CHAPTER 16 – THE PLAN - CAPTURING AN APPLE
Elizabeth was furious.
And in shock.
He had used her. He had toyed with her.
For whatever reason, Jack had decided to tempt her into a relationship and then let her fall crashing to the ground. He was like the lapse of gravity they had experienced during their first kiss. Taking her up high only to leave her bruised and bewildered when she smacked into the hard floor. Only this time, she was infuriated.
Despite her empty stomach, she skipped the cafeteria's vegetable lasagna and stomped down the corridors of the transporter. She opened the nearest stairwell door and began climbing. Her angry feet pounding onto each step. When she reached the top level, her fury extended to the transporter for not having more levels. Cursing, she pushed open the stairwell door, and walked down another long corridor until she came to another stairwell door. Elizabeth flung it open and began going down.
If she had to walk every inch of this ship until she was calm, she would. There was nowhere else to go.
By the time she reached the bottom level of the transporter, her loud angry footsteps had become softer and her cheeks were wet with tears. She leaned against the metal wall, and allowed the tears to flow before continuing her walk.
"You like eet here." Lori observed with a smile when she walked into the Propagation Horticulture Nursery carrying a bucket of plant food and saw Elizabeth staring at a small pine tree.
"I'm sorry. Am I in the way?" Elizabeth asked apologetically as she sniffled and ran her nose across her sleeve. She had wandered the entire ship, going up and down the stairways and back and forth along the corridors. After more than an hour, she found herself in this room, surrounded by her and Jack's "forest".
"Not at all. Any friend of Jacques ees welcome here."
"I'm not a friend of his any longer," Elizabeth said bitterly.
When Lori looked at her curiously, Elizabeth began rattling on about Jack kissing her passionately day after day for a week, and then making a surprise declaration that he no longer wanted to date her. Apparently the dating had run its course.
"Zhe apple does not fall far from zhe tree", Lori said with a sad sigh and a shrug after Elizabeth had finished explaining her conversation with Jack in alternating bouts of tears and anger.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth blew her nose into a piece of gardener's cloth and assumed that she must have misunderstood what the woman had said.
"Zhat ees what Jacques ees afraid of. Zhe tree. Zhe apple."
Why does she speak so cryptically?! Can't she just say what she means? . . . . . Not that I'd probably understand her English anyway. And how does she look so beautiful all the time?
Elizabeth had expected a little sympathy. Maybe some advice. She certainly hadn't expected to have her relationship described as fallen ripe fruit. Is every conversation tonight going to be bewildering?!
"Are you saying I'm the apple? That I'll be like my father? Always interested in making money. Is that what Jack's afraid of? That I can't let go of my fancy lifestyle. Because I'm nothing like that", Elizabeth said indignantly. "If Jack is afraid that all I care about is money and high society like my family, he doesn't know me at all! The fool."
"You are not zhe apple. Jacques ees zhe apple," Lori said simply as she continued measuring out plant food and distributing it among the trees, bushes, and other vegetation.
"Jack is the apple?" a clearly puzzled Elizabeth asked.
"But of course. Surely, you must see zhat. Zhat ees why he ended zhings with you after his space walk. Because he worries zhat zhe apple does not fall far from zhe tree. Now I must go and change my grow lights," Lori said with a pleasant smile and another shrug as she gathered her supplies and walked out the door without any further explanation.
What the heck? Jack is the apple?
What does that make me? The worm that gets squashed to nothing when it fell? she thought irritably.
Why am I even bothering talking to a horticulturist?!
Despite thinking that the sexy horticulturist with the thick accent had a strange idea of relationships, Elizabeth found herself pondering what the woman had said.
If Jack is an apple, then his father must be tree.
But what's wrong with that? From everything Jack said his father was wonderful. He would want to be just like him.
Stupid Lori and her apple tree idiom! Elizabeth thought in frustration. An apple doesn't fall far from the tree! What does that have to do with anything?!
Why is Jack afraid of being like his father? And what does that have to do with me?
Elizabeth wiped away her newly forming tears, pushed the elevator's red button causing it to stop immediately, and tried to remember what Jack had told her about his father.
His mom and dad met when they were young and fell in love right away. They had two kids. . . . They were happy. They were in love. . . . His father was in law enforcement like Jack. His mother was a teacher like me. His father was gone a lot. He loved his career. . . .
And then his father died suddenly on an assignment.
Oh, my goodness!
His father died and left his mother heartbroken! And she raised both boys by herself and never wanted to marry anyone or fall in love every again.
Is that what Lori meant? That after the spacewalk, Jacques – I mean Jack – was worried that if we get serious, he'll be gone a lot and may die one day and leave me heartbroken?
