***Willow Pond***
It had been 4 months, since the awful day that Jonathan had been shot.
He was only trying to save her, be her hero. He had been set up by a friend of his from the orphanage, and he had put Jennifer in harm's way. His school friend, Paul, and his two acquaintances, Chip and Dylan, had taken everyone hostage when they robbed the bank, and they used Jennifer as leverage.
It all ended on board the Hart's plane, and it ended with Jonathan and Paul struggling over a gun, and Jonathan getting shot.
She sat by him for hours at the hospital after they brought him out of surgery. She watched helplessly as he spiked a fever and was dangerously close to dying.
As soon as he woke up, 3 days after the shooting, she couldn't wait to kiss him and tell him she loved him.
He had been shot in the side, but thankfully it had missed major organs.
The police had arrested Paul and his two accomplices, and Jennifer had ridden in the ambulance with Jonathan.
As soon as he came home though, she could tell something was wrong. He was sad all the time, and rarely smiled. He hardly bothered to kiss her anymore. 2 months after he came home, he started sleeping in the guest room.
She tried spending time with him, and making his favorite dinners and doing little things for him, but he made it clear he was no longer interested in being with her. Before long, she was spending her nights in bed reading, alone.
Max found her on the patio one day, crying and staring off into the distance.
"Anything I can do, Mrs. H.?"
"I don't think so, Max. Not this time".
He nodded and went back inside.
Jonathan had also quit talking to Max as much as he used to. It was as if he just wanted to end all the relationships he had. He had stopped going to work, and he had put Stanley Frieson in charge of the company.
Jennifer was able to convince him to go to a dinner party, but it was a total disaster. They barely spoke to each other all night, and when the music started playing, Jonathan asked one of his associates to dance, and not Jennifer. She was crushed.
She went to the kitchen, called Max to come pick her up, and left the party without telling Jonathan she was leaving.
When he got home, he found that she had moved him completely out of their bedroom. She didn't know what to do anymore.
She made them an appointment for a marriage counselor and told him they had an appointment. He went, but when he realized what the appointment was, he refused to speak. He got up and left.
She called Max, and when she got home this time, she packed her things and headed to the beach house. She even took Freeway.
She left Jonathan a long note on the piano.
"Jonathan-
I don't understand how we got here, but obviously I am the only one who is interested in fixing things and since I cannot fix it alone, I guess we are stuck. If you want a divorce, fine. If you want to talk this out, Max knows where I am. I will give you once chance.
-Jennifer
She cried as she drove to the beach house, but she felt like it was for the best.
This was so far from where she thought they would end up. But, it was where they were, and she was going to make the best of it.
Max called her that night and told her that he had finally come home, and read her letter and went upstairs without saying a word.
***Beach house***
Jennifer came inside the beach house, and took her bags up to the third floor. It was going to be hard to stay there, since it was such a special place for them, but she also found peace there, and that's what she needed right now.
***4 days later***
Jennifer still hadn't heard from Jonathan. She was starting to wonder if he was ever going to make a decision. She also felt that maybe, he had. Maybe for the first time, he didn't choose her.
Freeway whined a lot, especially at night. She assumed that he missed Jonathan and Max.
She held him a lot and petted him, but he still whined.
"I miss them too. Do you think they miss us?"
***Willow Pond***
Jonathan was sitting on the couch with a brandy in his hand. He was in a weird place. He was mad at himself because he felt like he had spoon-fed Jennifer to Paul. He couldn't see that he wasn't responsible, Paul was. Paul had set the whole thing up. It was a plan from the very beginning. Once he found out that Jonathan Hart was a customer of the bank, he had planned the whole thing out. His friends would rob the bank, they would tie everyone up in a circle, and he would reveal himself and leave with them after they cleaned out the vault. He was going to take Jennifer with him, since he knew that Jonathan would pay anything to get her back. And finally he was going to kill the other two, and keep it all for himself. He hadn't planned on the cops being alerted due to the vault being emptied, and he hadn't planned on Jonathan inserting himself in to the situation as far as he had. When he woke up from surgery, and found out he had missed three days, he realized that those three days were days he would never get back. He didn't mean to push Jennifer away, it just happened. And he only moved into the guest room because he felt like he was making her uncomfortable. He wanted to dance with her at the dinner party, but the other woman asked him first, and he was only trying to be polite. By the time they were done dancing, she was gone, both from the party and from him, apparently. He hated feeling this way, like no matter what he did, it wouldn't be the right move. Sometimes, he felt like he should go see a counselor, but after the way he had stormed out when Jennifer took him to one, he felt like there was no way she would ever go with him. And without her, there was no point.
