Misery Breeds Company

"I told you not to bring anything!" She admonished me with a smile.

"Just a fruit salad," I smiled back as she let me in.

"I suppose it would make a lovely dessert," she smiled and darted into the kitchen.

I stepped into her home and... It was odd... It seemed stuck somewhere between beautiful and decrepit. The walls and floor were beautiful hardwood slats. They also showed signs of burns, blasts from a shotgun, splashes of paint, random stains and a slim hole that quite literally looked like an ax went through it. The furniture was mismatched and random. One comfortable-looking armchair. One wooden seat with a tattered cushion on it. A dining table with one matching chair and a rickety one beside it. There were photos of Jess and what was probably her parents all over the walls. There were also plenty of places where photos had been removed. Most of the ones that remained, if they had glass, were broken. Then, there were the random items lying about in places where Jess had probably tried to shove them aside for the time being. Screwdrivers, a blowtorch, a slightly familiar ax. And then there were the boxes. Dozens of boxes, filled to the brim with bottles. That was just lazy. We were a small town, but we had rubbish collection on Tuesdays. All he had to do was take his bottles to the curb. All of this was beside a massive seventy-inch television, which was switched off.

"Sorry about the mess," Jess said, catching my attention from the kitchen doorway.

"No no. It's fine. I can't imagine it's been easy trying to clean everything up between living alone and working long hours."

Jess just smiled and shook her head. "Either way, take the big chair at the table. I'll bring out food in a minute."

Before I could respond, she was off again. I looked back at the table and frowned. She clearly wanted me to have the nice chair, while she sat at the one that looked like it was about to fall over. Shaking my head, I headed into the kitchen, and into a whole new world. The kitchen, unlike the lounge and dining area, was immaculate. Sure it had the same damage to the walls and cabinets. But every surface gleamed. Pots and pans hung from the walls. Jess was in the process of taking a tray, laden with vegetables from the oven. She was humming a familiar tune from what I'd played in the car. It was also apparent, she probably didn't have any way to play music at home. I hadn't seen a stereo in the lounge.

"Umm," I said, catching Jess's attention. "Is there, maybe somewhere more comfortable we could sit? I'm not comfortable with the looks of that other chair."

Jess just stared at me a moment and slowly nodded. Looking down, she suddenly smiled, "if you could give me a hand?"

I just smiled and nodded as she led me out of the kitchen and down a hallway at the other end of the house. The hallway was as badly damaged as the rest of the home. But Jess hit a light and opened the first door we passed. Stepping back, she pointed inside. Coming around the corner, it was being used as storage. Boxes filled the corners of the room. An old bed sat under the window. There were various other things lying about. Bit's that looked like farming equipment or pieces of farming equipment. But right in the middle of the room, was a folded up outdoor set.

"Perfect," I smiled.

Stepping into the room I grabbed the table first. It was heavy enough I grunted as I lifted. It was made of sturdy wood, so I immediately felt better. Carrying it outside, Jess led me further down the hall to a glass sliding door I hadn't spotted earlier in the day. Probably because it had a bunch of tape and cardboard holding the cracks together so nothing fell apart.

"Out here," she said, sliding the door open on lumpy tracks.

As I carried the table outside, it finally occurred to me why I hadn't spotted it. It was a covered patio area. It was filled with junk and had lattice walls that blocked the last of the sunlight. But there was enough room and a working light, that this would work perfectly. So I set the table in the middle of the space and unfolded the legs. Once set up, I gave the table a wobble and it didn't budge an inch.

"I'll grab the chairs and give you a hand carrying everything out," I said with a smile.

Jess nodded and darted off. In the split second, before she left, I saw her face, perfectly framed in the broken sunlight. She was beautiful. It stunned me for a moment, but I shook my head and growled at myself before heading back inside to grab the chairs. Unlike the dining table inside, this had a full set of four chairs. Each of them folded down and had cushions that matched. I dragged out all four and set them up nicely. Just as I stood back to check my work, Jess appeared with a tray containing a pork roast.

"I'm coming," I grinned.

Jess just smiled back and nodded her head.

Next Jess brought out the tray of vegetables and a pitcher of fresh, homemade gravy. I carried plates, cutlery, two glasses, and a jug of water. After a quick setup, I took a seat opposite Jess and smiled.

