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“I will,” Deacon said politely – and disappeared off the screen… and Lena hesitated.
“What?” Shelby asked openly and Lena smiled, glancing at Jake.
“I’d like you to meet my friend and roommate, Jake.”
“Lena…”
She ignored Shelby’s protests and took the phone to Jake, who was watching her carefully, meeting her gaze steadily as if to ask ‘Are you sure?’ silently between them.
Lena held up the phone and waved him to lean in closer, smiling at him.
“Hello,” Jake said simply – and Lena laughed.
“Who knew he was shy?” she teased and looked at him as he gazed at her.
“I’m not shy, nor am I ‘the dude,’” he corrected, looking at Shelby on the screen watching them. “Your sister is my best friend – and the best person I’ve ever met. I’m really lucky to have a cabin mate who demands boundaries and tells me like it is. I really respect that… and it’s my fault that it took a couple of days for her to call you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jake,” Shelby said quietly, watching them as Lena looked back and forth between the two – and then pulled the screen away.
“You don’t have to have a big, long conversation… but our show is getting ready to come on, and my tea is cooling. Can I call you in a couple of days, Shelby?”
“Whenever you want – just be happy and take things slowly, okay?”
“I am,” Lena promised. “For the first time, I am doing what I want, when I want, and taking it at my pace.”
“Even with him?” her sister said bluntly.
“Especially with him,” Lena admitted, looking at Jake and smiling. “He means a lot to me, and I don’t know where this is going – but I do know for certain that I don’t want to mess up this friendship that we have.”
To her surprise, Jake made a kissy face towards her and crossed his eyes playfully, laying a hand over his heart, and Lena laughed.
“I’ll let you go,” Shelby smiled – looking happy and a little more relaxed. “It’s good to see you happy again. Just keep at it, and you don’t have to empty your house or sell it. Let it sit. Take your time, and this gives you a place to go if you need it.”
“I know you are right, but I can honestly tell you that going back there is the furthest from my mind,” Lena replied. “If they told me my time here was done? I’d find a place and a job nearby. I’m sorry, but I really have found my home… and it’s not there anymore.”
“I moved to Tyler, remember? You don’t have to explain it to me.”
Lena nodded and said her goodbyes to her sister before hanging up the phone call. Jake didn’t move. He just stood there like some pillar or monolith, watching her.
“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment. “I know you were worried what she would think.”
“I’m good,” she smiled at him, holding out her hand, and he took it immediately. “I’m doing really well and meant everything I said. Now, where did we put the remote?”
13
ORTEGA
Jake lay on the loveseat thinking about Lena’s conversation with her sister, and every time he played back what she said in his mind, it made him wince. How did you get the girl you adored to look at you a little differently? He had thought they were making progress at the hospital when he finally kissed her, but was this what they meant by ‘two steps forward and one step back’?
If he was on maneuvers, he’d listen halfway and then ‘fool around and find out’ – but fooling around could ruin this fragile relationship. Risking what he had building with Lena was not an option.
He meant what he’d said to her. He could see being at her side… or wrestling with children in the yard, here, during the spring – even if he hadn’t seen what the spring season looked like yet.
Everything Lena had said made perfect sense to him because there was a sense of belonging that could never be explained. He looked out over the pasture toward the mountains in the distance and felt it in his soul. He loved hunting, feeling almost elemental, knowing he was bringing meat home to his tribe, and that was what it was at its basest form.
His tribe.
Hisfamily.
