Chapter 5

Woman to Woman

Point Place, WI

11:45AM

Jackie ate more than she realized and it wasn't emotional eating. She really was

hungry. She ate a garden salad and two pieces of pizza. She had a personal trainer

so she knew that any high calorie, deep fried, high fat foods that she consumed on

this trip would be burned off on her expensive exercise equipment. She also felt

happy. Her godson was great company even if he did have the face of his father. He

was still handsome, caring, and intelligent. He ate the rest of the pizza himself.

Where did he put it all? He had no fat on his slender body.

She took delight in his Mindy centered world. She didn't want to warn him about first

loves that go bad. Jacen Forman certainly was no Michael Kelso. He was faithful to

his girlfriend and has wanted to marry her since he was a little kid.

"Shit!" Jacen exclaimed, "Oops, sorry, Jackie! I'm late. Dad and I have an

appointment to try on our tuxedos for one last time." He took his wallet out of his

back pocket and put the money on the table.

"It's okay. I can give you a ride. How far is the place from here?"

"Not far it's only a few blocks. I think it's best if I run over."

"Oh, is Paige going with him?"

"No, Dad doesn't want her to see his tux before the wedding. I'm sorry to be rude

and leave like this."

"You're not rude, Jacen."

"Call me on my cell. Will you do Mindy's hair and make up for the wedding?"

"Of course. Thank you for the lunch, sweetie."

"You're welcome," He kissed her on the cheek, "and remember you matter."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

Jackie smiled as she watched him run out of the restaurant. She ordered another

iced tea before deciding if she should do what was burning inside her.

Jackie's flashback

May 1, 1995

Jackie was in Eric's kitchen frosting the cake for Jacen's birthday party. It was

something a mother should be doing but Eric's wife was in Florida visiting her sister.

Jackie knew his reasons for staying in this marriage was for the sake of his four year

old, but kids were smart and Jacen was exceptional. Not in the gifted he could go to

college at ten years old sense, he just seemed more mature than other kids his age.

Like he was an old soul in a little boy's body.

Eric came through the back door out of breath.

"Did you get the bike?" Jackie asked

"Yeah. I put it in the garage. It was supposed to be here yesterday but the store

messed up on my order. I don't know if I can assemble it before the party."

"You can do it."

"Oooh, cake. I love cake."

Jackie slapped Eric's hand, "That's Jacen's birthday cake! If you want something to

eat I'll make you something."

"Where is he?"

"He just finished his lunch and is taking his nap."

"Thank you for helping me out with his birthday party, Jackie. I appreciate it."

He hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"It's no problem, Eric."

"You are the best godmother ever."

"Thanks, you are pretty great Dad yourself."

"I hope you still feel that way when his five little party guests arrive."

"We can handle it, Eric, we're older than they are."

"But not smarter," he grabbed a soda can out of the refrigerator, "Okay, I'll be in the

garage. I hope I can get his bike assembled before his fifth birthday."

"You will. Use that stupid force stuff."

"I wish! Then I'd build him the Millennium Falcon!"

"The what?"

"Never mind."

"Is that Star Wars ? God, will you ever stop?"

"Nope."

"Eric, go to the garage now."

"Yes, ma'am."

Jacen and Eric were her two favorite guys in the world she'd be lost without them.

She let out a small laugh as she continued to put the finishing touches on Jacen's

birthday cake.

End flashback

When Jacen arrived at the Tuxedo Station he was clearly out of breath when he

bumped into his father who was waiting for him next to the display mannequins.

"I'm sorry that I'm late, Dad."

Eric went to the complimentary water cooler and got a paper cup of water for his

son.

"It's okay. Why were you running?"

"Because I was having lunch with Jackie and I remembered at the last minute our

appointment. Refill please?"

"Oh. Okay," Eric handed Jacen the pointed paper cup, "Drink this and I'll tell Mr.

Harrington that we're here."

"Sure, Dad."

Paige was in her own world as she had spread out over the bed pictures from

various bridal magazines throughout the years. She needed to decide what picture

to bring for her hairdresser's appointment. She heard a noise coming from the

hallway.

"Eric?" She jumped up, "You can't come in the room." She raced to the doorway.

"It's not, Eric. It's me." Jackie rested her hands on her hips.

"How in the hell did you get in here?"

"I have a key. I'm surprised that Eric didn't change the locks."

"I have no desire to talk to you, Jackie, please leave."

"No, Paige, I have lots to say and you are damn well going to listen to every word."

"Well, I'm not going to hang on your every word I have things to do, so you better start

talking."

Paige went back to her pictures.

Jackie saw a picture of Jacen at two years old visiting Santa Claus at Halverson's

department store on Eric's dresser, which was why she didn't rip this woman to

shreds.

"You know Paige contrary to what you may think, I don't think you are a bad person.

You are just massively insecure."

"How astute of you." She tried to concentrate on her photos but it didn't work.

"You may not be forbidding Eric to talk to me but you are enabling him, because you

just love the fact that he'll NEVER say no to you. And you use that to your advantage

quite nicely."