"This looks amazing," I said.

Jess just smiled. "I hope you enjoy it."

Standing up, I took a carving knife and a roast fork and sliced off a few pieces. With the fork, I quickly deposited them onto her plate and pushed the gravy towards her. As Jess helped herself, with an odd expression on her face, I cut some pork for myself. I had to swallow three times. I was salivating so much. But soon enough I had my plate stacked neatly with food, drizzled with gravy.

"This looks so good," I groaned.

"Won't do much good just looking at it," Jess said with a smile.

I grinned and picked up my fork. Stabbing a piece of pumpkin, I placed it in my mouth and died... Yup... Dead... I was in heaven. This shit wasn't real. It just wasn't possible. My god. I had no idea what was on the vegetables. But every new item I tried... It just got better with every bite. I was half way through my plate, with gravy dripping off my chin before I spotted Jess grinning at me.

"Sorry," I mumbled after cleaning myself up a bit.

"Don't be," she smiled back. "It's nice to see someone enjoy my food. Mike... He always found something wrong with it."

I just frowned and looked it over, before shrugging. "Only complaint I have is the size of my stomach. This is amazing!"

Jess's smile just widened and she tucked into her own food again. After finishing my meal, and a smaller second helping, I helped Jess carry everything back inside. I found myself listening to her hum a tune as I dried and put away dishes. She didn't even stop her humming to direct me, merely pointing at the cupboard or hook I needed. By the time we were done, the leftovers were packed away in the fridge. A container had been put aside for me to take home and we were ready for fruit salad.

"It might be a little old, but I've got ice cream to go with it. "

"Sounds about perfect," I smiled.

Jess grabbed out a pair of bowls and some spoons. I grabbed out the fruit salad and started serving up as Jess got the ice cream out of the freezer. Popping open the lid, she looked into it before letting out a shriek and dropping the container. It clattered to the ground and slid across the floor. And I watched as this bright, bubbly, wonderful woman was reduced to tears in an instant.

Without thinking I stepped up and took her in my arms. As my arms came around her, she froze up in fear. But after a moment, she relaxed and pushed her face into my chest as she cried.

"Hey, whatever it is. It's okay."

She just shook her head. "I keep telling myself it doesn't matter. But it does... Everywhere I look, I see him. I see the horrible things he did. The things that still haunt this house. I hate it here, Tim. I hate it so much it hurts." I held her for a few more moments before she pushed softly and I loosened my grip. Teary, she looked up at me and sighed. "I'm sorry, but... Could you please get rid of that before it makes a mess... I just can't deal with it."

I nodded and let her go. Turning around I bent down to grab the ice cream container and froze. Frozen to the top of the icecream was the decapitated, skeletal, head of a long-dead rodent. I just sighed and placed the lid back on top. With a reassuring smile at Jess, who wouldn't meet my eyes, I headed out to the bin and disposed of the ice cream.

"Fuck you, Mike," I grumbled. "Even in death, you're a piece of shit."

Shaking my head, I went back inside. Jess, while devoid of her bubbly happiness, had cleaned herself up. She managed a smile and offered me a bowl of fruit salad, minus the ice cream. We didn't bother taking it outside this time. We just ate in the kitchen. And I gotta say, it went down a treat. Even Jess nodded in satisfaction. The rest of the evening was a little subdued and after a quick thanks and a promise to do this again, I left for home with a container of roasted happiness.

It took another six months for us to fall madly in love and marry. We sold her home and moved into mine, where we had the standard two and a half kids. Life was good and we died happily in our sleep well into our nineties.

Chapter Nine.

Yeah, in case it wasn't obvious enough... That was a fucking lie...

Four weeks. That's the peace we had together. Every day, I picked her up from home and drove her to the diner. Every day, she made me breakfast and I slipped someone a twenty to go back into her tips. Every afternoon I drove her home, with the exception that I was called away. Then she let herself into the store and tidied up while waiting for me to come back. On the weekend, I drove her to work, then mowed both our lawns. Mine was okay from the start. But Jess's lawn was looking much better now it had been trimmed a few times. Every day, she came further out of her shell. Enough that she felt comfortable asking for things. Like to stop to get groceries, or to the hardware store for more picture frames. Or even at the end of the second week, when she asked if I could help her drag all of the rubbish outside. I one-upped her by ordering an industrial bin to be delivered to her front door. She tried to complain, but I shrugged her off and threw in an old couch that was taking up room in my garage and told her I was using it too.

