“Maybe people haven’t seen you yet.”
“I’ve been getting matches,” Hannah said. “But when I message the men, they don’t respond. Well.” She shrugged one shoulder. “One guy did, but we’ve just been talking. He doesn’t seem interested in actually going out.”
“Hannah,” Jill said. “You don’t message the men.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told her that,” Michelle said, exchanging a glance with Jill.
Jill got up and took the full bowl of pasta from Hannah. “Sweetie, you wait for the men to message you.”
“I don’t want to wait,” Hannah said.
“That’s the game.” Jill put the orzo back in the pot. “Now, come on. If we’re going to eat too much, shouldn’t it be something with a lot of chocolate in it?”
“This is pasta and cheese,” Hannah said. “It’s almost the same.”
“It’s hardly the same,” Jill said. “I should’ve brought home some of my mother’s tarts. They were lemon, though, not chocolate.” She leaned her hip into the counter, thinking. “Maybe I could—”
“Hello,” Emma called, and Jill grinned.
“God has provided for us,” she said with a giggle as she went to greet Emma at the end of the hall that led to the garage entrance. Emma led the way with a large plate of cookies.
“Chocolate chip oatmeal,” she said, smiling at Jill. “How are you?” Anxiety rode in her expression, and Jill sobered.
Ted came right behind her, with Missy behind him. They had barely cleared the hallway when Ginger, Nate, and Connor arrived. Ginger stepped right into Jill and hugged her, and Jill felt like she was missing something.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We just came for support,” Ginger said. “The boys will be back soon, right?”
“I think so,” Jill said. “I talked to Slate. He seemed okay.”
“He’s not okay,” Nate said, and while he was normally pretty serious, tonight, he wore a level of darkness in his gaze that Jill had only seen a couple of times. Her heartbeat turned shallow as he paused in front of her.
“Why isn’t he okay?” she asked, her voice quiet.
Nate met her eye, and Jill actually shivered. “I know Slate. He was in with me for three years, and he, Ted, and I nursed Dallas back to health together. He worries more than any of us, and he’s so concerned about falling back into the life he had before prison.”
“He’s mentioned that,” Jill said. He had, several times. He enjoyed going to visit his grandparents in Short Tail, but he really hadn’t wanted to go home to Austin.
“He ran into someone he knew before,” Nate said.
“He did?” Jill hated that Nate knew details she didn’t. “He didn’t tell me that.” She dropped her head, trying to find how she felt about this situation.
“He doesn’t want to worry you,” Nate said. “He’s trying to be kind.” He slowly took Jill into his arms, and Jill leaned against Nate for a few moments, letting his strength seep into her. She finally cleared her throat and stepped back.
“Thanks, Nate,” she said.
Shouts came from the front of the house, and Thomas and Remmy came flying into the family room. Connor ran toward them, and Missy followed a little slower though she wore a wide smile too. The four kids clamored for cookies and then Connor looked at Nate. “Can we go out front with the dogs, Daddy?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Nate said.
Jill suddenly remembered Axle, and she turned to find Ted, who’d been taking care of Slate’s dog.
“He’s out front,” Ted said, as if reading her thoughts. “He’s great, Jill.”
Jess entered the family room, and she too carried treats in her hand in the form of two boxes of doughnuts. “I brought all the favorites,” she said.