The Best Thing ch 6-8 {JB}

by Victoria L. on January 22, 19100 at 09:49:16:

Hello, everyone! I got a lot of email requests for this one so I thought I'd just post it this morning. I hope you all let me know what you think.
Happy reading!
Victoria L.

Chapter 6

Jax walked into the Java House, his eyes already looking for Brenda. She was
in the back, though, and he only found Denise. As he made his way to the
counter, his scarf slipped off, and fell to the floor beside the woman’s chair.
She looked up briefly at him, and then reached down at the same time as Jax
and their fingers locked briefly. She blushed and looked away momentarily,
before handing him his scarf.
“There you are,” she said, “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, it was my fault,” Jax said, a little shocked at the woman’s classic
and natural beauty. She gave him a wonderful smile and he thought he had to
sit down, all of a sudden. Instead, he extended his hand. “Jasper Jacks,” he
said, taking her hand in his and noticing immediately its softness and warmth.
“Gwyneth,” she said, “Gwyneth Stonecypher.”
“It’s wonderful to meet you,” he said, flashing her his million dollar
smile.
“And you,” she said, beaming uncontrollably. They noted each other’s
accents.
“Australia,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “And you, London?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Good ear.” Then came the inevitable moment of
silence. They hadn’t planned to meet, and no matter what spark had flashed
between them, he wasn’t there to see her, and she wasn’t there to see him.
He was here to see another classic, natural beauty, decidedly darker in nature,
and the moment he thought of her, he was brought back to reality.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me,”
“Of course,” she said, stepping out of his way.
“Thanks for getting my scarf.”
“No problem,” she said, laughing a little. Jax stared at her, all the way
up to the counter. Denise leaned against the counter, smiling knowingly at
Jax.
“What’s that look for?” he asked, hoping she hadn’t seen the little
exchange.
“Oh, nothing,” Denise said, pretending not to know what he was
talking about. Just when Jax thought she was going to let him get away with
it, she asked. “Who was that, Jax?” Just then, Jax turned around in time to see
the woman gathering her things and heading out of the Java House, glancing
back once to smile prettily at Jax.
“Hmm?” he said. Denise cleared her throat and then he turned around,
looking guilty about something. “Oh, her. That was--that was someone I’m
sure, but I have no idea who it was.”
“Didn’t you get her name?” Denise asked. “I mean, you two sure were
talking a while for you not to have asked her name.”

“We weren’t talking that long,” Jax said defensively, “but I do
remember her name now. It was Gwyneth Stone-something or other. I don’t
remember, but I will never forget that face.”
“Oh,” Denise said, pretending to be listening to Jax, but really thinking
that he hadn’t had this particular look on his face before. She was about to
question him further when Brenda came out from the back. Her face was
dusted with a little bit of flour, but she looked so cute to Jax when she smiled
at him, he had to smile back instead of laugh.
“Hey you,” she said, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you,” Jax said.
“Really?” Brenda asked, feeling her heart beat a little faster at the
thought of Jax wanting to see her. She had to reprimand herself mentally and
focus on his words instead of his lips.

“We closed the deal,” Jax was saying. “It went through!”
“OH!” Denise and Brenda both said at the same time. Denise reached
over the counter to pull Jax into a hug, and Brenda actually moved around the
corner to hug Jax closer. He picked her up off her feet for a second and she
squealed and then kissed him quickly on the lips. They both paused a split
second, before Brenda said, “Wow, congratulations. Of course, I have no idea
what the deal was about, but oh, I know how important it was to you, and I’m
so glad that it went through for you.”
“Yes, congratulations, Jax. We’re both proud of you, excited for you.”
Before Denise could go on, she got another customer. While Denise took
care of the customer, Brenda pulled Jax aside and hugged him again. She
secretly just wanted the feel of his arms around her again, but he didn’t seem
to mind. He gave her another bear hug, and while still holding her, he
whispered into her ear, and she felt his breath warming her neck.
“I was hoping you’d celebrate with me tonight.”
“Celebrate? Um, how?”

“Well the girls will be there, but I thought you could come over to our
place and bring Jody, we’ll eat junk food, pig out, and rent a couple of movies
of our own to watch when the kids go to sleep. It could be a sleepover of
sorts.”
“In the middle of the week?” Brenda asked.
“Well I took the rest of the week off,” Jax said, “besides, just because
we’re parents doesn’t mean that we have to reserve our celebrations for the
weekends.” Brenda laughed at his comment.
“Actually, that’s exactly what it means. The kids would be up later,
we’d be exhausted, I have the same shift tomorrow as I did today, there’s no
way we’d be here early enough to open the shop, get the kids off, I’m sorry
Jax, it just wouldn’t work.”

