Jon was really, truly, home.
Her fingers held tighter to the phone. Jon being home didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous, but it did mean the largest, most foreseeable threat to her heart was a non-issue. The asshole had gone and destroyed her argument without ever hearing it. Probably that also meant they were definitely asomething.
Jenna stubbornly pushed that thought down and straightened herself. “Okay. Calling Lynnette.” She busied herself with pulling up her friend’s information, still ignoring the text in favor of an actual call, and felt a strange relief when the ringing of the line filled the cab.
Jon reached out and caught a strand of her hair between his fingers.
Jenna looked up, her mouth opening on reflex.
“Hey, Jen,” a familiar, and familiarly tired, female voice spoke into the space. “Busy morning?”
A laugh choked past her lips, Jenna switched the phone to rest on the console between them, and caught Jon’s hand to hold between hers. “Yeah, for sure. I actually have a lot I haven’t told you.”
“I mean, I heard about the bakery,” Lynnette replied. “Sounds like a nightmare.”
Jenna snorted inelegantly. “You wouldn’t even believe. But that’s a little bit why I’m calling.” She paused and Jon’s fingers curled around hers. “What’re the chances you’re still free this afternoon? Like, say … in an hour?”
There was a beat of silence. “In an hour?” Lynnette repeated. “I’d have to break some laws togetto you in an hour, babe. What’s going on?”
“Oh, yeah, no, I don’t mean for you to come all the way out to— Wait, you’re not home?” Jenna turned her head toward the phone as if staring at the small, dark-screened device would clarify anything.
Lynnette made an odd sound before saying, “You know I like to run errands when I have free time.” There was something in the background, though. Something Jenna had ignored, because she was used to it in her calls with her friend.
Jenna gaped. “Lynn, tell me you didn’t volunteer to work another shift?”
Jon cocked his head and Jenna realized he was giving the phone a rather strange look, too. She wanted to ask him about that, but she also didn’t particularly want to ambush her friend with ‘hey, I’ve had this guy with me the whole time’.
“I absolutely did not do that,” Lynnette replied. “I’ve been off for over an hour. I’m even de-scrubbed.”
Jenna frowned. “Then why does it sound like a hospital behind you?”
Jon muttered something.
“What was that?” Lynnette asked.
“Nothing,” Jenna said swiftly, narrowing her eyes at Jon. “You first.”
Lynnette sighed. “You’re overreacting. I’ve made friends with a patient and decided to pick up a lunch to share. He’s not local, so he doesn’t have a lot of visitors, you know? That’s all.”
Jon curled his free hand into a fist and pressed it to his mouth, his shoulders shaking as a sound like a chortle escaped him.
Jenna had no idea what he thought was so funny.
“Seriously, where are you, Jenna?” Lynnette asked. “Why do you need me to rush over?”
Jenna could only give Jon another stern look, as for some reason she refused to relinquish his hand, before she answered. “It’s not as bad as what you’re probably thinking.”Well, thatmay actually be a lie.“I’m on the side of the road, technically, but—”
“The side of the road?” Lynnette exclaimed.
“I’m fine! I’m fine! I just need you to meet me at Leeland County Sheriff’s Department.” Jenna winced as soon as the words were past her lips. That would not sound encouraging. “I need moral support. Maybe someone Drew Parker won’t feel he can bully around.”
“Jenna Hodge, what the hell is going on? Don’t make me call your mother.”
Jon uncurled his fist to clamp his whole hand over his mouth. The thumb on his other hand stroked over her skin and his eyes lightened with laughter.
Something in Jenna’s chest unfurled, shedding away to leave her newer, fresher. She had to lick her lips before she could speak. “The new girl I hired a couple of months ago is missing. Her mother’s worried sick, we think she might be another victim of whatever the hell’s going on, and the department refused to take a report. So, I’m going to go in and make them, and while I’m there, I’m going to demand possession of my bakery back. They don’t need it for this long.”
Another stretch of silence passed. Jon settled.
