Eve felt like throwing up, when she entered Josh’s property. Her heart was racing and her hands were sweaty. She parked her car in front of the house and put Jake onto her arm. Then she went to the front door and rang the bell. 

Josh needed a minute to open up. He was wearing a white shirt and comfortable jeans. His grey hair, which became long in the meantime, was messy. Eve felt like having a deja vu. He used to look like this when she started redesigning his house. 

„Thank you for coming.“ He said friendly, inviting her in. 

He looked at Jake and smiled at him. Jake smiled back. 

„No big deal.“ Eve replied.

She slipped out of her light blue sandals, matching the color of her summer dress and looked at him. 

„Please, let’s sit in the kitchen. I’ll make some coffee.“ He said. 

Eve followed him. Then she sat down at a stool, having Jake on her lap. Josh prepared the coffee and sat down as well. Eve looked skeptically into her mug.

„Is something wrong?“ Josh wondered. 

„Ya. But surely you didn’t ask me to come to find out how I like my coffee, so…“

„Oh, I’m sorry. You want some milk or sugar?“ He apologized.

„Don’t worry about it.“ 

Josh was aware of, she wouldn’t make things easy for him. He looked at her for a moment, before he continued talking.

„I wanted to talk to you about the next steps.“

„Which steps? Divorce?“ She said cynically. 

Josh bit his lips, forcing himself to stay calm. 

„Please, Eve. I’m really trying…“

„Trying what?“ 

„Explaining how I see things.“ 

„Okay. Go ahead.“

„I believe being back home will help me remembering things. I already had a flashback at the stairs, remembering fragments of my accident.“ 

„Good for you.“

„Look. I really believe, being on my own for a while will help me to figure things out. I just need time.“

Eve stared at him. 

„I don’t understand what you want from me. I already moved out, not bringing you into the unpleasant situation to bear my presence.“ 

„Why do you act like this, Eve?“ 

She raised her eyebrows. 

„Do I need to remind you what happened in the last couple of days? How much you humiliated me?“

„It was never my intention to hurt you.“

I really have trouble to understand why we’re having this conversation, Josh. You already made your choices. You decided to go back to Jen.“ 

„This is not true. All you believe to know about me and Jen is not true.“

„Come on, don’t lie to yourself. You know you love her.“ 

Josh grabbed his face, slowly losing his patience. 

„I know nothing, Eve. That’s why I need time to figure things out.“

„Well, the good news is, you have plenty of time now.“

„Why are you saying that, like things between us were over?“

„Because they are.“ 

He looked at her in shock.

„Is this what you want?“

„This isn’t about me and what I want, Josh. It’s about you, never giving me a chance. From the moment you saw my face, you dismissed me. I never felt more unwanted in my life before. This broke me harder than anything else. But you managed making me feel even worse, by bringing Jen back into your life and questioning if Jake was yours.“ 

„Do you think this is fair, what you’re doing here? Accusing me for ruining your life?“

„You didn’t ruin my life. You destroyed me. And that’s why I’m not waiting any second longer for you to figure things out.“

Eve stood up, walking out of the kitchen with Jake on her arm. Josh scoffed.

„You know what?“ Josh said, to make her stop.

She turned around, looking into his eyes again.

„It’s hard to believe, that your love for me was so extraordinary, if you give up just like that.“

Eve didn’t believe it was possible, but her heart just broke a little more. 

„Congratulations, JC. You just proved rock bottom has a basement.“

Josh was completely flustered. He was mad at Eve, that she didn’t even try being understanding. He tried hard to explain his situation, without giving her the feeling that he didn’t care about their marriage. But it was her who acted completely indifferent. Was this just her way protecting herself from getting more hurt or was she truly not caring about him anymore? Her behavior just made no sense. Everybody tried to make him believe she was the woman of his dreams. But the truth was, that everything about her was nothing else but frustrating. 

Josh grabbed his phone and called Justin.

„How was it?“ He asked curiously, answering the call. 

„I’ll never listen to you again!“ Josh complained. 

„Why would you say that?“

„Because things are worse now than they were before!“ 

„I don’t understand.“

„She doesn’t care, T. I asked for more time to figure things out and she said, she’s done anyway.“

Justin sighed.

