Chapter Twenty Eight:
……As they drove away, John thought to himself, "oh yeah, she is definitely going to come back to me."…..
For the last two days, all Evangeline could do was think about John and how much she missed him. Spending time with him and the girls seemed so natural to her. However, she still felt like she was doing what was best. So, she decided to take her mind off of her own love life and put it on Cynthia’s. Evangeline called Cynthia to set things in motion.
"Hello," Cynthia said as she answered her phone. "This is Cynthia. How may I help you?"
"Hey Cynthia, its Evangeline," Evangeline replied.
"Hey, Evangeline," Cynthia responded excitedly. "What’s up?"
"I’ve been thinking Cynthia," Evangeline started.
"Uh oh," Cynthia said as she laughed.
"I’ve been thinking," Evangeline started again. "You and Jordan need to see each other in person and stop asking me about each other."
"What?" Cynthia exclaimed. "Where is this thought coming from?"
"Well," Evangeline said slowly. "I’ve thought a lot about love and being with that special person lately and if I can’t be with John, at least you and Jordan should be together. You still love him."
"You can be with John," Cynthia stated. "You just have to get over your fear, but you will."
"No," Evangeline protested. "I can’t. For John’s sake, it’s better this way, or at least I hope it will be."
"Oh, Evangeline," Cynthia said sympathetically. "I guess I understand what you’re trying to do. I don’t understand why you want to throw me into the fire though."
Evangeline laughed and said, "I’m not trying to throw you into the fire Cynthia. I just know that you and Jordan were very much in love when we graduated and you let stubbornness and ambition get in your way. Face it. You’ve never met anyone else that has come any where close to Jordan in your eyes."
Cynthia thought about it for a minute while the phone line was silent, then she said, "Okay, let’s say you’re right. Why do something about it now? I’m more than sure that Jordan has moved on."
"He hasn’t," Evangeline stated emphatically. "He asks me about you just as much as you ask me about him."
"Really?" Cynthia said skeptically.
"Really," Evangeline said.
"What do you want me to do?" Cynthia asked.
Evangeline said, "What if I asked Jordan to meet both of us for lunch tomorrow afternoon? It’s a Sunday. You don’t have to work and you could come over here to Llanview."
"I don’t know, Evangeline," Cynthia said hesitantly. "Do you think Jordan will go for it?"
"Yes, I do," Evangeline said. "Should I call him?"
Finally, Cynthia said, "Okay. You can call him. For the record, I’m doing this partially for you so you can occupy your thoughts with something other than John."
Evangeline laughed as she said, "Thanks."
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Evangeline had called Jordan and he hesitantly agreed to meet her and Cynthia for lunch. He asked if they could meet at Rodi’s because it was close to the hospital and he’d be on duty that afternoon. As Evangeline and Cynthia entered Rodi’s, they saw Jordan had already gotten them a table. Evangeline could tell that Cynthia was a little nervous. She touched Cynthia’s arm for support as they headed for the table. Evangeline also noticed that Jessica was sitting at the bar talking to Natalie, who was working.
Jordan stood and said, "Hi Evangeline. Hi Cynthia, long time no see."
"Hey Jordan," Evangeline replied.
"Hi Jordan," Cynthia said.
They all sat and started to look at the menu. Evangeline noticed Jordan stealing glances at Cynthia and Cynthia stealing glances at Jordan. Evangeline thought to herself, "I think they still have that look of love in their eyes."
Natalie came over to take their order and she was a little more rude than usual. Cynthia said, "What is her problem?"
Evangeline replied, "Who knows? That’s the Natalie I told you about."
"Oh," Cynthia said understandingly. "She’s the one whose sister said you were keeping from John."
"Yeah," Evangeline said. "As a matter of fact, that’s her sister up there at the bar."
Evangeline got Jordan and Cynthia to talk about generic subjects until they felt more comfortable with each other. As Natalie gave them their food, she gave Evangeline a look.
When Natalie returned to the bar, she said to Jessica, "Can you believe her? Did you see that headline in The Sun? She could be putting John’s job in danger. On top of that, she broke up with him."
