Page 54 of Steel & Jenna
She owed her sister big time. Hopefully one day she’d be able to pay her back.
The phone rang and rang. Then the voice of the boy she loved picked up. “Jack! You’re never going to believe what Carolyn just did…”
CHAPTER 12
ONE YEAR LATER
1 YEAR, 6 MONTHS, 18 DAYS
“He’s going to be mad,” Carolyn said as she pulled herPorscheinto the Zarins’ driveway.
Jenna scowled at her sister. “No, he won’t.”
Carolyn put the car into Park. She turned and raised an eyebrow at her little sister. In the past year, Carolyn had changed her appearance to once again resemble the sister Jenna had grown up with. She ditched the black, gothic look and now wore expensive, designer clothing picked out by their mother’s personal shopper. Her nails were French manicured, her makeup subtly applied, and she no longer cursed their parents out every other time she opened her mouth.
The first time Jenna had seen her outside of her new dark look, she’d been excited. Thinking perhaps Carolyn had been the one to bring on the change herself. Then Jenna discovered the second part of the deal Carolyn had made with their parents. Jenna would live in Seattle to attend school on the weekdays and could return to Port Townsend on the weekends, free to see whomever she wished, so longas Carolyn kept quiet about the things she knew about their parents’ less reputable dealingsandshe joined the family business.
The guilt Jenna felt for her sister’s sacrifice still ate away at her. Carolynhatedanything to do with Scanlon Enterprises and its holdings. But she’d made the deal because she saw how much being able to be with Jack meant to Jenna.
Jenna tried to tell Carolyn to take it back, that she and Jack would find out another way to be together, but Carolyn insisted.“At least one of us should be happy, little sis.”
School in Seattle was just as she remembered it being. Full of stuck-up, rich kids who were all about smiling at each other’s faces while stabbing each other in the back. Even girls Jenna had considered her friends prior to her move to Port Townsend had changed in the short time she’d been away. Jenna concentrated now on her schoolwork while counting down the days and hours until she was back with Jack.
Other than one weekend when Jenna had the flu and another weekend when Jack had gone on a camping trip with Mr. Zarin, they’d spent every weekend together the past year. It was heavenly—until Sunday evenings. JennahatedSundays. Each goodbye was getting harder and harder.
As juniors, they were busy with PSAT and SAT prep, college applications, and ensuring that they had everything they needed to graduate next year. But it was the countdown to her birthday that Jack and Jenna cared about more than graduation.
Mr. and Mrs. Zarin were amazing people. Jenna was equally jealous and happy that Jack and Lilly had been taken in by such a loving couple.
Lilly was growing like a weed. Now eight, her body was becoming more defined and losing the cute chubbiness it had possessed. Pretty soon, she’d be as tall as Jenna and Mrs. Zarin.
Jack was… Heat rushed Jenna’s body whenever she thought about him. Now that he was eating properly and getting enough sleep, his body was filling out too. And in averygood way. After healing from his injuries, Jack started training with Mr. Zarin. The former Marineshowed Jack how to lift weights, how to balance protein and carb-based meals to gain the most muscle, and was teaching him mixed martial arts. The two were even running in the mornings before Jack went to school. Likemiles and miles. In their nightly phone calls, he would talk about how much Mr. Zarin was impressed by his tenacity and performance.
Jenna was not a sports-girl and did not have any stamina when it came to running or exercise. But she certainly loved getting her fill of Jack’s new muscles.
Thanks to Carolyn’s deal with their parents, her mom and dad had backed off of Jenna dating Jack. They were not happy about it and made that displeasure known, but Jenna was not forbidden to see him. He was not welcome in their home and there had been some issues in the beginning about getting his medical bills paid for as promised.
Due to his injuries, he’d had to give up his paper route and odd jobs around town. Jenna was secretly happy about that because she hated the idea of him getting up so early before school and not getting enough sleep before classes. Once healed, Jack had tried to get a new job. Only to be denied again and again.
He even went back to his old boss at the newspaper company to see if there was anything available for him there, even if it wasn’t his old route. It was there that Jack discovered the newspaper had new ownership: a company that was owned by a company that was owned by Scanlon Enterprises.
And Jack Duncan had been blacklisted from being hired by any subsidiary of Scanlon Enterprises, which half the town’s businesses were.
Jenna had been furious, but she also hadn’t wanted to rock the boat with her parents. The deal Carolyn had made with her parents had said nothing about their business or who they would or would not hire. Frustrated, Jenna had tried to suggest to Jack that he not work for a while.
But Jack needed a job. As generous as the Zarins were, he did not want to take advantage of them. He needed a job to take Jenna on dates, to save up for a car, to save up for college, and so on.
Eventually, he was able to get a part-time, after-school position as a bagboy at a local grocer that was not owned by her parents. It wasn’t much, but it was still a job. Every once in a while he would pick up a shift on a Saturday or a Sunday. Neither was happy about it because it cut into their already limited time together, but Jenna understood Jack’s need to be independent and self-sufficient.
Thanks to the Zarins, Jack was also able to open a bank account to secure his money, including the thirteen hundred dollars that Mrs. Zarin had been able to retrieve from Jenna’s hiding place outside the library.
It was hard to believe a year had passed already. In some ways, the incident at the library felt like yesterday. Jenna still had nightmares about it. And in other ways, the long midweek days seemed to drag on and on, torturing her with the never ending countdown until she could finally see Jack again.
To her parents’ dismay, Jack and Jenna’s relationship and commitment to each other was stronger than ever. Space had not dulled their feelings. Their open communication vow had been tested a time or two.
A boy in Jenna’s class had invited her out to the movies. She’d thought it was a group event, but it turned out to be dinner and a movie where all the teens were paired off during the movie to make out. The boy Jenna hadn’t realized was her date had tried to kiss her and then got upset with her when she’d refused. The miscommunication had caused Jenna to call her driver to come and pick her up at the movies rather than to awkwardly sit through the entire thing. Jack hadn’t been pleased when she told him, but he hadn’t accused her of being unfaithful and had not blamed her for the misunderstanding.
There had been an incident at Jack’s school where a senior had thought Jack was the boy his girlfriend was cheating on him with. It was a case of mistaken identity. The girl had said “Jack” but didn’t specify which Jack. The saving grace that had prevented a schoolyard brawl was Jack’s new reputation for being loyal and devoted to Jenna, even though she no longer went to their school.
