Lynnette clicked her tongue and pointed to Jenna’s stash on the table. “Take your prescribed medicine first. If you’re really feeling better, then yes, you should be fine. And I’ll take a look at your ankle this afternoon to check the swelling and tenderness, see how it handled the extra strain.”
“Does that mean I could go wrap-free?”
“Maybe. After. Now, medicine, then baking, and my lips are sealed.” Lynnette mimed zipping her lips for emphasis.
Jenna shook her head, a smile on her face. “Yes, Nurse Garver.”
Lynnette turned to head back to her room and get properly ready for the day. It went against her usual style to wear dresses, but that had been the advice suggested for the first few days while her tattoo healed. Once it was past the most vulnerable stage, she could go back to at least loosely fitted pants and tops.
She wondered as she dug out a dress that didn’t still hug too tightly how long it might be before Lance and the others came home. She wanted him to strut back through her door before Jenna was finished baking, but she also wanted to surprise him with her ink. The latter was too fantastical and simultaneously horrible a thought. It’d be weeks before the healing finished. She couldn’t stomach the notion of him being gone so long.
“Hey, Lynnette!” Jenna called from down the hall. “You’re missing a couple things I need. Can we pop over to the store?”
Lynnette plucked out a pair of boots that didn’t look bad with the dress and an open-face sweater she could use to keep her arms warm, then hollered back, “No problem. Wanna swing by your place to make sure that window’s in place while we’re out?” Jenna’s landlady had called the previous evening with confirmation, but a woman could never be too careful.
Jenna smiled at her, purse already in hand, when Lynnette stepped into the main space. “If you don’t mind. I have a mixer that’d make this go way faster, too. I can grab it to make the trip more worthwhile.”
“Then what’re we waiting for?” Lynnette scooped up her purse and Lance’s keys. “Grocery or apartment first?”
Chapter nineteen
Pretty Bird
“Thank you so much,Diane,” Jenna said to her landlady while Lynnette hovered by the door to the small office. The older woman returned Jenna’s smile, and they ducked back outside.
“Well, at least your window finally got fixed,” Lynnette said when they hit the sidewalk that would curve them toward Jenna’s apartment.
Jenna blew out a sigh. “Seriously. I mean, I get that it’s hard to install a new window when it’s raining. Not to mention removing the old and measuring the space, and whatever else. But that was too many days with a sheet of plastic over my kitchen sink for my liking.”
Lynnette chuckled. “I think half a day of that would be too many for me.” And she didn’t have near as high the standards for her kitchen as Jenna did.
Jenna flashed her a grin. “You are not wrong.”
They turned the next corner, both laughing lightly, and Jenna’s apartment came into view. With the window confirmedto be installed, all they really needed was to pick up the equipment Jenna had said she wanted to pick up. Then they could circle back to the store, grab the grocery items, and Jenna could get to work on the sweet treat she had in mind. Whatever it was. The sooner all of that was accomplished, the sooner Lynnette could be eating some chocolate-forward decadence. It was an overindulgence Lynnette wouldn’t usually allow herself, but if it kept her mind from too heavily worrying about Lance, the calories were a small price to pay.
Lynnette slowed, her mind quieting, as she registered the presence of a darkly dressed figure on Jenna’s driveway. It looked as if the individual were walking away from Jenna’s door.
But the window installation had completed the previous afternoon, according to Diane.
Jenna came to a full stop and her breathing altered. “What the hell?” Her question was muttered, as if she were thinking out loud rather than intentionally speaking.
Lynnette tilted her head to speak quietly to her friend. “You know that guy? Is he a problem?” She’d left Lance’s gun in the glovebox. She knew how to use guns, of course. Her father had made sure of that. She’d just never much cared for them. In the moment, with the faint pull of her still-fresh tattoo on her back, she wondered if she should have made an exception.
“I know him,” Jenna replied. She drew a deep breath. “Kind of. He’s a customer, and recently he said some things that were a bit too forward. But I don’t know if ‘problem’ is a fair description.” She hiked her purse higher on her shoulder. “I can handle him.”
Lynnette opened her mouth to remind Jenna that as her best friend, and considering they were supposed to be sticking together, she would not be handling any such thing solo. Except Jenna was already moving forward. The strength and determination in her stride gave Lynnette some reassurance, so Lynnette swallowed any lecture and followed after her.
If the guy was just a customer with an infatuation, then he was just an annoyance who’d come around at a bad time. And Lynnette would have to share her chocolate with Jenna. There were worse things.
“Quetzal,” Jenna said, projecting her voice as she neared her own driveway.
Lynnette arched a brow.That’s an unusual name.
The man tucked his hands into the pockets of his pressed slacks and walked to meet Jenna at the bottom of the driveway. To onlookers, it would absolutely appear as if he were the resident and they were the intruders. Not that that made a difference.
Lynnette studied the man who’d yet to flick his gaze her way. He was dressed respectably, his hair was a bit too slick, and he had brown eyes to match what she assumed to be his natural hair color. In addition to the sweeping rug on his head, he had a faint dusting of hair along his jaw. If not for the gel-shine and the unpleasant tightness to his lips, it might have been a good look on him. He stood only a couple of inches taller than Lynnette, definitely several less than six-feet.
Frankly, he was out of place. He looked like he belonged in New York City, or L.A., doing corporate work or parading through a courtroom. He definitely did not match with the laid-back aura of Misty Glades.
