Page 32 of Saving Her Heart

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The group chat is still going strong as we leave.

Grace: They left TOGETHER

Mia: In the same car?!

Riley: Someone follow them!

Kate: That's stalking, Riley

Riley: It's aggressive concern

Brooke: If they show up to kickball holding hands, I win the pot

Charli: Pot's up to $500 now BTW

Grace: $500?!

Mia: The Walking Ladies added their bridge winnings

Me: I can see these messages

Kate: We know

Charli: GO GET YOUR MAN

Me: He's not my man

Brooke: Yet

Grace: Growth mindset, Kendall!

Riley: Positive thinking!

Mia: Manifest that officer!

Kate: Other verbs also acceptable

I silence my phone and find Jax waiting by a rental car he somehow procured in the five minutes I was dealing with the texting chaos.

"Ready?" he asks.

To help Mrs. Parsons? Yes. To forgive him? Maybe. To trust him again?

The jury's still out on that one.

But as we drive toward Mrs. Parsons' apartment, with him telling me stories about his dad I'd never heard before, I feel rule number three starting to crack.

And maybe that's not the worst thing in the world.

Chapter 8

Jax

Mrs. Parsons' apartment looks like a tornado hit it, if tornadoes specifically targeted photo albums and threw them everywhere. She's sitting in the middle of the chaos, surrounded by decades of memories, crying quietly while Sarah tries to comfort her.

"She's been like this for an hour," Sarah tells us, exhausted. "Every time we pack something, she unpacks it. Says Uncle Harold needs his things organized a specific way."

Kendall immediately drops to her knees beside Mrs. Parsons, not caring about her nice slacks. "Mrs. Parsons, it's me. Kendall."

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