"Jenny, darling."
Jennifer sighed as she rolled onto the other side of her bed, holding the covers up to her chin as she did so. She sniffed once, looking at the cream wall as she felt her bed dip, knowing that her mother was sat there.
"You need to get up, honey," her mother instructed her, looking around the empty room which contained some cardboard boxes from Jenny's flat which hadn't been unpacked back into her old room in the family home. "You can't lay here and mope around all day, can you?"
"What's the point in doing anything else?" Jennifer wondered, mumbling into her pillow so that her mother strained to hear what she had said in response to her question. "I just want to be alone."
"Darling," her mother sighed out. She rested her hand onto her forehead and Jennifer moved onto her back, looking up to her mother who looked as pained as she felt. "You need to get up."
"I've got no job," Jennifer complained. "I've had my apartment repossessed and I've lost my fiancé. What is there to get up for?"
"You're supposed to be getting over this, Jen," her mother scolded her slightly, standing up and placing her hands onto her hips. "I don't know what happened to you in LA...but...you need to talk to us and pick yourself up. Your father and I are worried for you."
"I'm fine," Jennifer lied, rolling back onto her side and hiding under her covers, sighing as she did so. "I'll get up soon."
"You'd best, Jennifer," her mother warned her. The young woman rolled her eyes at hearing that. She felt like a child. Well, she was behaving like one. She wasn't really sure what to do. "I'll make you some breakfast. Get up."
...
"We just don't understand why you and Robert broke up so suddenly," Jenny's father informed her as she sat at the dining table, eating her toast slowly as she looked at the paper which was in her father's hand. Robert and she were the headlines. She hadn't expected much else. There was a photo of the pair of them at some benefit and it was split down the middle, showing that they were apart. She managed to draw her eyes away from it and back down onto her empty finger.
"It wasn't working out," Jennifer replied with a shrug. She didn't want to seem too upset. She wasn't really. Yes, she was sad that they hadn't worked out. But...she knew that it would never work out between them. She'd blown it and Robert couldn't really forgive her.
"You just seemed so strong, Jennifer," her mother inputted, handing her husband a plate of bacon and eggs. He smiled up at his wife as she kissed him on the cheek and sat down in the chair in between her daughter and husband. "It all seems extremely hasty."
"As I said, it wasn't working out," Jennifer muttered back.
"Well, why didn't it work out?"
"It just didn't," Jennifer snapped, standing up and dropping her crust onto her plate, glaring at her parents as she did so. "Leave it."
"Jennifer," her father barked. "Your mother and I are just worried."
"Don't be," Jenny replied with a sigh. "I'm fine."
Four weeks later
Robert sighed to himself as he stood up from his chair in his office, swinging it around as he moved and he picked up the piece of paper which he needed photocopying. He moved out into the small reception area, handing the paper to his receptionist as she smiled up at him, making an effort to be polite with her boss as he continued to look glum.
Everyone in the office knew that he had left his fiancée. Well, that was the rumour anyway. Apparently she wouldn't sign a prenuptial according to Browning and she'd fled to Australia to hide.
"Mr Fischer," the blonde receptionist spoke as she opened the door to his office. She'd knocked but he hadn't answered her back, he'd simply continued to stare out the window which he did from time to time. He turned around in his chair as she walked in with the cup of coffee.
"Is anything wrong?" he wondered and she shook her head at him, placing the cup onto his desk as she did so. She dropped her hands onto her hips and looked at him with a small smile, shaking her head as she did so.
"I just thought that you'd like a coffee," she shrugged nonchalantly and he looked at the steaming hot liquid before back into her blue eyes. She tossed her hair behind her shoulders and toyed with the memo which was in her hand too. She didn't know whether or not to give it to him. He had a right to take the call if he wanted to. She was just his receptionist.
"Oh, right, thanks then," Robert spoke back, looking at her with intrigue as she dropped the yellow piece of paper onto his desk, looking down onto it as she did so.
"Your ex called, too," she finally declared with a sigh. "I told her that you were busy. I didn't know if you'd want to talk to her."
"Why wouldn't I?" Robert snapped back and the blonde looked put out slightly as she shrugged.
"I don't know," she mumbled back at him. "You...well...you broke up...I didn't know if it was a sore subject...there are rumours..."
"What rumours?" Robert asked, looking at the piece of paper as the blonde shook her head.
"Nothing," she said and his blue eyes found hers again. He continued to look at her with narrowed eyes and she took a deep breath, realising that he wasn't going to leave it. "They say that she left you because she wouldn't sign the prenup. We don't know what's true-"
"-Not that," Robert interrupted. "It's too complicated to talk about."
