Read Online Angels In Red by Adelle Laudan - Free Book Online Page B

because she felt sorry for him. Though it had only been mere days, he’d been a fool to think that he alone would be enough for a woman like her.
    “You don’t have to say anything. The dogs need a short rest, and then I can take you to town. You could be home in time to spend Christmas Eve with your family.”
    She furrowed her brow. “Do you want me to leave?”
    Jack quickly turned away, shrugging indifference as he grabbed the tree trunk. “I’ll go check on the dogs. Why don’t you get ready to go. You have fifteen to twenty minutes.”
    He hefted the evergreen up and pushed it back out the door.
    Jenna’s eyes filled as she lumbered to the table and sat in stunned silence. Her heart ached knowing her life-changing time with Jack had just come to a crashing end.
    I don’t want to leave here...to leave him. But he doesn’t want me to stay. How could I be so wrong? Didn’t we just share a special moment, even though he thought I was asleep? All she had wanted to do was call Charles so he could share the news with Edna, and Buffy, so they wouldn’t be worried about her on Christmas.
    Feeling lost and defeated, she looked around the room. “What does he expect me to wear?”  She stopped and reined in her fragile emotions. Get it together. If this is what he wants...so be it. I will not beg to stay.
    Jenna used the kitchen chair to go to the door and open it wide. “What am I supposed to wear?” she called out to Jack.
    He glanced up from hooking the dogs. “Your things are in the closet in my bedroom.” He avoided eye contact and turned back to what he was doing.
    Jenna pressed her back up against the closed door. Thunder Bay might be in a different country, but not too far away in actuality. It would only take Charles a couple of hours to come pick her up …and take me...home. Her eyes burned, on the verge of tears. I don’t want to go home, and Jack doesn’t want me here...
    Despite the frustration urging her forward, her body quickly reminded her she was exhausted and far from healed. As she paused outside his bedroom door to catch her breath, all of her hurt and pain turned to anger.  She pushed open the door and stepped into his orderly bedroom. One wall was completely filled with neatly aligned books on floor to ceiling shelves.
    A picture on his bedside table caught her eye. “Son of a...” She turned the frame around. Jack smiled at her, his arm draped around a pretty blonde with a winning smile.
    Why didn’t he tell me? Where is she?
    It doesn’t really matter now, does it?
    She yanked open the closet door. Her clothes were in a neat pile on the top shelf with her coat hung on a hanger under them and her boots lined up on the floor . Other than a few light blood stains, it was obvious he’d cleaned them to the best of his ability.
    Jenna shed his pajamas right there and awkwardly pulled on her clothes with her taped fingers. After a whole lot of cussing, she pulled up her jeans. Doing them up was another story. She fumbled with the button; tears of frustration and confusion spilled over her lashes. She gave up and pulled her sweatshirt down to cover it.
    I’ll be damned if I’m going to ask for his help.
    By the time she put on her boots and coat and made it back into the living room, she was sweating like crazy, pausing to sit on the chair she’d been pushing around and slow her breathing. She reached down and grabbed the journal from under a couch cushion, stashing it in her coat pocket .
    Maybe Charles can make sense of what I read.
    The door opened a crack. “Are you ready in there?  Let’s go.”
    Jenna hardly recognized the stern voice. She wanted to storm out of the house, but her battered body thought otherwise, forcing her to slowly and painfully make her way to the door and outside.  The distance to the sled might as well have been a mile. If she put one more foot in front of the other, she’d surely slip on the snow and ice.
    Up until now Jack kept his back to her. He