"I told you that John should be with you," Jessica replied.
"Yeah you did," Natalie said. "I just can’t believe I messed around with Paul and let Evangeline worm her way into John’s life. I won’t make that mistake again."
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Marcie, Shannon and Jennifer had walked into Rodi’s to pick up some food for the Love Center crew as Natalie was making her statements about Evangeline. Marcie overheard everything and was fuming. She had finally had enough of Natalie Vega and decided to give her a piece of her mind.
"You know Natalie," Marcie started. "You should really keep your comments to yourself when you don’t know what’s going on."
"What are talking about?" Natalie asked confused.
"I heard what you said about Evangeline," Marcie said. "You should keep your uninformed opinions to yourself."
"Yeah," Shannon piped in. "Don’t talk about what you have no idea about."
Natalie started in with her cocky attitude and sarcastically said, "I can say whatever I please and just because I’m right about Evangeline, you shouldn’t get so upset."
Marcie moved closer into Natalie’s face and said, "That’s it. You know, Natalie, you think you can say whatever you want, to whoever you want, whenever you want. Well, I’m here to tell you that you can’t. You act like this whole town should revolve around you because you lost the love of your life, Christian. Guess what? A lot of us have lost people that we loved. I lost Al, Jen lost her dad, your Uncle Bo lost his fiancée, Gabrielle, and your own Mom lost her husband, Ben. Unlike you though, we don’t go around taking our sorrow out on everyone else. It’s time for you to grow up and take responsibility for your own actions and stop expecting everyone to cut you some slack because you are so sad. My God, we’re all sad!"
Cynthia pointed out to Evangeline how some red headed girl was all up in Natalie’s face and Evangeline turned to see that it was Marcie. She wondered what was going on.
Marcie pointed over toward Evangeline and went on to say to Natalie, "You have no idea what Evangeline has been through. She’s been through something that I hope none of us will ever have to go through, but if we do, I’d hope we’d handle ourselves the way she has. Until you’ve walked a mile in her shoes, you need to keep your mouth shut."
With that last statement, Natalie raised her hand to slap Marcie. Marcie grabbed Natalie’s wrist before Natalie’s hand could come close to her face. Marcie said, "That’s another thing. You may have gotten away with slapping Jen before, but you won’t be able to get away with it for me. If you raise your hand to me one more time, I’ll clean your clock."
Evangeline didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she could tell it had something to do with her. She jumped up from the table when she saw Natalie try to slap Marcie and went to the bar. Evangeline said as she walked up, "Marcie, Jen and Shannon, can I talk to you guys over here please?"
Natalie, Jessica, Marcie, Jen, and Shannon were so in the moment that the sound of Evangeline’s voice took them by surprise. As they all stood there in a daze, the food that Marcie had come to pick up was brought to them and after they paid, Evangeline pulled them to the side.
Evangeline said, "What is going on you guys?"
Marcie was still shaking from losing her temper and said, "I just couldn’t take it any more. Natalie was saying stuff about you and I let her have it."
"What?" Evangeline asked confused. "What did she say?"
Shannon said, "It’s not important. The important thing is that Marcie really put her in her place. I didn’t know you had it in you Marcie."
Marcie blushed as Jen said, "It takes a lot to get her mad, but when you do, back up."
Evangeline smiled, in spite of herself and said, "Thanks for having my back Marcie. I appreciate it, but it’s really not necessary. I’m sure Natalie and Jessica will have comments to make about me again, but their opinion of me isn’t important. So don’t get yourself all upset about it."
Marcie said, "I know I shouldn’t let them get to me. I just snapped and had to get it out of my system. I’ll control it if there is a next time."
Just then, John walked in and saw the four of them standing in a huddle talking and he also noticed that Natalie and Jessica were staring at the huddle. Natalie and Jessica did not look pleased. John walked up to the huddle and said, "What’s going on?"
The four of them jumped and then Evangeline replied, "Nothing."
"Don’t tell me nothing," John said. "You four are over here with your heads together and Natalie and Jessica are standing over there staring darts into you guys. What happened?"
