Brotherly Advice Who: Jude and Lennon What: Brotherly conversations When: 10.10.11 - Monday Morning Where: A construction site Warnings: Language
Lennon's morning hadn't been a good one. If anything it was likely one of the top three worst mornings he'd had in his life. The first place spot being the day his father died. The second worst being when his mother decided to run off with some bastard and left his father to raise himself and his brother. This though, was running a really close third.
After the death of his father, Lennon hadn't been the same person. He knew that and wouldn't pretend that he'd been anything less than distant to his wife. His father had died nearly a year ago now and it seemed that distance was just getting bigger between himself and Cheyenne. He hadn't thought that it was as bad as it was, however, until that morning. Things had been rocky for a while, and for the last month or so, he'd picked up drinking a little more than usual and they'd all but stopped talking entirely. That morning she'd left with only a brief conversation about where she was going. He'd nodded, brushing her off as he usually did, and she'd left.
Needing to do a quick check on some items that were being shipped to him, he decided not to unpack his laptop from the bag and instead opened the one that belonged to his wife that she'd left on the desk in their office. Flipping it open, he opened up the browser and the last tab was a Google search that stopped him in his tracks. Divorce Lawyers. He stared at those two words and realized just how bad things had gotten between himself and Cheyenne. She wanted a divorce. And he couldn't honestly say that he blamed her. They'd had the perfect relationship, the perfect marriage and then his father had died and Lennon became a man that he didn't even like anymore. Nothing made sense and everything hurt and in the effort to numb his own pain he'd only created a lot of pain for his wife. The woman who wanted to divorce him.
The blow was hard to take and he barely made it to work on time that morning. He sighed as he pulled up and headed into the construction site where his brother had likely been for quite some time now. Coffees in hand, he offered one out to Jude. "Morning," he breathed.
As weird as it was, since their father's death Jude had gone from always being late and coming to work with a hangover to being early every morning and picking up his older brother's slack. They had both reacted very differently to their father's death and Jude worried about his brother. His sister-in-law Cheyenne had barely talked to Jude as well which worried him all the more. Of course, Jude had a busy life now so there was only so much he could do.
He was already hard at work when Lennon showed up and he set down his hammer to put coffee in his hand instead. "Mornin, Bro." he said, taking off his hard hat and sipping his coffee. H could tell something was up, but something was up every morning. Jude himself had something important he wanted to ask his brother. "So....wanted to ask ya somethin."
Lennon sipped at his own coffee, eyes flicking to Jude when he said he had something to ask. That usually wasn't a good sign. "What'd you break?" he asked him, narrowing his eyes slightly as he used his free hand to wipe his mouth. "And how much is it going to cost me?"
"Have more faith in me than that!" he said with a crooked grin. Of course, Jude had always been a bit of a wild boy. That was before Summer of course. "I was just wondering if you were cool with me asking Summer to move in with me." He had met Summer about 7 months ago while they were flipping a house for sale. It had taken him a month to finally ask out the beautiful blonde and since then he had been basically retarded for her. He finally thought it was time to have her move in with him permanently.
He was surprised, but in the same sense he supposed he shouldn't be. He knew how much Jude liked this girl and it was the way things were supposed to go. "You don't have to ask me if you want your girlfriend to live with you," he told him. "It's your house." He'd never live there again because there were too many painful memories to deal with. It was hard enough going over there to spend time with his brother. "Moving in, wow." How the tables had shifted. "At least your day is likely to go better than mine. Cheyenne was googling divorce lawyers. She wants to leave me."
Jude had just taken a sip of his coffee as Lennon dropped the bomb his wife wanted to leave him. He literally did a spit take, coughing as he wiped his mouth, staring at his brother wide eyed. "Divorce? You and Cheyenne?" There was no way. His brother had been in love with Cheyenne since she had moved to DC her freshman year of high school. They dated that long, married when she got her bachelor's degree. They had the perfect marriage. "What the hell did you do?"
"Everything. Nothing," he sighed, shaking his head a little. "She hasn't come out and said it, but you don't google divorce lawyers unless you're looking to be using one," he pointed out. "I can't really blame her. And there isn't much that I can do about it either. If she's already looking for lawyers, it's too late."
His brother put down his coffee and literally smacked his brother upside the head. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded to know. "This is Cheyenne, the perfect woman for you. The one who puts up with your crap and loves you for it." he said, gripping him by the shoulders. "You are not giving up, you hear me?! You go right now, buy her flowers, make her favorite meal and you screw her like you've never screwed her before. When was the last time you two had sex? There's no way she wants to divorce you!"
Lennon wasn't expecting to be smacked and he glared at his brother. "Ow, fucker," he said, but he listened to what Jude had to say. "If she didn't want to divorce me, she wouldn't be scouting for lawyers," he pointed out. The last question had Lennon feeling even worse than he had before all of this mess. "Before dad died," he admitted. After I was too upset to want to and then the time just kept ticking by and pretty soon it was so long that I didn't even know how to ask without feeling like a dick," he admitted. "If she wants to leave, I can't stop her from leaving. I won't force her to be unhappy."
Jude couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't even count how many times he had caught his brother and Cheyenne off in some corner making out, or having sex in places where they definitely shouldn't of been. He remembered dad having to pick them up from the police station for public lewdness. "Dude. You are a fucking moron." he said flat out, putting his hands on his hip. "She doesn't want to leave. There's no way she does. She is just miserable because you're being a fucking dumbass." he said, actually getting mad at his brother. "I knew things were off with you two, but this is crazy. You need to go home and talk to your wife."
"And what the hell am I supposed to say to her, huh?" he questioned. "Sorry I've been being a dick for the last year, let's fuck?" Yeah, that didn't sound like something that would even remotely work. "It doesn't work like that. There's too much damage been done, Jude. I don't even know how to start fixing it. Everything's all fucked up and it's my fault."
"Yea, it is your fault." he said flatly. "Which means you have to fix it." Jude couldn't believe what he was hearing. He always thought one day he would have little nieces and nephews and Cheyenne and Lennon would have the perfect life. If anyone deserved it, it was them. "You love her, don't you?"
"Of course I love her," he said as if that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard in his life. "I've been with the girl since I was seventeen years old, for Christ's sake. Of course I love her." It was probably the only thing about him that had been true for that many years. "But I don't know how to fix it. I want to, but I don't even know where to start."
"Start by telling her that you love her, dolt." he said, shaking his head and sitting down. "Lennon, you have to. You can't live without her, and you know it." Jude was trying to talk some sense into his brother, but as usual he wasn't listening. "I don't want to have to beat sense into you, but I will. You're off for the rest of the day. Go be with Cheyenne, dammit."
Jude was right, no matter how much Lennon wanted to argue. "Fine," he said. "But if she still wants a divorce, I'm not going to stop her." He couldn't trap a woman into a relationship where she didn't want to be. "Try not to kill yourself out there alone, yeah?" he said as he headed back towards his truck. "And thanks. Give Summer my best."
Jude watched his brother go toward his truck, worry on his face. He knew if he and Cheyenne broke up, Lennon wouldn't survive it. Not after dad. He looked up at the sky. "Hey Dad....help him out." he murmured before giving his brother a wave. "Will do!" he said and let out a sigh. "Back to work."