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“I hope she’ll talk to you. I want her to be comfortable with me, but I know that will take time.”
Gray nodded, then knocked on the door of Jenna’s room, which was open an inch or two. “Jenna? It’s Gray. Can I come in?” No response. “If you don’t feel like speaking, just tap on something, and I’ll leave.”
“You’re the only one I want to see,” she said.
Gray’s relief at hearing her voice had him sagging against the doorframe. He took a slow breath and then entered the room.
He smiled when he saw Jenna with color in her cheeks. “You look much better than the last time I saw you.”
“I look like shit, but at least I’m not dead.” She had that sharp, sarcastic tone back too.
“Same here.”
“You look good like you always do. It’s no wonder you’ve got two men fawning over you.”
Gray raised his brows. “How do you know about that?”
“Andy told me.”
“Did he now?”
She rolled her eyes. “He said he knew you because your boyfriend worked with him at the shelter. When I didn’t respond, he thought he had to keep talking, and he told me how awesome the three of you were, as if that wasn’t obvious. Then he told me about Henry. He said he’d bring him by today.”
At least it didn’t sound like she resented Andy too much.
“But you only wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah. Stubborn, aren’t I?”
“That’s a good thing. It helped you survive.”
She shrugged. “I guess.”
Gray wanted to hug her, but he wasn’t sure how she would take that, so he simply said, “Thank you.”
“For what? Dragging you into this?” Jenna asked.
“For trusting me and doing all you could to save me.”
“I wanted to save myself too, you know?”
Gray didn’t say any more. He sensed that getting too sentimental would piss her off.
Her expression softened, and tears gathered in her eyes. “Dammit! I should be thanking you.”
Time to change the subject. “Andy’s a good guy. You should talk to him. And yes, my boyfriend, Jack, works with him. He’s part of the youth task force.”
Jenna looked away and wiped at her eyes. “I don’t want to go to a shelter.”
“I get it.”
She started to protest, but he held up his hand.
“I was in foster care for a while. My mom… She OD’d. My dad had run off, and she basically checked out. I was so mad. I wanted to stay on my own, but the family I was placed with were kind and I got real food and security for a bit.”
“Is that why you became a cop, because things were rough for you? Are you a crusader for us downtrodden wretches?”
Gray laughed. “Not exactly. I got to be friends with the resource officer in my high school after he caught me stealing.”
