Want You Back by Karen Whiddon Page B

the first time since he’d come here, he wondered if he had made a colossal mistake. Maybe it would have been better to find some other town, some place where he was anonymous, and make a brand new life for himself.
    But he hadn’t been able to live without seeing Jenny one more time. Without making sure she was safe.
    “Jenny, please.” Jake put his heart in that quiet plea, and all the pent-up longing and need and sorrow that he had inside. He knew she would recognize it, knew, too, she would sympathize, however reluctantly . The Jenny he had known had never been able to resist a wounded being, be it animal or human.
    “I’ll think about it.”
    There was a quiet click as she hung up the phone.
    Replacing the receiver, Jake wondered what that meant. At least she had promised him that much. And there was the Fourth of July picnic, in a few day’s time. She had agreed to go with him. He felt like celebrating because finally he would have a chance to spend some real time with Jenny. Time in which they might get to know each other again, time in which he might be able to find out what made her tick and why she pretended to be someone she was not
    As a friend, of course. Strictly as a friend.
    Thinking of this brought Howard to mind. What would Jenny tell him? Surely he would expect to go to the picnic with her? Or would he?
    Jake decided he didn’t much care.
    The morning of the annual Fourth of July picnic dawned bright and sunny with a promise of heat For two days the Ater city council and assorted volunteers had been getting things ready, building floats for the parade, hanging red, white, and blue streamers and bows from the freshly painted bandstand in the center of the park.
    All of the businesses, including the bank, were closed for the day. Everyone would have a great time while Eddie Brentworth’s band played marches until the sky grew dark. Then the firework display would light up the night to the delight of all the children and most of the adults.
    The entire town was in a festive mood.
    Jenny had been to the picnic every year as long as she could remember. When she was a little girl her mother had made a basket full of fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad, and homemade bread. They’d always brought along a cooler full of lemon ade and for dessert, a container of homemade vanilla ice cream.
    The first few years after her parents had been killed, Jenny had been too sad to make the familiar foods, choosing to bring sandwiches and chips instead.
    The first year with Jake, she’d restored the old tradition, finding comfort in the familiar foods. How ard had praised her fried chicken, claiming it was the best in town. She would make the same meal to share tonight with Jake, again.
    Jenny frowned. Howard hadn’t seemed to mind that she intended to go the celebration with Jake. He’d listened with his usual careful silence, then allowed as to how it would be a good public relations move on her part. As for him, he’d been unusually vague, telling Jenny he would make some kind of plans and not to worry about him.
    So she battered the chicken, fried it up in hot vegetable oil, and tried to ignore the knot of anticipa tion that coiled in her stomach.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    After she’d prepared their lunch, Jenny took a good look at herself in the mirror. What to wear, that was another decision she found herself confronted with. Never before had she been concerned about her clothing—most people wore shorts and T-shirts to the picnic, normal summer attire. Howard even wore a preppy pair of khaki shorts and a golf shirt.
    But this year Jenny found herself wishing she’d taken time to go shopping. Jean shorts and a T-shirt didn’t seem businesslike enough. And she didn’t want to wear anything that might make Jake think she would relax her firm rules.
    In the end she settled on a denim jumper. It came to mid - calf, hiding her legs, and the