“Party pooper,” Jax said, sulking.
“Besides,” Brenda said, trying to give him a better excuse, “We have that
party tonight, and I have to help Denise, and Carly’s coming in too, tonight’s
just not a good night.” Jax nodded, fully understanding her reasons. “But,”
Brenda said merrily, “Promise me that you’ll drink a whole bottle of
champagne in my honor.”

“Well maybe not a whole bottle,” Jax said, smiling brightly, “but a glass
or two, definitely, in your honor, dearest.”
“Thank you,” Brenda said, putting her hand to his face to cup his cheek.
“So, are you off work now?”
“Well since you declined my offer,” Jax said, “I thought I’d go back to
the office, or home, until it’s time to get my girls and then I’ll just celebrate
with them.”
“Oh no,” Brenda said, “you should still celebrate. I can’t watch the girls
tonight, but pay the baby-sitter extra and take some time for yourself. You
really deserve it.”
“Maybe I will,” Jax said. “It’d be kind of good to get out and see some
people my own age, for once.”

“Good,” Brenda said, feeling a little light headed from him staring at her
that way. She stood on her toes to look over his shoulder. “Uh-oh, I should go
and help Denise out. How did she know I’d need her help today? I don’t
know what I’d do without her.”
“Me either,” Jax said. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later, I’m going to see if I
can get a little work done, and then I promise to celebrate in your honor.”
“In your honor,” Brenda insisted. “You’re the one who closed the deal.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Jax said.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. You’re pretty brilliant, even without my
assistance.” They both laughed at her arrogance, and then she kissed him on
the cheek once more before scurrying behind the counter to help Denise
with a rush of customers.

Later on that evening, Brenda and Denise had just finished wiping
down the tables in the Java House and when Carly came in, she noticed how
empty everything was, so she turned around and put up the “closed” sign.
“Hey you all,” she said, sighing to herself and hanging up her coat. “So,
what do I need to do?”
“Uh,” Brenda said, standing up and wiping the sweat from her
forehead, “why don’t you check on what’s in the oven, and put out a tray or
two for me, and then would you mind sweeping? I’m going to finish these
tables and then check on some coffee beans. Denise will you--”
“I’m already on my way,” Denise said, heading back to check on the
wine and other alcoholic beverages.

The party was successful and well underway when Jax came in. He
looked around and saw Brenda talking with some official looking people. He
had no idea what the party was for, but apparently it was a group of teachers
having a celebration of some sort. Brenda was breathtaking, Jax thought. Her
hair was down, and it fell to the middle of her back, crinkled slightly. She
wore a black sweater set and a black skirt that had small white flowers
printed on it and some strappy heels. She laughed at some joke and brushed
her hair behind her ear in that lovable way of hers. He was about to walk
over towards her when he bumped into Gwyneth again.
“Oh dear, excuse me,” she said, turning around to stare and be caught
up in those magnificent eyes of his. She mesmerized him as well.
“That’s all right,” he said, his voice catching in his throat.
“Are you here for the teacher’s celebration?” she asked, raising an
eyebrow. “You don’t look like a teacher.”
“Well that’s because I’m not,” Jax said, shaking her hand again, slowly,
and with an emphasis on not particularly wanting to let go. “I run a company
out of Port Charles with my father and my brother. J&J Jacks. We’re--well we
raid companies you could say.” She nodded knowingly, smiling at him. “And
you?” Jax asked.

“Me?” she said, forgetting what they were talking about, watching the
way his lips moved and the strong comfort she got from just holding his
hand. “Oh, I am a teacher,” she said, motioning to others around the room.
“At PC High?” Jax asked.
“Oh no, I’m at the elementary school. I teach kindergarten and first
grade. It’s my first week actually, I just moved here from London.”
“Really? Why Port Charles?”
“Oh, I had intended to move to New York City, but I was on a drive one
day and the further out I drove, the more I loved it, so I picked Port Charles
when a teaching position opened up. I’ve been in the states for about two
years now, but I just moved here.”
“Well, welcome to the neighborhood as they say,” Jax said, still holding
her hand.