Jess's home, finally looked more like her home. She even managed to dig up an old stereo and had some old dance tracks from the twenties playing. She tried to get me to dance with her, but I must have been born with a third foot in a past life and couldn't get the timing right. But the beaming smile on her face made it worth feeling like an idiot. All in all, things were settling down. Work was steady. Jess was getting comfortable with life. Until one fateful Friday rolled around.

RING RING

I looked at my phone. It was seven in the morning and I'd just crawled out of the shower. It rang again before I managed to hit accept and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Tim, I don't think I can work today," Jess croaked.

That set off alarm bells. She never missed work, "You okay? You don't sound okay..."

"Uhhhhg I've been vomiting all morning. I can't keep anything down."

I nodded along and made a decision. "Look, I'll take the morning off. You need to see a doctor."

"Nooo, Tim. I can't."

"Jess," I sighed. "Please. If it's just a bug, then you can ride it out. But I've had you in my car twice a day for weeks now. If you've caught something, I'm gonna get it sooner or later. Aircons circulate what we breathe. Please, let me take you to my doctor."

"I can't," Jess paused. A moment, later I heard her wretch, followed by something wet sloshing. "I can't afford a doctor."

"I'll pay for the consultation."

"Noooo-"

"I'll see you in ten." I hung up before she could argue.

Drying myself off, I got dressed and headed downstairs. Jess was a proud woman. She didn't like asking for help. The idea of me paying for something rubbed her wrong. She was like a demon-possessed when I offered to buy stuff. I was still scared to pay for my breakfasts.

The drive over took no time at all, and as I pulled up a grumpy looking Jess came out and locked her front door. She shuffled over, holding an empty vomit bag in one hand. Opening my door, I rushed around and helped her into the passenger seat. Climbing back behind the wheel I started driving.

"I'll pay you back," Jess mumbled.

"Hush," I said softly. "Worry about that later. For now, let's get you well."

Jess seemed to grumble and hold her stomach a few times as we drove. But she managed to keep everything down long enough that we arrived at the doctors without incident. Once out of the car, however, the nearest bin wasn't quite so lucky. As Jess hurled up what looked like a glass of water into the bin, I came up behind her and scooped her hair out of the way.

"You're okay," I said softly.

Jess just grimaced and threw up again.

Once she'd gotten ahold of herself, I brought her inside and spoke to Diane, the receptionist. She directed us to take a seat outside Doctor Franklin's office. Jess managed to hold it all together until she was called in. It wasn't my place to come with, so I waited outside. What I had hoped would be a ten-minute consultation slowly dragged on to over half an hour. I was getting worried, when the door opened and Jess came out, red-eyed and puffy.

"Jess?" I asked.

She just looked up at me with a hopeless expression. "Please take me home, Tim. I need to get ready for work."

I nodded slowly and led her out to my car. When Jess got in, she broke down in tears.

"Hey, it's okay."

"No!" She wailed. "It's not okay. Every time I turn around, he's still there, Tim... He won't let me move on!"

I frowned, "what do you mean? What happened?"

Jess sniffed a few times and wiped her eyes. "I'm pregnant, Tim."

"Okay," I said softly as my mind whirled.

"Okay, what?"

"Okay, what do you want to do?"

"Are you asking me if I'll keep it?"

I grimaced, this wasn't what I meant. But... Well fuck, what did I mean? "I don't know, Jess. What do YOU want? I'm your friend. I'm here to support YOU. Just tell me what you need and I'll be there, okay?"

Jess just sighed, "why couldn't it have been you?" she said softly.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's okay," she said quickly. "Could you take me home to change? I really should get to work. I... I need to make money. Apparently, I have an extra expense coming."

I just kept driving. I'd heard what she said, but I don't think she meant to say it out loud. And honestly, I had no idea what to think at this moment. This was just the latest 'fuck you' that worthless prick has dealt this wonderful woman. Parking in front of Jess's home, I waited while she ducked inside. She was out a few minutes later, still whirling her hair into a neater bun.