"Nothing," Evangeline insisted. "Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you girls later." Evangeline turned and walked back over to the table where Jordan and Cynthia were sitting.
When Evangeline got to the table, Jordan and Cynthia asked, "Are you okay?"
Evangeline said, "Yeah, I’m fine. Since we’re through eating though, can we just leave?"
"Sure," Jordan replied. "I have to get to the hospital. Cynthia, can I call you later?"
With a shocked look, Cynthia said, "Sure. That would be nice."
The three started toward the door and Cynthia said she needed to stop by the ladies room. Evangeline told her she’d meet her outside.
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As Evangeline and Jordan walked passed John, Marcie, Shannon, and Jen, John stared at her and felt that pang of jealousy again that Jordan was with Evangeline and he wasn’t. John said, "Let me ask you guys again. What happened?"
Nervously, Marcie said, "Nothing. We have to go. We have to get this food to the Love Center."
"Shannon?" John questioned as he stared at her.
Shannon said, "Nothing happened. You just better keep your girl Natalie in check. Bye."
Jen gave John an apologetic look as she walked out with Marcie and Shannon.
Cynthia was walking out passed John right after Marcie, Jen and Shannon left. John said, "Hey Cynthia. How are you?"
"Hey John," Cynthia replied.
"Do you know what happened?" John asked.
"Not the whole story," Cynthia said.
"Is Evangeline okay?" John inquired.
"Yeah," Cynthia said. "She’s as well as can be expected. How are you?"
"I’m trying to hold it together," John replied. "I miss her a lot, but I know she needs time. Thanks for being there for her."
"You’re welcome," Cynthia replied. "I hope it works out for the two of you. I’ve really never seen her as happy as she was when you two were together. I’ll see ya later. Bye."
"Bye," John replied in turn.
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John thought to himself, "When did this happen? When did all this tension start? When did Evangeline get to the point where she won’t tell me anything? When did other’s start feeling like they had to protect her from me? What is going on?"
John walked up to the bar and said, "Natalie, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Jessica took that as her cue to leave.
Natalie felt her heart leap a little when John said he wanted to talk to her. Then, she felt a little dejected when John said, "What happened? What did you do to Evangeline?"
"Why would you assume that I did something to Evangeline?" Natalie stated pointedly. "Did she say I did something? Why would you even care? She broke up with you, didn’t she?"
John looked confused at Natalie’s comments as he said, "She said nothing happened. Shannon said for me to keep you in check. What’s going on?"
Natalie said, "Marcie got all upset because she overheard me say that Evangeline could be putting your job in jeopardy and on top of that, she broke up with you."
"What do you mean she could be putting my job in jeopardy?" John asked.
"I saw The Sun," Natalie said in an all knowing tone. "You are so much better off without Evangeline Williamson. We can be together like we should have been from the beginning. I never stopped loving you." With that statement, she reached up, grabbed John around the neck and started to pull him toward her for a kiss.
John grabbed her wrists and pushed back. He said, "What are you doing? What do you mean you’ve never stopped loving me? When did you ever love me?"
Natalie looked embarrassed and said, "Come on John. You know that I loved you. You have feelings for me to. You can admit them now because Evangeline is out of the picture. You won’t be hurting her by saying how you truly feel. I know that you only got together with her because I was with Paul."
John was so surprised and confused that he almost didn’t know what to say. Finally, he said gently, "Natalie, you’re my friend. That’s the only feelings I have toward you. I know you’ve been going through a hard time after losing Chris. I just don’t want to see you do anything you’ll regret or to see you get hurt. As for Evangeline, I love her. She may not be with me right now, but I know we’ll get back together. Even if we don’t, I’ll always love her. If you can’t accept me as just a friend, I understand, but that’s all we’ll ever be."
Natalie was mad at herself because she realized that she had played her hand too soon. She decided to save face for now and said, "I’m sorry John. I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you. I can accept being friends with you."
"Okay," John replied. "I’ll see you later." John left Rodi’s.
Natalie stood behind the bar thinking to herself, "You’ll be mine John. I just have to be patient. You’ll see that we should be together."