Before Jax could even finish his conversation, Brenda noticed him. She
smiled and moved to walk towards him when she noticed the woman he was
with. She was the woman from before, wasn’t she? She had that long lovely
hair half pinned up, the rest of it gliding down her back. She had on a light
blue spaghetti strap dress with a white wrap hanging loosely from her arms.
She looked lovely, Brenda thought. Jax certainly seemed to think so. Just
then, she turned around and Denise passed her with a tray of cookies. Denise
eyed Jax suspiciously and then Brenda gave her a tiresome look.
“Don’t even go there,” Brenda said. Denise was still looking past
Brenda at the exchange going on between Jax and the mystery woman.
“Mm-hmm,” Denise said, “You want me to go find out for you?” she
asked.

“Please,” Brenda said, sighing, and taking the tray from her. She
mumbled a thank you, and Denise replied,
“Anytime, girlfriend.” Denise straightened her vest and smoothed her
black slacks. She headed straight for Jax and stepped in between Jax and the
woman. She linked her arm through Jax’s and smiled up at him.
“Hey, Jax! What are you doing here? Did you come to surprise me?
Brenda, maybe?”

Hey, everyone! I know that I said Love For All Seasons was coming out next, but I got a little writer's block on that one, so I decided to give you guys a different story. That's okay, right? : ) Let me know what you think.
Victoria L.

Chapter 7

Denise straightened her vest and smoothed her black slacks. She headed
straight for Jax and stepped in between Jax and the woman. She linked her
arm through Jax’s and smiled up at him.
“Hey, Jax! What are you doing here? Did you come to surprise me?
Brenda, maybe?”
“Uh,” Jax fumbled for the words, and then Denise just extended her
hand.
“Hello there, Denise Walker, part owner of this little establishment
here. Are you enjoying the party?”
“ Gwyneth Stonecypher, and oh yes, it’s quite wonderful, thank you,”
Gwyneth said, extending her hand. Denise shook it and gave her a smile. She
then turned back to look at Jax.

“So, have you seen Brenda yet?” Jax looked at Denise with a warning
and then searched the room for Brenda. He saw her disappearing into the
back as Carly came out.
“No, I haven’t seen her yet,” Jax said, giving Denise yet another ‘back
off’ look.
“So,” Denise said, moving even closer to Jax, “are you new in town?”
“Yes actually,” Gwyneth replied, giving Denise her attention. “I’ve only
been in town for a few weeks, and this is my first week as a teacher at Port
Charles elementary. I’m a kindergarten teacher.”
“How charming,” Denise said, plastering on her best smile. Jax cleared
his throat and gave her another nudge. “Well, I’ll just send Brenda over when
I see her again. She’s working so hard, you know. This place is really her
baby.”

“Oh,” Gwyneth said, “I’ll make sure and tell her what a wonderful job
she’s done.” For some reason, Denise didn’t doubt her sincerity at her words.
As she made her way to Brenda with a tray of champagne glasses, Brenda
looked at her conspiratorially.
“So? What’d you find out?”
“Well, she’s a serial killer, she’s got 15 cats, smells like one, and she’s
got three illegitimate children.” Brenda looked over at the woman as Denise
spoke and nodded her head disapprovingly.
“I should have known,” Brenda said. “How’d you get her to admit all of
that to you so quickly?” Denise gave Brenda a look that brought her back to
reality. Brenda stuck her tongue out at Denise. “Very funny. Fine, what’d you
really find out this time?”
“Well I wish I could say that there was something wrong with her, but
she’s perfectly nice. In fact, I really like her. She’s British, I could tell that
from her accent, and she’s a teacher at the elementary school, this is her first
week and she’s only been in PC a few weeks longer than that.”
“Is that it?” Brenda asked, hoping Denise picked up on something
terrible.
“That’s it,” Denise said, “and from what I could tell, Jax is very smitten
with her.”

“Good,” Brenda nodded, not sounding at all like she meant it. “I’m
happy for him,” Brenda said, taking a drink from one of the champagne
glasses. Denise took the tray from her and laughed.
“Chill, girlfriend, he’s only talking with her. It’s not like they’re getting
married or anything.” Brenda wasn’t so sure as she looked at them. Jax had
‘that’ look on his face. It was a look she’d seen once before, a long time ago
when he’d asked her out and she’d shot him down as easily as she could.
After that, they’d agreed to be friends and had become the best of such. Now
though, he had that look on his face again and she could tell that whatever
they were discussing, it had to be pretty interesting because Jax was leading
her over to a table and they were sitting, smiling, laughing occasionally and
deep in discussion. It hurt Brenda slightly that Jax hadn’t spoken to her yet,
but she ignored her hurt feelings and continued to work the party, being the
charming hostess.

