Free Jack Who? (Silver Strings G Series) by Lisa Gillis

He’s upstairs. I should get back up there.”
    “Yes you should!” Olivia curved a gentle simper. Then, she leaned against Marissa in a brief hug. “I’m so relieved the surgery part went well, and don’t worry, he’s going to get through this fine. Text me or call me, whatever, as soon as our little guy wakes up. Okay?”
    They walked together to the elevator lobby where Marissa pressed both the up and down buttons. Her doors parted first and, before stepping through them, she hugged Olivia again.
    Jack’s attention was on the face of his phone, a forefinger tapping on the screen, but as if feeling her presence, he looked up even though a television broadcasting in the upper corner of the room muffled her approach. Automatically, he stood. Momentarily confused, thinking he was leaving, she remained standing until she realized that he was mannerly waiting for her to sit down.
    Dropping to her earlier vacated chair, she picked up her half-finished Coke, and while sipping, took in the other occupants of the room. The number of families waiting for news of loved ones, or waiting to visit, was testament of the number of patients that Tristan’s doctor had mentioned.
    “You get your mom calmed down?” His smile was small, but it was joking, and she took a moment to enjoy the break in the stress of the day before answering affirmative. One of his thumbs traced the edge of his phone case as he curiously queried, “Is she always like that?”
    “Like what?” Marissa disparagingly drawled, “Flipping everything around to how it affects her? Yeah.”
    Viewing the large clock on the wall, she saw that there was twenty minutes to go until next visit time. Delving into her pocket produced her own phone, and she brought up the missed text messages. Although she and Olivia had spoken since, reading her friend’s earlier texts would occupy ten minutes or so.
    The fact that Jack could make her heart pound by just sitting there, and draw her gaze with his every move, while her child lay ill down the hall, was discomfiting.
    After her talk with Olivia the other night, Marissa had put a lock code on her phone, and now as she punched the number in, she noticed in her side vision that Jack had returned his attention to his phone.
    Since she was reading the texts backwards, the ones asking about Tristan came up first, and she skimmed and then stopped when she saw Jack’s name.
     
    LIV
    ALERT He is not Russ. That is Jack Storm or whatever name he goes by these days
    9:22 AM
     
    Her internal amusement may have been verbal, because Jack twisted his head to her, and a strangely familiar instinct had her turning the screen to his viewing angle. “My friend, Olivia. The one that was with me when you got here.”
    An answering sound, as stressed and tired as her own laugh, expelled from his lips and then he asked, “Who is Russ?”

CHAPTER 13
    DROPPING HER HAND and phone to her lap, she began the amusing admission. “You.”
    “Me?”
    “Your code name. I couldn’t put –” Stopping short, she looked around certain that none of the room’s significantly older inhabitants would recognize her blurt of his name but amended anyway, “Couldn’t put your real name in, could I?”
    Instead of asking her why she chose the name Russ, his next question was unpredicted. “You never told your best friend? About us?”
    Pathetic, but her heart lurched at that one word.
    Us .
    A few weeks ago, over the phone, he had voiced the declaration that she was nothing more than a bang. Earlier today, he had referred to her as a stranger. Now, she was part of an  ’us.’
    “I love Liv, but she’s kind of a blabbermouth.”
    “But after you found you were preg– After you had– ” Stuttering around any baby word, he broke off. Although he was here, in some type of semi-acceptance, he still couldn’t say it. “After all this time, you never told?”
    “What would be the point?”
    He seemed to respect the fact that she had not blabbed to