Jen packed her things up, said goodbye to Brad and left.

They only agreed that Brad would call their people to get out a joint statement announced their split ASAP, and that whatever relationship came from that would remain under wraps until the dust had settled. Given the new combination of people hopefully coming out of this, everybody would probably be able to figure out what happened, but they did not want to deal with all the frenzy on top of THAT.

She drove over to the airport and got on the private plane they had arranged to bring her back to LA.

From the airport, she went home, dropped off her lugguage in the hallway (where was she even living now? She guessed that question had to be postponed), then got in her car and drove straight to David's place.

She did see his car outside, but nobody opened and looking through the window, the house seemed deserted.

When she tried to call his cell, she was sent straight to voicemail.

Not knowing what to do, she decided to call one of the guys and tried Matthew first.

Fortunately, he picked up immediately.

"Hello little Miss Heartbreaker"

"Hey Matty. So he told you the whole story."

"You mean how you came to him for sex and then dumped him?"

"I hope his version was a little longer though."

"Slightly. But MAN, you DESTROYED him."

"I am very aware of and even more sorry for that. Can you tell me where to find him? I am at his place, and that is deserted."

"Aren't you in Cabo doing god knows what with Angelina's new puppy?"

"Ok, I try to make it short: I talked to Brad, we came clean about everything and decided that it was over. And then I left to talk to David because this was a huge mistake.

Which leads me back to my question: Can you tell me where he is?"

"He flew to NYC yesterday. He decided that he needed a clean start. He is auditioning for a Broadway thing there, and looking for a place to live before he comes back to move his stuff."

"Well, I guess I can't blame him for that. Do you know where that audition is or at which hotel he is staying?"

"Are you planning to fly over there?"

"Do I have any other choice?"

"Not that I can think of. He mentioned the Plaza, but that is all I know"

"Thanks Matty, that is helping me a lot."

With that, she put down the phone, jumped in her car to go to the airport, trying to get on the next flight to New York.

The next flight she could get was leaving an hour after her arrived at LAX, and she was able score a seat, yay! She quickly went to one of the stores at the airport to buy herself an oversized hoodie, to prevent people from recognizing her as good as possible.

When the plane was up in the air, she closed her eyes, unable to sleep, and tried come up with words to explain herself

She did not want him to feel that he was her fallback after things ended with Brad. Who was she kidding, it had always been him. It was a feeling of obligation to "do the right thing" and save her marriage that kept her from following her heart.

It was strange: when she found out what had happened with Brad and Angelina, she should have felt hurt and betrayal, instead she was relieved. Because this meant, she did not have to hold onto this.

She could not begin to tell how sorry she was for the heartbreak she had caused him. And she could only hope that he was willing to overcome that and give them a chance.

She looked back at the past 10 years, dwelved in all the small moments between them, and had to realize: It had ALWAYS been him. She had been stupid and blind and too afraid to look unprofessional when hooking up with a co-star on her first real project. And she had made herself believe that it was IMPOSSIBLE in the job they both chose, to find the love of your life, on your first job.

Hell, they worked for a TV-series, but they weren't living in one.

Yet here she was, tan line of her wedding band still on her finger (she had left that on Brad's nightstand in Cabo), after all those years. Ready to start a life with the man that was everything for her.

...

David was exhausted, because it had been a long day, and he was still feeling the jetlag. But most importantly, he still felt like shit.

The audition went well, and they offered him the part on the spot. Which was fantastic, because that project was challenging and Broadway was always something he dreamt of doing. And doing this as a lead in such a high profile dramatic production after just coming from 10 years of TV sitcom was ... Wow.

So he really should be celebrating, but he still felt like rolling up on his bed and cry because the one person that he wanted to celebrate this with was in Cabo, doing god knows what with her perfect, cheating husband.

He felt defeated, because he had promised himself that he would fight for her, and he felt like he did not. But what else could he have done? Punch Brad in the face? Force himself on her? Develop some weird stalker tendency to call her and tell her that he loved her just to prove his point?

No, he had done everything that he could rightfully have done: he had made clear where he stood on this, he had given her space to sort her feelings, and he confronted her about Brads infidelity when he felt it was needed.

But still, she decided to listen to the voices in her head and the beliefs she did grow up with about marriage.

Of course, he was sad that he was not the man by her side, but he also felt bad for her as a friend.

And he simply could not bring himself to stand by and watch her living that life. So when the opportunity to audition for this project arrived, he gladly took it.

His plan was to keep his house in LA for now, and rent something here on short-term as he would be in NYC for this thing for roughly a year if everything went well and they were well-received.

Within that timeframe, he would decide if he wanted to make a life here and sell that place in Cali of if he wanted to go back.

But for now, he felt that putting some space between himself and his old life was what he needed to start moving on.

When he walked up to his hotel room now, he could see a petite form in a hoodie sitting outside said room, obviously sleeping. Her back was leant against the door, she was wearing lounge pants, sneakers and an oversized sweater, hood deep down over her face. A few strands of blond hair had fallen out when her head had dropped in her sleep, down on her knees that she had hugged to her chest.

What the hell?

He did not know what to make of this when he walked up to her.

She woke up and looked at him when she heard him walking up.

She looked like the most beautiful mess he had ever seen and his body ached to pull her into his arms. But after past weeks heartbreak, he was on the fence about that.

He tried to keep his face blank and simply said.

"I think we should better save the talk for inside" before he opened the door and let her in.