Carl disconnected the phone and looked at the woman snuggled in his bed. “I—”
“What’s happened?” Jenny asked. She pulled the sheet up to her chin. She never had liked for him to see her naked. Jenny was nothing if not modest. “Is everyone ok?”
“They will be. That was Turner. He’s had a round of trouble tonight.” Carl pushed the worry aside. Worry at this point didn’t do anyone any good. “I need to go check on Jason.”
It was only ten or so. He’d have time to make it to the hospital and tuck him in before working for a few hours. He’d only come home to grab clean clothes and Jason’s tablet. And take a minute or two for himself.
Jenny had met him in his driveway. Like she had been waiting for him. His grandson had outgrown that ritual about the time he was eight, but since the storm, Jason had seemed to need the extra attention. Carl was more than willing to give it.
“How is he doing?”
Carl appreciated her asking. She always did. And she’d offered to take some of his load from the council, to give him more time with Jason. “He’s doing better. Jimmy woke. The fever is going down. Jason should be released in the next day or two. The surgery went well. He’s bored and cranky now. But they have moved him in with Jimmy.”
At Carl’s insistence. The other boy had been in a room with two beds; Jason had had a private one. But Jason’s bills were being paid out of Carl’s pocket, unlike Jimmy’s. Insurance and victim relief funds were helping him.
Carl had seen that was upgraded. He wanted Jimmy and Jason in the room together. The boys needed each other. Friends needed each other.
Someone could have killed a young man Carl considered a good friend. He wasn’t taking that lightly. Turner and Jenny were the closest people in his life now. “Do you know how much I appreciate you, Jennifer Sue Raymond?”
He would never call her Henedy again. That fool had lost her.
Carl’s gain, though. Carl’s gain.
Her bottom lip trembled. “Sometimes I don’t think I deserve you, Carl. I think you may be too good for me completely.”
“Other way around. Other way around.” He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled her close, just needing the human connection for a little while.
He was damned glad he wasn’t having to bury a young man he cared about. Carl had lost far too many friends along the way. But whoever was gunning for Turner was going to get their just desserts in the end. Carl was going to find them. He had never failed at something he’d put his mind to. He wasn’t about to start now.