Consequences

Normally when someone does something horrible to me or the people I love, I’m all for getting even. I often justify it by telling myself that it was karma – you don’t do mean things to others and not expect it to come back on you tenfold. So with that, you would think that I would’ve been happy watching Scott stride purposely towards the waitress station and Tessa, but I felt bad. I knew what he was going to do and I hated that I had anything to do with it.

The three of us – Kim, Jordan and I – tried not to stare as Scott leaned in to speak to Tessa.

“Can you tell what he’s saying?” Kim asked as she shifted in her chair to get a better look. “I can’t believe she actually did that to you. What a psycho.”

“No,” I replied. “I’m not good at lip reading.” While that is true, I had a feeling that Scott didn’t give away what he wanted to talk about because Tessa’s face lit up after he spoke to her. She nodded, with a smile and then turned to walk back through the swinging doors to the kitchen as Scott made his way towards the back of the restaurant where his dad was having coffee with a couple other men.

Once again Scott leaned in to talk. I’m guessing that he told his dad that there was an issue that he needed to deal with because soon they were both walking towards the lobby while deep in conversation.

“So?” I turned my attention back to my table companions.

“I hope they fire her.” Kim stated.

I glanced at Jordan, who hadn’t said anything since I made him sit down after he demanded to know who Tessa was. “You ok Jordy?”

He nodded. “Yeah I’m just hungry.” He looked around, “How much longer do you think the food will be?”

Within minutes our waitress appeared with both arms loaded down with food. “Let me help,” Jordan jumped and reached for the nearest plates and looked visibly upset when it wasn’t what he ordered. “Yours?” He offered the plates to Kim and then sat down to dig into the plate in front of him.

Dinner was a fairly quiet affair. Kim seemed to be preoccupied with what was going on with Scott and Tessa, she barely said a word that didn’t revolve around them. Jordan was all about the food in front of him and when he finished that, he started to eye my burger and fries that sat neglected on my plate.

“Oh here,” I slid my plate across the table to him and then rested my hand on his thigh. “Are you sure you are ok Jordan?”

“Hmmm?” He slowly turned his body towards me, his arm slipped around my shoulders and he smiled. “Babe, I’m fine – just hungry.”

As Jordan returned to his food – his arm still around my shoulders – Kim started to laugh. When I gave her a questioning look, she shook her head. “You guys are so cute.”

“Cute?” Jordan raised a brow in my direction. “Like puppy cute?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes Jordy, puppy cute.”

“Hey!” His eyes widened. “Think if I tell Jenna that, she’ll stop wandering towards the puppies at the park?”

“Oh,” Kim sat forward. “You guys have a little girl? Do you have pictures?”

“Of course,” I replied as I reached for my wallet. “I have –” I started to laugh; Jordan was halfway over the table with his wallet opened in Kim’s face.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head and went to put my wallet back.

“What pictures do you have of Jenna?”

I shrugged. “I have many pictures of the kids –“

“Kids?” Kim stared at us. “You guys have more than one? Are they all as cute as this little girl? She’s so pretty.”

“Thank you,” Jordan beamed. “She takes after me.”

Kim repeated how adorable she thought Jenna was as she handed him back his wallet. “So can I see the other pictures of your kids?”

“Sure,” I opened my wallet and flipped to my pictures. As I held them out for her to see, I told her that they weren’t actually my kids. While she skimmed my photos, I told her who everyone was. It was all going great until she came to a photo I didn’t even remember having – me with Jesse, in Josh’s arms.

“You have pictures of Josh in your wallet?” Jordan sounded hurt as he stared at the photo.

I went to tell him that I didn’t know the photo was still in there – I went through my wallet and I thought I had taken everything to do with Josh out. Hell, I had gone through my room and gotten rid of anything that had anything to do with him. I didn’t want to be reminded and I didn’t want to live in the past.

“Anna?” Scott appeared at my side. “Could you come with me?”

“I –”

“Go.” Jordan turned away from me.

I can’t tell you how much that hurt, knowing that I had hurt the most important person in my life. And I didn’t even know there was a possibility that I could hurt him – I didn’t know the photo was there. Plus, I didn’t know he would react like that. It was just a photo, right?

I followed Scott into his dad’s office. I sat in a chair beside him as Tessa sat opposite, giving me a dirty look. But it didn’t matter. I didn’t care what was happening in there anymore, all I wanted to do was walk out of that office and into Jordan’s arms.

Details, I wish I could remember what was said but I don’t. I remember Scott’s dad introducing me to the hotel’s personal manager before asking me what happened the last time I was a guest at their hotel. I remember telling him that Zach thought I was on something when I finally woke up. I know I gave him my brother’s number and I know he called him. I remember talking to Zach for a brief moment where he told me that he wished he forced me to take a drug test because there was no way to prove anything now.

And I remember Tessa flipping out on me when Scott’s dad told her that her services were no longer required.

“I guess this isn’t a good time to talk about this,” Scott said as he walked me back to the restaurant where Jordan and Kim where waiting. “But I think you need to hear something good right now.”

“What happened?” Kim asked as we took our seats.

While Scott explained what went on in his dad’s office, I reached out to Jordan. When my hand slipped over his leg, he leaned in and told me we would talk about it later. “Let’s just get tonight over with.”

Scott reached for the bill the waitress placed on the table. “How about we go to the lounge for a drink?”

“Sounds good.” Jordan stood up. “I could use a drink.”

As we headed to the lounge, Jordan slipped his arm around my waist. He didn’t say anything but it didn’t matter because as long as he was close to me, I knew I didn’t ruin things.