Chapter 48

“Is Jake okay?” he asked, afraid that’s why she was calling.

“Yes, and no. Physically he’s dealing and being pretty careful not to overdo things.” She chuckled. “Not that Carol and I have let him, so he doesn’t have much choice.”

“That’s the ‘yes’. What’s the ‘no’?”

“We went next door for lunch and he blew up when…” She told him what had happened.

“Damn it,” Russ said when she finished. “At least you got him out of there before he could do more than yell at them.”

“Yep. By the time I got back with our lunches he’d calmed down and was even joking a bit about how I was taking advantage of the situation to give him all the boring jobs I hate doing.”

Russ laughed. “Are you?”

“Well…sort of? The thing is, he’s doing exactly what Steve said he might. Repressing what Fabian did to him until it’s thrown in his face, like with the people at the restaurant. He could have hurt that man if I hadn’t been there to stop him.”