"Well, you've piqued my interest. What did you find in your closet?" Lisa finally asked him after they were home and settled back in at Heartland. Her arrival had been greeted with hugs and 'welcome home' from the girls. Lyndy had made her a picture, one she'd put on the refrigerator, and Katie had pulled her aside to ask about going shopping the next weekend. She adored spending time with all of them, but her relationship with Katie was extra special because she was her goddaughter. Long ago, after she'd married Jack and things had been settled with Georgie being adopted, Lou had told Lisa she considered her the godmother to both girls, which was flattering, and she'd spent her share of time helping to raise Georgie, especially when Lou was away so much opening her restaurant and all, but Georgie was grown and gone. Things with Katie had always had that extra layer of 'special' over the years. Now though, after she'd been greeted, after Lou and Amy had been all smiles, telling Lisa that Jack did a good thing coming to surprise her, the couple was finally left to themselves for the evening where they'd now retired to the side porch, just off their bedroom.
Now that she had her tea and had given Jack his, she looked at him, wondering what the topic of conversation would now be this evening. There was no telling what he'd found. She generally left his closet alone, the master bedroom set up with two stand-alone closets, Jack years ago making sure Lisa had the much bigger one, but with that design, she'd kept to hers, and he'd mainly kept to his. Sure, they both did laundry and put things away in the other's closet, or had before his accident. Since then, she'd been doing all the laundry, which meant she was obviously in his closet to hang up clothing and such, but aside from that or digging out luggage, the contents of the closets were mostly left to the owner.
Jack reached toward his back pocket or under where he was sitting, very much prepared for this conversation. Lisa watched as he pulled out the topic of discussion, noting he must have retrieved it from the bedroom while she made the tea.
He spoke quietly, glancing at her as he held it out, "I found this in my closet, in a box, along with some cards, notes, letters-all from you. I read through everything, and that helped a lot. I got more of an idea of who we were as a couple, not that you haven't done a good job telling me story after story, but cards and letters tell a lot. This, though," he handed to her, "I thought deserved a conversation."
Lisa's eyes widened at the sight, and she felt her breath caught in her throat. She shook her head and looked at him, almost unable to talk, "You found this?" He nodded, and she gestured at it, "I didn't know you even had that. You've never mentioned it."
"I haven't?" Jack raised an eyebrow at her, and she was sure her shocked expression told the story that no, she didn't know he had this. Lisa felt her hand shaking as she reached for it, knowing exactly what it was.
"No, I had no idea you ever got this. You never said," she sighed, her hand running over the envelope, Lisa noting her own handwriting on it, the "Par Avion" stamp on it, her return address in Toulon there in the corner. She looked up and found Jack staring at her. Lisa let out a long breath.
"Clearly, there is something to discuss with this, and if I never told you about it-"
"Ahh," she shook her head, still holding the envelope. "I sent this to you, but I never heard about it, assuming it was lost or something. Not long after I sent it, I got the call you'd had your heart attack, so I came home. This was back before we were married, those months we were broken up."
"I gathered that from reading the letter," he nodded, his eyes studying her.
She sat there, staring at the envelope, an envelope she hadn't seen in years and years, one that she never expected to see again, one that she was shocked he'd held onto and not mentioned. She looked back over at Jack.
"Sorry, this has really taken me by surprise as well, brought up a lot of memories," she nodded, pursing her lips.
"I hope you will share them since I'm at the receiving end of those memories."
"Umm, yes," she nodded, clearing her throat as she swallowed hard. She shifted in her chair, moving her tea as she pulled out the letter, one she'd written in France where she remembered being so lonely, heartbroken, and just in desperate hope of getting her cowboy back. "You and I had broken up. I've told you we did. We got to this point where we were at an impasse; we didn't see a way forward, and you couldn't give me an answer about our future. We'd been together almost six years then, had talked about getting married early on and hadn't, as I told you, had talked about buying a property together, but didn't. A lot blew up on us then from the trip we took to France. You finally came to France after I'd asked you for years and then hadn't told me how much you didn't like it, not until I suggested we buy a vacation house there together. Anyway," she waved her hand, "we seemed to argue about everything-France, our future, what would define us as a couple, Georgie-"
"You've mentioned that was an issue, my taking in Georgie, and I hadn't told you," Jack stated, and Lisa nodded, swallowing hard again as her hand still shook looking at the letter.
"So, we went our separate ways with no plan. I'd hoped we could work out something, but," she shook her head, wiping at a stray tear this memory brought with it. "Ahh, I was in France for months, miserable the entire time," she said, giving him a teary-eyed smile. "I really missed you. We've always had this connection, always been able to talk to one another, and it was just really lonely," she nodded. "I didn't know how to stop loving you; I really didn't. Honestly, what finally prompted me to this letter is kind of a funny story."