"Thank you, Tim," she said, getting in. "I don't know why you put up with me."

"It's those fabulous meals you cook for me," I grinned back and started driving.

Then for a while, everything went just about the same as usual. I picked up Jess and took her too and from work. I worked in my field, sometimes doing day trips to the surrounding towns. I was a little peeved, to be honest. I liked my quiet lifestyle in town. I didn't want to be dragged out of it to cover systems that their local IT specialists wouldn't, or couldn't. Hell, one of them I swear kept installing poor quality hardware just to create repeat business. Not that I'd say that out loud. But I made sure to carry out repairs with decent equipment that wouldn't fail or fall short every six to twelve months. Unfortunately, that kind of thing was probably why I was being called out of town so often...

The only changeups were Jess's appointments. She didn't like talking about it. But she kept herself as healthy as she could. Being on her feet, meant she didn't lose much from avoiding the four-hour walk to work every morning. But she made sure to limit the foods she ate. Our Saturday dinner seemed to include fish and vegetables more often. I wouldn't complain. She was an amazing cook no matter what she fed me. I just wished there was a way for me to learn some skills myself. I tried looking online for recipes, but the first time I tried to make scrambled eggs on 'low heat' I ended up with a black mess. Hell, I had to throw out the frying pan... After that debacle, I gave up and went back to my shitty microwave meals. Either way, getting distracted... God...

Jess's appointments for her pregnancy. They kept an eye on her, even as she tried to pretend otherwise. But even now, I knew she didn't have a slim figure, but I swore I could see a slight swelling in her belly. She even asked me to take her shopping once. She outright refused to discuss it with me and I trudged along beside her, holding various items of clothing that would fit her in the coming months. The whole time, she mumbled things like draining her savings, and never getting her bakery. I just tried to be the best friend I could be. Despite my realization, I was heavily attracted to her, she didn't seem to be in the least interested in me. Apart from that one comment in the car.

Chapter Ten

"Sir, can you come with me?" a man in blue scrubs asked me.

I'd been sitting in the waiting area for the last twenty minutes. I was a little worried. Jess had been feeling strange, so we'd seen the doctor. As a precaution, she was sent for an ultrasound. I waited out of the room while this was going on as Jess seemed to want to detach herself from the whole idea. Despite her efforts to look after herself and her unborn child. Part of her just refused to accept it. Not that I could blame her... Why couldn't Mike just have been a decent man?

"Is everything okay?" I asked, getting up to follow the man.

"Yes, it's fine. Jess has just asked for you to be present as a support person."

Now I was confused. What on earth did she need a support person for? After walking down a few twists and turns, the nurse led me into a small room where Jess was on an uncomfortable-looking bed. Her curved stomach was exposed and I could see the wetness from the lubricant still on her skin.

"Jess, you okay?" I asked, moving to sit beside her.

Jess did a half nod and shook her head slowly. "I-I'm sorry. If you aren't comfortable, you can go. I... I could just really use a friend right now."

I just smiled and took her hand, "whatever you need. You know that."

"You're not the father?" The man asked.

I shook my head, "just a friend."

The man grimaced slightly. "Sorry, I just thought... Yeah.." He cleared his throat. "Usually we have a female nurse to do this, but she's recovering from sickness and I've been asked to step in. The baby is in an awkward position and I need to do an internal ultrasound."

My eyes bugged out of my head and Jess quickly chimed in, "you can go... If you want..." But the grip on my hand tightened.

She was scared. This was probably the first time she'd been touched in an intimate place in a long time. On top of that, the last time, was by her abuser, and now by a stranger. So I grit my teeth and turned my head to stare directly into her eyes. "You're going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere. This is a medical procedure, he's not going to hurt you."

Jess just stared into my eyes and nodded. "I'm going to begin now," the man said softly.

Leaning over her, I gently cupped her chin and turned her to face me directly. "You're okay. I promise." Jess grimaced and jumped slightly. She clenched her eyes shut before opening them. I just continued squeezing her hand, while stroking the side of her face while she stared at me. "You're okay. After this, we'll stop and get ice cream and I'll take you home. Maybe I'll run you a nice warm bath." That managed to break a small smile across her face as she nodded slightly. Then she flinched again and I went back to stroking her cheek.