Life after Jordan

Settling In

"Emma since i'm your best friend, I think we need to have a heart to heart." I hear Abigail say from the living room of our small apartment.

"Okay Abi. I'm coming." I say as I finish straightening my hair. I put the straightener down and walk to the living room. Abi is sitting on the couch and she pats the seat beside her. I sit down slowly.

"Okay Emma. I promised not to ask about your past because I didn't want you to know about mine. But I have to know why you don't work and why you live in this nice apartment and I have so many more questions. Please don't go out tonight. Let me in." Abigail says as she grabs my hand.

"Okay Abi. I won't go out. Ask away." I say as I run my fingers through my hair.

"Let's start with this picture." She says as she holds up a picture of Jordan. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It's amazing how it still hurts.

"That was my husband." I say finally.

"Was?" She asks.

"Yup. He was my best friend for 2 years, then my boyfriend for 2 years, and finally he was my husband for 2 and a half years." I say as my eyes fill with tears. I put my head down and wait for the next question.

"What happened?"

"Um, well he was sent over seas to work and there was an attack. They bombed his building. No one lived." I say as the tears escape.

"Oh Emma." Abi says as she pulls me into a hug.

"Abi I don't know how to live without him. He was always there. He was always there no matter what. He was my someone and he was ripped away. I'm only fucking 22. I'm a widow at 22. It's not fair. He was only 24 when he died Abi." I sob into her shoulder.

"It's okay Emma. Life is hard but you can do this. I'll be here the whole way I promise." Abigail says as she rubs my back.

"Abi I don't know. This is harder than anything I've ever had to go through." I say after taking a deep breath.

"You can do this though. I'd hate to ask but my brother just got home from his overseas adventure he decided to go on. He don't really have anywhere to stay, so I told him that he could spend a couple days here." She says shyly.

"It's fine. You pay half the rent anyways." I say as I wipe my tears and lay back on the couch.

"Okay well I have to go get him from the airport tomorrow." She says as she leans back beside me.

"Wanna watch a movie or two?" I ask after the long pause.

"Sure I'll go make some popcorn." Abi says as she stands up and walks to the kitchen.

I slide off the couch and onto the floor. Then I crawl over to the DVD shelf. I sit and bring my knees up to my chest as I remember all the sleepless nights with Jordan. We stayed up watching movies together on the weekends after he had a long week. I smile to myself as I remember how grumpy we would be the next morning.

I look through the movies as I hear the microwave go off. I don't see anything that won't bring back too any memories. So I stand up and connect my phone to the TV and pull Netflix up.

"Did you find anything to watch?" Abi asks as she sits on the couch.

"The world of Netflix is at our hands. Pick a movie." I say as I hand her my phone.

"Okay." She says as she grabs my phone.

"Tell me about your brother." I say as she looks for movies.

"Well his name is Brody. I haven't seen him in 2 years and I haven't really heard from him unless he needs money. He never called often so I didn't min giving him some money. Grab my phone and look through my pictures if you want to see him. Well what I remember he looked like. He's 26 too." She says.

I get up and grab her phone from the kitchen. I walk back to the living room as she finds a movie. I click on the picture folder and go through them until I see a picture of Abi and a rather chunky fellow. Even with his little fat he's cute. He had light brown hair and I think brown eyes. He was much taller than Abi too.

I didn't bother trying to stay awake and watch the movie. I fell asleep not to long after it started actually.