Apparently their evening hadn’t gotten any better, if Jenny’s sullen mood this morning was any indication. She wouldn’t even meet his gaze, which made him wonder just what Janet had told her about their little set-to the night before.

At midmorning, as soon as she’d picked disinterestedly at the snack Maritza had prepared for her, she’d stalked out of the kitchen and disappeared, sparing him little more than a glare.

He hadn’t seen her for another hour or so. Hadn’t even looked that hard, truthfully. He’d figured she needed time to settle down and get her bearings again without him hovering over her with a lot of questions.

Then, not more than five minutes ago, he’d spotted her sneaking away from the toolshed with suspicious streaks of yellow paint on her clothes. It was not a good sign, he’d decided as he went out to the shed.

The shambles he found triggered an explosion that could have been heard in the next county. Toolboxes had been upended, yellow paint had been splattered hither and yon, and nuts, bolts and nails were scattered like birdseed all over the floor.

“Damn that girl’s hide!” he bellowed, even as he wondered precisely what had set her off this time. He’d long since discovered that Jenny only acted out when she was feeling threatened in some way.

Taking off in the direction he’d seen her heading, he followed her trail all the way to the creek. He found her sitting at the edge, her feet in the water, tears streaming down her face.

He lowered himself to the ground next to her and waited, biding his time until she felt like talking.

“I don’t care if you do send me to jail,” she said eventually in a voice choked with barely contained sobs.

“Actually, I hadn’t considered that possibility,” he said. “I was thinking you could spend the rest of the day back there cleaning up the mess you made.”

He looked her in the eye and saw thirteen years of hurt and loneliness there. “First, though, why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”

“Nothing.”

“You just decided to tear up things inside the toolshed for fun?”

“So what if I did?” she said belligerently.

“I suppose everybody gets in a foul mood on occasion for no reason and needs to let off a little steam,” he agreed, then slanted a look at her. “Just seems to me as if something must have set you off.”

“Well, it didn’t, all right!”

He shrugged. “If you say so.”

For the next few minutes they sat there side-by-side in total silence except for the sound of birds singing in the trees overhead and the soft splash of the creek as it ran past.

“You just gonna drop it?” she asked, regarding him with a mix of surprise and wariness.