Page 62 of Tracking Safety

He pressed his eyes closed.

The question underneath all the others was the one he kept circling and couldn’t quite bring himself to land on directly.

Could he trust her?

He believed her explanation. But trust was an entirely different thing from belief. Trust was built over time out of small consistent actions, and Jenna had spent twelve years being someone he thought he could trust completely.

He didn’t know anymore what those twelve years were worth.

He didn’t know if that conclusion was fair. He suspected it wasn’t. But fairness and feelings were different things, and right now his feelings weren’t interested in being fair.

He didn’t know what to do with any of it. He didn’t know if there was a version of this that worked—that got his children their mother back without costing them something worse if it fell apart again. He didn’t know if Jenna was staying or what staying would even look like or whether he had any business hoping for something he wasn’t sure he was ready for.

He didn’t know anything except that it was after two in the morning and he needed to sleep, and he couldn’t.

He lay there in the dark for another long stretch.

Then he heard it.

A footstep in the hallway. It sounded careful and slow, like the deliberate quiet of someone trying not to be heard.

He went still and listened.

Another step. Then another.

Whoever it was, this person was moving toward the stairs.

He climbed from bed and crossed to the door, opening it just a sliver.

The hallway came into view.

Then he saw a figure creeping toward the stairs.

Jenna.

His heart leapt into his throat.

She was dressed. Not in the clothes she’d borrowed for sleep but in the dark jeans and jacket she’d been wearing earlier.

He watched her take the first step down.

Then the second.

The breath left his body.

She was leaving, wasn’t she?

Of course, she was leaving. Even after her reunion with the kids, even after she’d felt Cora’s arms around her neck. Despite those things, she was walking back out the door the same way she’d done two years ago.

White-hot anger washed through him.

Some part of him had known this would happen.

But this time, Jenna wouldn’t leave without a conversation.

CHAPTER 25

The night air was cold against Jenna’s face as she stepped outside.