The One Where The Lines Get Kinda Blurry

The One With Enemies Or Frenemies

"Hi" they both said at the same time, with smiles that were blatantly awkward and distinctly uneasy.

There was a beat of silence, neither knowing quite what to say, especially with Cleo looking at them both expectantly. After another long moment of awkwardness, the girl rescued the pair of them.

"Jen's letting me share her smoothie. It smells so good. It's made with raspberries and cherries and banana and all kinds of healthy stuff. I can't wait to try it."

"Well, I hope it tastes as good as it sounds" said Zoe, not taking her eyes off Jen who was twisting her hair in an attempt to calm herself as she smiled back.

"It does taste pretty good I have to say" Jen replied, desperately trying to think how to strike up a proper conversation rather than this anxious small talk.

"I'm just going to see dad, I'll be back in a minute" Cleo announced, and with no further warning, she leaned her phone up against the side of the blender and quickly disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving just the two women, thousands of miles apart but eyeing each other as if they were in opposing corners of a boxing ring.

"You seem nervous" said Zoe after a few seconds, her gaze not faltering once as she sized up her replacement.

"I'm not going to lie, I am a little" replied Jen.

"You should be" Zoe said without hesitation then laughed loudly, neither of them entirely sure if she was joking or not. "I'm nervous" she added after a short pause, "I'm nervous as hell, and that makes me defensive."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me" Jen said, "I think it's only natural we're both a little wary given the circumstances."

"Given that my ex-husband, the father of my child, has been in love with you for over twenty five years you mean? Those circumstances?"

Jen gulped. "I'm not sure what to say to that" she replied truthfully. "I could say I'm sorry, and for your obvious hurt I am sorry... but I'm not sorry for loving him. I wasn't then and I'm not now."

"That's the first completely honest thing you've said."

"Yeah well, I've learned the hard way that honesty is the best policy."

"He used to say your name in his sleep when we first got together."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"For about a year" Zoe said with a nod, "He'd fall asleep in my arms and half an hour later he'd be mumbling your name. Can you imagine how that felt? Of course, I challenged him about it and he said it meant nothing, that he was just close to you from the show and he couldn't control his brain when he was asleep. But his eyes... well, they told me a different story." She paused, taking a sip from a glass of water, observing the look of total bewilderment on Jen's face. "And so I had to decide, a choice I was far too young and immature to be equipped for, whether to walk away from the first man I truly fell in love with, or accept that I would only ever have part of his heart."

"That must've been incredibly difficult for you" Jen said quietly. "I truly am sorry."

"It's not your place to be sorry. I made the choice and I don't regret it. We created the most perfect daughter together and nothing and no one can take her away."

"I don't want to take her away."

"I never said you did."

"No, I know, but I'm just telling you. I have absolutely no desire to ever, ever get in the way of you and David as parents. I was that young girl caught in the middle once and there is no way on this earth I would ever do anything to put Cleo in that kind of tit for tat situation. I absolutely understand and agree that she is, and always will be, the number one priority."