But I digress.
After our tour in Afghanistan, and the events that occurred while Mark and I were there, our friendship just … dissolved. I’m glamorizing it. Our friendship was torn to shreds like a bullet piercing through flesh, hitting the bone and shattering it to pieces while the fragments rip your insides apart. I know the feeling all too well, both literally and figuratively.
“It’s fine,” Jenna says, which brings me out of my dark thoughts. “We were together for nine years, and I just go to the point where I didn’t see us going anywhere. And he’d changed so much after you guys got back from Afghanistan.” Her expression turns sad, and I know what she’s thinking about. “I guess we all did,” she adds quietly. “I think his bitterness just really got to me, and when I realized I was never going to be enough for him I just … I called it off. It surprised me how okay he was with it, but at least we ended it on a good note and decided to just be friends.”
All I can do isnodand give her the faintest of smiles. It kills me knowing the shit she’s been through. The heartache. The pain. And all of it something that could’ve been avoided if I’d just …
“I’m kind of tired,” she says, and she starts to gather her dishes. “Your little hike really kicked my butt, and I know I’m going to pay for it tomorrow.” She smiles at me and slowly stands. “But I did have fun.”
“Me too,” I tell her. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“Anytime. Goodnight, Cole.”
“Goodnight, Jenna.”
