J & P Book 1 - Say You Need Me

Prologue - April 2001

 I will never be safe, thought Jenny. No-one is ever really safe. Not from getting hurt.

People can hurt you, whoever you are, wherever you hide, for any reason they like.

It was yet another wet April afternoon, and as she gazed out of her window onto the lonely lawn below, Jenny felt her eyes well up, and as the raindrops trickled down the window, a tear trickled down her cheek.

She looked down, and grasped the locket, which was, as always, around her neck. It was made from eighteen carat gold, and it hung gently on a delicate nine carat gold chain. She continued to weep as she cradled the small locket in her hands. She closed her eyes to block out the tears.

He has been gone for so long now. Almost four months. His love was taken from me, without explanation, without warning.

One day he'll be back, she consoled herself. But then, I may not want him. Maybe I will have seen by then how wrong he was for me, how my friends and family were right about him all along.

Or maybe I will have found someone else, and realised that what I thought was love was no more than childish affection. The future is all so uncertain.

She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the wall. Whatever happens, she silently told herself, for all the time I still think of him, his picture will remain here, in my heart. She focused on the locket, which she then carefully pulled open. There was his photograph. Never changing. Handsome and loving.

Come back Joe, she silently begged his photograph. Please.