This Masterpiece Will Fall Apart

I wasn't going to lie and say that I was fine about Josline cheating on me. I had been with her for six, almost 7 years; there was no possible way I could be fine after a few weeks of being away from her. I had almost completely moved out of the house, and I was scared it was the end.

I was so relieved when Josline said I could see the kids. I had no doubt in my mind that she wouldn't, though. Honestly, it was just refreshing to hear her voice. When I went to pick up the kids, it looked like she hadn't been sleeping well. Her eyes had rings around them, her skin was pale (and she normally had a tanned complexion), and she was thin. Not the good kind either. The sick kind; the kind where she refused to eat. It scared me that she was becoming so weak, but both of us were too stubborn to talk about our issues.

“Okay Finley, bath time.” I said, getting up off the couch. I was staying at my parents house until things got sorted out with Josline, whenever that would be. My parents had kept surprisingly quiet about the whole situation. I think that they were hoping we'd act like adults and deal with it.

“I don't want to have a bath!” Finley whined at me.

“Too bad. You stink.” I told him.

“I do not!” Finley pouted.

“You do too.” I said. Finley pouted again and folded his arms across his chest. Great, another trait he got from Josline, I thought. I sighed when my son wouldn't budge. “Finley, please...” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“How about I put some bubbles in there?” mom asked him. I had never seen Finley move faster to have a bath in his whole life. I sighed and shook my head at him.

“Thank you mom.” I said.

“Not a problem. That's how I would get you to have baths when you were little.” mom told me.

“That would probably still work on me.” I laughed. Mom smiled at me and we heard Finley yell at her to hurry up.

“Such an impatient child.” Mom said.

“Gets it from his mother.” I joked. Mom smiled again and I went to check on the twins. They were both sleeping soundly, so I went back into the living room. I sat back down on the couch and dad looked up from the TV.

“You doing okay there Josh?” he asked me.

“Yeah...I'm okay.” I told him and he raised an eyebrow at me. “I didn't say I was fantastic dad.” He just opened his mouth to say something, but my phone cut him off. I looked at the screen and saw it was Zack. “Hey Newfie. What's up?”

“Josh?” Zack's voice seemed weak, and it sounded like he had been crying.

“Zack, what is it?” I asked, sitting upright. I had never seen or heard Zack cry before, so I knew something was wrong.

“It's Josline. She's...she's...” Zack stuttered.

“What happened to her? Is she alright?” I started to panic.

“She's in the hospital.” Zack finally managed to get out.

“Why is Josline in the hospital?” I asked, causing dad to look up at me.

“We...we, uh...” Zack stuttered, “we stopped at a gas station after we saw a movie. I went inside and she stayed in the car. When I came back outside, my cars passenger window was smashed in and Josline was gone. So I went to look around, and then I heard her scream...” Zack stopped to let out a sob.

“Is she okay?” I asked, standing up. “Zack, is Josline alright?”

“She has three broken ribs, her right hand is broken, she had a stab wound to her left thigh, and she might have a concussion.” Zack explained to me. I brought up my free hand to my mouth.

“Is she stable?” I asked.

“For the most part. She's in a lot of pain right now though.” Zack told me. “She keeps asking for you.”

That actually took my by surprise. “Okay, I'm going to be there in a few minutes.” I told him. I hung up the phone and started to grab my coat.

“Josh, what's going on?” Dad asked me.

“Josline's in the hospital. I...I just need to go.” I told him. “Please, look after the kids.” Dad nodded and I headed towards the door. Mom stopped me before I opened it.

“Where are you going?” she asked. I yanked open the door.

“No time to explain. Ask dad!”

I sped down the streets and my heart was pounding so hard that I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. Everything sounded louder than what it was and my legs seemed to take me when I got out of the car. I asked the woman at reception where Josline was, and I booked it up the stairs (it was only on the second floor). I looked for the room, but I had forgotten what room the woman had told me Josline was in. Zack appeared in the hallway and saw me. He rushed over to me and we didn't say anything; he just led me to the room.

I gasped when Josline turned her face towards me. She was bruised and almost to the point where she was unrecognizable. I felt my knees start to get weak, so I quickly walked to the bed. I took her left hand in mine; my eyes felt like they were starting to well up. “You actually came.” Josline said.

“Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?” I asked her. Josline didn't say anything. She started to tremble and I knew that she was going to cry. I carefully wrapped my arms around her and she cried into my shoulder. “Hey...hey, it's okay. Everything's alright.” I told her and sniffed. “You're safe now baby.”

Josline moved away from my slightly. “God, it was so fucking terrifying.” She leaned back against her pillows.

“What really happened?” I asked.

She took in a sharp breath, “I was waiting in the car for Zack after we had seen a movie, and this guy started walking towards the car. I got scared, so I locked the doors. He pounded on the window, telling me to unlock it, but when I didn't he smashed in the window and drug me out of the car and...” Josline sobbed , so I took her good hand in mine. “He shoved me into an alley way, threw me to the ground and tried to...” she stopped and looked up at me. It took me a moment to realize what she was trying to tell me. She looked sad and looked down. I gently placed a hand on her face and tilted it up towards my face, gently pressing my lips against hers.

When I pulled away, I said, “I'm just glad you're okay.”

Josline turned and smiled at Zack, who was still standing in the doorway. “You can thank Zack for that.” I looked over at Zack who had a sheepish smile on his face. “He nearly beat the shit of the guy that attacked me.” I stood up from my seat and walked towards Zack; I threw my arms around him in a hug.

“Thank you.” I told him. “Thank you so much.”

Zack wrapped his arms around me, returning the hug. “I wasn't going to let some ass hole hurt my friend.” Zack said. I let go of him and smiled.

“I owe you big for this.” I said.

“You owe me nothing.” Zack replied.

“Don't be so humble. You saved her life.” I told him.

“That may be so, but I am no hero.” Zack said.

“You're mine.” Josline piped up. Zack looked over at her and smiled. Zack walked over to Josline, bent down, and hugged her.

“Look, you saved my life, and I saved yours. Call it even?” Zack smiled.

“Can I at least buy you a Superman cape or something?” I asked him.

“No capes!” Zack said, kind of shocking me. “Don't you know that bad things happen to superheroes that wear capes?”

I smiled slightly at Zack. “Fine. What about a tee-shirt?”

“That would work.” Zack smiled back. He started walking towards the door, “I'm going to call Airin and Marque and tell them what happened.” he said, exiting the room. I turned back to Josline who had a light smile on her face. I walked over to her and took her good hand again.

Maybe Josline and I weren't perfect, and maybe we had things we needed to work on. Maybe it would take me a long time to forgive her for what she did, but she forgave me for the biggest mistake I had ever made in my life, so maybe I could forgive her for hers.