Looking After You

(36) Ages: 20 & 17

PLEASE RE-READ THE LAST CHAPTER! I ADDED A FEW LITTLE BITS! ;)

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Ages: 20 & 17

Everything after that night at the cabin happened so fast. It was as if someone was holding down the skip button on Jenny’s life and she was just going through the motions. Her parents filed for divorce the week after she told Alison about Keith’s affair and from that day on the house was silent, filled only with the sound of boxes being packed and shuffling of feet. Her graduation day was a week later and because her parents had a meeting with their lawyer at two that afternoon, the Jenson’s took her out for a celebratory dinner. In seventeen years, Jenny had never heard her house so quiet; so void of passion and life. The day before the house was sold was the day Keith finally spoke to Jenny. She was on the floor of her empty bedroom with her back leaned up against the wall below her window. He tapped on the door with two fingers, but Jenny didn’t acknowledge his presence.

“Can I come in?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Mr. and Mrs. Yates. This is their house now, after all.” Her tone was bitter and harsh, but it didn’t faze Keith as he stepped into the room.

“I’m leaving for Connecticut in half an hour. I just wanted to let you know that my offer still stands.”

Jenny’s jaw clenched at the sound of his business-like delivery.

“I know you are upset with me but this is about your future. Connecticut has some great colleges and you would be given much better opportunities-“

Whipping her head back to finally face him, her cheeks grew hot with rage. “You’re insane if you think I’m leaving with you after what you’ve done!”

Keith continued staring straight into her eyes, never being one to back down from a fight. “Cheating on your mother was a terrible thing to do and I’m sorry for that, but our separation was going to happen eventually without the added complications of my affair. We’ve been fighting since you were a child, Jennifer.”

“Fighting doesn’t have to be a bad thing! Passion, excitement, anger; they all happen when you are madly in love and it just means you are willing to fight for what you want!” Her eyes hardened and her voice softened in disgust. “You made it a bad thing the moment you cheated on mom.”

Pausing a moment to allow her rage to settle, he spoke sincerely. “A relationship can not survive fighting constantly, no matter the reasons. It’s a romantic idea, but it’s not reality. Sometimes, love just…dies, no matter how alive it was in the beginning. You will understand in a few years, when you’ve grown up.”

It felt as though someone had taken Jenny’s heart and squeezed as tight as they could. She had to look away for fear of crying. She wanted to say something smart, something mature and wise but all she felt was defeat. Could it be that the man who had broken their home and split their family apart was right about one thing? If he was right, Jenny no longer saw the point. She could feel it slipping away second by second as she sat there in her empty room, staring at her empty father with an empty hole in her chest. The memories of love and why it had been so important to her were slipping away. Love was empty, and so was she.

“You turn eighteen in a couple weeks. It’s your decision what you want to do, but the option is always there. I will always be there for you if you want me to.”

Keith left the room and Jenny started to cry. She cried for the end of her parents’ marriage, she cried for the end of her childhood and for the emptiness she felt that was making her heart bitter, slowly building walls to keep the pain of love away. An hour later, she stood up. She dusted herself off and wiped away the last tear running down her cheek. Nothing would break her like that again; she promised herself as she closed her front door for the very last time. A little, naïve girl named Jenny Loren was behind those doors and that’s where she would stay.

The Jenson’s were generous enough to allow Jenny and her mother to stay with them until they got their feet on the ground. Alison just had a rug pulled out from underneath her and it left her without an understanding of the job force or the definition of a budget. Jenny never truly realized how dependent on her father her mother was. The day her mother told her they would be moving into the Jenson’s after their house sold, that was the day she realized. Her mother had been ‘Keith’s wife’ for over seventeen years. She had no real job, no money of her own and nowhere to live. Alison had rights in their divorce, she didn’t have to go away with nothing but she did. She was too stubborn and hurt to accept any handouts from Keith after the embarrassment he had put her through. The day she signed those papers was the day she broke all ties from Keith Loren.

When Jenny stepped through the front door of the Jenson’s home, a savory smell of baked chicken wafted to her nose. One good thing Jenny could take from her parents’ divorce was living with the Jenson’s and the knowledge that every night she could enjoy one of Denise’s home cooked meals. Normally her mother didn’t cook but on the rare occasion she did, it was a night where you definitely wanted to have some other plans. Jenny walked into the kitchen to find both Denise and Richard with large smiles on their faces.

“Hello, my beautiful Jenny.” Denise uttered angelically while tossing a few ingredients into a pot on top of the stove.

Jenny forced a smile in return and leaned against the doorframe, watching the couple as they work together to create a delicious dinner. “Have you seen my mom?”

“I think she’s downstairs setting some things up in the basement.” Richard responded as he stirred the pot beside Denise, smiling at his wife as she tapped his nose with the tip of her index finger.

“You’ve got a little something right there,” Denise told Richard blissfully as she pointed to the tip of her nose.

“Do I?” Richard questioned as he leaned down closer to Denise, the small bit of mashed potatoes she had put on the end of his nose still in place. Laughing, Denise attempted to move but Richard quickly pulled her back and placed a small kiss on her lips before rubbing the small bit of mashed potatoes onto her nose.

She narrowed her eyes playfully before grabbing the kitchen rag sitting on the counter. Jenny smiled briefly at the interaction but doesn’t allow it to linger very long. “I think I’m going to go lay down before dinner.” She explained before turning to walk back out of the kitchen.

“Oh, alright, hunny. By the way-,“ The door was swinging shut before Denise could finish her sentence and she glanced up at Richard with helpless eyes. “I tried to tell her.” She shrugs.

He chuckled before giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “She’ll find out soon enough.”

Trudging up the stairs in exhaustion, Jenny stopped at the second door on the right. The room with the Jurassic Park poster still hung on the back of the door was going to be her room until further notice. She had spent half her childhood in that room; playing video games and studying and laughing about absolutely nothing and everything all at the same time. Jenny turned the doorknob and stepped into the bedroom, jumping slightly at the sight of a tall, brown haired boy sitting on top of the bed with his hands behind his head and a cheeky grin plastered across his face. “Imagine the odds of a water pipe busting in my apartment building the same day you and your mother move into my parents’ house.” He shook his head in mocking disbelief. “You don’t snore anymore, do you?” James completed his charming explanation with one final wink. While Jenny placed her hands on her hips, a firm and conflicted glare in her deep brown eyes piercing straight into his bright, hazel orbs. Most things in life change. But there are the few things that are meant to forever stay exactly the same.