J & P Book 6 - Remember Me And Smile

Chapter Nine

She pulled herself up into a sitting position against the bedroom wall, and stared at the opposite wall for a few seconds, panicked. She didn't watch him move, but was aware that he did the same, so he was sitting next to her, completely naked, just as she was.

"Oh God," she said. "What have we just done?"

"Jenny," he said gently, reaching out to put his arm around her. She flinched at his touch now, and moved away, looking around desperately for her clothes, suddenly feeling exposed and undignified.

"Here," he said, getting up and collecting them for her, picking up on her embarrassment. She could not look at him as he passed them to her, making herself decent as quickly as she could; by the time she had done this he had put his trousers back on.

"I should go," she mumbled, going to leave the room. He reached for her again, his arm on her arm. She looked back at him, trembling.

"Jenny, you can't just go without telling me what's on your mind right now," he pleaded.

He didn't want to know. "I've made a terrible mistake... I'm sorry, Patrick. I just need to go."

"I'm going to have to tell Claire," he said, sombrely.

"No," Jenny said, panic in her eyes. "What good would that do? This is never going to happen again."

She looked at him, seeing the raw pain in his eyes, and she realised. Of course, he was going to tell Claire. He knew what it felt like to be cheated on, and to be lied to. He might have just cheated on Claire, but he wasn't going to cover it up.

"Oh," she said, exasperated, knowing whatever she said wouldn't make a difference, and paced out of the room, down the stairs, grabbed her coat, walked into her shoes, and headed out of the door as quickly as she could. She felt sick.

***

It was about ten when she got home. Andrew was in the lounge, watching television. She nervously stood at the door, not wanting to get too close to him, just in case he picked up on something.

"Mum," he said, with a sweet smile. "What did you think?"

What a question. "About...?"

"About the house?"

"Oh... yeah. Not made my mind up yet. We'll see."

"Oh okay. Thought you and Dad might have come to an agreement tonight."

She blushed. "No."

"Oh well," he said. He stood up and walked towards her. He was so like his father in his mannerisms. Jenny couldn't hold it together any longer and started to cry.

"Mum?"

He held her gently as she cried on his shoulder.

"What's the matter?"

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him.

"Are you thinking about Dad?"

"Yes," she sobbed. She knew which Dad he meant, but she wasn't so sure which of the two men she was thinking of right now.

"Oh, Mum," Andrew said, hugging her gently. "I can understand it if you're feeling guilty, because this is where you spent your life together, and we're now going to move... but you seemed so sure before."