Thirty-five
It had been three days since she’d heard from Nick and Jenny couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so miserable.
She’d tried calling and sent messages, but he hadn’t replied to any of them and after the second day she’d stopped trying to contact him. She knew he would be hurting and he clearly needed some time alone to process everything, she just wished he hadn’t left the way he had. She understood why he was so angry, but at some point he had to realise that she wasn’t the one he should be blaming.
Work usually took her mind off her problems, but even there she found herself worrying about him, and the extra energy needed to concentrate with each shift was mentally draining.
‘I don’t get it,’ Beth said, over coffee the next day. ‘He just left?’
‘He obviously had something to do.’
‘Dowhatexactly?’
‘Deal with whatever it is he has to deal with,’ Jenny said, fighting to keep her own frustration in check.
‘What was the fight about?’
‘I told you, it wasn’t a fight. It …’ Jenny closed her eyes wearily. ‘It’s not my place to say anything.’
‘It was Nick, wasn’t it?’ Beth finally said, leaning back in her seat. ‘The day you were struggling over whether to tell someone something, it was Nick you were talking about.’
Jenny didn’t bother denying it, she just sent her friend a level look across the table.
‘Is he sick or something?’ Beth asked quietly, concern etched in her dark Mediterranean eyes.
‘No,’ Jenny assured her, ‘it’s nothing like that. Please, Beth, don’t ask. He wouldn’t want everyone knowing this.’
‘I’m not exactlyeveryone. Icanbe trusted to keep a secret, you know,’ she said with a small sniff.
‘I know. And I would trust you with mine completely. But this isn’t mine to tell.’
‘You’re a good egg, Jenny Hayward,’ Beth said after a few moments silence as the women sipped their coffee. ‘I hope he knows what a good woman he’s got.’
Jenny gave her friend a small smile. He didn’t think she was terribly great the last time they spoke. Had he had time to cool down and reassess that opinion over the last few days? Or would he come back and treat her like a stranger? The thought of that was almost too terrible to think about. How could she go back to thinking of him as just the guy who owned the local pub after loving him all this time?
Damn it, she’d just gotten over the whole age-gap thing too!
When she got home, she headed upstairs and had a shower, hoping to wash away some of her glum mood, before dressing in her daggiest pyjamas and going downstairs to retrieve the ice cream she’d bought on impulse on her way home.
Seated on the lounge, watching a rerun ofMcLeod’s Daughters, she glanced up when Savannah entered the room. Her daughter’s eyes were red-rimmed, she was dressed in a mismatched pyjama top and tracksuit bottoms and her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days. Wordlessly, Jenny passed her the ice-cream container.
‘Everything okay?’ she asked after the third spoonful without any indication of Savannah handing it back.
‘Randy is seeing someone else.’
‘Oh.’Yay!part of her wanted to cheer, but another part was sympathising with her daughter’s broken heart. ‘I’m sorry, bub. I know how much you cared about him.’
‘Men suck,’ Savannah declared, digging the spoon into the ice cream rather aggressively.
Not so very long ago, Jenny would have agreed with her. ‘Some do,’ she said, smoothing her daughter’s tangled hair like she used to do when she was five. ‘But the right one doesn’t. He’s out there somewhere, waiting for you.’
‘Well, it would be nice if he decided to be a bit more proactive and come and find me.’
Jenny’s lips twitched and she held her hand out for the ice cream.
‘What’s going on with you and Nick? He hasn’t been around lately.’
Jenny shrugged. ‘He’s just dealing with some family stuff.’