"How so?" Jack asked, eyeing her with a gesture. "I'm not sure I get funny out of you sounding so miserable with a broken heart in France."
"Hmm, yes," she nodded. "Well, ahh, as I know I wrote in the letter, and," she leaned toward him, "I do want to read it in a minute, but I am pretty sure I remember it by heart since it took me days to finally finish it, but as I know, I wrote that I wondered if there was a way we could bridge this gap between us. The funny story, what prompted me to finally write out and send the letter, was an online dating profile."
Jack gave her a quizzical look and shook his head, "A what? Online dating?"
"Mmm hmm," she nodded, crossing her arms as she shifted. "I know this sounds crazy," she leaned toward him, "but you actually had an online dating profile."
"I did not!" Jack exclaimed, now horrified. "That definitely doesn't sound like me," he huffed.
"I know," she reached over and patted his hand. "I didn't think so either until it was staring me in the face, and it didn't make sense until later when we got a good laugh about it, but Mallory saw how lonely and depressed you were-see, we were both miserable. She set it up."
"Now that does sound like Mallory," he rolled his eyes. "Still, you saw it? Didn't you say you were in France?"
"I was," she nodded. "My sister set up mine, without my knowing too, until she sent me all of the login information," she rolled her eyes. "She'd met her second and third husband that way, which should have been my red flag. Anyway, the only reason this all came to light is that you and I were each other's top match."
"No kidding," Jack said, jerking his head back as he looked at her. Lisa noted his expression was almost horrifying, and she frowned, nodding at him.
"You don't have to be so horrified."
"No, no," he shook his head. "I'm not horrified. I suppose in all of this it's kind of interesting to me. I've spent the last, what seven weeks now, trying to figure out how the two of us go together, and you're telling me that some computer program said we were also each other's top match? Now, I'm not one at all for that kind of dating-what's wrong with the old fashioned way, say a dance or a barbecue," he gestured with his hand, "but that is quite interesting to me that as different as we might have been and the age difference, the circles we ran in, you're telling me that we were each other's top match?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you, and at the time, it was heartbreaking. There you were, on my screen. I had no idea Mallory had set it up, and you've since told me that you didn't realize my sister had set up my account. So both of us were miserable, apparently being told we should get out there and date, being told that this online dating would open up the doors to a lot of new people, and bam, we're staring at each other on our screens, an ocean apart."
"That is almost hard to believe," he sighed, nodding. "So, the letter?"
"Right," she sighed, nodding back at him. "The online dating profile popped up a couple weeks before I sent the letter. It took me all that time to get over the idea that you were possibly seeing other women, and I really struggled with what to say, even though I just wanted to say that I loved you and wanted you back in my life, whatever that meant."
"So, the dating profiles popped up, matching us," he gestured with his hand, "and you decided to put an end to our nonsense."
"That's exactly what happened, or what I hoped would happen. I sent the letter and waited. I never heard another word about it, so sitting here, holding it," she said holding it gingerly in her hand as she shook her head, "it's really a surprise."
"Well, take a look," he gestured. "I found more with it."
Lisa eyed him suspiciously and shook her head. "What do you mean?" She started to open it as she explained, glancing at him, "I just sent the letter. Really, you have never mentioned it, and with your heart attack and all, I assumed it got lost somewhere. That was a mess of a time for a couple months. I came home, we planned a trip to Arizona for you to recover and for our relationship to also recover, we fought, you called off the trip, and I finally left-for good. What did you find?" Lisa pulled out the letter, and tucked in it was more paperwork. She gingerly opened it, her hands now shaking. She glanced over at Jack, but his face gave nothing away.
"I never told you about this?" Jack raised an eyebrow at Lisa, continuing, "None of it?"
"No," she said, her voice now in its higher pitch as her eyes widened, looking at what was tucked into the letter. "A plane ticket?"
He shrugged, "It is, I mean, yeah, but I don't remember that at all."
"It's a ticket to France, for you," she looked at him, shaking her head. "You went to town to the travel agent and bought a ticket to France. This date," she nodded, "it's for the day after you had your heart attack. You never said a word, Jack. What is this?" Lisa was almost in panic mode, shaking her head as she read over the entirety of the ticket. It most definitely was a plane ticket, the paperwork for one at least, and right there, front and central was Jack's name on airline paperwork. She held it in her hand and looked back over at him, "This is a ticket from Calgary to Marseille. You were going to fly to Marseille? That's an hour and a half from the house in Toulon, the closest airport." She shook her head, mumbling on, "I mean, sometimes I fly in and out of Paris, sometimes with the train to Toulon, sometimes a connection to Marseille. You flew to Paris when you came over before because I was still there. I can't believe this. You were going to come to France?"
