Jake heard the vibrating coming from the phone on the night table beside the bed and reached for it. It was a struggle to open his eyes, but he managed and began to read the words on the screen, I'm sorry I can't be there for our anniversary sweetheart, but you were the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning. I'll call you later. I love you – M. He was still halfway between sleep and awake and he didn't understand what he'd read. He looked at the words on the screen a second time before he realized he wasn't holding his phone. It was then that the memories from the night before came back to him. He'd been with Ness and fallen asleep with her wrapped in his arms after they'd made love. He looked to his left and there she lay on her stomach, her head turned away from him, obviously still sleeping.
Jake felt the walls beginning to close in around him and he looked to the words on the screen in front of him again. He knew the phone wasn't his, so the only other person it could belong to was Ness…His Ness. He didn't know what to think, but he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Slowly, so as not to wake her, he got out of bed, made his way to the door and quietly left the room, her phone still in hand. Jake made his way down the stairs and into the living room, placing the phone on the coffee table in front of him as he sat on the coach. He starred at it, for how long he wasn't sure, trying to make sense of what he'd read. But he soon realized he needed more information and snatched the phone back up, immediately searching through the saved texts.
He found three other texts from M, or Michael, as he had discovered his name was. Two were from over a week ago and proved nothing, but the third ended just the same as this last one he had read, I love you – M. Jake started to feel like he couldn't breath as the reality of the situation sunk in, she belonged to someone else, and it was their anniversary; she'd lied to him. I gotta get outta here, he whispered to himself.
He walked up the stairs slowly and entered Ness' room. He checked to make sure she was still sleeping before placing the phone back on the side table and searching for his clothes. Once he found them he began to dress, kicking himself as he did, how could I have been stupid enough to trust her?
As soon as he was dressed he quickly left the room and made his way down the stairs. He stopped when he reached the front door, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself before he opened it and walked out.
….
Ness stretched out in the middle of the bed. She felt more refreshed than she had in months and as the memories from the night before drifted back to her, she felt herself smile. But as she stretched, she soon realized that she was alone in the bed. She rolled onto her side and opened her eyes just enough to see the large red digits of the clock on her night stand. It was only 7:20; she knew Jake didn't have to be at work until 8, so she figured he was still somewhere in the house. She made her way out of the bed and blushed when she realized she was still naked. She quickly walked to her dresser and took out the first clothing she found, not wanting Jake to walk in on her while she was naked.
Once decently dressed in a blue tank top and yoga pants, she left the room to look for Jake. Down the hall, the bathroom door was shut, but she didn't hear any noise coming from the other side. She knocked anyway as she called his name, "Jake, you in there?" She waited a few seconds but when she didn't get an answer she opened the door, empty. Ness continued checking the house, room by room, until it was obvious to her that he wasn't in it. She tried to stay calm, but a million thoughts were racing through her mind, where would he go and why did he leave? Does he think last night was a mistake? Just before she was about to grab her keys and go looking for him, she heard her phone go off and she hurried to her bedroom to get it, hoping it was him. Once she reached the phone she grabbed it and immediately felt her heart sink as she read the name on the screen, Michael.
….
He just couldn't concentrate. He'd tried going to work but after the second time he'd snapped at Claire he knew he just wasn't in the right state of mind to be there. He'd put Claire in charge, called in the part time mechanic and told her he was taking the rest of the day off. Then he got on his bike and started driving.
Ever since he was a young boy, getting out and being on his own had always helped him think. After his mom had passed away, he'd sometimes go out for hours on his own, running through the forests and along the beaches, clearing his head. He'd hoped to find that same peace today, but he just couldn't get what he'd read out of his head.
He felt betrayed and used, but most of all, he hurt, ached in fact; thinking about Ness belonging to someone else was tearing him apart. He didn't know what to do. He'd come close to calling her at least a dozen times, but in the end he'd chicken out, what would I even say?
So he just kept riding, no destination in mind, trying to forget all about the girl he thought he'd been falling for.
….
It was after 3 o'clock when Ness finally found him. She'd been searching for him for hours. When she'd checked with Claire at the shop, she'd been told of the foul mood he'd been in earlier that morning and Claire had advised her against going to find him. But her words had only made Ness even more determined to find him. She knew this had something to do with her but couldn't figure it out for the life of her.
She'd answered phone call from Michael earlier. He was heading into court and hadn't had long, just enough time to call her and tell her how much he loved her. After their conversation, she'd almost collapsed. She'd made such a mess out of everything and she was crumbling from the guilt of it all. But she somehow managed to pull herself together. She'd been running and hiding from her problems for long enough; it was time to make it right.
She could see Jake now from her car, out on the beach, watching the waves roll in. It was raining, but he didn't seem to notice. Slowly, Ness exited the car and made her way over to where he stood. She didn't have an umbrella, it hadn't been raining when she'd left the house earlier that morning, but it was the farthest thing from her mind as she approached Jacob.
He hadn't heard her, it was hard to hear anything over the rain and the waves, but he felt her. It was like his body was synched to hers, he could feel the pull whenever she was near. But he ignored it, refusing to even turn and face her.
As she stood behind him, starring at his back, Ness wondered what she should say. Nothing seemed right, she didn't own him and certainly had no right to question him, but she had to know what had happened to make him leave without a word. So she took in a deep breath for courage and asked, "Where've you been all day? And why are you standing out here in the rain?"
