She peeked at him shyly. He lifted the corner of his mouth the teeniest bit. For Jack, that was a pretty big smile.
“Please, Red.”
"Okay."
She took a deep breath and moved back on the deck. She'd perform the part of Giselle when she reappears as a spirit to save her lover. Of course, she couldn't do it full out without toe shoes, but she could mark it out. She'd have to be careful on the wood deck.
She tuned out everything around her and heard the music in her head. She rose gracefully as the spirt of Giselle into a full arabesque, one leg pointing high in the sky behind her. Then she fell into the dance, abbreviating the turns and leaps but doing most of the footwork.
The dance was one of lost love and redemption. She felt all the emotions of the dance filling her up and spilling out as she spun in revoltade after revoltade, finally sinking to the ground as Giselle returned to her grave.
Janet lifted her head to see Jack watching her with tears in his eyes. He lifted his hands and clapped, slow and hard, until she ran into his arms. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her.
"You are so beautiful. How could anyone be so beautiful, Red?”
She snuggled deeper into his chest. She hadn't danced in so long. She'd been afraid to. But here and now, it had felt right somehow.
She felt wonderful. Everything in this moment was perfect. She'd never felt so safe and secure in her life. Until Jack's next words brought reality crashing back down on her.
"Let's go home."
She nodded sadly. If that's what he wanted, she would do it. If she had to face her folks, just to get her stuff, she would. Then she would find a place to crash.
If that’s what Jack wanted, then it was the right thing.
She'd do anything for him at this point. The last thing she wanted was to leave this beautiful place… The place where she'd finally had Jack all to herself.
It wasn't just that she didn't want to go home.
She didn't have one.
Chapter Forty-One
Jack
“It’s okay, Red.”
Jack pulled up to Janet's parents house. Her bedroom window was boarded over. Good. He hoped everyone knew why. Then the neighbors would know what sick people were living there.
"I don't want to go in there."
He turned to look at Janet. She looked so small all the sudden. Like a lost little girl. He tried to smile reassuringly.
"So don't. I'm just going to get some clothes for you. Though you do look pretty cute in my shirts."
"Oh."
"Did you think I would take you back here? After what they did?"
"I- I don't know what to think. Or expect."
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead.
"You can stay with me for as long as you want."
“I can?”
“You can stay forever, Red.”
When he pulled back she was staring up at him with an odd look. He never seen that look in anyone's eyes before. It told him that he was the most important person in the world to her. He inhaled sharply. He felt important suddenly.
He felt like he mattered.
Then she blinked and it was gone.
Jack got out of the car and walked up to the front door, pounding it with his fist. It was early, just after dawn. He didn't care what time in the morning it was.
After a minute Janet's father opened the door. He was bleary eyed. Clearly he'd just been woken up.
Jack shouldered him out of the way and walked straight to Janet's bedroom. He found a duffle bag in the closet and started shoving clothes into it. He opened a drawer and grinned at all the frilly lady items inside. He emptied the entire drawer into the bag and then moved to the next drawer.
Then he looked at the hanging clothes. Janet sure had a lot of fancy stuff.
He was rummaging around for something else to put her clothes in when he saw her father standing hesitantly in the door.
"Is she alright?"
"I need another bag."
"I'll get one. Is she?"
He nodded brusquely and the man disappeared, coming back with a garment bag and another large suitcase. He helped Jack as he packed Janet's things.
In the end, Mr. Mahoney ended up carrying half of her stuff out to the car with Jack. He teared up when he saw Janet in the passenger seat.
"Thank God you are alright."
Janet didn't say anything as they loaded the car. She stared straight ahead until Jack was in the drivers seat. She glanced at him for reassurance. He nodded. Janet turned to her father.
"Goodbye, dad."
That was it. She turned away from the open window and Jack pulled away from the curb.
He’d never been so proud of anyone in his life.
Chapter Forty-Two
Janet
Janet stared out the window of the SUV at the huge metal sign that read 'JH Bikes.' It turned out that Jack owned his own custom bike shop. He'd said he was good at fixing things. How had she not known about that?