Page 6 of CJ

“Hi. You’re home early,” she said, looking up to see Tim walk in the door. “I didn’t expect you until Friday morning. Do you feel like going out for dinner?”

“Don’t you have work?” he snapped. She held her tongue, looking up at him. It wouldn’t matter what she said. He would find a way to turn this around on her working.

“No. I’m finished with my case, and I have a more manageable schedule now.”

“Right,” he scoffed. She watched as he went into the bedroom and came out with a duffel bag. “The big JAG always has time for work but not anything else. Always time for the poor unfortunates needing legal help because they fucked up on base or, more likely, off base. Am I right, Jill?”

“That’s not fair, Tim. My work is important to me and to others. I defend the very men that you work side-by-side with. I’ve never asked you to quit being a Ranger.”

“I wouldn’t do it anyway,” he said, not even looking at her.

“Tim, you can’t ask me to walk away from my career when you’re so wrapped up in your own you don’t even know what I do anymore,” said Jill.

“I know that you spend more hours at the Pentagon than anyone else. You leave as early as I do, and you’re still not home when I get here. Always available, always on call. Let me ask you, Jill, who are you fucking?”

She slapped him so hard he stumbled backwards. It was a mistake. She shouldn’t have done it. He was a trained Army Ranger, and despite her height, he was bigger and could easily harm her.

“Nice,” he frowned.

“I-I’m sorry, Tim. I didn’t mean to lose my temper, but you disrespected me. I’m not fooling around with anyone.”

“Well, not to outdo you and your disrespect,” he smirked, “but you should be fucking around. I am.”

She took three steps backward, plopping onto her soft floral sofa. Looking up at him, she was in complete shock. Yes, she’d slapped him, but he said the worst possible thing to her in order to get a rise. This was intentionally said to hurt her. Tim swallowed as he stared at her.

“I didn’t mean to tell you that way. You just pissed me off.”

“You didn’t mean to tell me?” she asked quietly.

“I didn’t mean to tell you like that,” he repeated. “I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks now.”

“W-weeks.”

“Look, Jill, it’s no secret we’ve had issues since the day I moved in here. It’s why I kept my apartment and traveled back and forth. We both knew it was wrong, and we would never get married.”

“I didn’t know that,” she said, staring at him with tears in her eyes. “I had no clue. I thought we were moving toward engagement and marriage.”

He shook his head, tossing the stack of t-shirts into his bag. Jill couldn’t move. It was as if she were nailed to the sofa. Nothing was making sense. The life she thought they were building was all in her head.

“I’m sorry, Jill. You’re not the woman for me, and the truth is, you never were. Look, I don’t want you to hear this from someone else. Alana and I are getting married next weekend. We’re starting a family right away.”

“You got her pregnant? Alana? She’s Adam’s widow! He’s only been dead a few months, Tim. Do you know what this looks like?”

“I know that! We were seeing each other before he died,” he said, looking down. “We didn’t plan for this to happen.”

He was seeing the widow of a dead teammate. He’d been seeing her before his death! It was the ultimate sin on the Teams.

“Get out. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Not a problem, Jill. I hope I never see you again, either.”

She stood to make sure the door was locked when he was finally gone, watching as he left her condo with his bags slung over his shoulders. Sitting in his pickup truck was Alana. She stared straight at her, not even the decency to look away.

With tears in her eyes, she watched the truck pull away, then heard someone clear their throat behind her.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure I am.” CJ took a step toward her, then another.

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