ZACH STRODE INTO the Lifeline hangar fifteen minutes early for his shift, intent on finding Jenna and talking some sense into her. Over the past several days she’d refused to take his calls. Rae had sounded subdued when she’d informed him Jenna was not available, as if she’d known she was the cause of dissension between them.
He couldn’t totally blame Jenna for being upset, not after learning the truth about her mother. The image of a young Jenna finding her mother dead in the kitchen persisted in haunting him. A mother should protect her children, not expose them to terror. How Jenna had managed to turn out so stable and responsible was beyond him.
Maybe focusing her attention on her younger sister had helped Jenna cope. He could certainly understand, but it was well past time for Jenna to realize she had a life of her own.
Ivan, Kate and Samantha were seated in the debriefing room. Guess everyone was early today. Except for Jenna. Then he frowned. Wait a minute, he didn’t remember Ivan being on the schedule.
“Good morning, Zach.” Kate raised a brow. “What’s the matter?”
“I was expecting to see Jenna.” He snatched the schedule off the table and peered at it. His gut twisted as his suspicions were confirmed. Jenna’s name had been scribbled out and Ivan’s written above it.
“She needed the day off, so I switched with her.” Ivan looked puzzled. “Why? Is something wrong?”
Yes, dammit. Everything was wrong. He needed to see Jenna, to convince her that falling asleep at his house was not being irresponsible like her mother. Not even close. He had to make her see she deserved a little fun, too. She couldn’t keep living her life around Rae. Didn’t Jenna see how together they could keep Rae from going too far off the teenage edge? She needed to give him a chance. “No. Nothing’s wrong.”
Ivan looked skeptical, but Zach didn’t care. Tomorrow was Saturday, and he was sure he’d find Jenna at the community center. Surely she’d have calmed down enough to talk to him. At least he hoped so.
Because a future without her was too bleak to contemplate.
* * *
The community center was packed with boys he recognized from basketball camp. They were running similar drills to the ones he’d taught them. At first he was pleased, then realization dawned.
Jenna had rescheduled the camp without him.
Her actions shouldn’t have hurt, but they did. Damien caught sight of him and a wide grin spread over the boy’s features. Damien nudged his friend, and pretty soon they’d all abandoned their drill to come and greet Zach.
Jenna noticed their diverted attention, frowning when she saw him. She didn’t want to make a scene in front of the kids, but it was small consolation as she maintained a professional distance.
“Hi.” He was determined to keep this casual. “Had the day off and figured you’d need a hand.”
“No problem.” Her tone was polite, but the look of reproach in her eyes told a different story. She didn’t want him there and, what’s more, she didn’t want to talk to him, either.
Zach didn’t know which was worse, staying and causing Jenna more distress or leaving and abandoning the kids.
The boys didn’t deserve to be pawns in the middle of his personal problems, so he forced a grin as he turned back to the boys. “You guys were doing pretty good, but how about showing me what you really have?”
“Yeah!” The guys ran back out onto the court where Jenna’s EMT friend Miguel, along with some other guy Zach didn’t know, were refereeing.
“Damien has been cleared to play?” he queried.
“Yes, of course. He’s on medication. I’m keeping an eye on him.” Her tone remained polite, distant. As if they hadn’t spend a wonderful night wrapped in each other’s arms, albeit innocently enough. No, this was the tone she used often enough with other people, especially those she didn’t know very well.
He didn’t appreciate being lumped in the same category. Still, he kept his attention centered on the boys, calling out encouragement and correcting their mistakes.
When their camp ended, Zach continued to hang around, despite the quelling looks Jenna aimed in his direction. She clearly expected him to leave.
Too bad. She was bound to be disappointed because he wasn’t leaving until they’d had a chance to talk.
Jenna laughed and talked to the boys as they ambled past, gathering up their gym bags and water bottles. Several of the boys grinned at him and gave him subtle thumbs-up signals, as if to say, Go for it.
He grinned.
“Why are you still here, Zach?” Jenna gathered basketballs and put them on a cart as the boys filed out of the building.
His smile faded and he bent to help. “We need to talk, Jenna. You haven’t returned my phone calls.”
“Maybe you should take the hint.” Jenna’s tart tone had him grinding his teeth in frustration. Apparently she wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
“How’s Rae?” He tried changing the subject, placing the last ball on the cart.
She lifted a shoulder. “Not happy with me. She wanted to pay for repairs on our car with her Custard money. Yeah, like I’m going to allow her to drive after the way she stayed out all night.”
He frowned and followed her as she wheeled the cart into the equipment storage room. “I don’t see why not. Maybe if you’d show her a little trust and respect, you’d see she’s capable of making good decisions.”
She spun toward him. “Why are you so worried about my life, Zach? The night we fell asleep on your sofa, I was ready to take our relationship to the next level, but you weren’t. Do you know what I think? I think you backed off because you’re afraid to get too close.”
“No.” The automatic denial rose to his lips before he could think about it. “I want nothing more than to be close to you, Jenna. But you’re always putting your life on hold for Rae.”
Jenna slammed the door on the equipment supply room with more force than was necessary. “I have a sister, Zach. I’m not going to apologize for caring about her.”
This conversation was not going the way he’d anticipated. He struggled to find a balance. “You can care about her without going off the deep end every time something goes wrong.”
She brushed past him, heading back to the office. “I think you’re the one with the problem.”
Before he could argue further, the lights went out and the room went dark.
“Did we blow a fuse?” Jenna asked in a quiet voice.
