SHELTER

Chapter 20

The next two days were a whirlwind.

Jolie headed off to work apologetically. Warren offered to spend the first day with Jake. the other man declined but came over that evening after Jolie got off work. After a tense dinner and a more than slightly intense game of bowling he'd retreated back to the hotel.

The next day Jake surprised Warren by accepting his offer to spend the day at the range. He spent the morning attending to some business on the phone but arrived just before noon with the idea that they should take Jolie lunch at work.

Warren agreed and texted Jolie to expect them. She'd pulled two stools out of the back room and placed them next to the counter when they'd arrived with two paper bags full of food.

Only one customer demanded her attention during the hour, otherwise she picked at her chicken salad and tried to manufacture un-awkward small talk.

Since their talk Jolie had become very sensitive to what and how she said things. She'd also become acutely aware of Jake's behavior toward her and how she responded. As a result the last two days had been even more uncomfortable than the first.

She was sure Jake had to have noticed the change, she couldn't see how anyone wouldn't. Warren ended up giving her several encouraging hugs, looks and mini peptalks whenever they were alone to help ease her anxiety.

She felt bad that she looked forward to the end of the week when Jake would drive to the airport and head off to leave her in peace again.

After lunch Warren led the way to the range and gave Jake a brief tour. The other man was cordial and polite. His words seemed to be in direct opposition to the waves of resentment Warren felt eminating from him. He handed Jake a thick stack of targets and ear protection before removing to his office to work on paperwork.

Instead, he left the front desk work to his employee and closed the door to call Dustin.

"This is Tate." His friend answered on the second ring.

"Dustin, it's Warren." He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on an extended filing cabinet drawer.

"Oh hey buddy. I was going to call you yesterday but got tied up in reports. How is it going down there? You know what I mean by that?" Warren could hear the sound of a car driving in the background and figured Dustin was still at work.

"It's going. So how concerned should I be about this?" He grabbed a pencil and started doodling a hangman on the large calendar that covered his desk.

"In regards to Jolie? Not at all. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know anything about his feelings. Even if she did, she wouldn't want anything to do with him in that way. They are just too different. In regards to Jake Monroe? Well, he's been pining after her for years and the fact that he up and took off outta here without talking to anyone is a little strange. He knows that if he'd come to me before hand I would have told him not to do it." Dustin finished with an audible grunt of irritation.

Warren could just imagine his old buddy's look of disapproval he'd seen it often enough when he'd goofed off a little too much in the field.

"Well she knows now," He heard Dustin grunt his acknowledgement. "He got all pouty when he showed up and didn't get the level excitement he had imagined from a grateful and single Jolie. She noticed the sulking and asked me about it so I told her the truth. Now she's full of anxiety and worried about every little thing she says or does." He signed heavily.

"Why? It's not her problem. It's his?" Dustin sounded as frustrated as Warren felt.

"We talked about that too but she still feels like she has to make sure he doesn't have any reason to think she led him on. She also seems to think it's really important he relay back to you guys back home that she's fine so you can stop worrying about her once and for all." The hangman scaffold had now expanded to a field full of grass with a fence and some sort of creature he'd intended to be a dog.