“I don’t know.” He looked over his shoulder at one of Jenny’s best friends, a girl who had introduced herself as Anna. “I might have a reason to stay…”
It was clear that Bolt and Anna were a couple after I saw them interact a little more. I didn’t know many of Jenny’s friends—but I was glad to see that she had some who were willing to drop everything and come help her move. I lost touch with most of my friends after I graduated from high school. I had a few from college that I still saw every now and then, but their lives had moved forward while mine stood still—they got married, had kids, and were doing all of the things I planned to do with Caroline. I didn’t expect to turn thirty with a bleak outlook on life, but despite everything that was happening around me, I felt like things might be headed in a positive direction by the time I turned thirty-one.
Leigh has already started to give me hope—it’s been a long time since I’ve had that.
I didn’t even think about the fact that there would be pictures of Caroline at my grandfather’s beach villa when I suggested going there with Leigh. I planned to tell her about Caroline at some point. It wouldn’t have been fair to keep something like that from Leigh because those memories were going to come back at some point—even if they gave me a temporary reprieve when I saw Leigh at the bar. Talking about Caroline with Leigh had been extremely therapeutic. She listened, and she didn’t judge. She also didn’t recommend medication to deal with the emotional turmoil like the person I actually paid to help me move past the most traumatic event of my life. Leigh wasn’t just special—she was amazing.
“Excuse me, Mr. Sinn?” A light knock echoed behind me.
“Please…” I turned around a chuckled when I saw Anna. “You can call me Damien.”
“We just finished Jenny’s room. Is there anything else we can do?” She looked around the room I was working in.
“You’re welcome to finish up in here if you want.” I pointed to the bookcase. “All of this stuff is breakable, so just wrap it before you put it in the box.”
“Sure thing.” She nodded and smiled.
I had been working most of the day without taking a break, and I needed to assess where we were with the whole process. Jenny and a couple of her other friends had already started working in the study—but it sounded like they were laughing about the books instead of packing. My mother had started to help out some, but she was mostly just slowly packing things in her bedroom. Bolt was helping the moving company carry boxes. We had made good progress, and it was almost time to take the truck to my house so we could start unloading—otherwise, I would miss my date with Leigh. I gave instructions to the moving company, let Jenny and my mother know that we needed to wrap things up soon, and sent a message to Leigh to confirm our plans.
I should check in with Jon too. It’s a terrible time to miss work, but it’s necessary…
“Okay, this is the last box.” I put the one in my hands down in the living room and turned to the group. “Thank you for your help…”
“No problem, Mr.—Damien.” Anna smiled and nodded.
“Jenny, are you coming out with us tonight?” Bolt tilted his head inquisitively.
“Uh…” Jenny wiped the sweat off her brow. “I don’t know. I probably should stay with my mother tonight—I don’t want to leave her alone.”
“Okay.” Bolt took Anna’s hand and looked at her. “Ready to go?”
“Hold on…” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and stared at it for a moment. “Actually, I think I may have to go home.”
“What? Why?” Bolt raised his eyebrows.
“Family stuff…” She put her phone in her pocket. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay.” Bolt shrugged and turned to the rest of their friends. “Guess it’s just us…”
Jenny’s friends left, and I went upstairs to shower. I wasn’t sure if Jenny and my mom would stay at my house or go back to Sinn Manor. We needed one more day of moving to get everything, which included any furniture that my mother wanted to keep. I had some space to store it at my house—and if it wouldn’t fit there, then I had a storage unit we could use. Luckily, the moving company could handle all of that. After I got showered and ready for my date with Leigh, I walked back downstairs. Jenny was sitting at the kitchen table with my mother.
“I think we’re going to stay at Sinn Manor one more night.” Jenny looked up at me.
“Are you sure?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” My mom nodded. “I want to go through the house a little bit more before I leave for the last time—I can do that tonight.”
“Okay.” I felt my phone buzz and pulled it out to see a text from Leigh—she was already at the restaurant. “Lock up when you leave?”
“Will do.” Jenny smiled.
I wasn’t sure if returning to Sinn Manor was the best option, but I didn’t want to argue with my mother if she felt like it was necessary—I sort of understood the pain she was going through, but our situations wer
e quite different. She loved my father, even if he was a despicable bastard—I wanted to believe that his black heart had been capable of loving her too, at some point in his miserable life. I couldn’t even think of one good quality he had that would have been worthy of the pure, innocent love she had for him, but there had to be something. Jenny and I wouldn’t have existed otherwise.
Alright, I really do need to get to the restaurant.
Earlier in the day, I made some arrangements for my evening with Leigh. I felt bad about leaving Jenny to take care of our mom for the second night in a row, but she encouraged me to go when I brought it up that morning. Jenny saw the pain that I went through when the woman I was supposed to marry was taken from me. Jenny was just a kid then, but she treated Caroline like the sister she never had—and she cried in my arms when I told her what happened.