26. Chapter Twenty-Five
Janie had a couple of hours to think about everything that had happened. Mac had left a while ago to tend to something. Eleanor was doing better and even though she was exhausted, she told him she would be fine.
Mac hadn’t wanted to leave, but whatever was said on the phone seemed important. She didn’t want to hold him back. And she needed time away from him to think about everything that had happened and what he had said.
In conclusion, Janie was going to try her hardest to stay away from him. Ignore him when she needed to. She didn’t know the answer to her questions and she didn’t know how to ask and get an honest answer out of him.
How was he going to know what happened five years down the road? He didn’t and she didn’t want to be bound by that. Not again and potentially hurt Eleanor in the process. It would hurt her as well, but she would put up with it, but Eleanor was a different story. She was so young.
Janie was still exhausted from the day and a nap right now sounded good. Today was going to be a chill day and it sounded amazing. She may try and edit some today, so she didn’t get so far behind, but it wasn’t going to be a lot.
Eleanor was currently sleeping on the couch. She had fallen asleep as she played with her little stuffed animal and Janie didn’t want to move her in case she woke up. Ellie needed all the sleep she could get.
This was the perfect time to get her laptop and edit some. Sure, there were other things she could be doing, but editing her authors manuscripts was her job. She still had a job to do.
Janie started to walk towards her office when the doorbell went off. Her whole body froze as she waited for Eleanor to wake up but she didn’t. Who could be at the door? She wasn’t expecting anyone. Maybe it was Mac coming back. He had said that if he had time he would.
She opened the door without looking. “I don’t want to talk to you right now. I don’t want to talk to you at all. Please leave me alone.”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at her ex-husband. What was he doing here? She didn’t want to talk to him and he hadn’t said anything to her. Donald raised his eyebrows at her.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Right about now she wished she had followed what Mac had said and looked through the peephole first. Why hadn’t she? Because she knew that if it was Mac, he wasn’t going to leave until she opened the door and talked to him.
Janie sighed and closed her eyes for a second as she waited for Donald to tell her what he was doing here.
“Well?” Janie asked. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
Donald continued to stare at her. She honestly didn’t know why she had married him in the first place. Sure, it was her dream to be married and have a family, but what had she seen in him? He wasn’t anything special, if anything he was rude and inconsiderate.
“Donald. What do you want? I don’t want to talk to you so make it quick,” she said.
“I want you,” he replied.
Her mouth hung open. Did he really just say that? After a year of divorce, he came back to say that?
“Excuse me?” she whispered. “What did you say?”
“I want you back. I made a mistake a year ago cheating on you. I want you again. We can work on things and get back together,” he said. “I want to have you back.”
She stared at him. Where was this coming from? He had said he didn’t want anything to do with her when they got a divorce. He was happy to sign it the day it got delivered.
“No,” she replied. “I don’t want you back.”
Janie saw the way he clenched his jaw. He was getting mad. Towards the end of their marriage, he would get frustrated and slightly mad, but nothing serious. This was different.
“I want to work through this,” he calmly said after he took a breath in. “I shouldn’t have cheated on you and I’m sorry for that.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to work through this. I don’t want you. You need to leave me alone.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and she held her breath. What was he going to do?
“No!” he raised his voice. “We’re going to work through things!”
Janie started to get uncomfortable. She didn’t have the door open wide, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to close it and lock it before he tried to get in. She wasn’t fast enough.
“We’re going to have a conversation and get back together!” he yelled. “I don’t care what you want. We’re going to do it.”
“Please, just leave,” she gently said. She didn’t want to anger him any more or make things worse.
Mac pulled into his driveway and got out of his car. She looked over in his direction, hoping he would look over.
“I won’t fucking leave!” he yelled.
She watched as Mac turned around and stared at them. She gave him a pleading look and he started to walk over.
“Are you whoring around?” Donald yelled as he looked over at Mac. “Is that why you don’t want to get back together with me? You’re sleeping with our fucking neighbor?”
“Just stop. Please leave,” she said as she turned her attention back to him. Why didn’t he get the hint that she didn’t want anything to do with him?
“I’m not fucking leaving until you answer my questions and we talk things through.”
“Janie asked you to leave,” Mac said. “So leave. She wants nothing to do with you.”
Donald turned around and glared at Mac. They stared at each other for several seconds and all Janie hoped was they wouldn’t get into a fight. Mac would win, but she didn’t want him to get in trouble.
“I won’t fucking leave,” he said. “I’m talking to my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” Mac replied. “You’ve been divorced for over a year. She isn’t your wife anymore and she won’t be your wife.”
Mac had moved so he was closer to Janie and she was grateful. He would block Donald from getting closer to her.
Donald turned towards her and pointed a finger. “You’ve been whoring around with him! I was being gracious and letting you get back together with me.”
Her mouth hung open as she stared at him. He was being gracious and letting her get back with him? That was a joke.
“Leave or I’ll call the cops,” Mac said. “And if I see you here again, I’ll call them. Janie doesn’t want you here.”
Donald glared at Mac before he spat on the ground and walked away. Janie sagged against the door and took several deep breaths. She hadn’t even realized that her heart was going like a freight train.
“You’re okay,” Mac said as he turned toward her. “Everything is okay.”
She closed her eyes. What would she have done if he didn’t come home in time? Would she have been able to get rid of Donald by herself? Janie didn’t bring her phone with her so she wouldn’t have had a way to call the cops or anything.
“Are you okay now?” he asked.
She nodded her head and looked at him. “Thank you.” Janie stood back up and started to close the door, but Mac stopped her. He raised one of his eyebrows at her.
“Are you okay? Don’t lie to me. You know I don’t like lies,” he said.
She sighed. “I’ll be okay.”
“If you need anything, you let me know.”
She nodded her head. “Thank you again.” Janie closed the door and leaned her head up against it. What a mess.