That one day, he'll have to choose between a career that he loves and me?
For the first time since her conversation with Jack, Elizabeth wasn't either angry or heartbroken. She had a glimmer of understanding.
I suppose it's possible.
That night, Elizabeth realized it was impossible.
It was impossible not to want to kiss Jack. Not to want more than friendship and being roommates with him.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that everything made sense.
She and Jack had been getting along so well, he had gone on a dangerous mission, and she had been there with two little boys to welcome him back. It must have reminded him of his own family growing up! How his dad would come home to Charlotte and the two boys.
Elizabeth thought about how it must have looked to Jack when he came back from his spacewalk. She had been worriedly waiting for him to walk in the door. The boys had been excitedly standing by. And the four of them had all walked down the hall to put the two boys to bed. Like a family.
He's ending things before history can be repeated. He's worried if I can handle being with a Defense Force officer.
At least I hope that was the reason, and it wasn't that he decided he just doesn't like me all that much. Gosh, that'd be disappointing.
Elizabeth realized that now, if ever, was a time to be strong-willed.
As she lay in her berth, she could hear Jack as he tossed restlessly in his own berth.
She was determined to get him back. He cared about her more than he was willing to admit to her - that was now obvious to her.
She also knew that trying to rationally discuss this with him was useless. He was a man; shy about his feelings, proud, and tending to think practically rather than correctly. He would just be obstinate and insist he was doing what was best for both of them. She needed a plan.
Every good plan needs a good name. I'll start there.
Operation JET - Jack and Elizabeth Together
Operation TNT – Thatcher Needs Thornton, . . . . or Thornton Needs Thatcher
Operation HEART - Help Elizabeth Acquire a Rebelling Thornton
Ooh, that's a good one.
After another fifteen minutes, Elizabeth let out a long sigh. She had way too much time on her hands. And way too little Jack.
Aw, the heck with a good name. I just need a good plan!
I am a grown woman. A teacher. An adventurer. And according to Jack, I have hubris. Excessive pride or self-confidence. Well Jack, I have no excessive pride about this situation, but I do have confidence. I am going to get you back!
Over the next few days, Elizabeth put her plan into action. And although her plan didn't have a catchy acronym, she had every intention of making it successful.
"Operation Let Him Know What He's Missing."
It was actually quite simple. She just needed to be what he wanted. A friend and roommate. Pleasant. Cooperative. No demands. If Jack thought that they could go back to being just be friends and roommates, she would subtly let him know that he had to have more.
There was only one thing that Elizabeth refused to do. She wouldn't try to make Jack jealous by flirting with other men. She wouldn't toy with his feelings to that extent. This was about the two of them. No one else.
But, with a little imagination, there were still plenty of other things she could do as a friend and roommate.
She dropped her bra – the one in deep navy with a lace trim -in front of him. Accidentally, of course. And then she nonchalantly asked him if he could throw it onto her bed because her hands were full.
She was seemingly so tired one night that she forgot to close her curtain when she fell asleep. Allowing him to see her angelic face as she lay with her hair fanned out on her pillow.
One morning, when he was sitting on his bottom berth, she reached up to the top one to straighten her sheets. Finding it too hot to wear sweatpants, she was wearing tiny shorts which were barely decent as she stood on her tiptoes and stretched her lean body to reach the corners of the mattress. Putting her smooth bare legs on display for him.
After her shower yesterday, she left the door ajar when she was wrapped in just a towel while she brushed her teeth. To get the steam out of the bathroom, naturally.
Jack tried to be casual as he had picked up her lacy bra and held it in his hands, looking at fabric and automatically thinking of her breasts, before putting it on her berth.
He fought the desire to reach over and gently kiss her goodnight when he saw her sleeping.
He wanted to avert his gaze when he saw her bare legs, but he couldn't. So instead he sat on his hands to keep his fingers from reaching out and running along her thighs.
He politely closed the bathroom door to give her privacy. And then gently banged his head against it in frustration.
"Guys, can one of you help?" Elizabeth asked as she walked in through the door with a towel draped around her waist. Her wet swimsuit clung to her body and beads of water dripped to the floor from her hair. "My hair is tangled in one of my suit straps."
Seth, Carl, and Jack all looked in her direction from their positions in their berths as she took off the towel and hung it on a hook on the wall.
Carl mumbled something which sounded like a refusal as he concentrated on entering data into his laptop computer, and Seth outright refused.
"You help her, Jack. My daughter screams when I try to detangle her hair. I'm not going there."
Elizabeth stood with her back to Jack, moved most of her wet hair over one of her shoulders, and expectedly presented her bare neck and other shoulder to him.