Brenda had lost track of Jax a long time ago, and as a few of these
buttoned up teachers began getting a little “loose”, she hurried around, trying
to keep the champagne glasses filled, and wondered if anyone would ever
start asking for coffee. She blew past Jax with a tray of empty champagne
glasses, but he stood up and lightly grabbed her elbow.
“Brenda, there you are, love.” She looked up at Jax in amazement for a
moment, and then she sighed, realizing that it was only him, not someone
wanting another glass of champagne.
“Oh, Jax, hey,” she said breathlessly.
“How are you?” Jax asked.
“Working very hard it appears,” Gwyneth said. She stood and smiled at
Brenda. “It’s really a wonderful party. You’ve done an excellent job.”
“Thank you,” Brenda said, smiling involuntarily and shifting from one
foot to the other. Well, there certainly didn’t seem to be anything wrong with
her. She was even more beautiful up close. She was charming, and elegant,
everything Brenda thought she wasn’t. Jax was already charmed by her, that
much at least, Brenda could tell. Before the conversation could turn
awkward, Carly came up to Brenda, and tried to rescue her.

“Brenda, why don’t I take that tray and you can help me with the
coffee? I’ve had a few requests already.” Brenda gave her a ‘thank you’ look
and was about to leave with her when Jax put a hand on her shoulder.
“Oh, wait a moment, will you? Carly, you and Denise can handle things
by yourselves for just a few minutes, can’t you? I’d like to talk to Brenda a
moment. Please?” There was no way Carly, Brenda, or Gwyneth was going to
deny Jax anything as long as he was looking at them like that.

“Sure,” Carly said, giving in. “Brenda, I’ll be in the back for about ten
minutes, but Denise looks like she’s got everything under control for a while.”
Brenda nodded, and turned back to Jax, folding her arms across her chest.
She already knew what he wanted, and he knew that SHE knew it. He wanted
her to size up Gwyneth and tell him what she thought later on. Brenda was a
little dismayed that things were growing so serious between them so quickly.
He’d only just met her a moment ago, hadn’t he? They were acting like old
friends. Brenda shook all thought from her mind and sat in the chair Jax was
holding out for her. The conversation was light and pleasant. Gwyneth
regaled them with stories of her childhood and life in London, England. For a
while she had lived in Hastings, and when she was 13, her family moved to
London. Gwyneth told them about how she preferred life in the country side
to anywhere else. There was a creek by the country house her grandparents
lived in and she often played down there, discarding her stockings and shoes
and playing in the streams and picking wildflowers. Her childhood had
practically been a painting, and Brenda realized that even though Gwyneth’s
childhood was a picnic in the park compared to hers, she found herself
listening intently to her childhood antics.

“I’m afraid my parents viewed me as a little terror,” Gwyneth said,
laughing slightly. Brenda was about to get up and leave because there wasn’t
one thing that she could find that was wrong with Gwyneth, when Jax put his
hand lightly over hers and rested it there, signaling to her that he didn’t want her to leave just yet. Brenda gave him a relenting smile and sat through a few
more stories as Jax shared a little about himself as well. Finally, Brenda saw
Denise and Carly working so hard to get everyone coffee, that she had to get
up.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I’m afraid I have to get back to work. Carly
and Denise shouldn’t have to keep up with all of this by themselves.”
Gwyneth stood and extended her hand to Brenda.
“It was lovely to meet you and talk with you.” Brenda nodded her
agreement.
“You too,” she said. Jax leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek
and Brenda placed her hand on his chest to steady herself. “I’ll see you
tomorrow?” she asked. He nodded, and right then, Brenda knew just what
she could do to throw a monkey wrench into his plans. “Do you need me or
Denise to get your girls?” Jax’s eyes grew wide in his head for a second. She
knew perfectly well that because he had the rest of the week off, he didn’t
need her help with Victoria and Jasmine. He opened his mouth to respond,
when Brenda said brightly, “why don’t you just call me sometime tonight and
let me know.” She breezed into the crowd before Jax could say anything.
Gwyneth looked down and picked some imaginary lint off of her dress.
“I--uh, I didn’t realize that you and Brenda had children together,” she
said quietly. He was going to kill Brenda when he got his hands on her.

