***Chapter 2***
***San Diego***
Jennifer left the hotel and took a short walk to clear her head. Surely, Jonathan wouldn't be trying to do business with the same company she was researching for being corrupt. There had to be another Kayser Incorporated. There just had to be. This would be a misunderstanding and they would straighten it out and she would go home and they would talk and things would be fine.
Except she knew the truth.
There wasn't another Kayser Incorporated. There was only one, and Jonathan was about to do business with them, and they were corrupt. She had evidence that they were corrupt. Only she had to protect Charlie. She couldn't tell Jonathan about the evidence. And she would never tell him not to do business with someone, that wasn't her place. But if he did do business with them, and they got raided by the SEC, or worse, shut down, it would affect Jonathan too.
She stopped at a café and grabbed lunch and took it back to her room.
No messages from Jonathan.
After she did as much work on her article as she could, she took a bubble bath, and then took herself to dinner and then came back to the room.
She called the house at 9, and got no answer.
Frustrated, she fell asleep.
***The next day***
Jennifer got up and checked out of the hotel. She left Jonathan a message with Kelly that she would be at a spa for 2 days and then she would head home, and left him the number.
She checked into the spa and settled into her room.
The spa had a strict no electronics rule, so she wouldn't be able to use her laptop or phone at all. She picked out her services and decided on massages, facials, and a body wrap, along with a mud bath.
She went downstairs and checked in for her detox bath, and complimentary body scrub. It was going to be amazing to decompress for a few days.
***Jonathan***
Jonathan was at the office and saw Kelly's message. He called the spa and asked to speak to her.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hart has requested that she not be disturbed.".
He felt a knot in the pit of his stomach and hung up the phone. She was still mad.
He hated it when she was mad at him, and normally he would move mountains to fix it.
He called the spa back.
"Hello, yes I would love to send my wife some flowers while she is there, can I please have the address?"
"I'm sorry sir, we don't accept deliveries here for our clients. Have a good day".
The phone line went dead. Jonathan turned around from his desk and stared out the window.
***2 days later***
Jennifer was so relaxed. She had been massaged, scrubbed, wrapped, bathed in mud and had enjoyed the best facial she had had in years. She had even bought most of the products that they had used on her, in hopes that she and Jonathan could use them on each other. She bought a book of massage techniques as well. She was excited to go home and see him, and hoped that he would be just as welcoming to her. It had been a long few weeks.
She packed her things and checked out and headed home.
***Jonathan***
Jonathan woke up and wanted to call Jennifer again. But, he knew the spa wouldn't let him talk to her. He tried her car phone. No answer.
He resolved that he would try again later. He was determined that he would be home to have dinner with her.
He went downstairs to the study to grab some things. He saw that the light on the answering machine was blinking, so he pressed it.
There was one message, from a man's voice.
"Hello, Jennifer. This is Charlie. I just wanted you to know that you will be getting a special delivery very soon. Thank you".
Jonathan was again upset. He now had more questions to ask Jennifer, and he was reconsidering dinner with her.
He headed to the office.
***Jennifer***
Jennifer arrived home, and went upstairs to shower. She ordered dinner for them from La Scala, and had it delivered. She called his office. Kelly put her through.
"Hi darling. I just wanted to tell you that I am home, and I ordered dinner for us. What time do you think you will be home?"
"I have no idea. I will just see you whenever I get home".
"Jonathan, don't be like this".
"Be like what?"
"Difficult. Unreachable. Distant".
"I have to go."
He hung up.
She hung up the phone feeling dejected. She went to the kitchen, and put their dinner in the fridge, and headed upstairs to their bedroom.
By the time he got home at 11, she was fast asleep.
***The next morning***
He woke up without waking her up, and hadn't touched her all night. She woke up while he was in the shower and went downstairs and made coffee.
She was in the kitchen when he came in. He reached past her and got a cup of coffee.
"Have a good trip?"
"As good as could be expected".
"Oh, did Charlie not live up to your expectations?"
She was shocked.
"Jonathan, I am not doing this with you".
