Chasing Shadows (complete)

Chapter 16

Jenny stood immobilized under the spray, the warm water suddenly feeling cold as ice, as Carter left the bathroom. What had just happened? One second he was kissing her and the next he was running for the hills. Or the kitchen. Same thing, really. Was her inexperience that off-putting to him?

Jenny shuddered with humiliation and turned off the water, grabbing a towel to wrap around herself. Feeling discarded and embarrassed, Jenny dressed in the bulkiest clothes she’d packed – a college sweatshirt and flannel pajama bottoms, and reluctantly headed down the stairs with her hair swept up in a towel.

She found Carter in the kitchen, dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt, making sandwiches.

“Shower’s free,” she said and watched as his back tensed. He didn’t turn towards her, though.

“Thank you. I’m making us some sandwiches.”

“I’m not hungry,” Jenny said but her stomach grumbled to contradict her.

“It’s the fresh air,” he said casually, “and the water. Never fails to make your stomach scream.”

“Do you mind if I borrow a book to read?” she asked, hugging herself. She’d forgotten to put socks on and the kitchen floor, unlike the wooden floors in the rest of the house and the heated bathroom, was giving her chills.

“No, of course not.”

“Great.” Jenny turned and walked into the living room to peruse the shelves again. She ran cold fingers across the backs of what was a mixed collection, to say the least. Some of the titles were plain ridiculous and she didn’t have to read the blurb to know they were the romance novels gifted to Carter’s mother.

Then again, maybe a trashy novel was exactly what she should be reading on a night like this. She didn’t have the stomach for thrillers and alike, and autobiographies may be interesting, but she needed to escape reality. Her mind made up, Jenny picked up one of the titles and read the blurb. Hm. Well, not so bad. She turned it over to look at the cover and gasped. Instinctively, she dropped the book and stepped away from it like it had burned her.

“Jenny?” Carter walked in, but Jenny’s gaze was fixed on the book’s cover, her heart beating fast in her chest. “What happened? You see a spider or something?”

Jenny shook her head and pointed to the book. Frowning, Carter picked it up, looking at it from every angle as if trying to figure out what was so scary about it. He wouldn’t, though. He didn’t see what she saw.

“It looks just like him,” she said in a broken whisper. Jenny knew, of course, that the painted hero on the romance novel’s cover wasn’t the dark-haired man that had helped abduct Chrissy ten years ago, but the resemblance was uncanny.

“Oh, Jenny,” Carter sighed and threw the book aside, enveloping her in a hug.

“I know I’m messed up,” Jenny said, her breath hitching as she fought to keep back the tears. “I don’t blame you for not wanting me.”

“What?” Carter pulled back a little to look at her, his hands still around her back.

“It’s okay. I get it. You thought I wasn’t this pathetic, and now you’ve realized I’ll never be who you need in your life.”

“Jenny, you’re not making sense,” Carter shook his head. “What makes you think I don’t want you?”

“You walked away. One minute you were kissing me and the next you were running out the door.”

“That… Damn it, Jenny, that wasn’t about me not wanting you.”

“Then what was it about?”