Jenny and I have been friends since we were at school together 25 years ago.
We did nearly get together around the time we left college together but I always assumed that from Jenny's perspective it was a drunken kiss between two platonic friends that got a little out of hand. Nothing more than a kiss and some mutual fondling on a night out that was never mentioned again and then she went off to uni in a city 300 miles away.
We always kept in touch and Jenny loved her university city so much that she set up a new life there and never came home. She'd always tell me about new developments in her life. Straight after university she got a job with a major bank in their human resources section.
In Jenny's absence I began dating a girl called Emma who was a close friend of both of us, we just naturally gravitated towards each other now that Jenny was no longer around.
Following a series of boyfriends Jenny found "the one", a guy called Jack and she and her man moved into a home together. She often came back to visit and seemed to love the fact that Emma and I had gotten together and loved a double date during her visits.
I really did enjoy my time with Emma but always knew she'd never match up to Jenny. It wasn't fair on Emma and though I knew I'd never get Jenny, Emma and I drifted apart after 3 years and broke up.
Literally a few weeks after our split, Jenny and Jack got engaged and 8 months later I duly turned up at their wedding, sadly dateless. Thankfully the wedding finally helped me give up on Jenny. I'd always think fondly of her over the years but I moved on.
About 2 years later I got a serious girlfriend Lara and during that relationship we both went to visit Jenny and Jack on a few occasions as well as having them visit us, including meeting their two children who came along in 2014 and 2016.
Jenny progressed in her career and became head of human resources for her bank, which is known internationally. I was proud of my old friend. One Christmas she came back and we all met up. She didn't seem herself and seemed embarrassed and keen to let us know that work had been very stressful and she thought we might think she was behaving oddly but we really didn't and assured her that there was nothing to worry about.
I didn't see or hear from Jenny for the whole of the next year and most of the year after that. I messaged her at birthday and Christmas but got nothing back.
Out of the blue, just after new year in 2020, Jenny messaged to ask how I was doing. I told her that I was good though I didn't tell her that Lara was probably expecting an engagement ring for Christmas that wasn't coming. She'd been hinting because we'd been together properly for more than seven years now.
Jenny then told me her big news, after ten years she and Jack were getting divorced. Over a series of messages she told me that following their marriage and the rise of her career things between them had slowly gone wrong and continued to get worse pretty much constantly.
Things had been great at first but as she became busier and more important, their sex life had petered out and they hadn't even really been friends with each other for years. Things had briefly sparked back up when they were trying for children but after that Jack had completely lost interest in her. It turns out that this was the reason she'd behaved oddly that Christmas we'd all met up.
I felt awful for my old friend and told her that I just wished she'd said something. I had no idea her marriage had been so unhappy. We agreed to plan a meet up for all of us the following Easter when we next had free time.
They say that God laughs when you make plans. Within a few weeks COVID happened. More than COVID though, 2020 began to appear as the worst year I'd ever had. Firstly, the company I worked for went bust after only a few weeks of the pandemic and life often kicks you when you're down and Lara decided to leave me. Apparently the lack of an engagement ring had hit hard and now I was jobless I was no longer worth the effort. The only problem was that the pandemic rules meant we couldn't really get away from each other.
During this really depressing time I got another message from Jenny asking how we were coping. I gave her the news. Jenny was immediately sympathetic, she was sorry we'd split up and knew exactly how it felt to be trapped in a house with someone when the relationship was dead. Thankfully for her, Jack had moved out in January so she wasn't trapped with him.
Then Jenny made a suggestion. We were allowed social bubbles and if you needed to be re-homed, that could count as essential travel. Since I currently had no job and she had two spare rooms, why didn't I come to stay with her for a while?
Thinking little else other than my deeply uncomfortable home situation, I jumped at the chance. I packed a case and told Lara I was giving her some space and got in the car to head off down the country to see my old friend. I arrived at Jenny's and was delighted to see my old friend, my saviour at this point!
Jenny gave me a huge hug and it honestly felt like I was being welcomed home. It was great. Jenny's children Zack and Sara welcomed me too and showed me to my new room. Jenny was obviously doing well. Her spare room was bigger than my own room at home.
This felt good. I laid down to relax after my journey. Jenny popped her head round the door and asked if I'd like anything.
"Just a nap after the drive, if that's ok?"
" No probs," Jenny replied, "I'll keep the kids quiet, you just have a nice rest." She closed the door as I relaxed and drifted off.
I remember starting to wake a little as the doorbell rang and I had some excited voices, then after a few moments a car engine started and the door seemed to close again. I was still pretty tired so drifted back to sleep.
The next thing that woke me was the sound of my bedroom door opening and the door skimming the carpet as it opened more fully.
"Hey sleepyhead," came Jenny's voice in the darkness, "you've been out for hours."