"What else is new?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you haven't wanted to do anything with me in weeks".
"I beg your pardon. You are the one shutting me out. You are the one not coming home at a regular hour and telling your secretary that you don't want to be disturbed when I call. You are the one accusing me of something you know I would never do to you or anyone else. If anyone here is not wanting anything to do with the other one, it's you to me, not me to you".
"What do you expect me to think when you have guys named Charlie leaving you messages that there will be special deliveries for you soon?"
"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about, and to be perfectly honest, I don't care. You aren't talking to me, you are talking at me. You aren't acting like yourself, you have changed into someone I barely recognize."
"And you think running off to San Diego is the answer?"
"That's not why I ran off, but it sure was a lot more fun than being here with you, hurling accusations at me, and staying at the office all night".
"Everything I do is for you, did you forget that?"
"How could I know that, you won't talk to me anymore?"
"Why would I want to talk to you when all you do is nag me about why I worked late?"
"Nagging you? Seriously? That's what you call a conversation with me, nagging?"
She turned away and left the room in tears. He heard the bedroom door slam shut. He wanted to go after her but he was too prideful. This wasn't like either of them, but he didn't know how to fix it. And he was scared to admit that he didn't know what to do.
He decided they could both use some time to cool off, so he headed to work without another word.
***Jennifer***
Jennifer stormed up the stairs and got in the shower. She stood there and just let the hot water run over her as she tried to collect her thoughts.
Normally when they had a disagreement, she could justify everything and rationalize it and figure it out. And then she would get this sense of peace that would come over her, that would tell her that they were going to be just fine.
Today, all she felt was sadness.
***Later that day***
It was around 2 p.m. Jonathan was at the office, about to go into a final meeting with the Kayser folks. If this deal went through, they would be 50/50 partners on a new financial venture, to be called HartKayser Financial.
He felt horrible about his fight with Jennifer. He knew they would have to really talk that night when he got home, if she would even let him talk to her. He didn't understand how they got here. Usually, she wouldn't go to sleep unless he was home. And if she fell asleep before he got home, she would wake up when he got in bed. But lately, it's like they didn't even notice the other was around.
He called his florist, and asked them to rush a delivery of their biggest bouquet in pinks and baby blues, Jennifer's favorite colors, to the house.
"Put on the card 'I love you and I'm sorry and I believe you- love always Jonathan, Hart to Hart'. Thank you so much".
Flowers would be a good start. Champagne and her favorite dinner would be better. If they could talk things out, that would be ideal.
He had to go to his meeting, and he hoped that he would be able to leave right after and go home to her.
***Willow Pond***
Jennifer was working in the study when she heard the gate buzzer.
"Delivery for Mrs. Hart".
"Come on up".
She met them at the door, and saw that it was flowers.
They were gorgeous flowers, all her favorites. Bells of Ireland, pink roses, tulips, stargazer lilies, orchids and gladiolus, plus a few blue tulips and orchids and daisies as well. She tipped the guy and then shut the door and set the flowers on the piano.
She dug in there for the card and read it. Her heart softened a little. It was a start.
He wasn't totally out of the dog house though. They were going to have to have a long talk in order to resolve things this time. She was deeply hurt.
She went back to the study, and heard the gate buzzer again.
"Delivery for Jennifer Hart".
"Come on up".
She met them at the door, and this time it was an older gentleman.
"Hi, can I help you?"
"Hi, my name is Jason. I am Charlie's father, and she asked me to bring this to you. She also wanted me to give you this, and explain to you that she had me leave the message on your answering machine just so that there really wouldn't be a trail that led back to her".
"I understand. Thank you so much for helping".
He handed her the package with the documents and a note that said "SEC was called today, raid should take place sometime tomorrow".
Just then Jonathan pulled up.
He got out and headed towards the door.
"Hi darling".
"Hi. Jonathan, this is-". She turned and looked at Jason.
"Charlie. My name is Charlie. Nice to meet you".
Jonathan shook his hand, glared at Jennifer and then got in the car and left.