Interesting idea Shawn! I’ll play along — plus the allure of a sticker is always good. Here goes!
(Note — if you’ve been reading my story, this would take place between Chapter 17, which I just finished, and Chapter 18, the next chapter. I’ve been writing from two points of view, alternating chapters.)
A strange twist of fate conjoins Jim and Maggie once more. Over four years ago, Jim decided his life was more important the life of Maggie, or their soon to be born son. He had dreams and ambitions. He had been accepted to a good college and had a plan for his future. That plan didn’t include a girlfriend and a child.
He thought he did everything write, up until that fateful day. When Maggie stopped by to chat, he expected it to be the inevitable “we’re breaking up because we are going to different colleges” speech. Jim was actually afraid of this. He never told her, but he loved Maggie. If their lives would have been on different paths and she could have joined him on his quest, he could have seen himself marrying this girl. Perhaps that is a selfish idea — that she would have followed him. But, in his mind, he had the career aspirations that would allow him to support her wholly.
On that fateful day, when Maggie had revealed to him that she was expecting a baby with him, his world came crashing down all around him. If he did the right thing, and stayed, what kind of life could they have? Without a college degree and no idea what to do as a father, it could only mean a rough life for everyone involved. He would be miserable. She would be miserable. They’d hate each other, and this would inevitably trickle down to the child. Jim wanted to love this child, but he also thought he was the worst person in the world to help raise it.
Now, you might think of Jim as a jerk and miscreant who only cared about himself, but as you can see, in his mind, he was doing what was best for both Maggie and the baby. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t wrong in his thinking. No decent person would completely abandon their child. But, in his mind, he thought he was doing the right thing.
Maggie, on the other hand, has quite a different impression, one that you might share as well. Here was a guy she has been steady with all throughout high school. They went to church together. Took the classes they could together. As their years progressed, and they became older and more serious, it was her who decided that the relationship needed to go the next level. He was timid at first, but being a guy, did not mind the pleasure that came from a more intimate relationship. However, once that started, Maggie noticed things changing.
Jim was never one to be emotional, but he became even more distant to her after this crucial turn in their lives. He seemed to be using his new achievement as a trophy with his friends. His desire to just spend time with her at the mall or help with homework almost always devolved into what she could do for him at the end of it all. He became obsessed with the physical aspects of their relationship, and she felt him becoming more distant.
Of course, this was her perception, He thought this was just how their relationship would be, and was adjusting to this new aspect. He never wanted to get things off track. She, on the other hand, did not see things the way he did, nor could she read his mind. Two people who should have been together forever, destroyed by a lack of communication and a failure in the things they trusted to keep their intimacy safe.
Maggie dreaded for weeks the conversation with Jim to tell her about the baby. She agonized over the words, and tried as hard as she could to avoid him. It is no wonder he was concerned that the meeting would be about a breakup. It was, for him his first girlfriend. He wanted it to be perfect. On that fateful day, when she revealed the mystery, Jim just couldn’t handle it. He got angry, blamed her for letting it happen, and unnecessarily threw at her the laundry list of reasons why he couldn’t stop his life for the baby.
Maggie was devastated. The man she had loved for years and gave herself to first was rejecting her at the moment she needed him most. How could she ever trust a man again, let alone this man, who couldn’t see past himself and realize this, whether he liked it or not, his life was no longer his own.
Fate has an interesting way of complicating life. Just as Maggie was getting on with her life, and Jim was settling in to his new one, fate came crashing down, under the guise of money. Both needed it, and both wanted out. However, as you have seen as a reader, both have experienced a vast difference in what this acceptance of money has done for them. Whether it was destiny, or mere chance, these two are now together again. They can choose to fight each other, or they can choose to see this game through to its conclusion. In either case, neither will be the same.
As they sit here in Jim’s apartment, searching for the words to say, both have their own things on their mind. The child that Jim so desperately wanted to avoid ever knowing can now only be saved by Jim completing his tasks. Those tasks, forever intertwined with the missions that have resulted in the very kidnapping of Maggie, and the death of her mother. Mr. Man, or Lance as Maggie has come to know him, could not have played these two individuals more perfectly. The only question now is — will he continue to control their lives, or will they find a way to fight back against a mysterious man who they know so little about? That is the conversation that Maggie and Jim are about to have.
