24 The Cold-Shoulder Approach
The Cold-Shoulder Approach
That morning, I ran harder than usual. I didn’t feel good about how I’d treated Jack. I even wanted to say I was sorry for not being more mature or giving him his space. But I was also tired of the secrets, I was tired of him putting himself before me, and that kept me feeling angry.
I took the stairs back up and found Agnes in the hallway. Saying hello, I opened our door and noticed someone was cooking. Pancakes! I’d know that smell anywhere. My stomach was growling.
Sue, Will, and Mike were sitting at the counter staring hungrily into the kitchen, where Jack was deep in concentration, brows knit, cooking. He looked like he’d never held a frying pan in his life. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“How much longer?” Mike asked, “I’m starving.”
“Shut up,” Jack murmured.
“I am, too,” Sue said.
“You can shut up along with him.”
Taking off my headphones, I asked what was going on. When Jack turned, he almost dropped the pan on the floor before smiling and saying, “Good morning. You hungry?”
I shrugged as he opened the oven, pulling out a plate that had been warming, and dumped the last of the pancakes on top of the pile. It was evident he’d never made them before, but they looked amazing.
“Excuse me,” Mike said loudly. “Our agreement was that you’d be making breakfast for us, not her.
” But Jack just told him to pipe down again, and when he and Sue insisted, he said the pancakes were all for me.
Knowing, I guess, that insulting me wouldn’t get them anywhere, and that they weren’t going to change Jack’s mind, they started sucking up to me, talking about which one of them was really my friend, and then Sue insulted Mike, telling him he was just a parasite, that he didn’t even really live there.
Jack interrupted, calling them a pair of hyenas, and reminding them that the pancakes were mine and there was nothing they could do about it.
They crossed their arms as I sat down and ate the first bite, feeling everyone’s eyes on me.
I felt like I was taking a test, and, mouth full, I asked “What?”
No one said anything until I asked them to stop staring at me. Then Jack inquired, tapping his fingers on the bar, “Are they…good?”
I swallowed and nodded. “Amazing. It’s hard to believe you’ve never made them before,” I said.
“Thank God.” He sighed and gathered his mixing bowl, spatula, and pan, dropping them into the sink.
Looking angry, Mike and Sue slunk off to their usual places in the living room, sitting as far from each other as possible, while Jack lingered, looking on edge, still fidgeting.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“I’ve slept better. You?”
“Same. Are we…are we good?”
Again, I wanted to tell him I was sorry for being so stubborn, but I stopped myself, taking another bite of pancake. When I was done chewing, I said, “I don’t know. Did you have something you wanted to tell me?”
Instead of answering, he tried to distract me with his usual nice-guy approach. He offered to take me to class; I said I’d catch the light rail. He mentioned we could do something afterward; I told him I had plans. Huffy, he walked back to his room.
Will had gotten up and gone to his room for a moment, but returned for much of the pancake argument, which he eavesdropped on while digging through the fridge and the cabinet looking for something to eat. I could tell he was amused.
“I didn’t peg you as someone who liked drama, Will,” I told him.
“In this house, you can’t avoid it. Let me give you some advice, though, Jen. The cold-shoulder approach isn’t going to work with Jack, and if you want my opinion, he doesn’t deserve it.”
“Did he tell you something?” I asked.
“He didn’t need to. When he woke me up out of nowhere to ask me if I knew how to make pancakes, that was all I needed to know something was up.
I never thought I’d see the day Ross voluntarily cooked breakfast. All he’s ever cooked is his famous chili.
It was clear there was some kind of crisis going on.
So let me guess: You want him to tell you something, and he doesn’t want to. ”
“You know what, Will? There are times when I hate how well you guys understand each other. You’re like twins or something. Do you think I’m being too hard on him?”
I needed someone’s objective opinion. I already knew what everyone else would say: Naya would want me to forgive him, Sue would tell me he could suffer, Mike wouldn’t care, or else he’d talk trash about Jack and tell me for the umpteenth time that I’d be better off with him. So that made Will my best option.
“I don’t know, to tell you the truth,” Will admitted.
“I’ll let you know one thing, though: I’ve never seen Ross show the kind of commitment for another person he shows with you.
And one of the things that means is he’s never been in a position of really caring whether somebody forgave him for something. ”
I didn’t want my heart to melt when I heard that. My heart didn’t care, though. Damn you, Jack Ross. Did you have to be so charming?
