Gretchen looked down at the stain in defeat. She had just bought the blue sweater. “Yeah. Amanda should be here soon.”

“I told her not to worry about it. I’ll take you.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.” Gretchen placed her mug in the sink and walked to her bedroom. She grabbed another sweater from her dresser and started to change. She was standing in her bra when Jax walked in.

“Oh. Sorry,” Jax said, turning.

Gretchen rolled her eyes. “You watched a human come out of my vagina. I hardly think my bra is scandalous at this point.”

“I’m just trying to be respectful.” Jax turned back slowly, her gaze lingering on Gretchen’s bare skin.

Respectful, huh? Gretchen fought to hide her smirk and took her time putting on a new sweater. “You really don’t have to take me.”

“Take you?” Jax’s eyes flew up to meet hers. Gretchen let herself smile then. Jax knew she was caught and smiled back. “I already requested the day when the appointment was booked. I figured it’d be nice to give Amanda the day off.”

“You know, Jax, some people don’t think of spending time with me as work.” She pulled her bouncy hair out from the collar of her sweater so it fell on her shoulders. It was so unruly—she really needed to go for a keratin treatment.

“I don’t think that,” Jax started to say, but Gretchen shot her an incredulous look. “It’s a responsibility, and if I can be honest, it’s kinda scary sometimes.”

“Sorry to be a scary burden.”

“Gretchen, please, I’m just trying to explain what it’s like on our end. I can’t begin to understand what it’s like for you, but I’d listen if you ever tried to explain it to me.”

She saw the sincerity in Jax’s eyes and softened. “I’m really okay. I feel fine, and I think my MRI will come back good.”

“Let’s go find out.”

The drive to the medical imaging lab was spent in silence, save for the classic rock Jax had playing. Gretchen would’ve preferred pop, but she was aware of her place. She couldn’t make requests in Jax’s truck. Once they arrived and she signed in, she filled out the paperwork and was called back almost immediately. Jax stood with an unreadable look, but Gretchen swore she looked sad.

“Good luck,” Jax said awkwardly.

Gretchen lay still as the loud MRI machine took scan after scan. She spent the first thirty minutes inhaling and exhaling rhythmically. She wasn’t a fan of confined spaces, and MRI machines took confined to a whole new level. Once the tech removed Gretchen after her first round of scans, she gave Gretchen an injection of contrast dye and pushed the button to send her back in. The young girl looked sympathetic as she forced Gretchen back into stillness.

She knew from her training and from the speech the techs gave her as she removed all the metal and jewelry from her body that the second round of images would be quicker. About fifteen minutes stood between Gretchen and being able to move all her parts as furiously as she craved.