He paused for a moment and realized that if he refused, it would seem unfriendly and just make things awkward. Elizabeth had been remarkably good about going back to being friends; he didn't want to ruin that.
Jumping down from his berth, he began fumbling with the half-inch wide piece of hair that was tangled on the metal clasp on the back of one of her straps. He tried not to touch the pale damp bare skin but his fingers brushed over it as he struggled to release her from her suit.
"This is really tangled. How the heck did you manage to do this?" he asked in surprise when he realized it may take a while to pull the strands of hair out of their entrapment.
"I have no idea. Just the hair swirling in the water as I swam, I guess," Elizabeth answered with a shrug. And ten minutes of purposely knotting it back there so you would have to be close to me.
"Can we sit down? My legs are tired. From all that swimming."
Jack hesitated and pretended not to notice the sideways glances that Seth and Carl both gave him. He had already informed the skeptical men that he wanted nothing but friendship from Elizabeth. As long as he could keep from being too close to her, he would be fine. Or so he told himself .
Without waiting for a response, Elizabeth maneuvered herself down onto the bottom berth; forcing Jack to sit with her if he didn't want to be responsible for yanking off a chuck of her long hair.
He tried not to react as her derriere gently nestled against one of his upper thighs leaving it damp from her suit, but he couldn't deny that he loved her backside.
"I think I scratched myself when I was trying to get free. Do you see anything?" Elizabeth moved her head and tried to look over her shoulder.
"Just a small mark. You're good. Hold still. The more you move, the harder it is to untangle you."
"Sorry," Elizabeth replied, but a few seconds later she had already seemed to have forgotten his admonishment and she moved to reach for her messenger bracelet and put it back on her wrist.
"Elizabeth, if you keep moving, I'll never get you untangled."
"Sorry", she replied innocently as she enjoyed Jack's warm breath on her neck.
Seth noticed a small smile on her lips but he didn't say anything. He had a wife; which meant that he knew full well what a woman was capable of when she set her mind on something.
"You're getting your berth wet," Jack noted as he tried not to think about her soft pale perfect bare shoulder which his lips were dangerously close to kissing.
He shifted his gaze from her shoulder, and the tiny birthmark behind her ear began mesmerizing him.
"No I'm not."
Jack smiled. "Yes, you are. Your suit is wet and now your blanket is all wet. It may have even soaked through to the sheet."
Elizabeth bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing aloud. "Actually it's your blanket and sheet. You were sitting on my berth when I came in. We switched yesterday, remember?"
"Darn. I forgot about that."
"Don't worry. I'll sleep down here. You go ahead and keep the top berth this week. I just used the sheets for one night."
"Are you sure?
"Definitely. I got this all wet. I'll take it."
Jack couldn't fall asleep. Everything in the upper berth smelled faintly like Elizabeth. The orange-ginger scent of her moisturizing facial bar remained on the pillow.
Unable to keep his head resting on it and still continue to fight the desire to jump down into her berth to kiss her, he threw the pillow to the foot of the bed and lay back on the hard mattress. When he turned onto his side, his nose inhaled the lingering scent of the eucalyptus bar she liked to rub on her arms to combat the dryness of the transporter.
Even the sheets smell like her. He sighed and wondered if he had made the wrong decision in ending their romance. Getting over her was not going to be easy.
When he moved his foot, one of his toes touched something hidden in the sheets. Reaching down, he fumbled in the darkness and pulled it out. He didn't need to see it to know what it was. One of her socks. He knew that when she went to bed, she liked to take off her socks under the covers by using just her toes. He imagined how she looked last night doing it. Squirming in her panties and tee-shirt as one foot maneuvered off the sock from the other. For some reason, the image made him inwardly groan in frustrated desire.
Elizabeth slept wonderfully.
Her last thought before she closed her eyes was that she knew Seth and Carl wouldn't tell Jack that earlier in the day when he had left the room, she had taken her moisturizing bars and rubbed them repeatedly on the sheets of the upper berth. And then put a sock in the foot of the bed.
Jack and Elizabeth were barely ever alone as Jack tried to avoid any awkwardness, but for the brief moments they were, Elizabeth was friendly. Happy. Pleasant. He again noticed that it seemed as if she had gotten over their break-up remarkably well. In fact, she seemed to be doing better than him. The morning after their break-up, she had told Jack that she understood his position and much to his shock, she had actually apologized for getting angry at him.
They were friends. Roommates. Nothing more. And it was driving him crazy.
It was worse than before. Before they had ever had their first kiss, he had thought about kissing her and he had wanted to kiss her, but he hadn't know exactly what he was missing. Now, he knew.