She waited for his response, but he said nothing, the only indication that he'd even heard her had been a slight tensing of his shoulder muscles. So she spoke again, "Please Jacob, you're scarring me."
He'd had enough, what right did she have to come looking for him, to come to his beach and question him after what she'd done, who does she think she is? He turned then and looked directly into her eyes, there was only one question he had for her, "who's Michael?"
Ness felt her heart skip a beat as Jake said his name, how does he know about him, and how much does he know? These thoughts ran through her head but all she could manage to get out was, "w-what?"
Jake sneered as he looked down at her, "You heard me. And what anniversary is he missing?"
"H-how do you…know about that?" Ness asked. She felt the fear rising within her, almost chocking.
"Because I saw the fucking text message he sent you this morning," He shouted back at her. He was angry and his control over his emotions was quickly slipping away.
Ness took a step back, startled by his tone, before she responded. "You went through my phone?"
"Oh please," Jake scoffed. "Don't get all high and mighty on me alright? It was a fucking accident that I saw it in the first place. But so what if I looked, that's shit compared to what you've been hiding. Now like I asked in the first place, who the fuck is Michael?"
He was yelling now. Part of Renesmee was scarred, but the other part knew he was right. What did it matter if he looked through my phone? If I hadn't been hiding something in the first place it wouldn't even matter.
She looked up at him hesitantly; she could see the heat blazing behind his eyes. She knew it was time. "He's my husband."
She spoke so softly that it was hard for Jake to hear her over the sound of the waves, but he had heard. It was worse than he thought. He assumed that she had a boyfriend she just hadn't told him about, he never thought she'd be married. "You're married?" He asked in disbelief, his voice almost as quiet as hers had been.
Jake wasn't made any more, he was crushed. He had actually started to believe he was falling for the girl and she was just using him, she was already married. "How could you do this to me?"
Ness began to panic as she took in the hopeless look on Jakes face, almost wishing he'd go back to being angry. "Jake please, let me explain."
"What's there to explain? You're married, the end. What did you expect? Did you think I'd just wait around for you to come to town every other weekend? Be your dirty little secret? Give you what you're not getting' at home?"
She was startled again. She'd never thought of Jacob that way and she hadn't realized that he would when he found out. "No, that's not it. I'm…I'm leaving him. I'm leaving him for you."
Jake rolled his eyes at her, not believing any of it, "Oh yeah, and when did you decide that?"
"Last week, before I came back. I've been unhappy for a long time and it took coming here and meeting you to make me see what love really could be."
This time it was Jake who was startled at her mention of love. "So you love me?" He asked skeptically.
Ness nodded her head emphatically. She hadn't truly admitted it to herself yet, but she found that the words were easy to speak aloud, "Yes, yes I love you."
For an instant, a small spark of hope ignited within him. But he quickly squashed it when he thought about every chance she'd had to tell him the truth, but hadn't. "Then why didn't you tell me about him?"
Ness hesitated, she desperately wanted to fix this but she was beginning to think that nothing she said would make Jake forgive her yet. "I tried, that first night I came back. Remember I kept saying how there was something I needed to tell you, but you said as long as I wanted you, you didn't care. And I do want you Jacob, only you. I was going to tell you about Michael, I swear. I was just waiting for the right time."
"Well don't you think the right time for that would have been before we fucked?" The words came out so fast, before he'd even realized what he was going to say. He knew it was cruel but he couldn't apologize. He was hurting and he wanted her to hurt too.
Ness felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. Everything she had within her had been sucked out; she took a half step backwards and her words were nearly inaudible when she spoke. "I'm so sorry Jacob. Please, you have to believe me, I never meant to hurt you or lie to you. I…I just want to be with you."
Jacob was disgusted with himself and her as well. All he had ever wanted was to share with someone what his friends and his sister and his parents had had. And here in front of him was someone who had taken her marriage and her vows and thrown it all away. How could he respect that, how could he be with someone who could do that?
He sighed exasperatedly as he ran his hands through his wet hair. "It's one thing to keep it from me Ness, but it's completely different to keep it from him. If you don't love your husband any more, if you're not happy, he deserves to know. And based on those texts I read, he still loves you." He starred down at her; he knew his words were painful to her as he watched her wince as he spoke.
But he still had one last thing to say, something that he knew would hurt them both. He took a deep breath before he started, "I – I could never be with someone…who could do that."
He saw the panic reach her eyes at his final words and knew he couldn't take anymore. He quickly turned, taking his first step to walk away, but he felt Ness' hand reach for his arm. He turned back again before she had got a good grip and she stumbled, falling to her knees in the wet sand.
Before he could make a move to help her up, she looked up at him. The Rain continued to pour down onto the both of them, running over their faces as she spoke, "Please Jacob, I'm begging you, don't go, don't let me go."
Jake couldn't keep his eyes on her. A part of him was hurt and upset about all of the things she had been hiding. But another part had reacted to what she had said and desperately wanted him to pick her up and wrap her in his arms. But he wouldn't let himself give in. He turned away again and said over his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I can't"
He heard her break down then and knew he had to get away, she was crying and calling his name, but the farther away he moved, the harder it was to hear her, until finally he couldn't hear her at all.