Jack made a face and gestured, "I really, really wish I could remember this and tell you what was going through my stupid brain. I'm clearly an idiot, and hearing that I never told you, not that it would have made a huge difference since I did have that heart attack-"
"It would have made a big difference, to me," she said with a sad look on her face, shaking her head before she dropped it there, the letter and the ticket on her lap. "It would have mattered. It does matter. You were going to come to France to fix things. That's all I wanted, I mean, not that you had to come, but you have no idea what it means to know, even now, that you were going to get on a plane and come to France. I didn't give it a second thought to get on a plane and come home when Tim called to tell me about your heart attack, and in fact," she held up the paperwork, "I flew this flight, I mean, in reverse, that day, that same day you were going to fly according to this. I flew from Marseille to Calgary, and even my flight was through Amsterdam, just like this itinerary states. Jack, do you what this means? You wanted to fix things as much as I did, and as much as you hate traveling and hate France-"
"I was going to put all that aside and go get you," he nodded. "I wanted things to work out."
"Yes," she said quietly, wiping at her eye, finally looking to him with a sad smile. "It wasn't just one-sided, wasn't just my putting forth the effort. You wanted to bridge that gap we had, to make us work. Oh," she sighed, "how this could have saved so much heartache, if only you'd been able to come or I'd even known. I really wish your old self had told me this. A small part of me wondered if it was just me, if you were really able to commit to me, if you were still on some level stuck in your own past-"
"Lisa, I'm so sorry," he reached over and pulled at her hand, clasping it in hers. His sad eyes conveyed that too, and he pulled at their joined hands and kissed hers. "Even I am listening to this thinking that I was terrible for not telling you. I mean, I just up and bought a ticket, and granted, I had a heart attack and couldn't use it, but even when you came back, I didn't say anything?"
"No," she frowned, "you didn't." She looked at the paperwork in her lap, pulling it up to examine it again, but holding it out where she could read it. She sighed, dropping the letter and looking at Jack who was quietly studying her. "I remember writing all of this." She picked up the ticket, shaking her head as she looked it over again. With a nod to Jack, she cleared her throat and wiped at her eye, "Thank you for showing me this. I can't tell you what it means to know about this, even now. It doesn't change how much I love you, but I suppose it makes me feel that I was wanted too. You didn't just plan to let me be, and even though it's hard to put into words, I want you to know that this makes me feel very much loved and treasured."
"I had no idea," he shook his head. "It was just in a shoe box in the closet."
She raised an eyebrow, "The boot box on your floor?"
"Yeah, why?" Jack asked.
"Nothing," she sighed, shaking her head again. "I've seen that box there for years, assuming it actually had a pair of work boots in it. It's right there in plain sight-"
"Yeah, I know. I thought the same and found it full of your cards, letters, and a few other things I've apparently kept to remind me of you, few old pictures of us too."
"I'd really like to see it if you don't mind showing me, maybe tomorrow? It's getting late."
"You're welcome to see it all," he shrugged. "I mean, you wrote it or participated in everything in there, so of course."
She gave him a sad smile and groaned as she stood, gesturing to their bedroom. "It's getting late, and I'm tired from my trip. I am going to get ready for bed. Thank you, Jack," she said, her eyes meeting his as she stepped around him and squeezed his shoulder. Jack reached up and clasped her hand in his, his eyes meeting hers.
"Lise, I can't undo the past or change how things were, and I know I can't remember anything about you or us. I am trying, but I do want you to know that more and more each day, I am seeing what a wonderful woman you are."
She stood there, her hand on his shoulder, his hand over hers, and she felt the tears start falling. She closed her eyes and put her hand to her face, an audible sob escaping.
"I am not trying to upset you," he sighed, squeezing her hand.
"No, it's not that," she shook her head and opened her eyes, trying to talk over her sobs, those eyes of hers meeting his. She smiled warmly at him with a nod, "You called me Lise. That is the first you have called me that since your accident. You are the only one who calls me that, and I very much enjoyed hearing you call me that again. You may not remember anything about me, but that feels the most like my cowboy since your accident."
This story isn't over yet, but I always start to put together my next story idea in my mind before I write it. I'm open to story suggestions. If you have any, please feel free to send a private message. I'm not going to write M rated content, and I do like stories that allow me to weave in parts of the actual storyline if possible. I've covered a lot of different stories so far and am trying not to repeat myself either, but I also prefer Lisa/Jack stories. I feel like I've studied their characters and know them better than others to make the center of a story. Thanks so much for all of the comments. I love writing and am glad a few enjoy reading it!