“So what does this mean, then?” I asked. “If you’re saying he is trying to get me to forgive him…does that mean I have to say I’m sorry, too? Because he genuinely cares and I’m holding back from him?”
“That’s not what I’m telling you,” Will said. “Hell, maybe he needs this. Feeling like he’s chasing someone for the first time in his life, and not the other way around. If I were you, I’d leave it for now. Get through your day, see how he acts tonight. It’ll all work out.”
He grinned and walked back to his room after saying that.
I’d told Jack I had plans that day. I hadn’t told him what they were, and to say I wasn’t excited about them was an understatement. I needed to get Jack’s father to say he was sorry. It wasn’t going to be easy. And it sure as hell wasn’t going to be fun.
I’d sent a message to Mary asking if her husband would be home.
And now I was standing there at their door.
She opened it with a smile on her face. I’d never entered through the front door.
I’d only gone with Jack, and we’d come in through the garage.
I was stunned for a minute as I stared around the enormous vestibule.
“Hello, dear,” Mary said.
“Hey.”
It was pleasantly warm inside, and I was freezing. Mary rested a hand on my lower back and guided me in after I hung my coat on the coat rack.
“So you said Mr. Ross is here?” I asked. I didn’t see any reason not to get to the point, especially because I still had classes to get back to.
“He is,” Mary replied. “There’s one thing, though. I know I told you he was willing to talk to you, but now that I’ve thought it over, I believe it’s best if you two aren’t alone together. So I’ll be going upstairs with you.”
“That’s not necessary,” I said.
What was going on with these people? Why were they all so concerned about my being alone with Mr. Ross? He couldn’t be that bad.
“Honey, if Jackie found out I’d let you go up by yourself, he’d…”
“He won’t find out,” I assured her.
He will , my brain told me, but as usual, I told my brain to shut up, and after thinking things over for a moment, Mary said, “Well, er… I’ll just be down here. On the sofa. So if you need anything, you can just call down to me.”
It was strange to hear a person sound so wary of her own husband. I took a breath and hurried up the stairs. Soon, I could hear the notes of a piano. His delicate, skillful playing was amazing. I stopped in front of the room Jack had called The Ogre’s Lair the first time we’d been there.
The door was open, but Mr. Ross’s back was turned, and he didn’t notice me coming in. And the sounds were so beautiful, I stopped a moment to enjoy them. Only a few seconds later, I knocked at the door.
The music stopped. Jack’s father turned and adjusted his glasses.
“Oh, hello, Jenna. Come in.”
I smiled and started walking toward him, but then he stopped me, telling me to shut the door. That was strange, but I didn’t see why it should make me nervous. So I obeyed. He walked over to a love seat and motioned for me to sit beside him.
“I suppose you’re here to talk about the Christmas dinner. Am I right?”
“Yeah.”
“And I suppose Jack prefers that I not go.”
It made me sad that he was aware of that, and I tried to persuade him it wasn’t true, but he stopped me. “Jenna, I’ve known my boy since he was born. I know how he is, and I don’t need you to lie to me to make me feel better.”
He was almost as good a mind reader as his son.
Or maybe I was just terrible at hiding what I was thinking.
I tried to be honest. “The truth of the matter is, we were talking about this last night. And you’re right.
He told me he wanted to come have dinner at my parents’ house, but he didn’t want you to come. ”
He didn’t look sad. He didn’t look offended. He simply looked a little confused.
“You can’t have come here just to tell me that,” he said.
“No,” I admitted, grinning.
“What is it, then, Jenna?”
“Well,” I began, looking for the right words. “I don’t know what happened between you and Jack, but…”
“He didn’t tell you? How interesting. I would assume, if there was anyone in the entire world he would have spoken of it to, it would have been you, Jenna. It’s interesting that he never did, don’t you think?”
I didn’t. Not really. In fact, I thought it sucked. I thought it sucked that he was supposed to be my boyfriend and he didn’t even trust me. But that didn’t matter right now, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that to Mr. Ross.
“I can’t say, sir. But that’s not why I’m here.
I have the impression that there’s a chance—maybe just a small chance, but still—that Jack’s willing to make peace with you.
If only for a night. And I’m trying to make that happen.
But that’s going to take something from you.
You’re going to have to tell him you’re sorry. ”