Charlie sat on the couch, feeling like he'd been run over. Jenny was a lot hotter than she'd been, and it had been a long time. On the other hand, she was clearly angry at him. He silently begged God for guidance.
Jenny went in the bedroom, dressed, and did her God Time, appreciating the peace and quiet. She'd missed her God Time yesterday.
Her mouth quirked as she read various verses on forgiveness in her Daily Bible. God always had a way of using His word to get her attention, when she needed it. She sighed and fidgeted restlessly, closing the Bible. She'd already done her prayer time, including praying for Charlie and others who'd hurt her.
"What do you eat for breakfast?" Charlie asked, looking into her cabinets. Jenny was starting to feel a little violated - the man had ignored her for over 5 years, now he was in every aspect of her life, all in how many hours?
"I'm OK" she replied tersely. Charlie kept looking.
"No cereal?" He closed the cabinet and opened the fridge, looking at her with a pleading expression. "I'd like to fix you breakfast. I found out I love to cook, and I'd like to make you something wonderful for you." He paused and swallowed loudly. "Just please no bacon or sausage." He was clearly still nauseous.
"I have some whole fruit. I meant to make a fruit salad and eat it with some hard cheese, but then I got depressed...." Charlie brightened, digging into the crisper.
Jenny ate the entire "presentation", convinced Charlie had taken some cooking classes. He'd turned her simple fruit plate into an artful arrangement. She reached for the pill organizer, watching Charlie's reaction.
He leaned forward, curious. "What are you taking?" Jenny opened the compartment and explained her medication cocktail. "Old School. Awesome. Do you get a lot of side effects?"
Jenny mentally bit her tongue, wanting to remind Charlie she'd taken most of these drugs for the last 20 years. WWJD? OK, let it go. She listed the side effects in a monotone.
Charlie gaped. "That bad, huh?"
"No, not really. The antipsychotic" she made a crazy face at him "keeps away the nausea I get from the other two. I just sweat a lot, tired, and brain fog. It's a lot better than being crazy." Jenny turned her left arm over, staring at the jagged scar on her forearm. "This is me off my pills."
Charlie gasped. "I never told you this, but my mom decided to go the 'natural' route after my diagnosis. She took me off my meds and gave me a lot of vitamins, green drinks, sauna, stuff like that. Within a week I just lost it - put my hand through her car window and almost bled to death."
Charlie stared at her, his face somber, as tears trickled down his cheeks. He wiped them away, but they kept coming. "I thought you tripped and fell through a window?"
Jenny sighed. "We told my doctor the truth. He told Mom if she did that again he'd make sure she lost custody, and after what happened with Carl - well."
When Jenny was a toddler, her mother had lost custody due to the drinking, depression, and neglect. Jenny's aunt Sara had gotten custody, and done a fine job for a few years until she met Carl Smith and Heroin. After learning of the abuse, Sara had committed suicide by overdose. Carl had gone to prison, where he was "shanked", and Jenny had ended up in foster care for a few more years until her mother regained custody.
Charlie stared at her, his throat working. "Is that what you tried to tell me, the morning you left?"
She stared at him, her green eyes sad. "Yes, Charlie, I did."
He bolted down the hall. Jenny could hear him vomiting again. She checked her watch. Time to go to work. She picked up her backpack and left.
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