Chapter 10: Without Val

Jenny woke up several hours later. Her mind still unable to face reality, to comprehend what was happening, she simply kept going and finished packing. She loaded in the car everything she could fit in and then called a moving company. The moving van would be there within the hour and there was nothing left for her to do other than to sit and wait. She thought of calling her parents to let them know, but she didn’t think she'd be able to speak at all and they would get worried sick. For the same reason she rejected the idea of calling any of her friends.
Three times she picked up her cell phone and started dialing Val's number... and three times dropped the phone on the couch without completing the call. On the fourth time she did go all the way and finished dialing his number. She caught her breath as the phone rang, wondering if he was even going to answer. He did...
"Oh my Gosh Val! We have to talk... we can't go through with this." Jenny blurted out as soon as she heard the call being answer.
"Excuse me? Oh, you're looking for Val... this is Max here. My condolences... Val is dead." Val made a very short pause and went on before Jenny had any chance to react. "Oh wait... you already knew that. Of course you know... you killed him. Goodbye Jenny" and with that, he hang up.
Jenny dropped her phone struck by a pain she never thought possible. Her right hand covered her mouth and she started to cry while she saw; as if in slow motion; her cell phone fall and hit the floor. The phone back cover opened and the battery flew out. The screen cracked on the impact... a wicked representation of her broken heart.
Jenny continued crying for the whole hour it took for the moving van to arrive. Then, on shaky legs, she answered the door and showed the moving guys what to load on the truck. After the loading was done Jenny took one last look around the house, and on a sudden impulse she took her lipstick out of her purse, went to their en-suite bathroom and wrote on the mirror.
"I am sorry. I still love you."
She then left the house locking the front door behind her, got in the car and pull out of the driveway. Not long after she was on the highway leaving the ski town behind. Jenny drove barely aware of what she was doing, as if in a dream. She could have crashed the car into a tree and die without even noticing it had happened.
She arrived at her parents' just before lunch. They didn't need to be told... her face clearly showed something was wrong between her and Val. They tried to comfort her with the usual "It'll be ok, sweetheart. You'll see..." and "all couples have fights, it's a normal part of learning to live together..." and then they saw it... The moving van stopped in front of their house, two guys got out and came to the front door. Jenny went out to meet them and her parents followed her.
"Mom, Dad... I have nowhere else to go. Val's selling the house. I was hoping I can stay here for a while" she said between sobs after having directed the moving guys to start unloading her stuff onto her parents' driveway.
One of their neighbours saw the hauling boxes into the house through her living-room window and came out to lend a hand. With four adults on the job, by the time the moving guys finished unloading the van, all of Jenny's belongings were inside. Jenny's parents invited the helpful neighbour to stay for lunch but she politely declined the offer as she already had plans.
Jenny refused to eat but did sit at the table with her parents and told them the whole story, from when she met with Nick at the coffee shop until Val's text message and her moving out of their newly acquired home.
"Oh, sweetie... Val will come around. You'll see" said her Mom when she finished her story.
"No, he won't, Mom... Val has a clarity of mind that allows him to make decisions without hesitation. And those decisions are truly final." Jenny explained, her voice trembling as she talked about the man she so loved but knew would never see again. "Val can make complete plans, with every option and every required decision taken into account, in an instant and there's never need to revise them. It's his gift" and then added with a sad smile "and has turned out to be my curse, I guess."
After lunch they moved some of Jenny's boxes down to the basement while the stuff she'd need for every day life went to her old bedroom. Luckily they hadn't had need to use it, so except for a bunch of her Dad's books stacked in a corner while he was fixing his book shelves, Jenny's room was exactly as she remembered it when she left her parents' house to move in with Val.
Jenny spent the rest of the day locked in her room and only came out at dinner time to sit at the table with her parents, although she was not hungry.
"You have to eat something, darling."
"I don't think I can, Mom."
"So, what are you going to do now?- asked her Dad.
"Do? I've no idea. I cannot imagine life without him."
After that, the rest of the dinner went on mostly in silence. Jenny's parents did some small talk about this and that... uncle Benny's new car... her cousin graduating in two months... just trying to fill the emptiness that hung in the air because of their daughter's aching heart, without much success.
A few days later, two of Jenny's friends- Beth and Candy- stopped by. Her mother innocently denied having called them and although Jenny gave her an admonishing look she actually had to admit it felt good to have the girls visiting.
After they left, Beth and Candy called the others- the girls only- and had a meeting. Jenny was in a very bad place and needed their help. They'd be there for her. And together they'd get their Jenny back to her old cheery self. Since Jenny refused to leave the house they decided they'd go visit her... every day. They'd take turns- two girls at a time- and hang out at her parents' place for a couple of hours.
Day after day, week after week, Jenny's friends spent as much time as they could spare with her. Girls' talk, friends' care and their unwavering support worked magic to get Jenny's soul and heart healing process going. Slowly, she started to become more cheerful and even laugh a bit at some joke or silly comment, although her eyes never lost a certain trace of sadness... and she kept refusing to leave the house until one afternoon; after several months of this "friends' love treatment"; she surprised the girls by suggesting to go out for a walk.
After that she started to get better faster. She still wanted nothing to do with guys- friends or not- girls only. It wasn't that she was leaning towards becoming lesbian... nothing like that. She just kind of saw Val and Nick in every guy and her heart could not take it. Not yet, it was still too soon.
Several more months went by before she accepted to hang out with her guy friends... everyone except Nick. She wouldn't even tolerate to hear his name or anything mentioned related to him. Jenny kept telling herself that she hated Nick; that all that had happened , all she had lost, all her misery and pain was his fault but deep inside she did not believe that... and that was what troubled her the most. There was a conflict in her heart that both scared her and caused her indescribable pain.