Breakfast

Scott rummaged through the kitchen and settled on making French Toast and bacon. He had the bacon started when Suzie walked in.

“Hey Scott.” Suzie said, walking up beside him. “Are you making breakfast?”

“Yeah, your mom and dad are busy.”

“I heard, that’s why I’m out here. Can I help?”

“If you want to.”

Suzie jumped right in. They worked well together. Scott really enjoyed Suzie’s company, he hoped that they would be able to be friends going forward, but that would require Jenn and Suzie finding ways to get along. Hell, he hoped he and Jenn could hang out with his family and be alright. He just didn’t know how well Jenn would take to being around the other women that had competed for him. It might take time, and he’d have to be careful not to give her cause to be jealous.

It wasn’t long before Doug came upstairs. “My god, you’d think old people would at least have the courtesy to be quieter about it.”

Suzie laughed.

“They chase you out here too, Doug?”

“I moved to the basement to get away from them and that seems to have only convinced them to be louder.”

Fortunately, the kitchen was far enough away that any noise was being drowned out by the sounds of bacon frying.

“You two seem to be getting along well.” Doug said. “Glad to see the fiasco this weekend didn’t ruin things.”

“Doug, did you have to bring that up?”

“What? You act like that you deserve to have it brought up.”

Suzie hung her head.

“It’s okay Doug, she didn’t know it would turn out like it did, and even then, nothing bad came of it.”

“Yeah, but it could have.”

“And how many things did we do that you could say the same about?”

That shut Doug up. They had been arrested multiple times, more than once Doug had ended up in a court room.

“Oh, I remember that one time.” Suzie said with a smile.

“Suzie, don’t you start, just let it go.” Scott replied.

She looked at Scott, weighing her options. “Okay, I’ll be good.” She said.

“Wow, if Scott can get you to behave, you guys have to be doing something now.”

“We’re not an item, Doug.” Suzie said, in a clearly unhappy voice.

“Really?”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear, the prodigal couple finally got together.”

“What? Scott! Seriously? You and Jenn?”

“Yeah Doug, it looks that way.”

“What do you mean ‘it looks that way?’ Are you together or not?”

“We are, but things are complicated.”

“I haven’t seen you in like, 40 hours Scott, how can things already be complicated?”

“It’s Jenn, what do you expect?” Suzie snorted.

Doug laughed.

“I didn’t tell her something, and it ended up hurting her.”

“Damn, Marissa and I have been together for a few days, we haven’t had a fight yet, you two know each other your whole lives and as soon as you finally pull your heads out of your asses and start dating you find something to fight about?”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Suzie yelled, and hurried to the front door.

“You think you guys are going to be okay, Scott?” Doug asked.

“I hope so, it feels so awful, like I’ve been a screwup my whole life, and just when I think I’m getting things right it all just falls apart.”

“What did you do?”

“Shit, where to even start.” Scott was turning the French toast over, and it felt like a great time to get everything off his chest.

“The last time you saw me was right after the crap with Sandra went down, I didn’t have time to talk to you about it then, but Jenn and I had talked the day before and cleared the air, told each other the way we felt, it was crazy. So I’m processing all that and the stuff with Suzie and Sandra happens, I dodge a freaking bullet there and then after you and I saw each other that morning I head over to see my family and I’m a mess.”

“Oh God, Scott, Lydia?”

“Yeah, it was weird though, we talked about a lot of stuff. She’s helped me deal with some real nasty stuff from my childhood since I came back, but we also had sex.”

“Of course you did, it’s you and Lydia.”

“Yeah.” Scott hung his head. “I think that’s over though. We really talked, she wanted to try and be better for each other, casual relationship but honest with each other. She’s been in therapy and I think she means it Doug, I think I can have a real family without all the tension and drama.”

“Scott hooks up with Lydia, swears this time it’s different, I know that story.”

“I woke up next to Lydia.”

“Shit Scott.”

“I know, but like I said, things felt so different. Anyways I woke up and realized I wanted something real, something concrete, serious, someone who actually loves me.”

“Post-nut clarity?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So you go tell Jenn?”

“At work, she takes me to lunch says she can tell something is up, so we talked and decided to give it a try.”

“And then?”

“After work we go to her place, dinner with her dad, we have sex, we’re talking and Lydia comes up and I realize I haven’t told her, and obviously Lydia is something she’s concerned about.”

“Yeah, as she should be.”

“Yeah. Fuck man, I didn’t mean to hide it from her, things just are all going so fast, I’ve been home less than a week and it’s been a whirlwind, I mean it’s three weeks now since I divorced Amanda, and I’m supposed to have everything figured out. I’ve been trying to figure it out, I’m sick of hurting people but no matter how many times I said I need time, I just didn’t have time. I still dream of Amanda Doug, it still crushes me to think about her, and I already need to be the man Jenn deserves.”

“Scott. . .”

“I can’t complain, hell, I’ve had three great women interested in me, and the girl I’ve been in love with my whole life wants me, but the timing, it’s just rough man, I’m not ready for this, and yet I don’t know if I’ll ever have another shot.”

There was silence for a minute.

“Have you told Jenn all this?”

“Everything has been moving so fast, there’s so much I haven’t told her, so much she needs to hear.”

“Well, I’m listening Scott.”

Scott spun around. Standing there next to Suzie was Jenn.

“How long?”

“Since Suzie let me in.”

She walked over to him and hugged him. “I’m sorry I pushed you, Scott.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Jenn.”

“Hey you two, move away from the stove so I can finish breakfast.” Suzie said, pushing past Scott.

“Maybe you two should take a walk outside.” Doug suggested, “Suz and I will get breakfast finished.”

Scott and Jenn walked outside and talked for as long as they could before the need to get to work drove them back in. They got some things settled, others it felt like they were just starting, but at least they were better off now than a few hours ago.

“Jenn, it’s so good to see you again.” Mrs. Carter said.

“Hi Anne, it’s been too long.” They hugged and Mrs. Carter gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“So, you two finally a thing now?” Mr. Carter asked.

“Yeah,” Jenn said, looking over at Scott, “we are.”

“Well, it’s about time.” Mr. Carter answered.