Jenna sighed as she looked in the mirror. She looked tired and defeated. Her once vibrant brown eyes looked a little dull tonight. Michelle had told her what Cody had said to her out on the porch. Part of her wanted to believe Cody and run back into his arms and everything would be fine. Another part of her wanted to hold onto this anger and hurt she was feeling right now and throw it back in his face. She sighed as she looked down at her ring finger and saw that she was still wearing her wedding ring. Should she take it off? With a sudden burst of determination, she took the beautiful ring off and put it in her jewelry box. She looked at the empty spot on her finger and felt tears start to well up. She pushed those tears away and fluffed her hair up one more time before she slipped on her high heels and headed downstairs to see if Michelle was ready to go out.

.

.

.

Jenna walked a few steps behind Michelle and Amy and listened as they giggled and swapped horror stories of dating life. Jenna listened with interest as her two friends told story after story of bad first dates and stalker boyfriends. Was this the life she was headed towards? Maybe she should sit down and talk to Cody before she signed anything. Maybe they could work this out? But then again, maybe he would change for a year or two and then run back to Layla; then she would be in the same situation she is in right now.

Jenna followed the girls into the bar and they found three barstools together at the bar. It was a quiet night except for a group of good looking guys that Jenna thought looked vaguely familiar. Maybe she went to high school with them?

"Hey, Jen? You see that guy over in the black t-shirt?" Amy whispered to her.

Jenna nodded. "That's Billy Jacobson."

She thought for a second and started smiling. Amy had had the biggest crush on Billy in high school but never did anything about it. "Oh?" Jenna replied with a coy smile.

"Yeah...so the guy in the blue hoodie next to Billy is Chris Mattson. Um...me and Michelle are going to go over and talk to them and see if they remember us. Do you want to come with?"

Jenna shook her head no and tried to reassure her girlfriends that she would be just fine while they went and talked to the guys. She watched her friends walk away towards the back of the room slightly jealous that her friends were so confident about talking to men. She had been with Cody since she was 15 and besides the guy in Minneapolis she dated for a few months, she hadn't ever been with anyone except Cody. Suddenly feeling depressed, she ordered another Jack and Coke and tried to push those depressing thoughts of not knowing what to do without Cody out of her mind.

Her ears caught the sound of the song of the jukebox. It was a soft, slow song with soothing vocals. She caught the lyrics and forced the tears that immediately welled up in her eyes to not fall. It wasn't going to do her any good to start bawling and have a breakdown in the middle of a bar.

It's her first night on the town since she was just eighteen
A lady down on love and out of hope and dreams
The ties that once bound her now are broke away
And she's like a baby, just learning how to play

She had always thought that after her and Cody had gotten back together the last time that nothing was going to tear them apart. What did Layla give Cody that he couldn't give him? Michelle said it was because it didn't feel like she was supporting his career the way that a wife should. That not only confused Jenna it irritated her. She basically gave up her career to stay home and raise their daughter. Jenna had never pictured herself as a stay at home mom. She still longed for the past when the days all ran together because she was hopping flights to chase a story. She missed the thrill of putting her ideas down on paper and getting lost in the zone. She spent her days playing with Mandy and teaching her all about the world. She spent her nights in a lonely bed waiting for Cody to call to just let her know that he was all right.

She never thought that love could ever end so soon
Her mind drifts back in time to a mid-summer moon
When he asked her to marry and she gladly said O.K
And a woman came to be from the girl of yesterday

She looked down at the empty space on her ring finger. She sighed and ordered another drink. Glancing over at her girlfriends, it looked like they were having a good time with the two guys from high school. She was happy for them. Someone should be happy, it might as well be them. Jenna had her chance at happiness, she should have just forgave Cody when he admitted what he had been doing with Layla. Unfortunately for both Jenna and Cody, she's stubborn and is slow to forgive.

Mandy asked why she had spent the night with daddy and Jenna stayed at Auntie Michelle's. Jenna had to delicately explain to her only daughter that her and daddy weren't getting along right now and were going to try and live apart for a while. Seeing the confused look on her daughter's face made Jenna feel about a million times worse about having to tell Mandy. She could only imagine what Cody had explained to her.

Jenna knew that Cody wasn't the type of person that would bad mouth her to his own daughter. He loved that little girl more than anything. She wiped a stray tear away when she thought about how she used to one of the people he loved more than anything also...

Now she's a lady down on love
She needs somebody to gently pick her up
She's got her freedom, but she'd rather be bound
To a man who would love her and never let her down
.

.

.

.

Cody grimaced as the strong liquid burned down his throat. He was trying to work up enough liquid courage to go over to Michelle's later tonight and beg Jenna to take him back. Before he came up to the bar tonight, he had had a long and heated argument with Layla about how he couldn't see her anymore and that it was finally over for good this time. Layla tried to argue with him saying that he would be back once Jenna started getting on his nerves again; he always came back and that she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Well, I know a lady that's down on her love
'Cause I used to hold her and have that special touch
But work took me a way from home late at nights
And I wasn't there when she turned out the lights
Then both of us got lonely and I gave into lust
And she just couldn't live with a man she couldn't trust

Layla was wrong; Jenna was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he was determined to make sure that she knew that...