Her phone buzzed. A text. She couldn't dig into her bag to find her phone while driving and hoped it wasn't anything urgent. She was tempted to pull over, but she was only a couple of minutes from Ry's house. She'd check when she got there.
Sunday morning traffic was light—which was good because her concentration was shot, especially when her phone started ringing. After it stopped and immediately started again, she put her foot down and edged over the speed limit. Less than five minutes later, and three more missed calls, she turned on to Ry's street.
There were no cars in his driveway or at the curb in front yet. Not that that was a concern. Maz had told her she'd walk over even though Alyssa offered to pick her up so she didn't have to carry all the food she planned to bring. Maz had laughed and explained she wouldn't be carrying anything, she'd becartingit in a wagon she'd bought for gardening.
Alyssa couldn't decide if her friend was a genius or be repulsed by the thought of food in a dirty wagon. She had barely put her car in park when the passenger door swung open. Luckily the scream that burst from her throat wasn't eardrum piercing. Her ribs didn't fare as well though; they were sure to be bruised from her heart hammering against them.
"Fuck. Jack!"
"Sorry. I thought you saw me when you pulled up." He settled into the passenger seat and closed the door. "I've been waiting for thirty minutes."
"Why didn't you go in?"
"I did. Well, I went around the back anyway, and let's just say I got to see more of Ry and Maz than I ever wanted to see, and we share a damn bathroom at work!"
Alyssa cocked her head. "They were…?"
"Oh, yeah. They were."
"Wow."
"Yep." He glanced through the side window at Ry's front door. "I think we should give them a bit longer, then ring the doorbell."
"Probably would have been wise to ring it before."
"I would have except Ry told me to use the side gate and come straight round the back when I got here."
"Why are you here anyway? I didn't think you were coming until later like everyone else?"
"I, ah, yeah, I figured I'd come help."
Something about that didn't sit right. She'd asked him if he wanted to help when she'd mentioned she would be and when he'd declined, she'd decided to come from work instead of going home first. Last night's Mercy-Life shift had been quiet. Super quiet. They hadn't had one call out so in spite of the small creaky bunkbed, she'd managed a decent night's sleep.
"If you'd messaged me, I would have swung by home and picked you up."
"I had one of the guys drop me off." His eyes scanned the area. "You stop somewhere? I thought you'd be here an hour ago."
"Yeah. Which reminds me." She didn't mention she'd been late getting there because her car had taken twenty tries to start when she'd left work. Slipping the key from the ignition, she reached over to the floor at Jack's feet and grabbed her handbag. "I've got stuff that needs to go in the fridge. We aren't going to be giving the two lovebirds any more time."
"You stopped at the grocery store?" Jack grabbed her arm, held her in place. "Which one?"
Alyssa studied him. Something was definitely up. "Okay. What's going on?"
"What?" He dropped her arm. "Nothing. Why do you think that?" His gaze flitted around, scanning the area outside the car again.
She wasn't buying it. Not even a little bit. "Jack."
He still didn't look at her when he said, "I tried calling you. You didn't answer. I was worried."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she twisted to face him and leaned against the door. "Uh-huh. Sure, that's it."
Finally, his gaze met hers. He stared at her for a while before copying her position. "You said you were coming straight here from work and you didn't."
"And?" She couldn't see the issue. Except…dammit. Hadn't she just seen Gina? With a sigh, she relaxed her shoulders and dropped her arms. "Fine. You were worried but as you can see, I'm perfectly okay. I stopped to pick up some things to make a couple of charcuterie boards."
Muttering under his breath, he lowered his gaze.
"What? I didn't hear that."
