J & P Book 6 - Remember Me And Smile

Chapter Seventeen

"Jen? Whatever's the matter?" enquired Lucia with an anxious tone, as Jenny sobbed down the phone. "What's happened, Jen?"

"Nothing... nothing's happened 'Cia. I'm okay. I just..."

"Ah. You read Paul's letter, didn't you?"

Jenny sniffed and exhaled a shaky sigh.

"Oh, Jen... Did you want me to come over?"

"No, 'Cia. It's late. I... I just wanted you to know I'd read it."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Lucia said warmly. "I know how anxious he was to make sure I got it to you at the right time. Did it help?"

Jenny gazed into the distance. "I think so, yeah."

"What made you decide to read it tonight?"

"I thought I should read it before we moved out," she admitted. "I have felt close to him here."

"Do you still?"

"Not really."

"Do you still think you're doing the right thing, selling up?"

Jenny sniffed again. "Yeah. One of the things he said. He didn't want to think of me moping around this place."

"Oh?"

"He just wants me to do whatever makes me happy."

"And what would that be, Jen?"

Jenny thought about her recent chats with Patrick, the cups of tea and coffee they'd shared, the love they had made. The unrest in her stomach at his problems, the need to help him she now carried in her gut. But he didn't seem to want her to help.

"I don't know, 'Cia. I'll start by seeing how tomorrow goes."

"Do you need any more help?"

"I think we're okay. Mike and Deny are coming over to help. I've got Andrew too. Grace is going to Mum's."

"Is Patrick helping you?"

She sighed again. "I don't know."

"Probably best he stays away, I suppose, after what he said to you last weekend?"

Jenny hadn't told Lucia about her little meeting with Patrick on Thursday night. To do so would mean telling her about his alcoholism, and she wanted to honour his privacy. "Yeah. Probably. Andrew picked the keys up today so there's no need for him to come over."

"Well, I hope it goes okay. When am I coming over for wine?"

"Ha, ha. Maybe next weekend. Give me time to unpack it all."

"Alright. Well, you sound brighter. I'm glad you read the note. And if you want to talk about it sometime, you know where I am."

"Thanks, 'Cia. Give my love to Rob and the boys."

"Will do. And good luck. It's about time you had some."

Jenny ended the call and removed her phone from her ear, looking at it. The background photograph was still a picture of her and Paul from happier, healthier times.

She took her phone, with the note from Paul now safely in its envelope again, upstairs. She put the phone on charge next to the mattress that she was sleeping on tonight, putting the note carefully in a pocket of her overnight bag which housed her essential items which weren't in boxes. She undressed slowly, put on her M&S nightie, and climbed into bed.