Just as he took a deep breath, one word that she said resonated with him. Need. Jennifer needed to be needed. That was something he could understand. Hell, hadn’t that been half the reason he’d become a cop in the first place? He’d liked helping others in the community. “Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure.” As if she realized that he finally got what she was saying, she smiled softly. “I need to stop standing still and start dancing a bit.”
Dancing. His sister turned before he could ask if she meant that literally or figuratively. After all, she was about to be living on the upper floor of a dance studio.
Jennifer was back upstairs before he realized that it didn’t matter.
CHAPTER 30
“Thanks to dance, I can change my hair, costume, and makeup in five minutes.”
How had everything gotten so mixed up? It wasn’t that Shannon wasn’t happy to have Jennifer move in with them—she was. Jennifer was nice, her rent was going to take the edge off of their money troubles, and she was even going to cook for them. Traci, especially, was thrilled about that.
But, it was all quite a surprise.
Luckily, she was beginning to realize that unexpected developments were a part of life. People were imperfect, and life wasn’t supposed to be so simple, so cut and dried.
She reckoned it made things more flavorful and rich.
Now, showing Jennifer her small room in their loft, which happened to be located right next to the kitchen, Shannon wondered if it was Jennifer who was having second thoughts.
Not that she would blame her. The room didn’t look like much, not even after she, Traci, and Kimber had cleaned it out last night.
“What do you think?” she asked Jennifer. “I know it’s not much, but at least you have a pretty window seat.”
Jennifer was standing right in front of the little alcove. Honestly, it was every teenage-girl’s dream. It already had a pretty set of cushions in coordinated blues and green paisley patterns. A perfect place to sit and read or even just to enjoy sitting in the sun and watching the world go by below.
Turning around, Jennifer smiled. “I love this window seat. It’s cozy. I think the rest of the room is going to be just fine, too. It’s big enough for my double bed and dresser.”
“There’s no closet,” she warned.
“I noticed that, but I’ll make do. I’ll get one of those portable closets from the discount store.”
“And you’re going to have to share a bathroom with three of us.”
A hint of a smile played on her lips. “I can share a bathroom.”
Thinking of her classes, she added, “Also, this room is right above my dance studio. That means you’ll sometimes be hearing the music float up. Especially when I have my teenage girls. They can be loud.”
Jennifer looked even more amused. “Shannon, are you trying to encourage me to move in or stay out?”
Feeling foolish, Shannon shrugged. “Sorry. I guess I don’t want you to get moved in and then realize that this situation is a far cry from your beautiful house.”
“I knew that it was going to be different.” She bit her bottom lip, then added, “Honestly, this might be a better situation for me than living with Dylan. He was gone a lot, both with work and his social activities. There were times when I got kind of scared, being so alone.”
“You definitely won’t be alone here. Between the three of us and my classes, there’s always something going on.”
“I’ll be fine. The price is more than fair, too.”
They’d agreed to a rent of three hundred dollars a month. It included utilities and food . . . but Jennifer also agreed to cook that food four nights a week. Shannon had told her that she and her sisters didn’t care what nights she chose to cook—just to let them know.
“We’re so excited to experience your cooking, Jen. Things have been pretty slim pickings around here.”
“Believe me, I’m excited to cook for you. It gives me good practice for the business I’m starting.”
Glad that all the nuts and bolts were getting organized, Shannon finally brought up the part of Jennifer’s move-in that had been weighing on her mind. “So, how are you going to get your furniture and other things over here?”
“Dylan and a couple guys from the police department are going to bring them over sometime today.”
“That’s good.” She tried to smile, though her insides were pinching. She really wasn’t ready to see him anytime soon.
Some of the confidence that had been shining in Jennifer’s eyes dimmed. “Shannon, I know the two of you were getting close. I feel terrible that my personal problems interfered with that.”
“This isn’t on you.” She shrugged. “I’m sure you know as well as I do that not every relationship works out.”
“Maybe it isn’t over yet.”
She didn’t want to hurt Jennifer’s feelings. Dylan was her brother and they were close. “You’re right. Never say never.”
Jennifer sat down on the window seat. “For what it’s worth, I think you should know that Dylan had almost as hard a time with my attack as I did.” She paused to take a fortifying breath before continuing. “He not only found me right, um, after, but caught the guys. He also had to testify, not only on the crime scene, but on what they said when they were being interrogated.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Jennifer turned to face the window. “It was bad, Shannon. Not just my attack, but the things they said. I wasn’t the first woman they’d done this to. Dylan was haunted by it all . . . and scared to death that I wasn’t going to be able to recover and that somehow they were going to get off.”
“But they did go to prison, right?”
“Only two out of three of them went. The third was sixteen, and his lawyer made him sound like a choir boy. Almost as much of a victim as I was. He was put in a juvenile rehabilitation center.”
“And now he’s writing you notes.”
She turned back to Shannon. “We think so. Some of what he wrote me was so close to what the other guys said during the attack, I can’t imagine that it would be anyone else.” She exhaled. “I’m telling you all of this not to change your mind as much as to give you an idea of how freaked out he would have been when I got lost in the woods. Even though all this time has passed, the memory of it all is still fresh.”
Shannon’s mouth felt dry. Jennifer hadn’t been wrong. That information did give her a new sense of what Dylan had been feeling when he’d lashed out at her.