Chapter Sixty Two

Folding the throw she had been so comfortably snuggled under just a few minutes ago, Jenn sighed as she laid it over the back of the sofa. She had no idea what Karl and Nancy were doing here again but it would bug her if she didn’t find out. Looking down at the crumpled sweat shirt and pants she had been lounging in she decided against changing. She reasoned that maybe if she looked like crap then they wouldn’t stay long!

Hearing voices approaching from outside, she turned to face the hall door, her best impression of a welcoming smile plastered across her face. Nancy came cautiously in first, looking around her until she saw Jenn standing in front of the fire. A bright smile slipped from her face as she looked at her in horror.

“Oh MY Jenn! What happened to your poor face?” Rushing forward she stretched out her arms to embrace her.

Jenn winced slightly as a sharp pain stabbed through her rib cage, smiling through it she gingerly accepted the hug.

“Hi Nancy, just a bit of a bad tumble off one of the young horses, that’s all!” She looked pointedly over the older lady’s shoulder at Paul. “Nothing to worry about!”

Paul nodded indicating he understood her silent request not to reveal the real cause of her injuries.

“That’s right, don’t worry Nancy, she’ll bounce back in no time!” He cheerfully confirmed the story and then made his excuses to leave them to catch up. “Lovely to see you both!” With one final supportive look at Jenn, he escaped out the front door.

Karl, as handsome as ever in his golden years fondly kissed Jenn’s cheek once his wife had released her. Motioning for them both to sit on the sofa she had just vacated she took her own seat in one of the armchairs.

“So what brings you both to Jersey…….again?” She smiled warmly at them in an attempt to make the question sound quite not so blunt.

Nancy looked at her husband regretfully before answering. “Well, when we heard about your poor parents we just couldn’t believe it!” She slowly shook her head at the apparent memory. “Sending a card…..or flowers……well it just seemed inappropriate!”

Jenn remained silent, her face slightly quizzical as she took in the sympathetic looks from the couple.

Karl nodded at his wife and leaned forward nodding while she continued. “So we thought it would be best if maybe we left it a while and then came up to offer our sympathies in person.” Nancy smiled warmly at her, “You’re very important to us dear!”

Relief washed over Jenn as she nodded in understanding. They just wanted to wish her well, that was all, no hidden agenda it seemed.

“Thank you both………I appreciate it, truly I do.”

An awkward silence ensued as the pair of them sat nodding and smiling sympathetically at her from the sofa. Jenn’s mind scrabbled desperately for something to say.

“So…..I would offer to take you to dinner somewhere but…” she glanced down at herself and then apologetically continued, “……as you can see I’m not really in a fit state to go anywhere.”

“Goodness no, we don’t expect that!” Karl exclaimed loudly.

 “You must rest Jenn!” Nancy nodded vigorously beside him in agreement.

“Oh don’t worry! I’m being well taken care of!” she laughed lightly, thinking back on all of the fussing Jon had being doing over her. “So how have you both been?”

Over the next half an hour or so they exchanged pleasantries and general chit chat about a variety of things. When Jenn enquired as to how they were enjoying retirement there was however an audible change in the atmosphere. She shifted uneasily in her seat as the older pair exchanged worried looks.

“Well you see there’s actually something else we wanted to talk to you about, more like a proposition really!” Nancy’s age lined face looked hopefully at her.

“Okay…….” Suspicion underlined Jenn’s voice. “Go on…..”

“We still live on the farm where Steve was raised, since we’re both getting on in years we’re hoping to start to take things a little easier.”

Karl interjected, “There’s a lot of upkeep involved you see, general maintenance and the like. When Steve was a kid, we had so many horses around that we needed quite a few staff to keep on top of it.”

There was an uncomfortable pause at the mention of his deceased son. Clearing his throat he continued, hands clasped together on his knees as he looked earnestly at Jenn.

“The barns haven’t really been used in years, we sold most of the horses after…..well what I mean is it’s not much to look at right now but it wouldn’t take a whole lot to get it up and running again.”

Jenn narrowed her eyes slightly; Karl was starting to fidget nervously with every word he spoke. What was he getting at?

Nancy, noticing Jenn’s change in demeanour smoothly interrupted her husband’s ramblings.

“Basically honey, we would like to buy a small retirement place on the coast but we don’t want to sell the farm, we don’t think Steve would have wanted it to go to strangers.” She clasped Karl’s hand for support and took a deep breath. “So after countless nights lying awake thinking about it we’ve decided we would like to offer it to you, sort of as an inheritance gift of sorts.”

Taking in the stunned expression on Jenn’s face she quickly added, “After all, if things had worked out you would have been our daughter in law so we would have been passing it on to both of you eventually anyway.”

Jenn stared at them, her mouth agape as she tried to digest what they had just offered her. This was a dream, surely? She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to find the right words.

“I…..I don’t know…… what to say..…” She slowly strung the sentence together, her mind whirling.

“It’s a lot to take in, we understand!” Nancy reached across to take her hand. “You don’t have to give us an answer straight away, we’re in no rush.”

It was all Jenn could do to sit and make conversation after that bombshell. Sensing they needed to give her some space, the couple stood to leave after a short while.

“Take all the time you need honey, you know how to reach us when you’ve made your decision.”

Nancy gently hugged her farewell along with Karl and together they left, leaving Jenn standing in disbelief in front of the ebbing fire.

When she heard the front door close, she turned and slowly sat back down, staring straight ahead of her. Her own farm? Wow, it was something she had once dreamed of – a long time ago. Gradually coming to her senses she looked around her. Right here was her dream job; she was living her current dream although as she reflected, it was turning out to be something of a nightmare lately.

Could she keep living like this, caught between loving a man who was still loved by another or was this her chance to make a fresh start?

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. So many conflicting thoughts bounced against each other in her exhausted brain as she thought about Jon and how much he meant to her. Deep down she knew what she should do. Remove herself from the equation and let him fix his marriage.

But what if it can’t be fixed – what then?

Rising from the sofa in somewhat of a daze, she wandered over to the front window to stare out at the snow covered landscape. The last of the winter sun’s rays were just streaking across the sky breaking through the heavy snow clouds. Clasping her hand to her heart she summoned all her energy to one person.

Tell me what to do Steve……..if you’re up there somewhere like I think you are……..what do I do?