"Well, I'd best get back to work," she coughed after a moment, walking over to the door, standing in the doorway for a moment before she took her chance to turn back to look at him. "If you ever need to talk about it...well...make it uncomplicated...then I'm here."
Robert continued to stare at her as she closed the door and he looked back down onto his desk, wondering what had happened before he called Jennifer back.
"How are you?" he asked her as soon as she picked up after the fifth ring. "You said that you'd call before."
"I've been busy," she lied back to him, her voice flat and emotionless. "I'm fine. I thought that I'd see how you were doing."
"I'm coping," he admitted. And he was. He was coping to get over her. It had been hard, he had to admit it. But, he wasn't spending his days in bed crying over her. That wouldn't achieve anything. "Business is doing well so that takes up a lot of time."
"I know," Jennifer admitted to him. "Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
"I am," Robert assured her. "But, I know that you're not."
"Do you?" Jennifer wondered.
"Yes," he replied. "You don't sound like you. Have you spoken to Eames yet?"
"Why would I do that?" Jennifer asked; her chest clenching as she heard his name and she winced. Yes, she'd tried to speak to Eames. She'd called him but received no reply. She didn't know what else to do. It had taken her four weeks to realise that she felt numb without him. Nothing seemed worth moving for. Nothing seemed to make her feel better.
"We've split up, Jenny," Robert reminded her. "You're allowed to date other people, especially men who you dream about."
"Are you dating anyone?" Jennifer asked and he gulped, pulling on his tie as he thought about his receptionist who had just walked in. What had that been about? Was she trying to get him to date her? He didn't know.
"That's not the point," Robert replied. "A month has passed and we're both still as miserable as when we were together."
"We weren't always miserable together," Jennifer reminded him and he chuckled back at hearing that.
"No, we weren't," he reminisced. "Look, I need to go, business and all that."
"Of course," Jenny agreed. "I'll talk to you later."
"Will you?"
"Well...maybe..." Jenny responded. "Goodbye, Robert."
"Bye, Jen."
...
Jennifer didn't know how to find Eames. She didn't know if she had left it too late to even try. His phone was never in service and he didn't have a permanent residence. She'd even called the hotel which he had been staying in, but, he'd left the same day that she had. Apparently he had the world to see. Jenny had hung up, trying not to sound disappointed as she thought about what to do.
Eames worked with people. She knew Dom and Arthur. She hadn't really spoken to them, but, she knew them. Maybe getting hold of Dom would be possible. He seemed to be the most stable person as Eames told her that he had gotten back to his children. She shook her head, knowing that it was worth a shot. Anything was worth a shot if it meant that she could find him.
Luckily for her, Dom was easy to find once she had researched him on the internet. Apparently he'd settled down in LA. But, he had told her that he didn't know where Eames was. He hadn't seen him since the Fischer job. She'd hung up, saying that it was okay that he didn't know.
But, Dom had been intrigued and had managed to phone Arthur, asking why it was so important. Arthur had chuckled, unable to believe what he had heard come from Jennifer's mouth. She wanted to find Eames. He had an idea where the man would be.
...
Jennifer couldn't find a job. Not that she was really looking. She'd some money in her account and she didn't have a mortgage to pay. She'd spent most of her time trying to track Eames down, but, each street seemed like a dead end. She was beginning to wonder if it was fate for her not to bother. Maybe they weren't supposed to pursue a relationship.
But, one week after her search had begun, she ran into someone she recognised. He was sat on the swings of the park which she used to play at, looking around before his eyes settled on hers. She stood still, turning to the side and seeing him sat there, staring back at her. She slowly pushed the gate open, hesitantly walking over to where he sat.
"Jennifer, isn't it?" he checked and she nodded to confirm.
"Arthur, isn't it?" she replied and he nodded at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Cobb called me," he admitted. "He said that you were looking for Eames."
Jennifer felt her heart skip a beat as she remained silent, standing on the spot and waiting for him to say something to her about her search.
"I am," she said, not using the past tense. "I don't know where he is."
"I do," Arthur replied, his tone stiff. "He's gone back to Mombasa."
"Mombasa?" Jennifer checked.
"It is where he lived before the job," Arthur shrugged. "I thought that he was going to travel, but, he went home in the end."
"Where about in Mombasa does he live?" Jennifer asked, sitting on the empty swing next to Arthur, not caring that she was going to be late for the interview which her father had secured her. No, it seemed irrelevant with Arthur next to her.
"I'll tell you," he promised her. "Eames...he...well...he was pretty cut up about you staying with Fischer that time."