„Look, man. I’m sorry if she gave you a hard time.“ 

„She didn’t just give me a hard time, T! She was cold as ice! I told her about my flashback, but she didn’t seem to care that I was making progress!“

„Eve is terribly hurt, C. I’m pretty sure she just tries to keep herself from further heartache.“ 

„However, I couldn’t be more grateful that she moved out. I just can’t deal with that passive aggressive shitshow.“ 

„C… hearing you say those things about your wife is very disturbing. Before your accident you wouldn’t dare saying anything like that, no matter what happened.“ 

„Stop trying to give me a bad conscience!“

„She’s a good person. All she does or says is just the result of the messed up situation.“

„You learn about people best when you experience their behavior under unpleasant circumstances.“

„This is not fair, C… she’s wonderful… you have to believe me…“

„Well, if she’s so wonderful, feel free to have her! Because I’m officially done!“ 

„What did you say…?“ Justin stammered. 

„You heard me.“

„You didn’t just lost your memory. You also must lost your mind.“ 

„Maybe I did. But that’s how things are.“

„I better hang up now, before I say something, that I can’t take back…“

On her way home Eve was processing hard what just has happened. She repeated the whole conversation with Josh in her head. 

„Good lord, Eve. You just acted like the worst coldhearted bitch on that planet…“

When she arrived home, she was still lost in thoughts. Then she suddenly panicked and grabbed her phone. With shaky hands she dialed Josh’s number. 

Josh was surprised when his phone started ringing. It made no sense to him why Eve was calling. He was thinking about not to answer. But his curiosity was bigger than his anger. 

„What?“ He said harshly, after picking up. 

Eve didn’t know what to say. She was very close starting to cry. 

„This wasn’t me… this was not the way I am…“ She stammered with thin voice. 

Josh immediately calmed down. She was obviously regretting how their conversation turned out. But it didn’t change the fact that there was no way getting along with each other under the current circumstances. 

„I can’t be with you right now.“ He answered, knowing how much this must hurt her. 

But he needed to be honest. This was the right thing to do. 

„Good bye, Josh.“ She sobbed, while tears were dropping onto her cheeks.

„Take care, Eve.“ He replied. 

Four weeks later on Saturday morning, Eve and Lucy were having breakfast together in her apartment. Jake was sitting next to them, chewing a carrot. 

„It was so good to have you here the whole week. It felt like traveling back in time.“ Eve said. 

„I enjoyed it as well, my dear. Even with your grumpy baby.“ Lucy teased.

„Come on Lu, don’t be mean. He’s getting teeth.“

„I was just kidding.“ 

„However, I’m grateful you came to L.A. to buy your wedding dress. I’m very happy you let me be part of it.“

„Of course. You are my maid of honor.“

Eve sighed.

„I was a horrible maid of honor so far. When I think about what you did for me to have my dream wedding, I couldn’t feel worse, that I didn’t help you with anything.“

„Hey, listen to me. You’ve been dealing with very deep shit. I understand.“

„I still feel shitty about all of that.“ 

„Come on, Eve. It’s not like expected much. You are a wedding grinch.“ 

Eve raised her eyebrows.

„Excuse me?“

„What I’m trying to say is, that you have no idea about planning big romantic cheesy wedding parties.“

„Okay, that’s not totally wrong. But it would be a great honor, if you let me decorate the ballroom at least.“ 

„I was hoping you would say that. This would be awesome.“

Eve smiled. Then she stood up to give Lucy a hug.

„I can’t wait to see you in your breathtaking dress, marrying this awesome man.“ 

After breakfast, Eve brought Lucy to the airport. They said goodbye at the security check, being exited about the fact, that Lucy’s and Joey’s big day was just few weeks away.

On her way to the exit, Eve suddenly heard a familiar voice shouting her name. She turned around and saw Lance and Michael coming closer. 

„Hey you! Nice to see you!“ Eve said happily. 

Lance and Michael greeted her back and hugged her closely. 

„What brings you to the airport?“ Lance wanted to know.

„Oh, Lucy was in town. She’s flying back to Orlando this morning.“ Eve explained.

„Gosh, we still need to organize a wedding gift! Life is a mess right now. All that stress is freaking me out!“ Michael said nervously. 

Eve smiled.

„Where have you been?“

„Just a short business trip to Vegas.“ Michael answered. 

„Hey ehm, what about having some coffee together? I didn’t see you in ages.“ Eve suggested.

„Awww, darling we would love to. But we need to go to the club straightaway. Tonight is Justin’s gig. We need to make sure everything is prepared.“ Lance explained. 

Eve’s heart skipped a beat.

„His gig is tonight?“

Lance and Michael exchanged glances.

„Yes, it is. You wanna come?“ Lance asked carefully. 

Eve needed a moment to sort her mind.

„Actually, I would love to see him on stage again.“ She replied shyly. 

Both men smiled. 

„The show starts already at 10 PM. Use the back entrance. We’ll inform the bouncers.“ Michael said. 

„Can I bring Matty and Sarah?“

„Sure you can.“

„Thank you.“

„Of course, love. See you tonight.“