“We don’t!” Jax said a little too quickly and a little too loudly.
Gwyneth’s hopes looked restored, and Jax was glad of that. He motioned for
her to sit down again. “I’m afraid I should perhaps explain my relationship
with Brenda,” he said. Gwyneth put up a hand to stop him.
“It’s all right, I understand what exes can be like.”
“Exes?” Jax asked.
“Well yes, I assumed that Brenda was your ex. I mean that’s why she
was trying so hard to get out of here earlier.” Gwyneth’s voice remained
calmed and pleasant. She had hoped Brenda would like her when she realized
that Brenda and Jax shared some kind of special bond. She really liked
Brenda.
“Oh no, Brenda and I aren’t exes,” Jax said. “We’ve never dated at all,
she’s just my best friend.”
“Oh,” Gwyneth said, sighing prettily. “Well, all right then.” Jax laughed
out loud at her relief. He was glad to see it because it meant that she was as
interested in him as he was in her. And he was certainly interested. They
talked for the remainder of the party, and Brenda managed to remain across
the room the rest of the evening. When most everyone had cleared out,
Brenda noticed that Jax and Gwyneth had moved to a corner, and though
they both stood by their coats on the coat rack, neither one made a move to
put them on. They were standing extremely close, smiling all the while.
Brenda nearly dropped the coffee mug she was holding, but Carly caught it.
“I noticed too,” she said, smiling at Brenda. “Did you talk to her?”
“She’s nice,” Brenda said, her voice devoid of emotion.

“I mean, I always thought that you and Jax would eventually--but then
with Daniel and all, I--” Suddenly, Brenda was thrown back into her first and only marriage so hard and so fast she could barely breathe. Daniel’s face, his
gentle hands and soothing voice were swirling around her giving her a
thousand different emotions all at once. At the mere mention of the man’s
name, his death was brought home to her once again. She sighed deeply and
rubbed her eyes harshly to keep the tears from flowing.

“You’re right,” she said to Carly. “You’re absolutely right. She’s lovely,
I’m happy for them, and I’m still in love with my husband.” She huffed and
then turned to face Carly. “Thank you,” she said, shaking her head, “for
bringing me back to the land of the living. It’s just that territorial thing, you
know? I just want to protect him.” Carly just nodded. “I’m still in love with
my husband,” Brenda said, more in the form of a question than a statement.
She moved away from Carly, towards the back, picking up a tray of glasses as
she went. Denise sidled up to Carly.
“What she is,” Denise said, “is in denial.”

Brenda stayed in the back as long as she could, hoping against hope
that Jax and Gwyneth would be gone once she came back out. Her timing
was just a little bit off. She came back into the front of the Java House just in
time to catch a glimpse of Jax helping Gwyneth to her car, a Lincoln Town
car, which was parked right in front. He held her door open for her, and she
turned around to face him. Jax had one had on the top of her door and the
other on the roof of her car, effectively trapping her. Brenda watched in
awe, having been in his arms thousands of times and never once before
having the feelings she was having now, just watching them. Carly and Denise
were across the room, alternately wiping down tables and putting chairs up
on them. Brenda glanced at them quickly to see if they noticed, but they
pretended to be busy, so she felt safe in continuing to watch.

That’s when she saw it. That’s when it happened. Jax leaned down and
kissed Gwyneth, not on the cheek, but on the lips. It was a sweet, slow,
lingering kiss, that lasted about five seconds, but it seemed like five minutes
to Brenda. She sucked in her breath hard and put a hand on the bar to steady
herself. Carly and Denise could see the kiss too, because the front of the
building was made out of floor to ceiling windows. Carly smiled at the gentle
kiss, and Denise did too, but she knew Brenda wouldn’t be happy about it,
and when she looked at her, it was confirmed. Brenda didn’t look happy at
ALL. The kiss had long since ended and they were talking again. Jax kissed
her on the cheek once more and she got into her car and drove away. Jax
stood in the parking lot a moment, watching her go.

Author's Note: "Gwyneth" is written with Gwyneth Paltrow in mind, long blonde hair.

Chp 8

Hey, everyone! I got a really positive response for this chapter in emails and posts, so I decided to post another chapter since it was already written. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
Victoria L.

