Author's Note: So there's a bit of a time jump with this chapter because I wanted to move the story along a little more. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and given me feedback so far. I really appreciate. Keep it up because I love hearing from you and I love hearing your ideas as well. :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!
A couple of nights before opening night, Jesse came home after hanging out with Rachel, just as he'd been doing nearly every day for the past three weeks. He had expected to come home to a dark, lifeless apartment like he always did but instead the lights were on when he unlocked the door and walked in.
He noticed that Isla wasn't in the living room or the kitchen so he headed for the bedroom only to find a suitcase on the bed and Isla walking out of the closet with some of her work clothes in her hand. "Hi," she said brightly.
"Hi," Jesse replied hesitantly, not sure what to make of what his wife was currently doing. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah, I have some meetings with some fashion designers in Paris and I'm leaving in the morning," she explained as she folded her clothes and placed them in the suitcase.
"What?" he asked, not sure if he'd heard her right. She looked up at him with an irritated expression in response to his question. "How long are you going to be gone for?"
"A week," she told him, not looking up as she continued to pack.
"Are you serious?" Jesse asked, raising his voice a little.
"Yes, Jesse. It's my job. Why are you upset?" she asked, clearly frustrated with her husband's questions.
"Because opening night is in two days," he exclaimed before storming out of the bedroom.
She rushed out of the room after him. "I'm sorry, but I forgot."
"Of course you did," Jesse mumbled as he poured himself a drink.
"What?" she asked, her annoyance evident.
"I said, of course you did," he replied, turning around and facing her.
"And what's that supposed to mean exactly?"
"It means, that clearly I am not half as important to you as your job," he sneered, taking a sip of his scotch.
"I'm not going to apologize for having a life outside of you and your Broadway career," she yelled.
"Please, Isla. You haven't been interested in me or my Broadway career for quite some time," he scoffed. "Is it too much to ask for my wife to be there to support me for one night? One night?" he yelled. He had to get out of that apartment, away from her. He set his glass down on the table by the door, grabbed his keys and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.
On the elevator ride down, he thought about calling Rachel but stopped himself. He shouldn't go running to her after having a fight with his wife. So he found Thomas in his contacts list and called him.
"Hey man," Thomas answered after a couple of rings.
"Hey, do you maybe want to meet me out for a drink?" Jesse asked.
"Sure," he agreed. "What's going on?" He knew that there had to be something wrong if Jesse was calling him at nearly midnight to go grab a drink.
"I'll explain later," Jesse replied. Thomas told Jesse what bar to meet him at and twenty minutes later they were both sitting at the bar with drinks in their hands.
"I just have to ask. Was I the first person you thought to call tonight?" Thomas asked. He'd noticed Jesse and Rachel together at rehearsals over the last few weeks and he knew they had been spending a lot of free time together.
Jesse sighed and raked a hand through his hair before answering Thomas's question. "No," he told him, honestly.
"You wanted to call Rachel, didn't you?" Jesse nodded in response. "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing," Jesse replied defensively. "We're just… friends."
"Jesse, you know that's not true," Thomas said. "I'm not judging you, man. I just think you're in some serious denial."
"I'm not in denial," he said, looking away from his friend. "Trust me, I fight the urge to cross the line every time we're together but we're not going to do that. I don't want to do that to her."
"Do what? I'm pretty sure that she feels the same by the looks of it."
"I don't want to put her in a morally compromising position like that. I care about her too much to do that," Jesse explained.
"What if she wants to cross that line?" Thomas asked. It was a question that Jesse asked himself all the time.
"Honestly?" His friend nodded, wanting him to continue. "I don't know."
"Let's just hope for your sake and hers that you won't have to make that decision," Thomas said, patting Jesse on the back.
By the time Jesse got back home, it was almost two o'clock in the morning. He let himself in quietly and lay down on the couch, flipping his shoes off of his feet as he grabbed a blanket from the basket next to the couch. He really wished that they had a two bedroom apartment just for nights like this.
