Page 133 of The Last Close Call

“What are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly.

“Looking for you.” He stepped closer. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m on my way out.”

“You left your car door open.”

“Crap, I forgot.” She combed her hand through her hair. It was damp, as though she’d just jumped out of the shower. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt and had flip-flops on her otherwise bare feet. “My car’s low on gas and I need to take Skyler’s.”

“Rowan, what’s wrong?”

She looked at him, eyes wide. “What?”

“It’s thirty degrees out and you’re practically barefoot.”

“Oh.” She glanced down. “I’m in a hurry.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Stop and take a breath.”

She sucked in a breath and blew it out.

“Tell me what’s the matter.”

She bit her lip, and he saw some kind of war going on in her mind. To tell him or not? Whatever it was, he wanted her to trust him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, trying an easier question.

“Can you drive? I’ll explain on the way.”

“Fine.”

She jogged to her car and closed the door, then went around to the passenger side of his Jeep and jumped in.

He got behind the wheel. “You want to lock your car?”

She glanced up from her phone and waved him off. “No need.”

Jack bumped over the grass and looped around to the driveway. “So, is Skyler home or—”

“I don’t know where she is. Probably at the Duck.”

He glanced at her in the seat beside him as he made his way down the rutted driveway back to the road. Her cheeks were flushed, and her sweatshirt was on inside out.

“You still have a fever?”

She looked up from her phone. “What? No. I’m all better.”

He trained his gaze on the road, waiting for her to finish scrolling. She muttered a curse and dropped her phone into the cup holder.

He rolled to a stop at the highway. “Which way?”

“Left.”

He turned left on the highway and gave her until he had it in fourth gear to collect herself.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s Joy. I’m worried about her.”

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