Chapter 2

"Jack" She said again tears coming out of her almond brown eyes. She softly placed her hand on his handsome face and looked deep into his eyes as he put her down.

"Mr. Trippe-" Jason said coming out of his office. Surprised to see his boss and their newest employee in such a position his body froze solid. "Mrs. Dawson."

"Sorry." She said embarrassed removing her hand and walked back to her place behind the counter. Her first day and already making her manger mad at her was not good. "I am very sorry." She repeated herself wiping her eyes, "I've just…"

"It's okay honey." Jack interrupted her.

The manager's head turned wanting to know what was going on. Why did he and Janet seem so close, why did he call her honey, and most of all why was Janet crying? But then he remembered Mr. Tripper had told him they knew each other. That they used to 'live together'.

Scared, she wanted to explain to Mr. Crocket what was going on, "I am terribly sorry, I promise this is the last time I let my personal life interfere with my job." She said as she turned to Jason.

"Janet. It's okay." Jack turned to Jason and asked if they could please use his office, he wanted to talk to Janet.

"Certainly sir. You're the boss." Jason answered as he moved out of the way so that the two friends could enter. "Take as long as you want. I will manage the floor."

Like a robot Janet followed Jack into the small office. "Jack?" Janet asked as he shut the door behind them, "You're the boss. You're the owner of this flower shop?" She asked in shock.

He nodded his head and smiled a guilty smile. "For you," he said giving her the beautiful crimson roses.

She willingly accepted them and took a moment to smell their fresh and sweet aroma before turning back to their conversation.

"Wha-why?" She asked as she took a seat across from him. "What happened to your dream of being a successful restaurant owner?"

He laughed, "You must think I'm crazy but…"

"I already do." She giggled.

"I'll get you back for that one." He said placing his index finger on her nose. "I also own a very successful chain of French and Italian restaurants."

"But when we came back from Italy I tried going back to Jack Bistro's and it was some kind of hamburger place for teens to hang out at."

"You mean you and Philip?"

"Yes. After coming back from our honeymoon in Acapulco he had a message on his answering machine. They had offered him a great job at a very famous museum outside of Rome. We lived there for 3 years before we came back. Philip decided to open his own art gallery and antique shop in Beverly Hills."

"Who would have thought little Janet would have lived in Europe before I ever even got to visit." He laughed as he took one of the roses and carefully placed it on Janet's right ear. The jet-black color of her hair brought out the bright red. Jack sat still looking at her for a second. She too had change, her hair now about an inch longer then shoulder length, her eyes started to show a small sign of age as he saw a line or two under her ever beautiful eyes, and as oppose to Jack, Janet looked thinner.

They smiled as Jack told Janet how he and his then father in law who may now rest in peace started the food chain business. "I wanted to do french food and he wanted Italian food, so we would open a French restaurant then an Italian and so on." He laughed. Despite their beginning relationship he and his father in law had quiet a nice relationship. He understood when Jack would get frustrated with Vicky over a childish thing because he raised her on his own. 'She has always been the baby and as you will soon find out when you and my daughter give me a grandchild, the baby is always spoiled,' would always be his way of telling Jack to hang in there.

"Well that was a fair way to do business."

"Yes, he really was a great man. I truly miss him. I learned so much from him." Jack said in a sad tone. "And after we had enough restaurants we decided we needed to invest on something different. So that is when the flower shop came into play."

"You just decided to open a flower shop out of no where?"

"No well, see." He stood up for a moment and started walking around as he remembered clearly. "I always like to bring home roses after a long day at work, Vicky loves them."

'What woman wouldn't? He must really love her. They must have a perfect lovable marriage.' She thought to herself.

"…plus they are just so beautiful and smell delicious." Janet laughed; he still had not loose that adorable trait of trailing off during his conversations.

He smiled and continued, "And when I was at the flower shop I couldn't help but be very picky about them, I even remembered the scientific name for some of those plants. I impressed myself. I couldn't believe that after all that time I finally learned all that mess from you."

She gave him her usual Janet look.

He winked, "So I told him about the idea of opening up a flower shop. There were many in the area but none like the idea I had. So here we are," he said opening his arms as to demonstrate a price just won, "And that my friend is how I became your boss." He laughed.

Meanwhile in the lobby Jason was watering some small plants. The morning had been some what slow. He was glad because that gave Jack and Janet a chance to talk. He wonders what they were talking about and most of all how is it that hey knew each other enough to be hugging in that manner. "He did mention they lived together before," he thought, "I wonder if they were ever married?" He asked himself but agree that no ex-married couple could express such great joy of reuniting. "Maybe they were-"

"Jason." He heard a familiar voice from the entrance door interrupting his thoughts.

