Me and Mrs. Jones

Mrs. Jones stands before you holding Phoebe, her daughter, in her arms. Her eyes are glossy as she sees the young you once again, nostalgia coursing through her mind. Her youthful college-aged pep is now replaced with a sophisticated grace of motherhood, like a once cheerleader who is now a hot teacher. She fixes her gaze on you in love but not of passion but of compassion. Mrs. Jones turns back to Phoebe, who is snuggling up to her Mother’s bosom, now ampler with her maturity.

“Honey,” Mrs. Jones murmurs to Phoebe. “I am very sorry about Chesa disappearing yesterday. She had to run errands for us, but we knew you were going to be taken care of. Are you okay?”

“I’m super,” Phoebe says, rubbing her cheeks affection against her Mother’s cheeks who strokes her hair in kind.

“Mr…?” Mrs. Jones wonders. She had to know your real name. She must have known it was you but younger.

“Rick…” You answer. You were utterly flabbergasted. You suspected it, but… it was still a shock to see her. She must have been at least 10 years older, but she had a graceful, stately beauty to her despite her ageless eyes. Her hair was shorter then it was now, tied in a bun in some neomodern fashion. She also wore pearl earrings and casual business attire, which made her look like a young aristocrat. You still can’t believe it standing there.

“Oh… so that was the name you decided this time,” Mrs. Jones observes. You didn’t understand what that meant. “So, Rick. Did my daughter behave herself? She can come off a bit… much sometimes.”

“Nuh-uh. I was a good girl, Mommy.” Phoebe insists.

“Why don’t you let the poor boy speak, honey?” Mrs. Jones reprimands in a cold, firm tone.

“Y-yes…” The girl looked absolutely frightened by her Mother. Mrs. Jones gives Phoebe a look as if she was in for a lecture later.

Old Phoebe gives you the old puppy eyes. Phoebe pleads with you in desperation. You sigh. “She was great. You are a lucky mother.”

“See, Mommy. I told you.” Phoebe says, nodding her head.

“Okay. Why don’t you thank… Rick and say goodbye,” Mrs. Jones puts Phoebe down.

“Thank you, Rick.” Phoebe then makes mocking pouting lips at you while her Mother wasn’t looking. She quickly breaks into a calm, innocent smile when her mother raised her eyebrows at her.

“Now. Chesa is waiting in the car for you. I’ll be there with you in a sec, honey. I have to talk with Mr.Rick and thank him.”

“Okay, Mommy. Rick, tell Liz to add me on Summit!” Phoebe says to you, running to the car, which is parked in the driveway of the summer house. There is a chauffeur for the car. An older lady you don’t recognize greets Phoebe in the backseat of the black car with a hug. Somehow you felt a pang of sorrow, watching Phoebe go. Will this be the last time you see her? What the hell was Summit?

Mrs. Jones sighs, rubbing her temple and saying, “You can’t blame me for her behavior. You were the one always letting her get away with everything.”

“I’m… sorry?” You had no clue how to handle this situation. This was your future wife you were talking to? The Mother of your future children?

“You probably have a lot of questions. Unfortunately… my other half says not to tell you much. This visit wasn’t really for you,” Mrs. Jones says with a frown. “I can answer a couple of things before… ‘Liz’ comes down.”

“So. You know about the app? The time ripple thingy? When did I tell you about it?” You ask.

“I know about your app and the little tricks it can pull, but… I can’t tell you that the other half,” Mrs. Jones says.

“Is this for sure? Like… this is what’s going to happen in the future?” You sounded resentful as if the choice was already made for you, and you had no say in the matter.

Why did you feel so melancholy about it? You should be ecstatic. You had a beautiful wife you probably loved. A cute kid. You were successful. Still… it meant other people would get hurt. Seeing the look in your face, Mrs. Jones speaks up in a warm comforting tone.

“Matt. Nothing is for sure. You know that...” Mrs. Jones smiles sorrowfully. “My husband… well… you, once told me of something he read in a book. He asked me- ‘What the one thing that lasts forever?’- was. I thought he was trying to be romantic, so I answered ‘love.’ He told me… it was our decisions that last forever. Whatever you decide to do now… that’s forever. That’s all I can reveal to you. My present is a future possibility for you… it’s something that has already happened for me. But for you, right now, there are so many possibilities and roads to go down. I’m just one of them.”

“I-… what about the other girls?” You ask, feeling overwhelmed.

“Ultimately... you might hurt all of them. Or make all of them happy… eventually. I can’t tell you how to do that or what to do. I can just say for myself… I understand what you are going through, and I’m sure the rest can too - Eventually.” Mrs. Jones certainly had changed in her years. Her reassuring smile puts you at ease. Maybe you had made the right decision. “Matt. I should go soon. Our time is almost up.”

Mrs. Jones turns to leave, and you think of a question to try to get her to stay and tell you what to do, “Umm…”

“Only one more,” Mrs. Jones says as she stands on the edge of the house.

“Do… umm… do I still have all my hair?” You ask.

Mrs. Jones held her hand over her mouth and started giggling wildly, for an instant you see the youthful girl you fell in love with. “Oh, Matt. Don’t worry, you still have plenty of hair. Your daughter will certainly make fun of you for losing some, and the years have weighed on you, so you are bound to lose some hair.”

A silence forms between you. She stands at the edge of the house.

“Are you happy?” You ask.

Mrs. Jones turned away from you, hiding her face. She said in a gleeful mischievous voice that sounded much like her daughter’s. “I said, only one more question.”

You watch her leave and get into the passenger seat of the car and drive off. You and the chauffeur make eye contact. He gives you a sad smile as if he didn’t envy you. Like a mirage in the desert, they ripple out of your life, fading away into the distance. You close the door to the beach house. In the kitchen, you go for a glass of water. Your throat was dry as hell. The dust that had disappeared yesterday suddenly reappeared on the surfaces of the interior.

Two notification pops up in your vision as you sip on your water.

Mission :

• Objective: Make love with Paige
• Reward: Your abandoned beach house will be stocked with food and essentials like electricity, water and gas for 1 month.

Mission 2:

• Objective: Put a baby in the oven with Paige.
• Reward: Paige will be tied to you forever.