Chapter 39 #2
“She’s fine,” I assure him. I have to stifle a scoff at the way she’s got herself positioned. Her head is down, and she’s mindlessly flipping through a stack of papers, but she’s sitting ramrod straight on the edge of her seat with an ear tipped in our direction.
“First things first. You’re okay?” Sam asks, assessing me with narrowed eyes, no doubt searching for any hint of reluctance or uncertainty in my answer.
“I’m good. Great, even.” I hold my palms up for emphasis. “School is going well. Midterms are coming up. My professor just posted grades for the big project I was working on in business and technical writing.” The smile that splits my face is impossible to fight. “Ninety-eight percent.”
“And it seems like you’re making new friends.”
It’s not a sarcastic remark, but it is a searching one.
A clattering sound from across the room startles me. Both Sam and I turn and find Jeannie bent behind her desk, fumbling to pick up a stapler off the linoleum floor.
“Don’t mind me,” she chirps too quickly. “Carry on, carry on…”
I stifle a snort. She couldn’t be more obvious if she tried.
Doesn’t matter. I didn’t intend to reveal my relationship status and current living situation to my uncle anyway.
“I’ve made great friends. I’ve been staying with them,” I admit, though the explanation stops there. “I’m sorry I didn’t loop you in sooner. The weeks have been flying by, then on the weekend, there’s football—”
Sam chuckles, crossing his arms and resituating himself on the arm of the couch. “Didn’t know you were such a sports fan, Jojo.”
I smile coyly but keep my lips glued shut. I can take the teasing, but I draw the line at divulging personal information that he doesn’t need to know.
Though I open up and give him all the pertinent information.
“I’m really happy in Lake Chapel, Sam. School is great, and my new friends…
” I trail off. How could I even begin to put into words what Hunter, Greedy, and the guys all mean to me, both individually and collectively?
“I sincerely appreciate you helping me get settled and offering up your home, but I think it’d be okay if you went back to sleeping in the bedroom. ”
Sam raises both eyebrows and rolls his lips, but he remains silent.
“I hope you don’t think I’m ungrateful. I didn’t expect things to happen the way they did. But I’m genuinely happy where I’m at. Hell, for the first time in years, I actually know what happiness means. If you want to keep the car, I under—”
“No, Jojo.” He shakes his head fiercely.
“Honey is yours. And that bedroom is yours, too,” he adds, pointing down the hallway.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I can see the truth in your eyes, so I won’t try to change your mind.
But I’m heading back out on the road in a couple of days, and I’ll be gone for a few weeks, so the bedroom will be unoccupied indefinitely, regardless of whether you’re here. Just in case.”
Tears well in my eyes. I don’t deserve this level of generosity or kindness. Especially after accepting so much from him already, then ghosting him the way I did.
Not that I had much choice in the beginning. Truth be told, I never expected to be at the Crusade Mansion as long as I have been—first unwillingly, and now of my own volition.
“Thank you,” I choke out while fighting back tears. The two words don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the depth of my gratitude, but they’ll have to be enough for now.
“Let’s do dinner when I’m back in town,” Sam offers, rising and extending a hand to help me to my feet. “Just because you don’t need a place to stay doesn’t mean you’re off the hook from hanging out with your family.”
He’s teasing again, but his words strike a chord I wasn’t expecting. I’d love nothing more than to have dinner with him. Not because either of us feels obligated to do so, but because we are family.
“I’d love that. Thanks, Sam.” I wrap my arms around his middle, and he hmphs, obviously surprised by the gesture. “You have my new number, right?”
Before he can reply, Kylian hollers through the screen door.
“Jo, we gotta go. Cap just saw the picture. We’ve got some Big Decker Energy to work through.”
My heart lurches and my breath catches as I look from Sam to Jeannie, who’s sitting stock-still on the edge of her chair, not even pretending to not listen anymore.
She squeaks out the start of a question, but I cut her off at the pass.
“Bye, Jeannie. I’ll be back again soon.” Then I dash toward the back door, snagging the keys to my Honda Civic on the way.
“He’s mad?” I hedge once I’ve stepped out into the warm afternoon sun. Shielding my eyes from the light, I scan the junkyard quickly, even though it’s unlikely I’ll spot Scout. Armadillos are nocturnal, and she tends to be most active in the early mornings anyway.
“He’s Cap,” Kylian contends.
Fair enough.
“I set up a few cameras,” he informs me, nodding to the yard, as if it’s as casual as someone picking up a loaf of bread or stopping for gas on the way home. “They’re motion-activated with high-def night vision. I’ll put an app on your phone so you can look for her.”
My heart melts as we approach the Suburban, where Kendrick’s already behind the wheel.
Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he regards Kylian and shakes his head in mock disgust. “I see how it is. Using Jojo’s love of junkyard possums to pull off some techie grand gesture.”
“Don’t hate the player, K. Besides. Armadillos are mammals most closely related to sloths and anteaters, whereas a possum is a tree-dwelling marsupial,” Kylian informs us. Then, to me: “Let’s go home.”