Lisa's arrival at home, Fairfield, was almost depressing. It had now been two months since she'd been back, and as she moved through the place and turned on lights, she saw constant reminders of where her life was two months ago. Sure, her housekeeper had been in and cleaned, as well as stocked her fridge with her requests, but Lisa stopped at her own kitchen table to pick up the handwritten receipt for that hospital bed she'd tried to get Jack to use at home. She let out her breath and closed her eyes, trying to will that argument out of her mind. That argument had been the last time she'd seen Jack; she'd spoken to him on the phone the next afternoon from the airport, letting him know that she was on her way back to France. He had been gruff, and well, that's how things had stood. Lisa tossed the receipt into the trash and made her way further into her house. She pulled her bags to her bedroom, and there, she frowned as her first glance at her nightstand had a picture of the two of them. Lisa again shook her head, rolled her eyes, and she walked over and put the picture in her nightstand. She had way too many memories of Jack, way too indeed.
It was a long night, somewhat restless for Lisa, but she did manage to get some sleep. She really was exhausted, and the time change was drastic enough that she slept well into the middle of the morning. By the time she was up, showered, and feeling halfway human again, she started some breakfast for herself, just some coffee and toast, as she sat down and prepared to call Jack.
A phone call.
To Jack.
She absolutely didn't want to show up at Heartland. That had been the standard for the last six years, her showing up there, and she wasn't going to do that. Not this time. She was done with that. She did want to speak to Jack, but he needed to drive that old, rusty truck over to her home for once. Good grief, sometimes she loved the entire family going in and out, even interrupting things, but at the same time, all of that chaos was part of the reason she and Jack just weren't working. It was all too much, and he refused to see that. She loved the family and all, but he'd just about shut her out of his life. It was starting to feel like each time she came back from France, the housing situation at Heartland had completely shifted. New kids in and out, Peter in, Peter out, Lou in, Lou out, Amy and Ty-who knows what their story was, now Georgie-well, it felt like a hotel. Tim was another layer that was always a total wildcard with the family drama. It was about as opposite from her solitary lifestyle as she could get, and any conversation she had with Jack could not and would not happen at Heartland, not now.
Her phone rang, and in all of her reminiscing, she realized she was clutching it in her hand.
"Yes, Dan?" Lisa answered, somewhat annoyed. She rubbed her temple as she listened to her ex-husband on the phone.
"I don't have to tell you if I'm thinking of selling Fairfield. None of our joint business involves the actual grounds. I'm sorry if you feel hurt that you heard about it from my realtor, but I have no idea why my realtor also felt the need to tell you about my plans. No, I'm not going to sit down and talk this out, Dan. We own a few horses together, and that can be done anywhere. Those horses are with you at the moment, so they aren't even on the property here. While we are talking, maybe it's time we end that partnership too. I need to go. I'll deal with this later. Bye, Dan."
Lisa grunted aloud as she threw her phone onto the table. What she ever saw in him was a mystery. Well, as she thought about that, he had been handsome when they were younger, much, much younger. As she thought about it more, he'd been an escape. She had thought back then she needed one, that staying home and taking on the family business wasn't what she wanted. She'd always felt a special connection with Ashley Stanton in that regard. She saw a little of herself in Ashely, the overprotective parent, and the need to be on her own. Like Ashely, when push came to shove, she loved her father very much as Ashley loved Val, but also like Ashley, Lisa had seen in Dan a way to start her own life on her own terms. Sadly, in both cases it ended in divorce. Knowing Dan and Caleb, though, Lisa almost chuckled, thinking that Caleb was a good man, whereas Dan was pretty much a snake and even tried to be that way sometimes in the business world. Luckily, Lisa knew his trick and how to reign him in all the time. She was good at her job, and part of being good at her job was making it look like she was never stressed or worried about things.
Except, for now, she was. This wasn't her job; this was her personal life. And, right now-job=good. Personal life=MESS.
Lisa had purposely not mentioned to Dan she was home. She didn't want to deal with him, not yet. Sure, he would hear about it eventually, but she'd arrived late, parked her car in her clean, tidy garage, and she'd kept a low profile. She paid her housekeeper well, and one of those reasons was for her discretion. Right now, Dan had no idea she was home because if he had any notion, he wouldn't have called. He would have shown up at her house.
