Brittany Cartwright Forgives Jax Taylor for Cheating: 'I Was Raised to Be a Good Christian'

Forgive, sounds good. Forget? Brittany Cartwright‘s not sure she could .. or should.

Yep, a Dixie Chicks classic pretty much perfectly sums up the Vanderpump Rules star’s attitude to unfaithful boyfriend Jax Taylor by the end of Monday night’s episode. Despite learning he had sex with her friend, hearing a damning audio recording of him insulting her to said friend post-coitus at what was supposed to be a housewarming party signifying a fresh start, and essentially being told by all her friends to break up with the bartender, Brittany decides to stand by her man.

But first: Picking up from her explosion at their apartment last week, Brittany describes what Jax told ex-SURver Faith on the smoking-gun tape.

“Jax is talking to this girl telling her that he doesn’t want kids, he doesn’t want marriage, he hasn’t had sex with me in months, and it just makes me sick,” she says.

All the girls are equally disgusted, and the guys flee to Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney‘s place, where Tom Sandoval misdirects his anger at girlfriend Ariana Madix for letting Brittany listen to the recording after a boozy night.

Here we go: James Kennedy stole the file from Faith and shared it with Lala Kent., who told Ariana Madix, who together pulled Brittany aside and asked if she wanted it played. So Jax is mad at Brittany for airing his dirty laundry publicly, Brittany is mad at Jax for, you know, sleeping around, and Sandoval is mad at Ariana for being a bystander. Ariana’s mad at Sandoval for not having her back, and before you we know it, Jax has demonstrated he’s still got a flair for distraction tactics.

Eventually, Tom and Ariana make up in SUR’s infamous alley. Meanwhile, Lala introduces us to the restaurant’s new hostess, Billie Lee, who is transgender. She seems above all the nonsense and eager to make friends, so we’re excited to see what she’ll bring this season.

In other news, James Kennedy spins at his first “See You Next Tuesday” DJ night at SUR, and the high turnout (and lack of drunken shenanigans) impresses Lisa Vanderpump. He also records a new track with Lala, who pretty ably sings the hook, and Sandoval, who … attempts to play the trumpet. Can you autotune brass instruments?

“Every time I pull out my trumpet, it’s an expression of my feelings,” he explains, deadpan.

We’ll go with Lala’s analysis: “Sandoval’s trumpet playing reminds me of being in a pack of baby dolphins just learning to communicate for the first time.”

Scheana Marie confronts server Jen Bush for spreading a rumor that her boyfriend Rob Valletta kissed another waitress at a bar, and she’s gone from denying anything improper went down to admitting Rob told her he ran into an ex-girlfriend and gave her a friendly peck.

“He said, ‘I picked her up, I twirled her around, I gave her a kiss on the cheek or maybe the lips hit, whatever,'” Scheana tells a clearly unimpressed Jen, blaming the staff’s “game of telephone” for her woes.

And, yes, Brittany decides to stay with Jax.

“I was raised to be a good Christian woman, and that is all about forgiveness, and I believe everybody deserves it,” she explains after a heart-to-heart with her mom. “Even Jax.”

“It’s going to be hard for a while, but I love you too much not to try to work things out,” she tells him. “And there’s going to be a lot of, like, guidelines that you’re going to have to go by, like you are going to start therapy, aren’t you? I know we’re probably going to get into arguments every now and then because that’s just how life is, but you know the way you talk to me has got to change.”

Jax agrees but confesses to the camera he thinks he’s not solely responsible for their issues.

“I will kick your ass if I ever hear anything again,” Brittany says.

“Nothing will ever happen again,” he swears. “I promise.”

Vanderpump Rules airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.