“No, listen.” Now that they’d quit arguing, he could hear the rolling thunder outside. “The storm must have brought down a power line.” He reached through the dense blackness for her. The room was dark because there were no outside windows. “Where are you?”
“Here.” She walked forward and he caught her hand in his.
He drew her close. “You okay?”
“Sure.” She clasped his hand tight for a moment, then went around him, searching for the door. “I need to get home, though.”
In the main room of the community center, they saw a flash of lightning followed by another loud crack of thunder. The sound of pelting rain confirmed the thunderstorm.
“I’ll take you home. No sense in you walking through the storm.”
Jenna didn’t argue. After locking the community center door behind her, they dashed to his car through the deluge of rain.
“Where’s Rae?” he asked, once they were settled inside.
“At home.” Jenna worried her lower lip with her teeth. “I’ll try her cell.” She listened, then snapped her phone shut. “The reception isn’t good. All I hear is static on the line.”
“She wasn’t scheduled to work today?” The rain pelted the car so hard he was forced to crawl through the streets.
“Not until later. She was in her room, pouting over my refusing to let her pay for the car repairs.” Jenna sat up straighter when he turned the corner onto her street. “Do you see that?”
“What?” He peered through the windshield.
“Oh, dear God,” she whispered. “My house. Zach, a tree fell on my house!”
He saw it the moment she did. A large tree seemed to have split in two, with the larger portion having fallen directly onto her house, crushing the roof on one side as if the beams had been made out of toothpicks instead of lumber. From the blackened spots along the break, he figured it had been struck by lightning.
“Hurry.” Jenna grabbed his arm. “Rae’s in there.”
His gut tightened as he recognized the expression on Jenna’s face. Naked fear. The same expression he’d worn when he’d realized his sister Eve hadn’t just run away down the street to a friend’s house.
He blocked the sensation as he pulled up to the curb, but Jenna shot out of the car before he’d fully stopped.
“Jenna, wait.” Zach threw the car into Park and sprinted after her. “Be careful. The structure might not be secure. Jenna!”
He caught her as she fumbled with the front door. She fought against him, uncaring that the rain soaked them from head to toe. “Let go of me. I need to find Rae.”
“Call 911. Get the firemen out here to help. If the house caves in, you’ll both be trapped in there.”
“The tree fell on her room, Zach. What if she’s hurt, or worse?”
He didn’t know what to say. Holding her with one arm clamped around her waist, he pulled out his cell phone with the other and dialed the emergency number. He expected static, but luckily his call went through. As the dispatcher responded to his call, Jenna broke free. He swore under his breath.
“What’s the nature of your emergency?”
Giving terse instructions to the dispatcher, he then shut his phone and followed Jenna inside. He found her at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor, gazing up at the collapsed frame in horror.
He swallowed hard when he saw the extent of the damage. “The firemen are on their way.”
“She’s trapped up there. We have to get her out.” Tears streamed down Jenna’s cheeks. She brushed them away with an impatient swipe of her sleeve. “There must be some way to get through to the upper level.”
“No. Jenna, what if you make things worse? We have to wait for the firemen.” He thrust his cell phone into her hand. “Mine works. See if you can reach Rae.”
Jenna fumbled with his phone, entering Rae’s number. After a few moments, she shook her head and handed it back to him. “She’s not answering.”
“I didn’t hear anything ringing upstairs. Maybe she’s not home.” He held Jenna’s shoulders in his hands. “Maybe she went to work early, and she wasn’t home when this happened.”
“I need to find her, Zach.” Jenna’s tearfilled eyes tore at his heart.
“I know, sweetheart. We’ll find her.”
Jenna glanced back up at the crushed stairwell. “I can’t just stand here. I’m going up there.”
“First call her friends.” Zach was willing to do anything to buy time. The firemen needed to get here soon, they were the experts at this. He understood Jenna’s concern and prayed Rae hadn’t been up in her room when the tree had fallen. He’d seen too many trauma patients not to know that if Rae had been up there, she could be seriously hurt.
Not dead. He refused to believe Rae could be dead.
“Wait. Listen.” Jenna grabbed his arm.
He froze. “What?”
“Did you hear that?” Jenna’s eyes grew round and bright.
Glancing at her with concern, he strained to listen. But he didn’t hear anything. Was Jenna imagining things? Was she losing it? “I didn’t hear anything. Call Rae’s friends. Please.”
“I heard something.” Jenna jerked from his grasp and climbed up the stairs. Using her bare hands, she tugged at a chunk of drywall, tugging it out of the way. A large two-by-four was lying across the opening sideways and she grabbed it with both hands and pulled hard.
“Look out!” Zach yanked her down from the stairwell and ducked, just as a huge mound of debris came down from the ceiling right onto the spot where Jenna had stood.
Stumbling to the foot of the stairs, he clutched her to his chest, his heart hammering against his ribs. He closed his eyes and struggled to breathe. That had been way too close.
Jenna rested her head on his chest for a long minute and he stroked a hand over her hair. “It’s okay. Help is on the way. Just be patient.”
She abruptly raised her head. “Did you hear that?”
Not again, he thought with desperation. This was ridiculous. They didn’t even know if Rae was in the house. He had to get Jenna out of here—now. The agonizing fear of expecting the worst was not good for her. And there was no telling if the rest of the house might cave in, too.
But then he heard the very faint sound of someone calling Jenna’s name.
“There. I told you, it’s Rae. She’s up there, Zach.” Jenna’s face lit up with fierce determination. “She’s alive!”