Page 25 of The Billionaire Benefactor

“No, you don’t.”

He huffed. “I sure do. Don’t tell anyone. I can see the headlines now: Roman Bennett Is a Fraud and Spends Saturday Nights Eating Chinese with His Mother.”

Jenny groaned. “Is it Saturday night? I should sleep. I have church tomorrow.” She paused. “I don’t want to go.”

“Why don’t you want to go?”

She was quiet for a moment, then sighed, all traces of smiling gone from her voice. “It’s dumb.”

“Nothing you could say is dumb. Tell me.”

The pause this time was so long that Roman pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure the call hadn’t ended.

“I don’t like sitting alone,” she said, finally, in a quiet voice.

Roman felt like his heart broke in that moment. He wanted nothing more than to get in his car and drive all the way up to the Woodlands to wrap her up in a big hug. He swallowed thickly. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Jenny.”

“No—see, it’s not that. I’ve been going to church alone for the last year. Only, no one seemed to notice. People didn’t really ask when Hank wasn’t there. Now they notice. Now they say things. Usually all the wrong things. I know they’re just trying to be nice.” She sighed. “I should be used to it. I mean, I’ve basically been going to church alone forever. My parents don’t go either. Never have. It didn’t really bother me, you know? I mean, I became a Christian in college and started going to church. It wasn’t weird to be without my parents because I was with all these other college kids. Only, one summer break I went and no one was around because everyone had gone home. And they made this announcement about a family picnic. I just started bawling. I was quiet, you know, but I was really crying hard. You know what? Not one person said anything to me. I was this college girl, alone in a row without anyone, just shaking and crying and no one said a word.”

“Jenny.” His voice sounded as agonized as he felt, picturing her sitting there with tears running down her face, ignored by everyone. And why wasn’t Hank in church with her the past year? What was that about? The more he learned about this guy, the less Roman liked him. Which was probably bad to think about someone who had passed away, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m not even mad about it. I mean, it’s not like I expect Christians to be perfect.” She laughed. “It’s kind of the point, right? We aren’t perfect. No one is. But anyway, since that time, I’ve just hated sitting by myself in church. So, I don’t want to go tomorrow. I will. But I don’t want to.”

Roman tried to think of something to say. But her comment about everyone saying the wrong thing had him second-guessing everything. It all sounded so trite and small. Just not good enough for what she was going through. He didn’t know if silence was better, but he hoped that just listening was enough.

There was a funny noise in the phone. “Oh no,” Jenny said. “I’m out of batteries. Forgot to charge. I’ve got to go, Roman. I’m sorry for dumping all that on you.”

“You didn’t dump anything on me. We were just two people talking. Thanks for sharing with me. I’m sorry that you have to go alone.”

“Me, too,” she said.

They both hung up before her phone ran down completely. Roman didn’t turn his phone off, though. Instead, he Googled her husband’s funeral to find out what church hosted the service so he could know where Jenny went alone on Sunday mornings. Then he Googled “how soon after a spouse dies is it okay to date.”

He found the church no problem, but there was no one answer about dating, just a lot of advice and what seemed to be the ultimate consensus: it depends.

Frustrated, Roman tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep.

---