Chapter 14

The next morning, the sunshine streamed through the bedroom window instantly covering Rose's face. Her eyelids tightened together as she tried to shut out the offending light. Reaching her hand up, she rubbed her head, trying to force away the ever growing headache that plagued her. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced around the room trying to work out where she was. Turning around slowly, she suddenly became aware that she wasn't alone. Her eyes grazed over the figure lying next to her. His body was moving gently up and down with his deep breathing and Rose gasped as she remembered where she was. She mentally scolded herself as she quickly relived the night before in her head. As soon as they had got through to the bedroom, she and Cal had quickly removed their clothes and fallen into bed. She had completely forgotten everything, including...

Jack!

Her thoughts suddenly went to her blond haired lover. Rose sighed with regret until she remembered why she had come to Cal's home. She was only doing what he had done to her hadn't she? Jack had been with another woman last night, surely it was only right that Rose did the same. Why should he get away with messing her around while she sat at home waiting for him to finally call? But even so, Rose regretted sleeping with Cal. It hadn't made her feel better. If anything it made her feel worse, and cheap. She had given herself to him so easily without even thinking of Jack. What did that make her? Nothing but a cheap slut. She was no better than the woman she had heard in the background when she called Jack. Suddenly all Rose wanted to do was get out of there and go home. She wondered if Jack had tried calling her but then she remembered she had thrown her phone in a fit of rage and it was probably still lying on the floor of their livingroom. She glanced back over at Cal who still seemed to be in a deep slumber, and slowly crawled from the bed. Rose grabbed her clothes that were strewn around the bedroom and crept out the door into the living room. She quickly got dressed and grabbed her purse from the table. She felt bad for leaving Cal without saying anything. He had been there for her when she needed comfort and yet again she was hurting him. The same way she hurt him when she told him about Jack. Looking around her, she noticed a notepad and pen lying on a small table in the corner of the room. Rose quickly scrawled a message to him apologising for leaving without waking him. Making her way towards his front door, she looked behind her back to the bedroom where she could still see the outline of Cal under the crisp white sheets. She sighed as she pulled the door open and made her way out to her car.

...

Jack had been awake all night. He was now worried sick about Rose. He had tried calling her countless times but she never answered. She needed to learn to trust him, he thought. He loved her so much more than he had ever loved Laura. Didn't the fact that he gave up his life, his home for her not show how much he cared? Was that not enough? All Jack wanted to do was jump on the next flight home but he knew he had to stay at least for today. He had work to do and he couldn't let his bosses down. Standing up, he walked towards the bathroom and hunched himself over the sink. He looked up into the mirror and scowled at the tired, gaunt reflection staring back at him. He had dark circles under his eyes, clearly showing his lack of sleep and his hair was tangled from his constant tossing and turning in bed the night before. Jack looked at his watch and realised it was only 6am. He slammed his hand against the sink and stormed back through to the bedroom. He quickly pulled on his shorts and a T shirt and lifted his IPod from his bag before pushing his feet into his sneakers and walking out of the room. He needed to think and find some escape so decided to go out for a run, thinking it would waken him up and make him feel a bit better.

...

Rose finally arrived home. She had driven home in tears, angry with herself for what she had done but more so, trying to decide if she should tell Jack. She couldn't decide if she would be telling him purely to get rid of the guilt that consumed her or because she thought he should know, especially if he had been doing the same thing. She threw her bag down on the sofa and started searching the room for her phone. She finally found it behind a table and groaned as she noticed the small crack on the screen, likely from when it hit the wall when she had thrown it. Pressing one of the buttons, the screen quickly lit up and Rose's heart sank as she realised the number of missed calls and text messages that were waiting for her. Every one of them from Jack. She looked over the times of all the calls, and quickly noticed that they started from just after they had spoken and continued until 5am this morning. Rose looked at the clock and noticed it was just before 7am. The guilt within her grew as she realised that Jack had been trying to call her all night. How could he be calling me if he was sleeping with someone else? She thought. It was then that the enormity of what she had done hit her. Jack hadn't been with anyone else and now she'd gone out and jeopardised their relationship by hooking up with her ex. Now she was the one who couldn't be trusted. She read through the texts, each getting more desperate as they went on. She had put Jack through hell, that much was clear but now what should she do? Could she be honest with him now knowing that he hadn't done anything to her? Rose crumbled onto the floor, leaning against the wall and cried. She sat there for what seemed like hours before picking her phone up again. She couldn't call Jack yet, she needed help and she knew the only person who would be able to give her advice.