Jesse awoke the next morning with a bit of a hangover. He knew before he even went into the bedroom that Isla was already gone. After taking a shower, he got dressed and went into the kitchen to make some coffee to take with him to the theater. He thought that perhaps his wife would have left him a note or something but there hadn't been anything in the bedroom, bathroom or kitchen.
He didn't know why he was surprised. He doubted that she would even call him while she was on her business trip. If she was angry enough at him, she could go days without saying a word to him. And that was when they were in the same apartment, sharing the same bed.
An hour later, Jesse arrived at the theater for their final dress rehearsal. He put all thoughts of his troubled marriage out of his mind as he got into character. Seeing Rachel's beautiful, smiling face helped with that as well.
Rehearsals couldn't have gone any better than they did. It made Jesse even more confident that opening night was going to be amazing.
Afterwards, as Jesse was leaving his dressing room, he saw Rachel waiting in the hallway for him. She grinned when she saw him. They left the theater together, talking about the upcoming show when she suddenly blurted out, "What's bothering you?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You just didn't seem like yourself today," she explained. "You were still amazing in rehearsal, but it was kind of like your mind was somewhere else some of the time. So I was wondering what was wrong."
Jesse debated if he should tell her or not. Finally, he decided to just be honest with her. "Isla's not going to be here for opening night."
"Why not?" she asked in disbelief.
"She had to fly to Paris for some meetings and she'll be there for the next week," he told her.
Rachel stopped Jesse by grabbing his arm lightly. "Jesse…"
"Whatever. It shouldn't have surprised me," he said, bitterly.
Rachel just looked at him for a moment before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry," she said softly.
Jesse wrapped his arms around her and gave her a little squeeze. "Thank you," he whispered before releasing her from his grasp as she stepped back. "Do you wanna hang out at my place tonight?"
Rachel didn't even have to think about it before replying, "I'd love to. I'll finally get to see where you live."
Ten minutes later, Jesse was unlocking his front door and letting Rachel inside. "I like your night doorman," Rachel said about the man that she'd met moments earlier. "He's really nice."
"I'll be sure to tell him you said that," Jesse said with a little wink. Flipping on a light switch, Jesse illuminated his apartment so Rachel could actually see it. "Would you like a glass of wine or something?"
"A glass of wine would be great," Rachel said, as Jesse headed towards the kitchen. She wandered around his living room while he got them both drinks and she noticed some pictures in the bookshelves. Walking over to the bookshelves, she looked at the pictures and noticed how happy Jesse and Isla looked in them.
"Here you go," Jesse's voice startled Rachel, making her jump slightly. "What are you looking at?" he asked as Rachel turned around and took the glass of wine from him.
"Just some pictures," she replied. Jesse looked at the photos in the frames in front of her and smiled ruefully. "You look so happy," she remarked.
"That was a long time ago," he told her. "A lot's changed since those pictures were taken." He paused for a moment. "She and I have changed."
Rachel could definitely relate to that. She felt the same way about her and Donovan. "Do you think you guys will ever get there again?"
"This is going to sound terrible, but I don't think so," Jesse confessed. "I just don't feel that way about her anymore."
"Oh," was Rachel's only response. She wasn't sure what else to say. What was she supposed to say to the man that she was falling for when he just admitted that he was all but giving up on his marriage?
"Can you believe that tomorrow is opening night?" Jesse asked, changing the subject. "It seems like just yesterday we were having our first rehearsal. I've never enjoyed rehearsals so much before in my entire life."
They walked over to his couch and sat down, discussing the show. They laughed about some of the things that their cast mates had done over the last six weeks and talked excitedly about how it was going to be to perform the show for the first time in front of a live audience. Before they knew it, it was almost midnight and Rachel was bidding farewell to Jesse.
Jesse walked into his bedroom after Rachel had left, falling back on his bed and slinging an arm over his face. He didn't know how he had managed, but all he could think about when they had been sitting on the couch was how much he wanted to be with her. It had taken every ounce of strength he'd had to not close the space between them and kiss her. He felt his resolve to not cross that line with Rachel all but disappear.