Chapter two hundred and eighty seven:

Jenna woke suddenly in the middle of the night. She was absolutely freezing cold.

If a light had been on in the bedroom, she figured she would have been able to see her breath.

She sat up in bed and glanced around the room. She noticed the window on the far wall was open; the curtains blowing mercilessly in the bitter air that was flooding into the room.

Jen climbed from the bed and shoved aside the curtains and quickly pulled the windows closed. She locked the window and stood examining the lock to be sure it had hooked. She stood rubbing her arms briskly. Closing the windows didn’t seem to help. The room was still bitter cold.

Jenna walked into the bathroom to help herself to a glass of water. However, she stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she reached the sink.

In the mirror, she could clearly see the curtains being thrown around in the wind. Jenna turned and quickly crossed the room. She slapped the window closed and locked it, quickly.

She backed away slowly in confusion and backed directly into a body.

“Oh!” She cried in alarm. She tried to fight free, but failed.

“Jen!” Luke spoke quickly, “It’s okay! It’s me!”

Jenna sucked in a deep breath to slow her rapidly beating heart.

“What’s wrong? I heard you moving around.” He said, placing his hands on her shoulders. He bent to look into her eyes, but she avoided his gaze and continued to stare at the window. “Jen, you’re freezing, love!”

“Did you open the windows?” She asked, ignoring his questions.

“No, they were open when I came to bed, I thought you opened them.” Luke replied.

“No. I checked them to be sure they were closed before I went to bed.” Jen shook her head. “Luke, if I didn’t open the windows and you didn’t do it, who opened them?”

Luke shrugged, off-handedly. “Maybe they just blew open.”

“I made sure they were locked before I went to bed!” She protested.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” He smiled warmly.

“Don’t dismiss me!” She whispered loudly, resisting the urge to shout.

“I’m not, love.” He spoke softly, his gentle tone never wavering. “I’m sure that it’s just a misunderstanding. There’s no need to worry about it, okay? It’s just a coincidence.”

Jen bit her tongue and resisted the urge to argue. At last she nodded and let him carefully lead her back into the bedroom.

She climbed under the blankets and patiently waited for Luke to get comfortable on his usual position flat on his back.

She slid quickly across the bed and pulled her body in close to his. Luke wrapped his arms around her, turning on his side to pull her close.

“Jen, you’re shivering!” He pointed out unnecessarily. He pulled the blankets around her to keep her warm and briskly rubbed her bare arms.

Jen continued to tremble, but not from the cold.

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As usual, Taylor was the first member of the band in the studio. He had tried to take his time, even standing in line at the Starbucks down the street for nearly half an hour.

He still managed to be earlier than his brothers.

Isaac arrived next, and after dropping his messenger bag on the sofa, he placed his wallet and cell phone on the mixing board and reached for the coffee that Taylor had gotten for him.

“Thanks man. I’ll get the next round, I swear.” Isaac slouched into a chair, and took a long sip from his coffee. He swallowed and cleared his throat.

“How was your date last night?” He asked,

Taylor was wondering how long it would take for the drilling questions to begin.

He absently checked his watch; record timing.

“It was great. She’s a sweet girl.” Taylor sipped his coffee. He didn’t want to give out too much information at once.

“Is she pretty?”

“She’s absolutely breath taking. She’s got this gorgeous red hair and green eyes…” Taylor paused to picture her. “And the nicest sweetest smile. Like she’d never hurt a fly. We went out to dinner and we talked for so long. We have so much in common; we like the same music and movies and…” Taylor paused, realizing he had done it, he had said too much. He could tell by the grin on his brother’s face.

“What?” Taylor asked.

“Sounds like you’re smitten already.”

“No, I mean… I like her… it’s not like I’m head over heels or anything.” Taylor felt his cheeks redden.

“Fine, I believe you.” Isaac replied, still sounding doubtful. “But tell me this… did you sleep with her?”

Taylor swallowed. “No… I didn’t. I mean, we kissed outside her door, but nothing…” He trailed off. Isaac was already laughing.

“What?” Taylor demanded, feeling as though he had missed a joke.

“You’re in love.”

 

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