Page 57 of Thick & Thin

“Yeah. I think I’m just going to go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

“Okay. Well, if you change your mind, let me know. I’ll be here.”

“Thanks, Ashley. I appreciate that.”

After hanging up, I drove through town once more before heading back to my place. Once I was inside, I undressed in my room and climbed into bed. Sleep would make it go away. If I could keep the nightmares away anyway.

My injuries had taken so much from me.

Jenny.

My family.

Children I was no longer able to have.

I had never thought about kids before, but being told you couldn’t have them changed things. Suddenly, I desired a family with Jenny. I wanted the entire package. A ring on her finger and three wild ass boys running around Daddy’s farm, which would be mine one day.

No.

It would be ours.

But I couldn’t offer her those things anymore. What kind of man would I be if I took those things away from Jenny?

She had never mentioned kids before, but I saw the way she looked at her niece, Emma. She loved that little girl, and I knew she would want her own one day.

I could never give her that. I was half a man, and Jenny deserved a whole person to share her life with. That was my final thought before sleep stole me away, and the nightmares rushed through my broken brain.

A few days passed before I found myself parked in front of Jenny’s school again, but after the one time, I never saw her there again. Even though I started going every day. It wasn’t until I got a phone call from my mom that I decided to give up Jenny.

“Hey, Mom,” I said into my cell.

“Hey, hon. How are you feeling today?”

“I’m good.”

I was lying.

I was miserable.

I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t leave Jenny. I wanted to see her face so badly it hurt, but it seemed as if she had disappeared from the campus.

“How are things back home?” I asked.

“Everyone’s good,” Mom responded. The sounds of her washing dishes by hand filled the line. “I wish I could say that same about the Michaels, though. Poor Harold is beside himself over everything happening with Jenny.”

My heart dropped.

Jenny.

“What do you mean? What’s happening with Jenny?”

She turned the water off, and I could hear her shuffling around the kitchen for a dish towel to dry her hands.

“You mean you don’t know?” she asked. “Are you and Jenny still not speaking?”

I didn’t have time for this. Already, every bad thing that could happen to her was flitting through my sick mind.

“Mom, just tell me!”

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