Page 106 of Long Road Home

They stepped onto the sidewalk, and she turned to him. “We don’t have a car.”

Jax held up a set of keys. “The sheriff is letting us use his vehicle.”

She snatched the keys from his hand. “Great. Which car?”

“It’s a truck. And you’re gonna let me drive.”

“It’s a car, it’s a truck. Same diff. One way, anyway.You don’t call a car a truck. But who doesn’t refer to their truck, or their SUV, as a car?”

Jax shifted close, facing her. Maybe too close.

“We need to go do a death notification.”

He nodded. “But first you need to tell me how you’re doing. Apart from being hungry.”

She gripped the keys so hard she pressed a button by accident. Across the lot, lights flashed on a white truck.Bingo.

Jax laid his hands on her shoulders. “Nope. I want honesty.”

She pushed out a long breath, watching it puff white. “I really am hungry.”

He waited.

“And exhausted.”

“And your head?”

“Probably no worse than yours. You were in a plane crash,” she said. “I should be asking you this!” Why hadn’t she thought of it? Kenna gripped the sides of his jacket, slipping the keys into his pocket so she didn’t have to hold them. She could get a hug instead.

He tugged her to him so they were flush against each other. Kenna just breathed, standing there. Taking that moment to be still. They didn’t get to touch each other much, not like a regular couple who saw each other all the time. Missing, longing, and then suddenly being near each other? That could get risky fast.

Good thing there was a case to solve.

She continued, “When Forrest is released, I’ll sleep on her couch. You can take the RV. We can all get some rest, and then we’ll figure out how to get Tilley to come to us.”

He nodded against the side of her head. “We could hang out and watch a movie.”

“That’s…oddly inviting.” Kenna could hardly imagine just doing something so normal with him when most of the time they spent together had been about working cases, catching killers. Saving lives and escaping dangerous people.

Would they even agree on what movie to watch?

“I’ll make dinner,” he said.

Kenna leaned back and grinned.

“I see it doesn’t take much with you.”

That’s where he was wrong. “Actually, the bar is pretty high.”

She sauntered to the truck. Let him figure out that she meant he was one of the few people—two men in her life—who had proven they were good men. She hadn’t had a perfect relationship with Bradley. Jax wasn’t perfect, but neither was she. But she knew to her soul that she could trust him to have her back.

That kind of confidence was worth more than anything else.

He hit a drive-through coffee place on the way across town, buying creamy coffees and breakfast burritos that were clearly premade but surprisingly good. Not long after, they got to the office complex where Dr. Rayland worked. After this, they’d head to her house, but it was working hours, so she was probably here.

Jax looked around. “Nice place.”

The whole complex was new. Custom lease buildings for office-based businesses. An insurance broker. A mortgage lender. And the offices for Dr. Jennifer Rayland.

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