I once visited New York with Jack. Bridget had gone there with Ben and told me that it was an exciting place to visit with plenty of activities. Jack took me there once as a surprise. Kevin got very angry when I told him I was going away with Jack for the weekend. He often got very jealous when I went out with Jack anywhere, especially if we were staying over night. He went into one of his rages again, this time bruising my shoulder. Since it was summer, as least I could wear short sleeves shirts to cover up the bruise without being too hot. As usual, Jillian just sat by pretending that everything was fine and told me to have a good time in the Big Apple.

When we got to New York, Jack checked us into one of the nicest hotels there were, the Ritz. Since it was well into the evening by the time we arrived, we decided to go see Time Square at night. All the lights fascinated me. I enjoyed Jack's company, especially since he often got me away from Kevin, but I always dreaded when it came time for us to go to bed. It's not that I didn't love Jack, I just did not want to do the same things with him as with my father. I had already had one abortion to avoid being a teenage mother with her own father's child. Every since then, I was just turned off by sex altogether. That was the one thing Jack never fully understood. He told me that he loved me and he was not like Kevin, but I still did not want to have sex with him at night. No matter how hard I tried, having sex always reminded me of my dad.

While we were in New York, we saw the Broadway musical Cats and went to Carnegie Deli. But my favorite trip was the last day when we went to Ellis Island and saw the Statue of Liberty. I know that I live in a free country, but I never understood why Kevin always got away with treating Jillian and I so poorly. I enjoyed the trips with Jack during the daytime. I wish that we never had to go back to our hotel room. I think he got the fancy hotel room to try to encourage me to enjoy our nighttime activities, but it didn't work. I suppose it was better than being home where Kevin could get to me, but I always wished I was sleeping over at Bridget's house.