Over You by Christine Kersey Page A

Somehow, even when I am just writing to you, I feel connected to you. I need to feel connected to you today. I need to feel loved by someone. He has been so cold to me since he’s been home. Colder than usual. I feel invisible in his presence and I long to be in yours. How can I feel so lonely when I have people around me? I wonder if there is something wrong with me. The way he treats me makes me feel like I have no value.
    Maybe I don’t.
    ~B
    Jessica realized that tears had filled her eyes as she’d read B’s letter.  
    I know how you feel, she thought. She remembered the deep loneliness she’d felt after Kyle had left her. Even more, she remembered how she’d questioned her own self-worth for a long time. She didn’t know if she would ever completely get over the hurt he’d put her through.
    As she began to wallow in self-pity, her cell phone rang.
    “Hello?” she asked, glad for the distraction.
    “Jessica?”  
    “Oh, Ellen. How are you?”
    “Just fine. I wanted to know if you’d found that wood carving yet.”
    Perhaps Ellen would know who B was, Jessica thought. “Not yet. But I found some old love letters that I guess belonged to the last owner. William?”
    “I believe that was his name, yes.”
    “Do you know if he was married?”
    “I have no idea. All I know is that he died and then we bought the house some months later.”
    “Okay. Well, I’ll keep looking for the carving.”
    “Thank you, dear.”
    Jessica promised to come visit her aunt later that afternoon, then hung up.
    “I guess I’d better find that carving before I go over there,” Jessica said to Hudson, who was lying in a patch of sunlight in the middle of the bed. “These letters will have to wait.”
    She placed the letters in the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed, then decided to eat something before continuing her search. Thoughts of the story unfolding in William’s letters filled her mind and she walked to the head of the staircase and began walking down without noticing that no sounds were coming from her aunt’s bedroom. Halfway down the stairs, she heard the front door open. She froze as her gaze flew to the entryway, where Kyle stood, his hands full of supplies.
    Not sure what to do, Jessica met Kyle’s eyes and found him staring at her, the hint of a smirk on his face.
    “Come on down, Jessica,” he said, exaggerating her name. “I can’t get past you with these things in my hands.”
    Annoyance rode up her back at him telling her what to do. It didn’t seem to matter that he was being completely reasonable. It aggravated her to feel like she was in his way. In a small way it even hurt her feelings, like he didn’t want her around. Swallowing her pride, she walked down the stairs, careful not to trip as that would just seal any humiliation she felt.
    Once she reached the bottom, she swept her hand toward the stairs. “All yours.”
    He grinned, as if he knew exactly what she had been thinking, then went up.
    Jessica glared at his back, then went into the kitchen to find something to eat, though she suddenly wasn’t very hungry.
    What is this affect he has on me? Why does his very presence make me so angry? She shook her head in frustration that she was having so much trouble controlling her emotions. I’ll just need to be more careful about not running in to him. The less I see him, the better off I’ll be.
    Feeling slightly better, she found something to eat, then went back up to the attic, this time paying attention to whether or not she could hear Kyle working. Once in the attic, she resumed her search. This time she had more luck and found the wood carving in the second box she looked in. She examined the hand-carved bear, admiring the workmanship.
    Carrying the wooden bear, Jessica made her way back to her bedroom and set it on the table. She glanced in the mirror and knew that she really needed to shower. Gathering her supplies, she hurried to the bathroom and locked herself in. She stood