Exactly What I Need ~ Smoleman

Chapter 16

"You okay, babe?"

Jenna lifted her heavy head from her knees. Richard was holding two cups of coffee, and he sat down beside her on the sofa.

"Are they both for me?" she quirked a brow.

"If you want both," he laughed, placing his hand on her knee affectionately. He felt her stiffen up under his touch, and the briefly happy atmosphere dispelled.

Richard looked into Jenna's eyes, which were brown and wet, and fixed on nothing. He asked her gravely, "What's the matter, Jenna?"

The startling question put her on the spot. She tried to seriously consider how she felt, but her blank mind couldn't come up with the correct answer. She simply didn't know.

She felt multiple emotions, like sorrow, agitation, lowness and exhaustion. But somehow, all of these emotions just made her feel empty inside, like there was nothing in her soul. And she had no idea what made her feel this way.

She couldn't convey any of this to Richard, because none of it seemed to make sense. It was isolating, and Jenna wasn't trying to shut Richard out, of course not. But she knew that she wouldn't feel comforted if she opened up to him.

Richard sighed defeatedly, but got to his feet. He stood in front of Jenna, bent down and took her cold hands.

"Jen, promise me something," he lowered his head so he would get Jenna's attention. She brought her gaze up to his kind blue eyes.

"Don't suffer through this alone," he beseeched her. "You've not said anything about it to me, so I guess you don't want to."

"Richard, it's not-"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing," he put a smile on his face to reassure her that he wasn't angry or finding fault. "But please, you've got to tell someone how down you're feeling, okay? Your parents, Maggie, Karen. Even talk to Matt, if that helps."

It obviously gave him pain to say that last part. But he was desperate at this point. He was so worried about Jenna, fearing that she may even be developing depression. And he didn't want that. He wanted to intervene before it became serious. But it was apparent that Jenna didn't want help from him.

Richard placed a kiss on her forehead then headed for the door, grabbing his coat on the way.

"Where are you going?" she croaked.

"I was going to go out with Tom."

"Tom?"

"Maggie's Tom. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is," she forced herself to smile. She knew that if she was hesitant that he'd cancel his plans, which wasn't fair on him. And Jenna wouldn't be able to deal with any more guilt.

- - -

About an hour later, there was a knock at the apartment door. Jenna sluggishly got up from the sofa and answered it. It was Maggie. Her shiny hair was curled and she had applied makeup to her happy face. She looked stylish, and a hell of a lot more presentable than Jenna at that moment in time.

"Hey, Jen," she sounded cheery as she greeted her, but she kept her voice down.

"Hi, Maggie," Jenna was a little puzzled, but stepped aside to let her in. "Wasn't expecting you, so forgive the mess."

"Mess? The place is immaculate," Maggie replied as she sat on the sofa.

"I meant me," Jenna said, which made Maggie laugh, but then she quickly hushed when she noticed Jenna remained silent as she sat next to her.