Chapter 11

"Hey Jen. How's it going?"

"Uhm… not so good…" Jen's sad voice came through the phone.

"What happened?"

"Jack's depressed. It's… it's a year since his sister died."

Joey gasped.

"I didn't even know he had a sister."

"He had a sister AND a brother. And they're both dead now."

"My God…"

"Yeah, I know. And I know that everyone thinks of Jack as this eternally happy guy, but he had it rough, you know. He doesn't show it much, but he had it rough."

"So how are you dealing with it?"

"I've been better. It's just this one day, tomorrow he'll be back to his normal self. And then there'll be June 2nd, the anniversary of Tim's death. That's gonna be rough too."

"You want me to come over?"

"Would you? I mean I know it's Friday, and you're supposed to go home to Dawson or to… the other guy… but…"

"Jen. Shush. No-one's more important than you and you know it. I'll finish my work here and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks. I really appreciate this."

"I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"OK…"

Joey hung up and called Dawson on his cell phone.

"Hey Jo"

"Hey Dawson, listen, Jen's not feeling well… I think I'll go stay with her tonight…"

"Honey, doesn't Jack live there with her? He can make her feel better"

"Usually that would be true, but the reason she's not feeling well is because it's the anniversary of his sister's death. So I don't think he's doing very well, either."

"You spend more time with Jen than you do with me"

"Dawson, you can't possibly not understand that I want to be with her when she gets it rough. I'd want her to be there for me too when I'm in a bad mood"

"How about me? Would you like me to be there? Or would you just shut me out the way you've been doing lately?"

"Of course I'd want you to be there but I'd want Jen to be there too!"

"So you're gonna go there tonight, you're gonna go there on Sunday night, why don't you spend tomorrow night there too so you don't have to bother with coming home!"

"Dawson…"

Dawson hung up abruptly. Joey couldn't believe it. She called again but he hung up again.

'This isn't happening'

She just sighed and called Pacey at work.

"Civilization, can I help you?"

"Hi I'd like to talk to Pacey Witter please."

"I'm sorry, he's not here, he took the day off."

"Oh, thank you."

Joey hung up and wondered how he could take the day off on his first week on the job. She tried his home number.

"Hello" he answered and she could tell he wasn't in the best of moods.

"Hi, Pace. Are you OK?"

"I, uh… I'm fine… you kinda woke me up…"

That wasn't it. She could tell that wasn't it.

"I'm sorry. I just called to say I can't come tonight."

"It's ok. I wasn't in much of a receiving mood anyway…"

Joey shivered. He didn't feel like seeing her. Why did that hurt? It wasn't supposed to hurt. He was just an affair.

"Ok… just wanted you to know"

"Ok…"

Awkward silence.

"I… I gotta go… I got lots to do…"

"Ok. Bye"

"Bye"

This was too weird for words and she had a bad feeling about it.

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An hour later Jen called back.

"Jack just called me. He's not coming home from work. I think he's gonna get drunk tonight"

"Jen…"

"I mean, I know, he's got the right to be upset, but it would be so much better if we were upset together. I mean I loved Andie too!" Jen was crying and that was not an often occurrence.

"Jen, calm down. I can come now if you want me to"

"No, I gotta go pick up Amy from daycare anyway… You do your work"

"I love you Jen. It's gonna be OK"

"I know. I love you too."

Nancy came in right after Joey hung up. "Mr. Darlington's here."

"Did we have an appointment?" Joey frowned.

"No but he insists to see you right away"

"Ok… send him in"

He came in almost instantly. Jay Darlington was a man in his 40s – typical rich and eccentric kind of guy. Joey asked him to take a seat.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, we're not making much progress on the house, are we?"

"No, we're not, but I am doing the best I can, mr. Darlington."

"Jay, please. Whenever someone calls me that I keep checking whether my father's in the room" Joey was obviously not amused at the attempt of joke.

"Ok, Jay…"

"Anyway, I just thought I'd go with whatever you suggest on it, because I'd very much like to move from this freaking apartment I got right now… I've seen your work, it's good, so why don't we just go with the first project you did for this house?"

"That would be n.."

"Great. Now let's go."

"Go?"

"Yeah, I already told the workers to start building, but you're supposed to give them a few instructions aren't you?"

"Well… uh…"

"Mrs. Leery. I want this house started and if we don't go now I'm gonna have to wait till Monday and I hate waiting"

"Okay… let's go."

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It was 10 PM and Jen was going to kill her. The few instructions had turned into many instructions and then into a whole lot of them and the next thing she knew, she was going to dinner to discuss the house and she lost track of time. She rang but no-one answered.

Joey panicked. Maybe Jen went out to get drunk too. Maybe she was already drunk. Maybe she had hurt herself. Maybe Jack was drunk and he hurt her. She started looking for the spare key and found it pretty fast.

She didn't even take her coat off. She ran for the living room where she found were around five empty gin bottles. This wasn't looking very good.

The kitchen was a mess. Joey sighed. Jen was drunk. Dead drunk.

She headed for the bedroom and that's where she saw them. Jen and Pacey. In bed. Together. They were sound asleep and probably dead drunk, both of them. What struck most about them was the closeness of the position. Although they were both covered by a blanket up to the neck, it was pretty obvious that Pacey's arm was around Jen.

Her heart broke into a million pieces as she remembered Dawson and what he had said. Chemistry… Flirting… Cheating on Jack… This wasn't happening. Jen wasn't like that. Not with Jack, she loved Jack. Why would she sleep with Pacey? It was a week and a half till the wedding. Why would she ruin everything?

So Dawson was right. They weren't totally innocent after all. She just sighed and headed out. She wasn't going to show HIM how much it hurt. He was just sex. Nothing more. Just sex.

When she headed for the door she heard little Amy crying in her room. She went in and just held Amy, both of them just crying together.

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"What happened? Weren't you supposed to go at Jen's?" His angry glare from the beginning changed to concern.

"I had a very bad day, Dawson. Will you just hold me, please?"

"Sure, honey…"

She loved him. He was her husband and she loved him.