Chapter 116 - Our Time, Our Way

 The silence and the blank stare was too much for Jon to take.  He could see that Monica didn't believe a word that he just said, and that hurt him more than what the radio interview had. 

 

 With his appetite gone and his stress level higher than what it should be for a famous man on a break, he could see that they were going nowhere fast, and they were teetering on going backwards.  "I'm going to grab a few things and go to my parents house.  There is no way that any of this will get solved today.  I'm sorry that I upset your morning."  He stands up and takes care of his unfinished cereal and sets his bowl in the sink.  With the water running, to rinse out his bowl he tells his wife, "You know where I'll be if you need me."

 

"Jon..." Monica pleads, but not very hard.  "You don't have to leave.  I can go to my parents."

 

He turns around and looks at her, shocked by what she had said, "That's what you want to say to me?  That you'll leave?" he's getting even more upset, in disbelief that she is really taking this road.  "Neither one of us should be leaving, Monica.  We should be working this out and putting it behind us."

 

"You act like the best thing to do is to forget that it happened."

"It is!" he snaps.  "This is crazy, Mon."

 

"What's crazy is that we are even in this situation, that you even believe for one second that this is even possible."

 

"Jon, you're right - wee shouldn't argue about it, but I can't act like it never happened.  I can still hear that bitch and what she said."

 

"None of which is true." he's done.  He can see that this is a fight that won't end in one day, hell, he's not even sure that it will end in this decade.  She believes the worst of him, in the worst time of their life.  He leaves her sitting in the kitchen and heads into their bedroom.

 

The curtains are open and so are the windows.  Jon can see the neighbors in the back yard.  He pauses to watch them push their daughter in her makeshift tire swing, and he's reminded that that is something that he wanted to do with their baby.  It was a vision that he had when they were expecting.  He shakes it off and focuses his attention back to his task at hand. 

 

As he enters the walk in, he is hit with the smell of Monica's perfume and it makes him smile. It's always made him smile.  He grabs a duffle bag and starts packing by throwing shoes in the bottom of the bag.  When he has his desired tennis shoes and cowboy boots in the bottom of his bag, he starts to pull clothes off hangers and cramming them in on top.  All the while, he keeps looking over his shoulder and hoping that Monica will come in and apologize for believing that he could ever do anything like that to hurt her, to hurt them.  As he finishes packing his clothes, he quickly grabs what he wants out of their bathroom, accepting that she isn't going to see the truth, and even less, she isn't going to admit that she could be wrong.

 

"I'm out of here.  I'll be at my parents if you need me." he says to her, with his hand on the kitchen door.  She doesn't even look at him.  She's sitting at the kitchen table where he left her just before he started to pack.  The door creaks open and when it's open far enough for him and his bag to exit, looking over to her, he adds, "I love you." 

 

He gets into his car, that's parked on the street and drives just the few miles to his parents house.  As he passed Richie's, he thought that he should stop and talk to him, but he reminds himself that Richie and Monica's relationship was far more important to him than it would be to just vent.  He knows that Monica will need Richie and he has no desire to infringe upon their friendship. 

When he gets to his mothers house, he pulls his car into the driveway as far as he can.  He feels that the world does not need to know that he and his wife are having problems.  It was bad enough that he now had to go in and tell his mom that there is no working it out at this point.   

"What are you doing back here so soon, Jonny?" Carol asks as he walk in the door.  "Was Monica not up yet?"   

Jon plops his duffle bag on the table and when Carol realizes what that packed bag means, Jon tells her "She was up and wasn't willing to talk."  He takes a seat at the table with his mom.  She's sitting there reading the paper, having coffee in the peace and quiet, but Jon continues with, "Hell ma, she didn't even want to listen, so rather than beating a dead horse, I grabbed some clothes and got the hell out of there."

 

"And she let you leave?"  Mrs. B is appalled.  "She let you pack a bag and leave??"

 

Jon nods his head, watching his mother get up to get him a cup of coffee, "She didn't stop me and when I told her that I loved her as I walked out the door, she said nothing."

 

"Nothing?"

 

"Not a word."  Mrs. B pours he son a cup of coffee and places it in front of him, "Thanks ma."

"Are you hungry dear?" she asks her favorite son, "I could scramble you some eggs."

 "I'm good."

"You need to eat."

"I couldn't eat, if I wanted to." he admits, "She has my stomach in knots."

"I know, honey."

"I don't think you do." he sips his coffee, "My wife thinks I cheated on her and got another woman pregnant.  There is no worse feeling in the world than knowing that the one person that means the most to you, the one person that you would die for thinks that you cheated.  It's heart wrenching, ma." 

"I know that she's upset, you gotta remember that the interview is still pretty raw and she can't remember anything from that time."

 

"So it's okay that she thinks that I did that, and that I did it at the worst possible time!?  I don't think so mom."  Jon doesn't like that he just snapped at his mother, but at this time in his life - he needs the support of his people.  "I'm sorry."