Reborn to Love Mr. Right novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Driver

Jenna was already in the back booth of the diner on Route 9 when I walked in on Monday.

She had a cup of tea in front of her that she hadn't touched.

She'd picked the place.

Nobody from Bellmont ate there.

She wasn't wearing makeup, and for once it wasn't a costume.

Her freckles stood out.

"You came alone," she said.

"You asked me to."

"I thought you'd bring him."

"He's in the parking lot," I said. "In his car. Watching the door."

She almost smiled.

"Of course he is."

I slid in across from her.

The waitress came, and I ordered coffee, and Jenna waited until she'd gone.

Then she put her phone face down on the table between us and kept her hand on it.

"I'm not showing you for free," she said.

"I didn't think you would."

"I've been sleeping on a theater friend's couch for two weeks," she said. "She wants it back Friday."

"My mother says I can come home if I get rid of it."

She didn't look at her stomach.

She was careful not to.

"And the conduct office says I might not graduate. So."

"How much?" I said.

"Fifty thousand."

The coffee came.

I put two sugars in it and stirred, slowly, because I wanted my hands to do something.

"Show me first," I said. "Then we'll talk."

She thought about it.

Then she turned the phone over and pushed it across the Formica.

It was the thread with Brock.

It started Saturday night, about the car.

I scrolled past the part she'd already sent me, to a message she hadn't.

"Don't wait in the car. Meet me in the chapel stairwell at 11:35. I want us seen together."

Under that, Jenna had written: "Why??"

And Brock had answered: "Because you love me and you don't ask."

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