A Lost Friendship

There was something that wasn't quite right. She'd felt off for the last two days and she couldn't quite put her finger on why... She'd blamed the book she'd just finished. She thought that it was the poor ending but as she laid in bed with nothing to read and only her thoughts for sound it gave her brain more than enough time to maul over what was missing.
It wasn't something as simple as a literary orgasm but it was another huge change that had just occurred to her life. Paul.
There'd never been anything truly romantic between Paul and Jessica. Both were married. Sure, Jessica was happier in her marriage than Paul was in his, but there was nothing romantic between them.
Paul was like a brother to Jessica and like an uncle to Olivia. When Olivia's Rapunzel doll went missing, it was Paul that purchased her a new one.
Over the two years where Jessica's family was homeless it was Paul who did everything in his power to not only keep them a float but to keep their worldly treasures safe.
Things were different now. Shauna's found out about the friendship that Paul had kept secret. Shauna was a woman of vice.... every vice. She was a greedy, vain and jealous woman with a crazy and vindictive streak a mile wide. Jessica knew she was one of Paul's dirty little secrets but she never put much thought into it. Maybe it was because Paul was a "big boy" and could make his own decisions or maybe it was because she had so much on her plate that she really couldn't afford to put much stock into what a woman shed never met would think.
Yet, what that woman did think now was what was keeping her from texting him when she needed someone to talk to. She couldn't talk to her husband, David, he made her feel guilty about everything that ate at her. Made her feel stupid for what she felt was part of what made her human.
David and Jessica had been married so long and so much had happened that Jessica needed someone who'd just listen. Not wonder what things meant or try to read between the lines. She needed someone who'd just listen, assure her that everything would be alright. She needed someone she believed when they said everything would be alright. David had burned that bridge a long time ago. The subject of which used to hurt greatly, but Jessica had moved past it. It was just another point in the past.
Tonight she laid in bed, thinking about David... thinking about Paul and what the universe had in store for her. Why would it take Paul away? Why wouldn't the universe let her keep ONE friend?
The only conclusion she could come to was that she was meant to rely on David and herself.