Inseparable

Chapter 15: Jenny

After stopping along the way at several road houses and tourist attractions, I finally make it to San Marino at the end of the day and book into a motel to get some rest. I already feel that this road trip has been a good idea, as my mindset has already improved considerably since I left Los Angeles

I open up my laptop and write Stacy a quick email.

Dear Stacy, just wanted to let you know that I’m safe and that I have made it to San Marino. I’m going to stay around here for a couple of days and write some articles about the restaurants in the area. Will send you the drafts of my articles as soon as am done with it.

Love , Jenny.

I almost immediately get a reply back from her.

Hi darling, you should know that Brad has been around to the office and is urgently looking for you. I get the feeling that he’s hit the road on his Harley to come after you, so don’t be surprised if you run into him somewhere along the road. As far as the magazine is concerned, the next edition will be live tonight at 9 PM, so feel free to take a look!

Love, Stacy

PS: We could do with a couple of articles about some sushi restaurants, if you can find any.

I smile when I finish reading Stacy’s email. She’s always thinking ahead and, even though I’m not there to discuss next month’s edition with her, she’s already got a picture in her mind of what she thinks it should look like and what articles should be included in it. I wait up until 9 o’clock to take a look at the new magazine online and I absolutely love it! The articles really pop and Stacy has made sure that everything has been put together with vibrant colors and just the right amount of advertising on each webpage.

I close my laptop and feel ready to go to bed. My mind is a lot more relaxed now and I feel as if I will soon be ready to reconsider the whole thing with Brad carefully. I expect to have a good night’s rest, but keep having the same dream over and over… I find myself in various settings with Brad and every time I turn towards him to say something he suddenly disappears.

I wake up the next morning, and even though I’m slightly troubled by the recurrence of the same kind of dream about Brad which I have had all night, I feel refreshed and ready for the day.

I leave the motel and start looking for a sushi restaurant. I think that Stacy’s idea is a good one and I already have a rough framework in my mind for an article about delicious sushi. Even though I do my best to locate a sushi restaurant, I have no luck and eventually settle down to write a review about a local steakhouse. No one in the restaurant recognizes me, but the service is excellent and the juicy steak they bring me is so good that I cannot contain my satisfaction. I give the waiter a handsome tip and go back to my motel room to write a glowing article about the restaurant. I glance at my watch and notice that it’s around noon, so I decide to take a stroll through town to see what other places there are to see and visit.

I find a delightful coffee shop and go inside to order myself a cappuccino with foam and chocolate sprinkles. It’s absolutely delicious and I soon order another one. The coffee shop is situated right across a beautiful row of large oak trees and the setting is so beautiful that I end up spending a couple of hours there, just sitting and thinking about things.

I finally get around to considering my relationship with Brad and I now find myself thinking that I may have overreacted. Even though that bastard who came over to the office had no right to say to me what he did, I should at least have given Brad an opportunity to respond to his allegations. Perhaps it was all just a fabrication and I suddenly wished I could speak to Brad and discuss the whole thing with him. The one thing I suddenly know for certain is that I’m not ready to just let go of the relationship without at least speaking to Brad one last time. The magic of our connection requires me to at least talk to him… discuss things with him openly and see if there might be a way to carry on from here.

Later that afternoon I go back to my motel room and switch on the TV to see if there is anything nice to watch on cable. I find an old movie and start watching it. The strangest thing is that every single situation in the movie reminds me of Brad and me in a certain way. When the two main characters have a fight it reminds me of the way Brad and I used to experience conflict when he first started coming to my office. When the characters in the movie kiss and make up it makes me think of the day when Brad came to serenade me at the office and I finally gave him a chance.

“I wonder if every single thing I watch on TV from this day on is going to remind me of you?” I whisper to myself and switch the TV off when the movie is finished. I close my eyes and start thinking about all of the wonderful times Brad and I spent together at my apartment. I suddenly wish he could be right there next to me on the bed and I realize that everything seems less colorful and exciting without him in my life.

I fall asleep early and have a really good night’s rest. This time, I don’t dream of Brad… or if I do, I don’t remember it when I wake up the next morning. I decide to take a ride through town and look for other restaurants to try out. I feel fairly certain that there are no sushi restaurants close to my motel and hope that

I may locate some a little bit further away.

I really have a great time exploring the town and find many things that are very interesting and stimulating, but don’t manage to find a sushi restaurant, so I start driving back towards the motel at around noon. I decide to stop by the lovely coffee shop again and to have some more of those delicious cappuccinos. I park my BMW right in front of the place and walk inside to find a waiter. As soon as I’ve placed my order I walk outside and sit down at the same table where I had my coffee the previous day. When my cappuccino arrives I take a sip of it and the coffee tastes even better than the two I had yesterday.

I sit back in my chair and relax, staring across the street at the peaceful, large oak trees. When a shadow falls across my table I don’t think much of it at first, figuring that it’s probably just the waiter who has come around to see whether I’m ready for my next cappuccino.

“Fancy meeting a gorgeous girl like you with a fancy light blue BMW in a small little town like this,” a familiar voice speaks up from next to my table. At first I don’t register why I recognized the voice… but then it slowly dawns upon me. I look up and there he stands…

It’s Brad!

Without thinking I jump up and throw my arms around him.

“Oh Brad, I’ve missed you so much!” I say and before I know it the tears are running down my cheeks. Brad leans down and kisses all the wetness from my face.

“I don’t know what happened baby, but I’m so glad I found you,” he says and kisses me intimately for the longest time.

“It was so terrible… I couldn’t understand why the guy said all of those terrible things… he said you were just using me,” I stutter, but Brad kisses me and places his finger over my lips.

“I spoke to Stacy and she told me that some guy showed up at the office and said some terrible things about me… but I want you to know that, whatever he said to you, it was all just lies and I’m not afraid to tell you, right here and right now, that I love you. I really love you from the bottom of my heart, Jenny, and I am going to do everything within my power to protect you and keep you happy!”

I look straight in his eyes and can tell that he means every word he’s just said to me. I suddenly have no doubt in my own heart anymore and my voice is steady as I reply, “I love you too Brad… I really love you!”

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur and all I can remember is that Brad goes over to my motel room with me and help me pack my things. Then we drive over to a fancy five-star hotel and begin to the penthouse suite.