"You did what?"

Rose and Caroline were sitting in a nearby cafe with Rose hugging her hands round a steaming hot cup of coffee. It was about the only thing her stomach could take right now.

"You heard me Caroline, please don't make me repeat it." Rose pleaded.

"I know, I just didn't think I heard you right. Why would you do that?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know. I just had it in my head that he was out with some other girl." Rose wiped the tears away from her cheek.

"Why didn't you call me? We could have got drunk and just sat and bitched about him." Caroline tried to lighten the mood. "Look, this isn't the end of the world. You felt you were justified because who was to say he wasn't out doing the same thing right?"

Rose nodded.

"I don't think you should tell him though." Caroline admitted.

Rose looked up from her mug and stared at her friend. "What? Why not?"

"Because I think you'd be telling him purely to try and rid yourself of the guilt. What is telling him going to achieve? You're only going to end up hurting him and ultimately, he may walk away. As long as you're sure it's never going to happen again, then you put it down to stupidity and forget about it. Look at you having to put up with the guilt as punishment for doing it, why would you put that pain onto him? He hasn't done anything wrong." Caroline reached over and grabbed Rose's hand, rubbing her thumb across her knuckles.

Taking a deep breath, Rose nodded. She looked at her watch and realised it was now 8.30. She really should call Jack. She took another drink of her coffee and stood up. "I need to speak to him."

Caroline nodded. "Call me later and let me know how it goes."

"Thanks for coming to see me." Rose bent down and kissed her friend on the cheek before making her way out of the cafe and walking the short distance back to her house.

...

Jack quickly grabbed his phone from his suit pocket as he heard the familiar ringtone he had assigned for Rose.

"Rose?" he answered it quickly which must have took her by surprise as he heard her gasp on the other end of the line. "Rose? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" she finally answered. She had decided to take Caroline's advice and try to put her error in judgement behind her. "How are you? How was your night?" she asked sarcastically.

"Look Rose, I don't know what's going through your head but nothing happened with me and Becky." Jack felt he was trying to convince her, which annoyed him, because he felt that she should trust him anyway.

"She has a name?" Rose found herself being unnecessarily mean to Jack but she felt she had to keep acting the same way she had the night before. If she had suddenly changed her tune, would Jack have suspected something?

"Rose don't act like that. I can't believe you don't trust me." Jack felt frustrated. This was ridiculous. Was this going to happen every time he had to go away for work? He didn't know if he could put up with that. He fell for Rose because she seemed so carefree and easy going but now they were together, it was like something that changed and she had suddenly becoming controlling, possessive and jealous. Just like Laura was. He couldn't deal with that again. "I love you Rose but you need to trust me." Jack was suddenly aware the line was deathly silent. "Rose? Are you there?"

"Yes." She finally said. "I know, it was just hard with it being the first time you were away, then hearing her in the background."

"I know." Jack didn't know how honest he should be with Rose about last night. He took a deep breath. "To be honest, she did try it on with me."

"What?" her voice had suddenly become louder.

"But I stopped her Rose. I told her I loved you and I walked away from her. I spent the whole night trying to get in touch with you. How could I have done that if I was with her?"

"I know Jack, I know." Rose agreed.

"Just on that, how come you didn't answer?" Jack queried.

"Oh." Rose stuttered. "I went to bed. I left my phone in the livingroom." She thought it over, it was partly true, she just didn't say who's bed she was in.

"I called the house as well. Didn't you hear it ring?" Jack asked.

Rose started to panic, thinking he suspected her. "No, I was really tired, I didn't hear it ring at all." Again, not entirely a lie.

"Oh. Ok. Anyway, I'm coming home tonight. Will you be getting me at the airport or will I just make my own way home?" Jack wasn't sure how much she believed him but he knew his conscience was clear.

"I'll come and get you. What time?" Rose looked at her watch. It was now 9am and she planned on going straight back to bed once she had finished talking to Jack. She wanted to crawl under the covers and never come back out again.

"I land at 10.45."

"Ok, well I'll see you about 11." Rose mumbled.

"Ok. I love you Rose." Jack wished he was with her to show her exactly how much he loved her. He hated being away from her but at least he would be home, in his own bed tonight.

"I love you too Jack." She replied before hanging up the phone. She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time and jumped into bed, burying her head into the pillows on Jack's side. She could still smell his aftershave and as soon as her nose sensed it, she burst into tears again.