<strong>Jess, at Dinner</strong><br/><br/>Jess smiled at Derek’s kind words. He was such a good, thoughtful son. But she’d seen the way he’d been looking at Devlin … she knew who he’d<em>really</em>like to be with.  And it wasn’t her. She was just Mom. So she toyed around with her fork at her lasagna and didn’t say anything else.<br/><br/>After picking at her food for a bit, Jess could sense Melonie looking at her. She gazed up across the table at her pretty young daughter’s lovely face. When Melonie mentioned a massage and a hot tub, Jess’s sad face immediately brightened.<br/><br/>“I’d like that,” Jess said quietly, with a gentle smile. “I’d like that so very–”<br/><br/>And then Stephanie started talking about a date night with Jonathan. The smile immediately left Jess’s face. Jess dearly, dearly loved her husband – worshiped the man, in fact, with every part of her heart and soul – but cuddling up with just him and watching movies … that wasn’t exactly her idea of a romantic evening. Or a depraved, lust-filled one.  Not tonight, anyway.<br/><br/>In fact, when Jess started considering the movies that they might actually see – Jonathan in a wild romp with Melonie, for example – she started to get angry. And frustrated. Lately, her life had been dull, without the passion she was used to from the rest of her family. And it seemed to her like she’d been left out of so many wonderful things … something like that would just remind her of<em>everything</em>she seemed to be missing lately.<br/><br/>She ignored everyone else at the table for a little bit, letting all of the kids talk and laugh with one another. It took her a moment to realize that Stephanie was talking to her again.<em>Great. What does she want <strong>now</strong>?</em>she thought.<br/><br/>"You know Mom it’s not fair that Devlin has to be home schooled like the rest of us,” Stephanie said. “I mean with that ankle thing she can't leave the house. Least if she went to school she would have some social life. I mean you wouldn't like it if you were trapped at the office all day long."<br/><br/>Jess dropped her fork and looked up at her daughter, her eyes blazing for a moment with anger. “I<strong>am</strong>trapped at that goddamn office all day long,” she snapped at Stephanie.<br/><br/>Immediately, Jess covered her mouth with her hand, the anger from her eyes replaced with a look of utter shock.<em>Why did you say that?</em>she thought to herself in horror. Jess was always so sweet and patient and understanding with the kids, always trying to make them happy and give them whatever they wanted, an outburst like that just wasn’t like her …<br/><br/>Clearly embarrassed, Jess cleared her throat, and picked up her fork. She pushed some food around on her plate. “Well, um … yes, Devlin. I … I suppose we … we could look into … yes, your father and I can look into … maybe some other sort of school … I … I don’t know.” She picked up the napkin from her lap and wiped her mouth. “Excuse me …”<br/><br/>Quickly, Jess got up, and headed quickly for the bathroom, dabbing tears from her eyes.