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Woof. Woof. Woof.

Brax stood in the entry. “Good girl. Now sit.”

It was the most authoritative voice that Jenny had ever heard Brax use with his dog. When she peeked around his side, she saw that Faith was sitting.

“Welcome to my home.”

As soon as Faith saw her, she started wagging her tail, but she remained seated.

“Aren’t you a good girl,” Jenny cooed. She went to bend down to pet her, and immediately regretted it. When were her ribs going to stop hurting?

“Let’s get you on the couch with a heating pad, how does that sound?” Brax asked.

Jenny closed her eyes and sighed. “That sounds lovely.”

She walked further into the house and blew out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She slowly turned around and smiled with pleasure. She could tell it was still a work in progress. There were pictures propped against one wall, and the living room could use another chair or two, but the kitchen with its stainless-steel appliances had definitely been newly updated.

“Have you recently moved in?” she asked.

“Six months ago.” Brax herded her toward the couch. Jenny saw that there were two bed pillows already in place for her. “Why don’t you lie down, and I’ll get the heating pad.” Faith followed them to the couch. Apparently the ‘sit’ command only lasted so long.

Jenny slowly arranged herself on the couch and nestled against the pillows. She felt a lot more comfortable than she had in the hospital. Hell, she felt more comfortable than she had in the hotel. Maybe it was because she was in Brax’s house.

Before she knew it, he was shaking out a blanket that he had tucked at the end of the couch and laying it over her. “Since they were letting you out at lunchtime, I thought you might like some comfort food. I have beef stew in the crockpot, or I could warm up a chicken pot pie. What sounds good for lunch?”

“Are you kidding me? You have that for lunch?”

“Well, whatever you don’t choose will be for dinner. Today I’m showing off with the chicken pot pie, but I would be lost without my crock pot.”

“Are you saying you made the chicken pot pie?”

“I didn’t make the crust. That was store bought, but the rest, yeah. That’s easy enough.”

“What happened to tuna on your pizza?”

Brax grinned. “One of the guys in Coronado likes tuna on his pizza. It was the grossest thing I’d ever heard of. I thought I might get a chuckle out of you. But you got me with the tighty-whities.”

Jenny smirked, then snuggled down into the pillows.

“So have you decided?”

“Are you eating with me?” she asked.

“If you want.”

“I want.”

“In that case, I’ll set up our dinner on this coffee table. So, which is it, stew or pies?”

“You decide.”

He nodded. “I want stew for dinner. So, I’ll warm up the pot pies. In the meantime, let me get you a heating pad.” He walked over to the mantel, got the TV remote, and brought it over to her. “Help yourself.”

“What about video games?”

“I play those over at Gideon’s house. He has a whole entertainment room. Didn’t Jada show you?”

“Yeah, you’re a reader and like to hike. Whenever I’m back in fighting form, maybe we can hike together.”