Lisa sighed again, sipped at her coffee, and she put her head in her hand there on the table. Her house was quiet, maybe too quiet. She was dreading this, but she picked up the phone and started to call Jack from her contacts. She slammed down the phone before she did, rising to clean up and maybe unpack. She needed to unpack, but she also knew that was just delaying things.
Lisa stepped back to the table, and this time, she let the call connect.
"Jack," she said into the phone when he answered. She rubbed her temple as she stood there and quickly opted to sit down. She didn't know why she was almost sick to her stomach having to call him, but she felt better sitting down to talk. "It's Lisa."
"Lisa," Jack said, "I know who you are, and this fancy phone you got me last year tells me you are the one calling."
"Fancy phone?" Lisa asked, focusing on that instead of the call in hand. "Jack, I got you the most basic of phones. Your last one was terrible. Never mind," she said, rubbing her forehead again. "I simply told you who it was out of just sheer habit, not habit with you, just work. Also, after our last talk now a couple months ago, I figured you might have deleted my number. Things didn't exactly go well."
"You wanted to be my nurse. I didn't need a nurse," he told her.
"I didn't want to be your nurse! I told you that," she said, raising her voice as she spoke. She quickly stopped talking and let out her breath.
"Well, it seems silly to waste a long-distance phone call from France on arguing or even the silence on the phone," Jack told her.
"I'm calling because I feel we have things unsaid, Jack, and we need to discuss them," Lisa explained.
"Oh?" Jack asked. "Seems it was pretty clear a couple months ago."
"Yes, you were. You were going to Arizona by yourself. You made that clear. How was it? I mean, I assume you actually went, but even if you did, I wouldn't expect you to tell me how a trip really was. You'll just tell me it was wonderful, not that you hated it, the food, the people, the culture. Oh, wait, my mistake. That was France, but I can't imagine you traveling to Arizona is any different than France. It's travel, and you don't do travel," she sighed, shaking her head.
"Arizona was, well, hot," he started to say. "At least I could get a good steak."
"Hmm, yes, more red meat, just what you need after that heart attack, Jack. We could go in circles; we are going in circles, but I am calling, as I said, because I feel we need to talk."
"Talk or argue?" Jack asked. She heard him lightly chuckle on his end, which drove her crazy when they were arguing, but that was often his coping mechanism. He laughed to cover his true feelings.
"I'm back at Fairfield, for the moment," she blurted out and waited for him to answer. "We can argue all day on the phone, no long-distance charges, but I was calling to discuss getting together to talk."
"You called to talk about getting together to talk?" Jack asked.
"You heard me," she told him.
"When did you get back? You could have just stopped by here if you wanted to talk. You know the way," he told her. "I can put a pot of coffee on."
"No, I've done that plenty, Jack. I got in yesterday," she told him. Lisa had almost said last night, but she didn't want him to think she'd called him immediately, even if that was exactly what she had done. "I am asking if you would please stop by here to talk. I'm home, at least for now."
"What does that mean?" Jack asked.
"It means, because I'm sure you will hear," she said letting out a long sigh, thinking of her incredibly frustrating ex-husband probably already spreading information around town she was selling Fairfield. "I am selling Fairfield. I am here to work on that, the transaction."
The phone was silent again for several seconds. Lisa bit her lip, wondering if Jack was still there. The line showed they were still connected, but she finally started to speak. As she opened her mouth, he spoke.
"You're selling?" Jack asked. "Seems like your mind is made up, Lise."
"Are you going to come by or not?" Lisa blurted out. "Jack, my head is pounding. I'm tired, and I have a lot to do. Reaching out to you was one of those tasks, but if you think we are done talking, well, I can't convince you."
"I'll stop by, to Fairfield, I mean," Jack told her. "Suppose I know the way."
"I suppose you do," Lisa said in a sarcastic tone. "You do have that fancy phone with GPS if you have forgotten. It's not like you ever actually spent time here."
"I'll be there, after lunch, if that is okay with your busy schedule?" Jack asked. "I have an appointment with my cardiologist at 11:00, and well, if it's alright with you, I expect I will keep that appointment."
"Of course, Jack," Lisa said closing her eyes and tilting her head to the ceiling. "I would never ask you to change a doctor's appointment. After lunch is just fine."
"See you then," Jack told her, and before she could answer, he hung up the phone.
Lisa sat there, staring at her phone for several seconds before she nodded to herself, "Yes, I'll see you then, Jack."
She stood and shook her head all the way to her room where she was determined to start sorting through things. She did have a lot to do, and sitting around thinking about her talk with Jack wasn't helping anything right now.