Chapter 8

When she saw him start to come back in, Brenda turned away from him and
busied herself getting things ready for tomorrow morning when she would
have to open up the Java House.

“Brenda?” Jax said. He had no idea that she’d seen the kiss, and right
now his mind was reeling so much that he couldn’t even think about Brenda.
She didn’t turn around. She was angry with him, but she knew she had no
right to be. She didn’t have ANY claims on him whatsoever, and he was free
to do what he wanted. But he hadn’t even waited for her to give him her
opinion of Gwyneth before he started kissing her! Brenda took a deep breath and pretended not to hear him. With the bar separating them, Jax didn’t like
the feeling that was welling up in him. He recognized her body language. Her
shoulders weren’t slumped, the way they were when she was unhappy or
thinking of Daniel. And she stood stock still, her arms and head the only parts
of her body that were moving. And she was cleaning furiously. That meant
only one thing--anger. But what did she have to be angry about? The party
was a ‘smashing’ success, as Gwyneth had put it. Gwyneth. Then it came to
Jax. She must have seen them, otherwise, she wouldn’t be upset. He didn’t
necessarily want to go into it with her, he wanted to talk to her about other
things.

He took a chance and called her name louder. Her hand stopped what
it was doing, and he knew she heard him then. Carly and Denise cleared their
throats and kept right on working. They were no shrinking violets, these
two, and they wanted to hear this conversation very much.
Brenda turned around, shaking her head a little to let her hair fall out of
her eyes. She looked at him and smiled.
“Yeah?”
“I called to you, didn’t you hear me?”
“I’m sorry,” she lied, “my mind was just elsewhere. What’s up?”
“Well nothing, but, I wanted to talk to you.” He wasn’t going to
volunteer any information about the kiss if she hadn’t seen it.
“Talk? About what?”
“You know very well,” Jax said. “I know you sent Denise over to check
her out, and that’s why I asked you to stay, so you could see for yourself how
nice she was.”

“You’ve known her for one evening, Jax. How could you know how
nice she was?” He gave her a look and she relented.
“Fine. You’re right, I saw how nice she was. What now?”
“Brenda,” Jax said, his voice easing. “Tell me what you thought of her.
Something’s happened tonight, I can feel it.”
“Something like what?”
“Well, just tell me what you thought. And be honest, please. I really
need you on this.”
“I thought that she was nice,” Brenda said.
“Nice? Nice? That’s it?” Brenda sighed, and gave in. In truth, she’d really
liked Gwyneth and she would have become fast friends with her if Jax wasn’t
involved.
“All right, if you must know, I thought that she was lovely. She told
wonderful stories, and she seemed to be very pleasant. And I could tell that
she really likes you.”
“Really? It’s obvious?”
“To everyone in the room,” she said, smiling, once he had smiled at her,
she would have done anything to keep him smiling at her like that. He came
around the bar and hugged her.

“I’m so glad you like her,” he said. And then he pushed Brenda away
from him and held her shoulders in his strong hands. “You do like her, don’t
you?”
“Yes, Jax, I do. She was really nice. I really and truly liked her.”
“Good,” he sighed. “You know she has the most wonderful smile.” Jax
used to say that to her. It made her feel a little strange to hear that about
someone else, coming from Jax. “So,” he continued, “you like her, I like her,
but there’s something wrong.”
“What?” Brenda asked, hoping that this thing would end before it
began.
“It’s Marian,” he said softly.
“What about her?” Brenda asked, her hand on his arm. Jax, and the way
he felt about his wife had always endeared him to Brenda. She had never seen
such devotion to anyone, except herself when it came to Daniel. He always
mentioned her with a warm thoughtfulness and kept her memory alive in
their children by telling them stories, probably exaggerating her beauty. But
when Brenda saw her picture one day, she knew that Jax hadn’t exaggerated
at all. His Marian was a haunting beauty, and Brenda could see a lot of her in
Jax’s eldest, Victoria. Her heart hurt for him. He didn’t deserve to lose
someone he had loved so much. Brenda had felt robbed when Daniel was
taken from her, but upon seeing Jax and Marian, she felt that there were some
things in this world that just weren’t justifiable.

