Page 22 of Loving Jared

"That's exactly how Jared is with me and my siblings," Amy said enthusiastically.

Jenna nodded knowingly. "Jared has a huge soft spot for women and children." Seeing the look on Amy's face she was quick to reassure her, "No, he doesn't go picking up women anywhere and everywhere, he just doesn't like seeing a woman in distress. Not that you're in distress." Jenna smacked herself in the forehead and grimaced. "This is probably why I don't have more friends."

Amy laughed so hard she spit out some of her Coke. "No, it's fine, I like hearing about Jared. Honestly, I'm not worried about other women, you’ve reassured me."

"Good, because he's a great guy and he's absolutely head over heels for you. I'd hate to be the one to do something to damage your relationship."

Now it was time for Amy to reassure Jenna. "Our relationship would have to be pretty fragile for something like this to damage it. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. I'm pretty head over heels for him too."

The two women continued to talk, finishing up their meals. Amy was astonished by the amount of food that Jenna could pack away. Maybe she really was pregnant again. The thought filled Amy with longing and an image of Jared flashed into her mind. He would make an amazing father.

She was getting ahead of herself though. They'd only been dating a few weeks. No one had said the ‘L’ word yet, let alone any kind of proposals or talk of future children. Despite that, Amy was pretty sure Jared wanted them. The way he was with her sisters spoke volumes about how much he liked children. He spoiled them, played with them, acted like a child himself more often than not and he seemed to understand them.

The two women spent more time chatting than they did shopping, walking past row after row of stores without going in. Amy left the mall empty-handed, but with a heart full of hope. She was making a solid friendship with someone she genuinely liked. Even though Jenna was older than her, they had a lot in common. They both had children to take care of, both dated possessive ex-biker bad boys, and they had similar personality traits.

As Amy climbed into the SUV, heading for home, she contemplated her former friendships. When her family life exploded into a million pieces of drama, it had become extremely telling who her real friends were. Only a handful of her former friends stuck around to help her pick up the pieces. Two to be exact. Rhoda and Lindsay. Rhoda had moved away about a year ago to attend college, and though Lindsay was still around, they each had their own busy lives to attend to and couldn't see each other often.

It felt good having another female friend that could relate to Amy's life, even a little bit.

She parked the SUV in her garage, at Jared’s insistence since she had to work at the factory in the morning, and locked up and headed inside, checking her phone. It was 4:00 pm. Millie and Sarah were over at Jared's house, baking cookies. Amy would drop her purse off, take a quick shower and head over.

She unlocked the door and pushed it open, calling into the shadowy house, "Teagan, are you home?"

She only half expected him there. Even though he was coming around more often, he was still prone to spending most afternoons and evenings with his friends. Amy wasn’t surprised when no one answered back. She reached out to turn on the living room light.

Amy gasped as light filled the room, illuminating utter chaos. Her home had been torn apart. She started to step inside, her eyes glued to the couch where the cushions had been throw off. Papers were strewn everywhere and she could see broken dishes through the opening into the kitchen.

She froze, midway to reaching out to pick up a doll which had been upended from the girls’ toy chest. What if the burglar was still there?

Without thinking twice, Amy turned and fled out the door, heading straight over to Jared’s place.

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