justAlina

turns out, they didn't want to shake up the kids lives even further, so they agreed to keep living together for a couple of years until julie went off to college

apparently the separation really helped the friction between them decrease, so at least the constant arguments are no longer a problem in the household

but jim is still definitely not ready to watch someone else try to woo his ex-wife. he can't decide if it being jade makes it slightly less terrible or a million times worse

he grabs his coat off a hanger in the hallway and walks towards the door

tabitha: "where are you going?"

jim: "for a walk!"

he storms past jade, not caring that he's shoving him with his shoulder as he does so, and closes the door behind him

tabitha takes the flowers and shakes her head with a sigh. "he always does this!"

her accent comes through as she complains

jade can't stop staring at her. he missed her so much, and he realises that he never wants to be far from her again if he can help it

"i'm sorry. this was probably a terrible idea."

tabitha sighs again, but she smiles. she smiles, and it makes his heart swell three times its size

"i really missed you." he points at the roses. "just. ignore those. it just felt right, but, you know—i can be a fucking idiot sometimes, so..."

she just lets him talk. there's a fondness in her eyes.

"can you say something?"

"i... i don't know" she says with a shrug "i don't know. if you want an answer—i don't know"

"no, of course, i... i don't know what i expected. listen, i'll come back later, just text me when the kids are back from school, okay?"

tabitha nods, and he leaves. he runs into jim on his way out, who was just sitting in his car parked right around the corner. jade gets in the car

"look, i can't blame you for trying"

"she said 'i don't know'. what do you think that means?"

"i think it means that you might be in for one hell of a ride."

later, ethan is so happy to see jade, and julie pretends to be barely tolerating him but makes no efforts to leave the room

they all notice how tabitha looks happier with jade around, except for jade who has no frame of reference and assumes she must be just tolerating his presence after the confession

jade offers to take the whole family out for dinner, but julie is working hard to catch up with her studies to graduate with her friends so it's just them and ethan (because jim and tabitha promised julie that they wouldn't make her babysit ethan anymore)

the dinner —at the fanciest restaurant in town, which made jim roll his eyes but provided lots of fun and entertainment for ethan—goes surprisingly well, just like the afternoon went

jim takes ethan and leaves to refuel the car while jade takes care of the check (ethan loves it when his dad explains how cars and fuel work)

"i want this" tabitha says out of the blue while they wait for jim to come back

"what?"

"you wanted an answer. i don't want jim to move out. and i don't want you to leave either. i just want this. i want today, every day. is that crazy?"

"it's not crazy. it sounds—perfect, actually"

he sounds like he's about to tear up

they're standing next to each other outside the restaurant. they nod to each other, and her hand finds his own, and her fingers tentatively find their way to interlace with his

he actually does tear up when she does this, and starts apologising

"fuck—sorry, i..."

he needs to take deep breaths