He knew the taste of her mouth. The taste of her skin. He knew that her knees buckled when he ran his hand along her back and kissed her mouth passionately at the same time. He knew that she loved to have him breathe in her ear and when he did, she became more aroused. He knew that when they sat together and he traced patterns on her arm, she would lie down and pull him to her.
Now he knew what he was missing.
As much as he wanted to be with her, Jack reminded himself that he had made the right decision. It was selfish to get involved with her when he didn't know what his future held.
But still . . .when they were at their usual cafeteria table and she was laughing at someone's joke or telling a story about her day, he found himself staring at her and wanting to touch her. Wanting her to be his. Wanting to be selfish.
He again told himself that as long as he could keep from kissing her, he would be okay.
While Elizabeth seemed to be enjoying her days teaching her few students, sending holograms to Coal Valley, and spending time with Abigail and other friends she had made on the transporter, Jack spent his free time in the fitness center.
But hours of swimming laps, lifting weights, and running on the treadmill didn't take his mind off of Elizabeth or his investigation.
The diners at the table broke out in laughter as Elizabeth told another one of her stories – this one about one of her family properties where they allowed wild horses to roam.
Rather than try to pretend her wealthy background and family didn't exist, she had found a way to make her high-society upbringing a source of humor for the other passengers. With a smile on her face, she turned to look at Jack.
"Jack, you would have loved it. Horses everywhere. If you get back to Earth before me, you should go. Just give them my name. That goes for all of you," she added in a friendly voice as she looked around the table. "Bud, you can practice that lassoing you were talking about. And Seth, I promise, they'll have a tame pony for your daughter to ride."
Jack didn't know how she could handle their break-up so well. Maybe she didn't care that much about us, he wondered with a frown. Maybe I was the only one who was getting serious. No, she cared about me just as much. The way she kissed me. . . .
He pierced a piece of fruit with his fork and bit into it. Even finding something to eat had become more difficult. Eating eggs was out of the question because they reminded Jack of his first encounter with Elizabeth and how he teased her about her frozen eggs. Pastries of any sort were out of the question as they just reminded him of when Elizabeth had defended herself after having been called a tart. And eating oatmeal, grits, mashed potatoes, or anything soft reminded him of how he had thought to himself that he didn't want a woman to turn him into mush.
He ended up simply avoiding any meal that reminded him of Elizabeth.
I'm going to starve to death because of her.
Just let me get through the next month without kissing her. I'll get over her. I'll get transferred back to Earth. And that will be the end of it. She'll stay in Coal Valley and I'll go home to Canada or maybe somewhere else. Damn, I miss her.
After five days of friendship, Elizabeth decided that her plan wasn't going quickly enough and it was time to step up her game.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Okay, maybe I'm not desperate.
Oh, heck. Yes, I am.
"Hi, Jack", Elizabeth said pleasantly when she stopped by his office. "Do you have a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?" Jack responded. He pushed a button on the large screen on his wall and the image disappeared.
"I need to borrow something. You said that roommates can borrow things from each other."
"Of course. What do you need?"
"First tell me if I can borrow it?" she said with a smile.
"You gonna tell me what it is?"
"After you decide if I can borrow it."
"How can I know if you can borrow it until I know what it is?" he chuckled.
"You have to trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"
Jack raised his eyebrows but she saw a twinkle in his eyes when he answered. "I'm not so sure. Should I?"
Elizabeth laughed. "Yes, I always keep my word."
"And I have your word that you need to borrow this?"
"Yep."
"What if I need it and I've already loaned it to you?" he challenged.
"I promise I'll return it. Whenever you want. So? Can I borrow it?"
Jack chuckled again and shook his head at her playfulness. "Yes, you can borrow it."
"Promise?"
"I promise", he said with a grin. "Now what is so important of mine that you want to borrow it?"
Elizabeth moved closer to him. Standing just two inches in front of him, she gently reached out her hand and touched his cheek.
"A kiss," she said softly. "I want to borrow a kiss. And you can get it back whenever you want."
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Elizabeth stood up on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his.
It was sweet and lovely. A perfect kiss which somehow managed to convey tenderness, affection, and desire.
When she broke away, Elizabeth gave him a soft smile. "See you around, roomie."
The metal door slid open as she walked towards it, but before she could walk out entirely, Jack reached out and gently grabbed her by the arm.
"I know you just borrowed it, but I'm going to need it back right now", he said huskily as he pulled her to him. "With interest."
Dear Readers, I like to post frequently, but I'm going to be out of the country for two weeks of vacation. Please check out my many other stories under the name woolenslipper and jellybean49 while I'm gone if you've never read them (or even if it's been a while! 😊)
And if you want me to continue this story when I get back, just let me know. 😊