"I'm doing no such thing."

"Hey if you need to be in denial about things so you can sleep at night go ahead.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you and Eric found each other, because despite all

of this melodramatic bullshit you really do make each other happy."

"I'm so glad that we have your approval. Um, let's backtrack to last year, when you

told off Eric and called the both of us names and told the both of us to go to Hell. You

have an extremely short memory, Jackie."

Jackie giggled in spite of her current surroundings. "And so do you, Paige,

because Eric was ignoring me long before that."

"And what about your little obvious cry for help in Playboy ? And I'm the massively

insecure one? You better take a good hard look in the mirror."

"For your information if any of you cared to know about that it was more about Phillip

than Eric."

"So Eric is responsible on whether or not you whore it up in a magazine?"

Jackie raised her hand and put it through her hair. She couldn't hit her.

"If you want to hit me go ahead, but so help me god, I will hit you right back."

"Maybe in retrospect that wasn't the smartest thing to do, Paige, but no one likes

being ignored and you of all people should know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I hit you where you live. I know before you found Eric you only had one entire

boyfriend your whole life. You are so insecure that you don't want anyone to rock this

little safe world that you got going. You are enabling Eric to leave his lifelong

friendships as a sort of obligation to be loyal to you. And your coup de grace is you

don't want Jacen in my life."

Paige's eyes filled with tears but she wasn't going to give Jackie the satisfaction of

crying in front of her.

"Wow…you look very nice, Dad." Jacen straightened the lapel on his father's black

and gray tuxedo.

They were in the large dressing room standing in front of the full-length mirror.

"I don't know if I like the long jacket with the tails. I feel like I should have a top hat and

cane and dance like Fred Astaire."

Jacen laughed, "You're tall. You can pull it off."

"Thanks, son. You look very nice too."

His tuxedo was similar to Eric's but without the tails.

"Really? Do you think Mindy will love it?"

Eric happily sighed, not a day could go by could it?

"Yes. She'd be foolish not to. Jacen, I know we've had some tension lately and you

know that I love you very much."

"I know. I love you, too, Dad."

He wouldn't stop his father from hugging him. He didn't want him to do it in public in

front of his friends and Mindy but in private he liked it very much.

Eric tousled his son's hair, "Stop growing!"

Jacen laughed, "That's what you get for making me eat my vegetables. Am I still

grounded?"

"N—no. But you're still going to be punished for going behind our backs."

"Fair enough. Instead of black may I switch to a lavender tie and cummerbund?"

"Do I have to ask why?"

"Mindy told me her dress is lavender."

"Jacen you are supposed to match the bridal party."

"No offense, Dad, but---"

"Jacen think twice or you just may be grounded."

"I wasn't going to say anything bad it's just that Paige doesn't have many friends. Her

maid of honor is her boss from the day care center."

"You know that I lost my best friend too."

"Yeah, I know, but only because of Donna."

"Paige's life has not been easy and I don't like you or anyone else to degrade her

like that."

"I'm sorry, Dad, I was just making an observation not a judgment."

"Besides we're each others best friends now."

"I didn't mean to imply—"

"It's okay, Jacen. I think the lavender will be fine but Paige left a swatch on file here

so I wouldn't make a mistake. You can check with Mr. Harrington to see if it's a

match."

"Okay." And to think that they just had an everything's-all-right-between-us-hug-and-

hair-toss. He'd make it up to his father somehow.

"Okay, I listened to what you have to say, Jackie and I don't want to hear anymore.

So please leave. I won't tell Eric that you came by."

"No dice. I don't give a fuck if you tell Eric or not. I hit the nerve. I am Jacen's

godmother and if you think that I'm going to stop my relationship with him just to give

you an easy in road that just isn't happening."

"Of course you wouldn't. You're just a mean washed up beauty queen."

"Get new insults. Did you ever stop to think to give the boy real time? You're insulting

his intelligence. He's a human being. He can't love you just like that."

"It's not like Eric and I just met. You are never going to understand my point of view. If

I enable Eric than you enable Jacen so he'll never see me as a mother figure. Yeah,

that's right I said it."

"Touche." Jackie wanted to cry too but she wasn't about to give Paige the

satisfaction either.

"It's not fair. You've known Jacen since he was a baby. My only memories are of him

as a little boy coming to the library with Eric when he was a toddler for story time.

When Eric and I never spoke to each other and he was stuck in that horrible

marriage to Jacen's biological mother. You go back to his birth."

"I'm not about to apologize."

"No one is asking you to."

"Yes, it's true, I wish he were my son. I love him very much. You know he had a

terrible excuse for a mother. He's like my son."

"He never told me that he loves me. Do you know how many people have told me

that they loved me, Jackie? And I mean the people that actually meant it. Two. My

dead mother and Eric."

"I'm sorry that your life has not gone well. But do you think mine has? I want my

friendship with Eric back so much that it hurts. I guess it doesn't matter if we go back

to tolerating each other or be out in the open with our hatred but I want my friendship

with Eric back. Because he told me that he loved me as a friend and meant it."

