurant and at the very least still willing to talk to him.
Jesse arrived at the restaurant door just before nine. Wheezing terribly, he followed a couple of smokers through the door and spotted Beca immediately. If he was having trouble breathing before, the sight of her sitting all alone at the table dressed in his favourite red dress, her hair pinned up and her make up perfect, made him lose all the breath in his body. After being together for over fifteen years, Beca could still make him do that.
We weaved his way through the table and watched as she absentmindedly poked at her dessert with her fork, clearly not wanting to eat it. Her other hand lay on the table, twisting her napkin around and around in her fingers. He sat down heavily on the chair opposite her.
"Beca, I'm so sorry. I lost track of time and ..." Jesse said, coughing a couple of time. "... and I'm sorry. This meal was important to me. I wanted to -"
*crash*
The sound of a glass being dropped echoed around the restaurant and Jesse's head snapped round to see what had happened. He swung his head back to catch Beca looking as well, into the space just above his right shoulder.
"I'm sorry." Jesse tried again but Beca's eyes fell back to her cheesecake. She raised her eyes again as the waiter walked passed and nodded to him. "Can we talk?"
Jesse reached out a hand across the crisp white tablecloth. He didn't know whether he should touch her. She didn't like to be touched when she was angry. She withdrew her hand, holding the napkin tightly and dabbed at her mouth before tossing it back on the table. Jesse sat back in his seat and waited for her to speak.
Beca took a sip of water, replacing the glass back on the table as the waiter gently slipped the check in its leather folder onto the table. Leaning forward, Jesse moved to take the bill but Beca's hand snaked across the table, flipped open the wallet and quickly signed her name on the slip. She shut the file, placed the pen on top and raised her eyes to the room. The waiter floated over, collected the folder, placing it under his arm before taking a step back resting his hand on the back of her chair.
"Did you have a coat ma'am?" He asked.
"Yes, a black jacket." She replied quietly.
"I'll be back in one moment." He said.
"I'm sorry Beca. Can we go and get a drink somewhere?" Jesse asked as he watched the waiter return with Beca's jacket. He held it up for Beca to thread her arms through. As she alighted from the chair, Jesse's eyes fell to Beca's belly and in his shock he registered a well rounded baby bump clearly protruding from his slim wife's frame.
"Happy Anniversary." She whimpered, as she left the table.
"Wait ..." Jesse fumbled with his words as it dawned on him that she was at least eight months pregnant. He leapt up from the table. "Beca ... wait!"
But she had already left the restaurant.
