To Samantha's surprise, Martin beat her to the office. Having an extra suit at the gym was a good idea. She thought, "Maybe I should try that too, just in case I have to spend the night somewhere," and a smile filled her face.
As she walked in Vivian was coming out of Jack's office. "Jack must be back today to try to finish up last minute details before transferring," she thought. Even though she hadn't figured out her feelings toward Jack yet, she knew that she would be sad that she wouldn't see him everyday at the office. He was a great agent and she had learned a lot from him.
She walked to her desk and set down her purse just as Jack stepped out of his office and called to Samantha, "Sam, can I see you in my office please."
She raised her head toward him and replied, "Yes, in a minute." She assumed he was doing the typical good-byes to everyone individually, since Vivian had just come out. She walked past Martin's desk on her way into Jack's office and said good morning to him without trying to act like she'd already seen him this morning in her own apartment. Even though nothing was going on between them, the situation seemed weird and she didn't want anyone to know that Martin had been there last night.
She stepped into Jack's office, "Morning, Jack." She glanced around the office and realized that he had a lot of packing left to do; there were half-empty boxes all about.
"Good morning, Sam. Could you sit down please," he pointed to an empty chair and he perched himself on the edge of his desk in front of her.
His voice sounded almost ominous and immediately Samantha thought something was wrong. "I've got some news and I'm telling everyone later, but I wanted to talk to you individually," he began. She crinkled up her brow as she tried to think of a reason that she would be singled out of a group discussion and of course her thoughts raced to their past relationship.
"What is it Jack?" she asked.
"Well, I'm not moving to Chicago and I'm going to stay here as the head of this unit," he blurted.
"What? Not moving, but Maria, her job. Did she decide not to take the job in Chicago?" Samantha questioned.
"No, well yes, she's not taking the job in Chicago, but it's not so that I can keep my job here. She, well, she only accepted the Chicago job because she thought that there was no way that I would leave New York. If I refused to follow her to Chicago she'd have a great reason for a divorce and I'd be the bad guy. However, I threw a big wrench in her plans so she finally told me that she didn't want to be married anymore." There he had said it, he had told Samantha that he was getting a divorce. He wondered what was going on in her head, what was she thinking. He knew that this is what she wanted two years ago, but that was a long time ago, how did she feel about him now?
Samantha tried to understand what Jack was saying, "So, she was going to move to Chicago to get out of the marriage and make you out to be the horrible husband? The nerve. And she really thought that you'd let her go and take the kids while you stayed here, does she think you really care that little about them?"
Jack's heart soared, Samantha was taking his side; she was defending him and criticizing Maria for scheming. Although, he had tried to make his marriage work, it had been more for the kids than for him. He never fully gave his heart to Maria after his affair with Samantha and now, finally, the decision had been made, they were getting a divorce.
"So, do you mean she's not moving to Chicago?" Samantha's question jolted Jack from the clouds where he was soaring. Back to reality and back to Samantha.
He responded, "Well, she doesn't really want to move and the kids are happy here and this way we won't have to work out some confusing custody plan involving travel. It's really best for all of us." As Jack said this he looked up at Samantha and into her eyes. She heard the words 'all of us' and felt his glance and didn't know who he was including in that 'all.' Was he hinting that he was finally free of his marriage to pursue past endeavors.
Samantha's head was swirling with thoughts and she was glad to be sitting because she didn't know if her legs would hold her up right now. So much had happened this week, too much. Unconsciously, she glanced out the office window toward Martin's desk, but he was not there. Jack saw the glance, but assumed he was looking at Vivian since she was standing in her line of sight. Jack misinterpreted the glance and hurriedly said, "Oh, Vivian, and the promotion. Yes, well, I told her this morning that management still wants to promote her, but they'll put her in a different division. They gave her the choice of the promotion or staying in this unit, but accepting a demotion back to her previous status."
Samantha heard the words, but they didn't concern her too much at this point. Oh, she hoped that Vivian would stay in their unit, but her own thoughts were crowding out everything else. She needed to know what Jack was feeling and what he wanted, if anything, from her. Perhaps she was reading too much into his statements given that she'd just spent the entire evening talking about him and her and the past and the present.
Samantha jerked herself back to reality and forced herself to look at Jack. She searched his eyes hoping to find a clue, a hint, as to what he was thinking. But she couldn't decipher his thoughts any more now than when she had been with him. Finally she asked, "So Jack, why did you want to tell me before you told the group?"
Jack felt uneasy, unsure of himself. He wondered how much he should reveal to Samantha. It had been two years and he knew that she had dated other guys, but none of the relationships had stuck. He opened his mouth to answer, unaware of what he was going to say, "Sam, I wanted to tell you because, well, because …" Jack's phone rang, both Samantha and Jack turned, startled by the interruption. Jack was also grateful, he looked apologetically toward Samantha, "I have to take this call, we'll talk later, OK?"
Samantha reacted to Jack's statement by getting up and leaving the office, but she was not OK. Jack had told her individually for a reason, him leaving Maria changed the situation. She needed another talk, but she didn't want to subject Martin to another round so quickly and besides he wasn't at his desk. She had rejected calling Vivian earlier, but her choices were limited.
TBC