“Well,” Jax said, “I miss her a lot, you know. And now, especially with
all of the holidays coming up, Thanksgiving and Christmas---New Year’s, I
wonder if these feelings that are coming up in me are because I miss her so
much, and not necessarily because I really like Gwyneth all that much.”
“Jax,” Brenda said, “I know how much you loved her. She’s been gone
for a while now, but 2 years isn’t an eternity. It’s not even close. You must be
feeling a lot right now, confusion, excitement, apprehension, anticipation.
You can’t justify all of them right now, but it’s not a betrayal to Marian for you
to feel something for someone else. I think it’s what she’d want, eventually. I
don’t know someone who has been more devoted to the memory of their
spouse than you. And you’ve helped all of us in Group so much, it’s about
time that you did something for yourself instead of always being so damn
devoted.” Jax smiled down at her, a boyish grin on his face. He pulled Brenda
into his arms.

“It gets really hard sometimes,” he admitted. “Sometimes I miss her so
much I can’t think. I don’t know what I’ll do without her, or how I’ll get
along, and then I’ll look at you or Jody or my girls, and it’ll all become clear to
me. She’d want me to move on. She’d want me to have someone new.
Wouldn’t she?”
“Of course she would,” Brenda said, slowly rubbing her hands up and
down Jax’s back. Carly and Denise chose that time to make themselves
scarce, but Brenda and Jax hardly noticed. “I wish that I had known her,”
Brenda said in a weak voice. “I wish I had known your Marian.”
“You would have liked her,” Jax said. “She was a spitfire, kind of like
you, but there was this gentility to her, you know? She was beyond this world,
I know it. I’m sure of it.” Brenda wasn’t quite sure what to say to Jax. She had
never really seen the profound emotion that losing his wife had caused in Jax.
There had been a few times in Group, and in private that Jax broke down, but he never spoke of her at great lengths for one period of time. What Brenda
knew about Marian, she knew in bits and pieces, yet she longed for the kind
of love that Jax gave. Not necessarily from him, though. Sometimes the ache
she felt for Daniel was so strong, she wondered if she’d ever move on at all.
“Thank you so much,” Jax said, stroking her cheek with his hand. She was
shaken from her reverie.

“For what?”
“For being my friend. For always knowing what to say. You’re so good
to me, you know that?”
“I don’t know about that,” Brenda said. “It seems like it was always the
other way around for us. I really love you, and you know that, and I just want
you to be happy. Now you just met this person, but you haven’t felt this way
remotely, in a very long time. It’s entirely possible that you’re jumping the
gun. But you never know,” Brenda added quietly, “She just may be the one for
you.”

“I think you were right the first time,” Jax said. “I’m just getting ahead
of myself. It’s been so long that my mind has even taken this turn, I’m a little
rusty. I’ll get better at this. Don’t they--” he laughed at himself, “don’t they
compare it to riding a bicycle? At least Lois does, I don’t know.” At that
moment, Brenda just pulled Jax into her arms again.
“I so adore you,” she said. “You’re going to be fine. I’m happy for you. I
hope this turns out to be something good for you. But if it doesn’t, it doesn’t
mean that you weren’t meant to be with anyone else for the rest of your life.
You have a lot of time to find and be with that one special woman. You’ll find
her. And I’ll bet she’s already looking for you.”
“And you’d know that how?” Jax asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have it on good authority,” she mused. He paused, waiting for her to
finish. “Call it woman’s intuition. We have a knack for these things.”
“Well I certainly do trust you, and I think you’re right. For now, I’m just
going to enjoy being in the moment. Well, I’m afraid I do have to go. I want
to see my girls, and I’m a little tired, I think.” Brenda nodded, and walked
behind Jax as he made his way to the front of the Java House. He put a hand
on the door knob, and then turned back to face Brenda, a smile on his face.
“You threw a wonderful party tonight, you know. I just wanted to tell you
that.”
“Thank you,” Brenda said, sincerely. “Will I see you tomorrow?” she
asked.
“Perhaps,” Jax said. “I have to work late, and then I have that PTA
meeting for Victoria. Oh, you’re coming to that, aren’t you? I’d forgotten.”
“I will be there with bells on. Jody’s coming too, I couldn’t get a sitter.”
“Well what about Betty?” Jax asked. “She’s watching Jasmine for me.”
“I think I’ll give Betty a break,” Brenda said. “The meeting won’t last too
long, and then I promised Jody a movie, just the two of us.”

“Ooh, could we invite ourselves?” Jax asked, talking about himself and his
daughters.
“I’m sure Jody wouldn’t mind,” Brenda said, laughing merrily, her
spirits returning. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said quietly, as he kissed her
once more on the cheek, and then left.