“What’s the matter?”
She shook her head and waved him away, but he stood there, unwilling to simply give her all of the power. Eventually she spoke;
“Just leave me alone, all right? I don’t want to talk, I just want to be on my own, so can you just let me be, please?”
He nodded, she turned away and he stood for just a moment longer, looking at her. He padded slowly out of the room, and down the unlit corridor to the top of the stairs.
“I’ll be okay later, I promise! Okay Jim?”
He paused for a moment, trying to work out how to answer.
“I know you will, baby. Call me if you need anything, yeah?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
He nodded to himself again and started down the stairs.
He went and installed himself in the kitchen, his laptop lighting the place, casting an odd, cold glow over the glass of whisky that he had self-prescribed while he waited out Gemma’s black mood.
He tried to write, but despite the booze, he could not shut out the worry he felt about her when she was this way. He just surfed the web and waited for morning.