"Mrs. Tripper, good morning. How are you?"

"Fine thank you. Is Jack here? He said he would be here and I wanted to stop by so that we can both have lunch today." She said looking around.

"Yes, he is. But-"

"No buts where is Jack."

"He is in the office with our nest employee. Mrs. Dawson." He informed her.

"Why?" She asked confused, he never met with any of the employees unless he was thinking of hiring new management. He usually trusted Jason to make the decision when it came to new lower positions in the flower shop.

"Well apparently they knew each other from years before and I guess they just have some catching up to do."

"Dawson." She whispered. "What is her first name?" She demanded. That name did not bring a face to it but did sound familiar.

"Janet."

"Janet Dawson….Janet Daw- of course." She said angry. When she married Philip she left Wood behind and her new married name became Janet Dawson. 'No wonder he was so happy and excited to get back to work.'

Jason didn't say a word, it was obvious now that Janet had been a very important part of Jack's life at some point in time; something that clearly bother Vicky. "How long have they been in there?"

"Probably about fifteen minutes twenty the most."

"Who hired her?"

"I did just yesterday morning."

"Did Jack tell you to hire her?"

"No mam Mr. Tripper did not get to actually met her until this morning. I hired her yesterday we needed to fill Ann's position as soon as possible and with all the years' experience she has, Janet was perfect for the job." Jason started moving over near the office, hoping Jack would hear the conversation and come out soon. "But when Mr. Tripper came by Mrs. Dawson had just left actually they just passed each other at the entrance."

"Well." She said hesitating whether to go into the office or not. Of course the idea of just imagining them together after all these years made her furious and extremely jealous but then again, Janet is a married woman. May even have family by now, Jack may not mean anything to her but a good friend. Never the less that was her husband and with their marriage practically destroyed she couldn't take a chance.

Jack and Janet were both laughing at a comment Jack had made when Vicky came in. "Jack darling I came by so that we can have lunch together." She said interrupting them.

His attitude changed at a hundred and eighty degrees, "Did Jason not tell you I was with someone?" He said standing up and removing her arms from his neck.

"No. I did not even see him out there. I just came in since I knew you were supposed to be checking the books and making sure he was doing his job." She turned to face Janet. He stomach did a back flip as she spotted the most beautiful red roses on Janet's lap while she smiled up at her.

"Hi Vicky." She said in a cheerful but shy voice hoping she would recognize her.

"I'm sorry I don't think we've met."

Janet's smile faded as she placed the bouquet on top of the desk.

"Of course you remember Janet. My roommate back in Santa Monica, we shared apartment 201 with Terri several years ago." Jack said knowing she was faking and almost sure that Jason has told her he and Janet were in there.

"Oh why yes, of course Janet Wood." She finally said after a while pretending to finally recognize Janet. "How are you? We haven't heard anything from you or Terri since your wedding to Philip."

Janet looked at Jack and smiled at the couple, "I know it's like everyone went their own ways and after all those years of living together you would have though we would have kept a better friendship."

"But life has brought us together again." Jack said optimistic.

"So are you in town for a visit? How is Philip doing?"

"No actually Janet is our newest employee." He answered. "Jason hired her yesterday."

"I thought you and Philip had agreed you wouldn't work."

"We did. But when you are divorced and left with nothing you kind of have to work."

"You and Philip are divorced?" He asked with a smile on his face which he tried to cover up.

Janet nodded her head and smiled a hopeless smile, "Yes."

"Oh honey why didn't you tell me." He left his wife's side and went over to hug Janet.

"Because it's not important."

"I am very sorry to hear this," Vicky's blood was now to a boiling point. "But Jack babe we have to go Kathy is waiting for us to plan our yearly fall trip."

"I don't remember us talking about having lunch with Kathy."

"Well I arranged it for today; I guess it must have slipped my mind. Come on we can not be late. She had to cancel on another client just for us."

Hating to leave but not wanting to have Kathy waiting on them, Jack had to tell Janet goodbye. "I guess we will have to catch up at a later time." He said his eyes pointing towards Vicky.

She giggled inside, "That is okay. I need to get back to my job as well." She stood up to hug him one last time before he left. He kissed her cheek, "Have fun. It was nice seeing you again Vicky." She said as she too gave her a hug.

Janet watched as Vicky and Jack left hand in hand, 'They must have the perfect life along with the perfect marriage' she signed as she noticed Jason standing there watching her.

She smiled at him as she discreetly watched the couple get into there Mercedes and leave. She took the flower on her ear and a warm feeling set inside of her as she took in its sweet fragrance before placing it back behind her ear again.