Marissa is sitting at the kitchen table when Luke arrives home from work. The kitchen with its large windows that face the ocean is sunny and bright and smells like pine. There is a warmthness to the room brought out by its light-colored wooden countertops and the copper pots hanging from the ceiling. Usually, it smells like baked bread or cookies but today Marissa has given Monica, the housekeeper and cook, the afternoon off.
"Hey, hon," Luke says as he walks over and kisses Marissa on the cheek.
She draws back repulsed but Luke doesn't notice.
"How was your day?" he asks as he walks over to the refrigerator and opens the door. "Where is Monica? She's supposed to have dinner ready," he says as he bends down and looks in the refrigerator.
"I gave her the afternoon off."
"Why did you do that?"
"Luke, we need to talk."
"Can't it wait? I'm starving and I need to go back to the office tonight. The Microsoft case, you know."
"It's funny you should mention the Microsoft case."
"Why?" Luke says giving her a startled look.
You ought to be scared, Marissa thinks as she walks over to the counter in the center of the room. "I wasn't aware that Bill Gates had stepped down as chairman of Microsoft and that Summer Roberts had taken his place."
"What are you talking about?" Luke asks then laughs nervously.
"Cut the crap Luke. I know."
"What?! I swear I don't know what you're talking about. Are you feeling okay?" He turns to her with a concerned look on his face.
"Luke."
"Babe, you're acting really strange and you're scaring me." He walks over and attempts to put his arms around her but Marissa steps out of the way.
"Don't you dare touch me. I know about you and Summer. All those weekends you were supposed to be away on business, you were really having an affair with Summer yet you accused me of having an affair with Ryan Atwood."
"Atwood! Atwood! Now this all makes sense. You're sleeping with him, aren't you?"
"Luke, I'm leaving you and I'm taking Lily with me. We'll be at my father's house." Marissa turns then starts walking out of the house.
"You'll be sorry. I'll divorce your ass. You'll have nothing, not a dime, and I'll file for sole custody of Lily."
Marissa turns to face Luke, her eyes flashing with anger, her body stiff. Her voice, however, is calm. "You can do that if you want to. In fact, if you don't file for divorce, I definitely will. But with respect to our daughter, I wouldn't piss me off if I were you. I'm prepared to share custody with you. But consider this, what judge would give sole custody to a lying, cheating, backstabbing jerk like you?"
"But …."
"But nothing. I have witnesses who will testify to Summer's story. There are enough people in this town who hate both you and Summer and would love nothing more than to bring you both down," Marissa says then turns and walks out of the kitchen. She can hear Luke following behind her.
"Marissa, baby, c'mon. Can't we talk about this?"
These are the last words she hears as she slams the door shut and heads to her car. Already in the trunk of her convertible are a few of her and Lily's things, things she'd packed while waiting for Luke to come home. She opens the car door and gets into the driver's seat. She takes a deep breath then begins to cry. Hot tears stream down her face as she backs out of the driveway and heads toward the highway.
She knows she has made the right decision. She refuses to let her daughter grow up in a house where Mommy and Daddy don't love each other, a house where Mommy becomes bitter and resentful and Daddy lies and cheats. As for Jimmy, Marissa senses he'll be okay. In the ten years since he'd stolen all that money from his friends and neighbors, he's regained almost everyone's trust with his new business. Besides, he doesn't have her mother pushing him to make more money without any thought as to where it comes from.
Before she knows it, Marissa pulls in front of an apartment complex on Melrose. Suddenly she is seized with simultaneous feelings of fear and well-being. If she is to be happy, she must do this. Even if he rejects her, at least she tried. Marissa enters the building. As she is coming in, a guy is coming out. He gives her the once over and smiles before holding the security door open for her. She walks over to the bank of elevators and pushes the 'up' button. She waits for what seems like an eternity, but finally the doors open. She steps inside and pushes the button for the third floor. Slowly the elevator rises. When the doors open, Marissa finds herself in a hallway with six apartments on each side. She makes her way down the hall looking for Apt 7. Behind the door of 7, she can hear the Sex Pistols's "God Save the Queen" playing. She takes a breath then knocks loudly on the door. A few seconds later, the music is turned off and she can hear footsteps approaching the door, then she hears two deadbolt locks being unlocked.
The door opens. "Marissa, what … ."
"I've left Luke."
"Huh?" Ryan is dumbstruck.
"We're getting a divorce."
"Are you sure? Come in first."
Marissa follows Ryan into the apartment. Though she has never been in it, it looks oddly familiar, then she realizes that it is furnished entirely with Kirsten and Sandy's old furniture.
"Where did you get my address?" Ryan asks as he gestures for her to sit down.
"One guess," she says then smiles. "When I told him I was leaving Luke, a little elf gave me your address and primo shares in a billion dollar video game company. In fact, he assures me the shares will double in value in about four weeks."
"Seth."
"Seth."
"So, exactly why are you divorcing Luke?" Ryan says as he sits down in a chair across from her.
"Number one, I don't love him anymore; and number two, unlike you, Luke is not unwilling to cheat."
"I'm not surprised," Ryan says then stops. "Sorry. Are you sure you're not just on the rebound?"
"Ryan, I've loved you from the first moment I saw you. I still don't understand exactly why you broke up with me. And don't give me that 'I'm from Chino, you're from Newport Beach' stuff because you know that doesn't matter to me."
"How would you have known if all you've ever had was Newport? How can I be sure that after a few months with me, you won't go running back to Luke and Newport?"
"Well, a friend once told me that we make our own fate," she says rising slowly and walking seductively over to him.
"But…," Ryan begins but stops. Marissa's allure is too much for him to handle. He begins to feel warm, flush.
"But what?" she asks as she leans over him and puts an arm on each side of his head.
"Is it getting a little hot in here to you? Maybe I should turn up the air conditioning," he says as he makes a move to rise.
"Oh no you don't," Marissa says pushing him back down. "Answer me. But what? Did you or did you not say we make our own fate. Or," she says as a gut-wrenching look flashes across her face. "Is it that you don't want to align your fate with a poor single mother with a five-year-old daughter?" she says then stands straight. She feels herself caving emotionally. The tears are forming behind her eyes. She turns and begins to walk away. All she can think about is escape before she makes a bigger fool of herself.
But before she can get away, Ryan grabs her hand and draws her close. "From what I hear on the streets, a certain soon-to-be single mother who I'm sure has a beautiful five-year-old daughter will be coming into a huge payday because a gaming fairy gave her primo shares in a video game software company that will produce a huge return in, what did you say, four weeks. The question is, is this soon-to-be single mother willing to align her fate with that of a lowly public defender?"
"If that public defender is you, then 'yes'," she says then kisses him squarely on the mouth. Marissa suddenly feels the kind of joy usually reserved for those returning home after a long, arduous journey. She is both comforted and overwhelmed by Ryan's scent, his kisses, his arms around her, and his unquestionable, undying love for her.