"Eric's the only one who gives a damn about me. Half of the time I don't even think

that I deserve him. He's just too good."

Jackie saw two open make up compacts on the smaller dresser and picked up one.

"Is this the color that you are wearing for the wedding?"

"Why? Are you going to find fault with that too?"

"It's a pretty color actually."

"So now all of a sudden you just want to be friends? I have had fake friends my entire

life. I have had women that claimed to be my friends only to leave in the end like

everyone else and now you want to give me a makeover Jackie? No fucking thank

you."

"Maybe," Jackie put the compact back on the dresser, "that is why you don't have

many friends to begin with."

"No, Dad! You'll have to go through me!" Eric went ballistic when he saw Jackie's

car parked across the street. Jacen had to sprint to get to the front door before his

father did.

Eric was concerned when he saw that Jacen's eyes were closed.

"Have I ever hit you son?"

"No."

"Then why would I start now?" Eric went to sit on the porch swing.

"Then give Paige and Jackie time to talk. Maybe you and Jackie can repair your

friendship?"

"Paige needs me."

"No…not at this moment. Let her do it herself. You'll only make it worse if you go in

there. Let's go grab a pizza."

"You just came from there, Jacen."

"That was an hour and twenty minutes ago! I can go for an individual pan."

Eric sighed, "All right. Where do you put it all? Honest to god. You can eat and eat

and never gain a pound."

"I'm growing."

Eric looked at the door.

Please god watch over Paige for me…I swear if Jackie…please god take care of

her. I'll be back as soon as I can. Eric.

"Dad, the pizza."

"All right, all right. I'm coming Jacen. Someday they're going to put a picture of you

on the wall as their most favorite customer."

"And we'll get a pitcher of root beer?"

"Yes."

He hoped that Paige was going to be okay. Jackie knew how to push buttons and hit

central nerves.

If she hurt his sweet fiancée then there was going to be no friendship to repair.

It was a draw. Each woman had their opinion that they were the 'right one'. Each

flaming accusation to one could be met with its own valid explanation from the other.

When Jackie left Paige was able to slide into a corner and cry into Eric's pillow.

What good came from that visit? Absolutely nothing. That Burkhart bitch wanted her

way. She probably was spoiled by everyone when she was little and now she thought

she could get her way without caring what was best for everyone. It really didn't

matter if her and Eric were friends or not. If she cared about Jacen at all she'd cut

back. It was as simple as that.

Jackie didn't get very far. She couldn't leave when she saw Jacen and Eric on the

porch. She moved into the kitchen to wait for them to leave or enter the house so she

could leave out the back door.

She didn't want to cry. Not while she was in this house. She thought about waiting for

Eric to come back so they could try to talk things through. But his first and only

thoughts were going to be on Paige and she was probably in their room crying her

eyes out.

She missed Eric but how could their friendship get better? She was going to tell Eric

everything and he was going to take her side and that was going to be it. Then there

was Jacen and the poor boy was in the middle enough.

She sniffed and opened up her purse to write a note to Eric only she had no

paper. But she did have her checkbook.

She took out a check and wrote the date on it.

On the pay to: She wrote: Eric Forman

On the amount line: Zero. Priceless.

On the memo line: Friendship. Do you remember friendship?

On the signature line: Jackie Burkhart misses Eric Forman

She quietly ripped the check out of her book and put it on top of Jacen's dresser. He

would give it to Eric and come what may, she supposed.

Eric and Paige made each other happy and that's what counted. She'd have to sit in

the back as there was no way even for Jacen's sake that she'd be allowed to attend

the wedding now.

Paige Allen made Donna Pinciotti seem like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

"What are you still doing here?" Paige's eyes were all red and puffy. Jackie was not

about to feel sorry for her. No way in hell.

"None of your business."

"What did you leave another little trinket for Jacen? Boy you are one selfish bitch!"

"Don't worry, I'm leaving."

"Good!"

The room started to spin and Jackie suddenly felt nauseous. She clutched at her

stomach and sat on the sofa.

"Jackie? Oh my God! Do you need an ambulance?"

"No, I'll be fine. I'd rather die than to have you call me one." She took a deep breath.

Paige inched closer. "I could make you a cup of tea."

"F-fuck y-you."

"Jackie."

Jackie in visible stomach pain forced herself to stand up. "No. I'm going back to the

h-o-tel." She clutched at her stomach.

"You cannot drive in this condition." She helped her back to the sofa.

"I-I s-till h-hat-e y-you."

"Good hate me. I'll see what's in the medicine cabinet."

Jackie forced herself up because she didn't want that woman to give her any tender

loving care. She grabbed her purse and despite being in immense pain she ran to

her car and sped away back to her hotel.

"Jackie!" Paige said to the empty room when she came in with the all-purpose

stomach ache medicine. She shouldn't be driving in her condition.

Paige's pride was already swallowed when she offered Jackie help not five minutes

ago. She did the only thing she could do. She jotted off a quick note to Eric and

grabbed her car keys off the entertainment center.

And even though she really didn't want to she had to find Jackie.