She drove carefully the rest of the way, more shaken than she should’ve been for such a small incident. But her nerves were frayed, and the horrible day had completely worn her down. When Jax pulled into her driveway, she breathed a sigh of relief. She threw the truck door open and jumped down on the beaten rocks of the driveway with a heavy thud. Jax slammed the door as hard as she could, releasing just a hint of the pressure building within. She grabbed the pizza and her bag from the passenger seat and headed inside.

Jax tried her best to be calmer when she entered the house, not wanting to startle anyone who might be home, but the house was silent. One lamp illuminated the space.

“Gretchen?” she said, her deep voice echoing faintly. She went to the kitchen and flipped on the lights with her elbow. She placed the food and her bag on the table so she could get her phone out. No messages. Zero consideration. Gretchen should have told her what time she planned on being home. Jax had flashbacks to many dinners gone cold, unexplained absences, and the sinking feeling that Gretchen would rather be anywhere but with her.

She paced until the balls of her feet started to ache. She sat on the couch and placed her head in her hands. She still wore her jacket and work clothes, not caring at all about her comfort.

The front door creaked open forty-five minutes later, and Caleb came charging into the house. Jax was on her feet the moment she heard Gretchen’s voice.

“Where the hell were you?”

Gretchen froze just inside the doorway, her hand still on the doorknob. Her hair was half pulled back, a style she hadn’t worn in a long time. “We went shopping with Amanda.”

“All day?”

“Yeah.” Gretchen held up the shopping bags in her hands. Caleb was already digging through one of the two bags he was carrying. “I told you this.”

“It would’ve been nice if you had told me how long you’d be out for. Now your dinner is cold.”

“We already ate.”

“We had Burger King,” Caleb said with his face in the bag.

Jax flared her nostrils and clenched her fists at her sides. “Wish you had told me that, too.”

“Why do you still have your jacket on?”

Caleb held up a pair of Iron Man socks and waved them about. “I got this.”

“That’s great, Cricket.” Jax forced a smile and put her hands on Caleb’s shoulders. “Why don’t you go and put those with the rest of your socks?” She waited for him to leave the room before looking at Gretchen again. “You need to be more considerate. You can’t just go out all day and not tell me your plans.”