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gone.

Chapter 15

Brock

“How long are you going to be gone?” Seth asked ten days later as the four of us hung out in my family room.

Jenna was having her fourth appointment with her counselor in my office, so I’d chosen the room furthest away from that location.

She said she was feeling a little better with counseling, and she hadn’t experienced another sleepwalking incident.

She’d slept with me every night, which had been both heaven and hell for me, but I’d managed to keep my baser instincts shut down and settled for kisses before we both fell asleep.

We talked.

A lot.

Jenna talked about her past when she was comfortable doing it.

It killed me to hear about some of the things that had happened to her during her childhood.

She never spoke in-depth about her abuse, but she had mentioned that her foster father had never been capable of penetrating her.

That was probably why the bastard had preferred younger children to older teens. He’d gotten himself off by sexually assaulting and hurting defenseless kids.

It sickened me that her foster mother had actively participated as well.

Jenna also talked about those hard years in school, but she spoke more often about how her blog had evolved and some of the happier years of her doctorate work and her research. The years when she hadn’t needed to struggle financially as much.

And she loved to share some of the things she and Nina had done for fun before her best friend had moved to Australia.

Oddly, Jenna was able to get me to talk about things I almost never did, too.

My tough years in foster care.

Some of the difficult times in Delta and my challenging transition to civilian life.

We’d worked over the last ten days, but we’d also spent some time exploring the local area. We’d done a wine tasting in Traverse City and explored that area pretty thoroughly.

She’d marveled at Sleeping Bear Dunes, and we’d stayed there until dark so she could stargaze with a very dark sky.

We were leaving tomorrow for a sightseeing adventure, a brief tour of the highlights of Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

“We’ll be gone for a week,” I finally answered. “It’s cooling down and I’d like to not be on my bike with Jenna when that happens.”

Nate grinned. “One last road trip? I’m almost jealous but we’ve seen those places plenty of times. I think Jenna will like it.”

All my friends had gotten extremely close to Jenna, and it made me happy to see how easily she interacted with them now.

We were going to spend a few nights on Mackinac Island and then visit Mackinaw City to spend a night in the dark sky park there.

After that, we’d cross the Mackinac Bridge and take a scenic drive through the Upper Peninsula.

We’d probably see the beginning of color changes in the UP, but it wouldn’t be in full swing in Northern Michigan until after we got home.

My arm was fully recovered now, and I was more than capable of handling my BMW R1300GS for this road trip. Whenever possible, I preferred driving my motorcycle on road trips during nice weather.

This would probably be the last time I’d be able to take my bike out this season.