He brainstormed how to get her back. He decided to send her a bouquet of her favorite flowers, with a sweet note.
He got in the car and went to the florist. He picked out the bouquet himself. He wrote the card- "Darling, please call me. We need to talk. Love, Jonathan", and then paid for it to be delivered that day, which was extra.
He headed back to Willow Pond.
About an hour later, there was a delivery for him. He told them to come on up, and he signed for it.
She had sent the flowers back with a note herself.
"Seriously? You think flowers will do it this time?"
He was disappointed, but not discouraged. He called and ordered La Scala for her, and asked them to call her and see what time she wanted it delivered. He gave them a credit card and told them to charge whatever she wanted.
About 20 minutes later, the restaurant called and said she refused delivery, and did he want it to go to another address? He said no thank you, and hung up the phone.
He decided to try one more time. He went and packed an overnight bag, and then went to their favorite greasy spoon. He ordered her favorite omelet with hash browns on the side, and then he drove them to the beach house.
He unlocked the door, and came inside. He turned the alarm off. He went and put the food in the fridge, and he smiled when he heard her footsteps coming down stairs.
He stood up from putting the food in the fridge, and was going to say "hey darling".
But instead, she conked him on the head with a vase, and he fell to the floor.
When she saw who it was, she was relieved and mad. She immediately helped him up, and got him an ice bag. She started sweeping the broken vase up off the floor.
After she had finished all of that, she came and stood in front of him.
"Would you like to explain why you are here?"
"I came here to try and talk to you".
She walked over to the telephone and picked it up.
"Alexander Graham Bell. An ingenious invention".
"You sent the flowers back and you refused dinner, I was afraid that you would hang up on me. If I was here in person, you would at least see that I put some effort in".
"Just like at the appointment the other day?"
"Jennifer, I felt trapped. And you know I don't like that".
"YOU felt trapped? How do you think I have felt these past few months?"
"I'm sorry. This hasn't been very easy on me either".
"What, you made your bed and now you can't lie in it?"
He didn't exactly know how to argue with that. It was an entirely fair and accurate statement.
He was quiet for a moment.
"Why did you send the flowers back?"
'Because you can't fix this with flowers, Jonathan."
"And you refused the dinner because?"
"I had already eaten. And I'm an independent woman, you know."
"I know. It's part of what made me fall in love with you".
"You remember that?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I?"
"Well, lately, you've been acting like I don't exist".
He sighed. He didn't want to get into this now.
"I brought you breakfast, for tomorrow. It's in the fridge. That's what I was doing when you attacked me".
"Jonathan…you can't just gloss over the real problems here with flowers and breakfast and dinners from La Scala. And every time I try to get you to talk to me, you push me away. When I try to get you to talk with me to a professional you storm out. I come here for some peace and quiet and you break in. I am at my wit's end here, and I have just about decided that there isn't anything worth saving. If there is something worth saving, I won't be able to save it on my own. And you don't seem to be the least bit interested".
"I'm interested, Jennifer."
"You don't act like it".
She sat down at the table across from him.
"Do you realize that you pushed Max away as well? You and him had tickets to a game last week and you didn't even go. He was heartbroken. He thinks of you as a son, and you have been acting like you dumped him in a nursing home and drove away".
She got up and grabbed his ice bag and checked his head. She got him new ice and put it back on his head.
"Well, so much for you acting like you don't care about me. Do you always get your enemies ice bags after you hit them in the head with a vase?"
"You are not my enemy. You are your own worst enemy. And, I never stopped caring about you. You stopped caring about me, Jonathan".
She stood up with tears in her eyes.
"You can see yourself out".
She went upstairs and he heard her shut the door.
A few minutes later, he put the ice bag in the sink and went home.
He was going to have to resort to drastic measures. He wasn't giving up yet, even though she thought he already had.