Page 67 of Steel & Jenna
Amelia gave her an awkward nod and then continued dialing. She spoke into the phone for a moment before looking up at Jenna. “I’m sorry, sweetie. He says no, per your parents’ orders.”
Jenna held her hand out for the phone. Amelia placed the phone block on the desk, careful of the cord, and then handed her the receiver. Jenna took the cold, black plastic and put it to her ear. “Walter, please,” she begged in lieu of a greeting. “I need to see Jack. Something happened today and I need to see him. Please.”
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Scanlon. I could lose my job if I do. If you get permission from your parents?—”
Jenna’s scoff cut him off. She did like Walter. He was a sweetheart and didn’t mind driving her around. But he was employed by herparents. “No point,” she muttered. “We both know what they would say.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Scanlon,” he repeated. At least, he sounded sincere, but that wasn’t going to help her get home.
Jenna let out a long sigh. “It’s fine. I’ll figure something out. Thank you, Walter.”
“Have a good night, Ms. Scanlon.”
She hung the phone back up but didn’t hand it back to Amelia. Instead, she dialed her sister’s number at her Seattle apartment. It rang and rang and rang until her answering machine clicked to prompt her to leave a message.
Jenna hung up. She dialed Carolyn’s cellular mobile phone. Her parents insisted on buying her the impractical device, but Carolyn rarely had it on her. Unlike their mother, who carried hers around to show it off, Carolyn despised the portable handheld. Though it only weighed two and a half pounds, the thing was massive and Carolyn hated it. She said the device was better used as a weapon than a way to contact her.
When Carolyn didn’t pick up her portable phone, Jenna left her a message on her pager. Though that felt more like a Hail Mary than the calling her portable had. Carolyn was constantly losing the thing.
Desperate, Jenna called for a taxi cab.
“Still nothing?”Mr. Zarin asked.
Jack sighed, hanging up the kitchen phone. “Where could she be? It’s almost ten-thirty at night. She should be in her dorm room by now.”
This was the fifth time Jack had tried calling Jenna’s dorm since he and Mr. Zarin had gotten home from Chief Cunningham’s house. The Chief called once to inform Jack that his dad had survived, though they had to pump his stomach. So far, there was no mention of the sleeping pills being found in his system and Jack prayed the doctors didn’t have reason to test for anything other than the massiveamounts of alcohol. At least, that’s what it looked like they did onCOPSandMatlock.
Jack was really starting to get worried. Originally, he figured she was hanging out in the lobby or the library. But now it was late enough where she should have been in her dorm room. He even called Carolyn at her private number in Port Townsend, but her sister said she hadn’t heard from Jenna that night.
He was hesitant to call her parents. He knew he should, especially if something had happened to her, but was sure her parents wouldn’t even take his call.
“I’m really worried about her,” he confessed to Mr. Zarin. Mrs. Zarin had taken Lilly to bed and then turned in herself hours ago.
“Give her time,” Mr. Zarin encouraged.
“Mrs. Zarin said that she spoke with her while we were still at the Chief’s. She wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She would know that I would call as soon as I could.” Jenna should have been waiting by the phone for him.
He didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all. How was he supposed to find her when she was so far away? Even if he drove all the way down to her school, they wouldn’t let him on property in the middle of the night. The academy was co-ed but the dorms were segregated by gender. They wouldn’t let him within spitting distance of the front gates, let alone her dorm room.
“Why don’t you go to bed, Jack?” Mr. Zarin offered. “I’ll stay up a little longer and promise to get you if she calls.”
Jack shook his head. “I won’t be able to sleep until I talk to her.”
After the afternoon he’d just had, he had not anticipated needing to worry about Jenna too. Where was she? Why wasn’t shesafein her dorm room? If his father wasn’t currently handcuffed to a hospital bed, his anxiety would be through the roof.
“Jack, you have school tomorrow,” Mr. Zarin reminded him gently.
Like he’d be able to concentrate on school if he didn’t find a way to talk to Jenna. He was still on the fence about driving down to Seattle. He might not be allowed on her school’s property, but at least he’d be in the same city as her.
He hated this. The fucking distance. How was he supposed to function not knowing where she was and if she was safe?
The phone rang.
Jack jumped onto the receiver before it even had time to pause. “Jenna!” he shouted, though he had no way of knowing that that was who was on the other line.
“Jack?”
“Baby,” Jack’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Where were you? I’ve been trying to call you.”