"I know," Jenny said quickly. "I thought we still had a chance. It took me a while to realise that Eames...well...he was the one that I wanted, not Robert."
"I just don't want to see him hurt," Arthur whispered. "He doesn't really deserve it."
"I won't hurt him," Jennifer promised. "I swear to you."
"Okay."
...
"Turns out number thirteen is unlucky after all, huh?" Eames winced as the man next to him slapped him on his back and he watched as his chip was carted away. He remained holding onto the red one, rubbing it together in his fingers as he thought about where to place his next move. He continued to sit at the table, swigging from the beer bottle which was in his hand as he tried not to snap at the man who he was next to.
Finally, he gave up, moving away from the table and over to where the bar was, depositing his empty bottle onto a small table on his way. He ran his hand over his mouth as his destination remained the bar, his eyes set for another beer and maybe some nuts. That was how he spent his days. Waking, gambling and some light drinking. He'd turned down a job a couple of times, saying that he couldn't be dealing with it at that moment in time. He needed space to clear his head.
Unfortunately for him the thing that he needed space from was sat on his regular barstool.
Eames managed to draw his eyes onto hers as she remained still, her legs crossed and her eyes looking straight at him, not sure of his response as he remained stuck on the spot. He took in the paleness of her face compared to his lightly tanned one and the way her body looked underfed. The plum dress which sat on her body had always been one of his favourites; he just didn't care to admit it.
"Arthur told me where to find you," she said gently as he stood by her side, her knees resting against his torso as she looked at him.
"Why?" Eames whispered back to her and she shrugged.
"Do you know how hard it was for me to find you?" Jenny replied. "I tried to call."
"I've thrown my phone away," he spoke back. "I chucked it after I left LA."
"That would make sense," Jenny sighed back at him. "I need to talk to you."
"What about?" Eames wondered.
"Us," she said and he chuckled back darkly, his hand dropping to his hip as he did so.
"There never was an us," he said, motioning between the pair of them. "You said it yourself, Jennifer. You told me that I would be better off going to look somewhere else."
"I know that I did," Jenny responded. "I was stupid, Eames. I...I thought that Robert was the one who I wanted. I was blind, okay? It took me a while to realise that you...you were the one...and then I tried to call you. I tried to get hold of you and I couldn't. Do you know how that felt?"
"Almost as bad as realising the woman who you've begun to fall will never want you back?" Eames wondered, sitting on the vacant bar stool next to hers as he saw her gulp loudly and shake her head. "And then I stood there. I stood there on the side of the road when you left him and I waited. I waited for you to phone me. Maybe to tell me that you were going back to Australia. Maybe to tell me thanks for helping you. And there was nothing. I waited a week and there was nothing."
"I needed time," Jennifer said quickly. "I needed to get my head together, Eames. I need time to think about what I needed. How could I just run from Robert straight to you?"
"I'm not talking about jumping into bed with me," Eames spat out. "I'm talking about you calling me to let me know that you were okay. Do you not understand that I care about you?"
"I know that I maybe should have done that," Jennifer agreed with him. "And I'm sorry. I just...I miss you, Eames. More than I care to admit."
"I'd rather you did admit it," he grinned. "A little boost to my ego wouldn't go amiss."
"Shut up," Jennifer replied, hitting him on the arm quickly and lightly as he chuckled, catching onto her arm before he had the chance to let her pull it back onto her lap. Slowly, he pulled her from her stool, drawing her in between his legs as his hands dropped to hold her hips loosely. She ran her hands down the front of the patterned pink shirt which he was wearing before moving back up to rest them on his shoulders.
"And so you came all the way out to Botswana for me?" Eames checked and Jennifer smirked, shrugging nonchalantly as she did so.
"I guess I came for the tourism, too," she joked with him and he chuckled, one of his hands moving onto the small of her back as he did so. "Arthur also gave me a warning."
"Did he now?" Eames wondered, the smirk still on his face.
"Yes," she confirmed. "He told me that I can't be the one to break your heart again because he doesn't want your tears ruining another one of his suits."
"How melodramatic that man is," Eames rolled his eyes. "I don't think he has to worry too much about his suit, do you?"
"I hope not," Jennifer replied. "So, is this part where you make some grand romantic gesture like they do in the movies?"
"Romantic and me have never been mentioned in the same sentence, darling," Eames chuckled, slowly moving onto the edge of his seat as his mouth neared hers. "You'll just have to make do with me as I am."
"I'm sure I can cope," Jenny smiled before she felt his lips mould onto hers.
