highs harder, his mouth not moving until she finished.
He finally stopped and Julie could only lie there silently as her brain started to function normally again, and her conscience –eccentric though it was—began to weigh on her.
"I hate that you just did that," she finally said.
"Didn't seem like it," he responded.
She hated that arrogant response, too. "I don't love you," she stated plainly. "I never have. And I'm leaving you tomorrow."
All he could do was stare at her as she closed her laptop and sat it on the floor by the bed, then she rolled over and closed her eyes, by all appearances going to sleep.
---
Jack was gone already when she woke up, because he had to open at work. She took advantage of his absence to call Matt on his lunch break and ask him what was going on, hoping he had resolved the plan with Emma.
"Did you get a chance to bring it up?" she asked a bit awkwardly, still reluctantly thinking about their reunion after a weekend apart.
"Yeah," he answered easily. "I told her the situation, that you broke up with Jack and now you don't have a place to live, so I suggested that you come stay in the guest room. It would be more convenient anyway, to my thinking."
"And…?"
"I don't think she liked the idea very much," he said.
Julie sighed, a lump of dread forming in her stomach. "Great."
"Doesn't matter though," he told her. "I convinced her that it’s in her own best interest, although it still took some bartering. Would you be at all open to a pay decrease?"
She would be satisfied to keep getting paid at all, but she didn't say that. "How much?"
"She wants to only pay you a flat rate of $200 a week, because she claims we have to pay for your room and board now, so it's only fair."
It was quite a pay cut, but she didn’t have much of a choice. "I suppose I'll have to take it," she said. "I already told Jack I was leaving him, so… when can I move in?"
"When do you want to move in?" he asked.
"As soon as humanly possible; I don’t want to be here another minute," she stated.
"How does 6:30 sound? I can come help you get your stuff so we only have to make the one trip and we'll get you settled in."
"I suppose that's fine," she said.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noting her lack of enthusiasm.
She laughed a little. "What isn't? Yeah, 6:30 will be fine. Will she be home?"
"She should be. I'm hoping she is so she can keep Anna while we move you in."
"And you're coming here?" she asked, realizing for the first time that meant Matt and Jack would probably be there at the same time.
"That's the plan," he said abruptly. "But hey, I have to go. I'll call you later."
"Okay," she said hurriedly, responding to his sudden rush. "Bye."
Julie sighed and closed her cell phone, then she went back to packing her things, trying not to dread what Jack might say to Matt in the coming evening.
---
As Julie finished packing her things that day, she battled herself over what had taken place with Jack. She felt really guilty about it, even though she wasn't sure if the guilt was appropriate. Matt was married, after all, and she told herself she was sure he had probably done things she wouldn't want to know about with Emma, too—best not to think about those things. On top of that, she had tried to stop Jack, he just wouldn’t listen.