Trying Not To Love You (A Chris Evans Story)

Chapter 2 - The Arrival

As Jenna collected her bags from the arrivals terminal, she scannned the sea of people for her cousin. It wasnt long before she spotted a tall redhead, carrying a smaller redhead, and rushed to greet them pulling them into a huge hug.

"Oh my god, I've missed you so much!" Cara squealed as her cousin drew back from her arms to look at her. "How are you? How's Aunt Liz? Are you OK?" she fired off.

"I'm good Cara, just a little stiff from the flight but I'm good. How are you?" Jenna replied. "Thanks for picking me up by the way" she added.

"Oh it's no problem really. Matt is working and Chace is at school so its just us three til they get home" she said excitedly.

The journey to Cara's house was just under an hour, but the two cousins spent the whole journey talking and catching up on gossip.

Jenna was relieved to know that her mum had told the family about her and Ben, so Cara tried her best to avoid mentioning him and kept her conversation to the family and work, and Jenna was grateful to be able to talk about anything other than her breakup.

When they arrived in Wayland, Jenna couldn't help but yawn as she climbed out of the car and gathered her bags from the trunk.

"I've set up the guest room already so you go nap if you need and I'll call you when dinner is ready if you're not up by then" Cara offered sweetly giving her cousin another quick hug.

"Thanks love. A nap sounds great right now" Jenna agreed, and disappeared with her bags towards the guest room.

**********

Jenna made her way down the stairs, and to the back porch where her cousin was sat looking out into the garden watching the kids play.

"Morning sleepyhead" Cara shouted sarcastically as Jenna closed the back door behind her. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I do actually." she replied with a genuine smile, looking out at the scenery. In that moment, she felt a calm wash over her that she hadn't felt for a while and Jenna had to admit to herself that it did feel nice.

Once dinner was cooked and eaten, Matt offered to take the kids to bed while Cara and Jenna caught up some more.

A bottle of wine was shared between the two as they talked about anything and everything, and conversation slowly turned to the Ben situation.

Jenna told her cousin how they were starting to plan the wedding after enjoying just being engaged for a while. They had already booked in viewings at a few venues and had also been to a cake tasting session the weekend prior to her discovery. She explained about her friends lack of excitement in the beginning about them getting married and the utter shock of finding that same friend sandwiched between her fiancé and her desk.

"I really liked that bloody desk..." Jenna sighed, swigging the last of her wine.

Conversation turned more lighthearted when Matt finally joined them, and they spent the rest of the evening laughing and joking, while Cara tried to persuade Jenna to do something for her big birthday coming up.

When the three of them started struggling to stay awake, they all called it a night and retreated into the house to their rooms.

As Jenna lay in bed waiting for sleep to take over, she couldn't help but think about what it would be like to stay here for a while, and made a plan to speak to her cousin the next day to discuss her options.

As much as Jenna hated the idea of being away from her parents, she had to admit to herself that this may be somewhere she could see herself living.

**********

The next few weeks were some of the best Jenna remembered.

She had taken 2 months off work to make sure she was back in the right headspace, and originally only booked a month in Boston with her cousin. However, Cara had talked her into staying for an extra 3 weeks, and she was slowly beginning to feel more content with being away from London.

As her departure got closer, she found herself worrying more and more about going home. So one night as she was sat on the porch again with Cara she spoke up suddenly.

"I think I want to stay."

Cara looked at her cousin with a growing smile. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"You heard." Jenna retorted laughing. "Seriously Cara, I really like it here. I feel like I'm slowly getting myself back, and I'm actually a bit anxious to go back to London... Do you think thats crazy?"

"Well, lets be honest, you've had a shit time back home. What's really keeping you there now?" Cara asked rhetorically.

"There's so much to work out though" Jenna thought out loud. "Like my job, all my stuff... Jesus, where would I live? Oh god, it's a silly idea, just ignore me."

"You're thinking too much about it, Jen. I think go home, get back into work, see how you feel and then go from there. You know you're always welcome to stay with us as long as you need, and we can help you with an apartment and job hunting and stuff" Cara suggested. "You need to be happy, Jen. I think it would be good for you."

She watched as Jenna sat in silence for a while, brow furrowed, as she thought hard about her future and what she really wanted.