45. Adair
45
ADAIR
T he alarm I see in Jack’s eyes makes me feel bad, and all the words spill out of me in a rush. “I’m sorry, it’s nothing bad! I just —I totally forgot to tell you the day of the book convention. It slipped my mind after the whole mugging thing —”
Sarah’s eyes get big. “Attempted mugging,” I clarify. “It was OK. Jack rescued me and, um —” I dart a look at Rosa. I’m relieved to see she’s absorbed in some game on Sarah’s phone. “He beat the s-h-i-t out of the guys.”
Rosa looks up, her eyes bright. “I know what that spells!”
Sarah and I groan in unison. Jack tries and fails to hold back a snort of laughter. “ Sorry ,” I cringe.
“Well, what happened? You can’t leave us hanging like that!” Sarah says.
“Oh, right. Well, Jack —” I turn to face him, “I know you said I should make a website for my art and you made me bring my tablet in case there was anybody there who might want to see it. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I thought you were full of…” I shoot another look at Rosa. “Full of crap. But you were right!”
Jack’s eyebrows go up. “You want to say that again? Slower, maybe?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know I’ve got a huge I told you so coming, but you were a thousand percent right, because I met a woman there who writes some of the books I’ve read. I mean, she’s an author but she wasn’t one of the famous ones who had a table there. Not famous yet , at least, but she’s an author I know! And some of her characters are ones I’ve actually drawn.
“She said she wanted to see my art, and then she said she wanted to get my contact info because she’s looking for an artist, even though I told her I’m also not a real artist. I never figured she’d actually get in touch with me but she did! She just sent me a text and asked if we can talk because she wants to commission some drawings from me!”
I have no idea how much of this disjointed ramble Jack is actually following, but when I pause for breath, I see a rare, warm glow in his eyes.
“That’s great!” His happiness looks genuine. “See, I told you. I’m proud of you,” he says. His words send me flying.
“See?” My excitement building, I go to show Jack and Sarah the text thread. But I don’t realize my thumb has brushed the wrong tab. It’s only when Sarah snickers that I realize they’re not looking at my text from Olivia, but at my contacts instead.
“Who’s Bossy A-hole?” she says.
“ Oh . Oops, sorry. I meant to show you the message, not my contacts. Um…” The heat that races up my cheeks makes me realize I’m probably blushing like crazy. My eyes dart to Jack, hoping for rescue, but he’s just sitting there with an infuriating smirk.
Fine, then. Serves him right. I point to him with my thumb as I answer Sarah. “That’s this guy.” I think she’s going to pee herself laughing.
“C’mere.” Jack waves me over and pulls me onto his lap. I feel a little awkward with Sarah and Rosa there, but Sarah just smiles a little and Rosa never even looks up from her mother’s phone.
Jack brushes my cheek with his lips. “I’m proud of you,” he says again. “You going to start believing a little more in yourself now?”
Sarah’s smile widens. “You two are cute together.”
Jack blushes . It’s so hilarious I want to tease him about it, but it’s also so damn adorable that I can’t bear the thought of doing anything that might ruin the moment. So I just kiss his pink cheek.
“Aw, thanks,” I say to Sarah, snuggling back against Jack. I grab my phone and pull up the correct screen so I can show both of them the message from Olivia.
“That’s cool,” Sarah says afterwards. “So, this woman is an author?”
I nod. “Yeah, an independent author. She self-publishes her books,” I explain.
“Oh.” Sarah looks impressed. “What sort of stuff does she write?”
Jack sort of snickers. I lower my voice and hope that Rosa’s still not paying attention. “Spicy romance.”
Sarah laughs. “That’s… unique.”
“You’d be surprised. I’m a big reader, and that genre is huge.”
She nods, and a thought pops into my head. “Jack, do you mind if I bring Sarah inside to show her the bookcase?”
He looks surprised. “Uh, sure. Don’t see why not.” I get off his lap and we head into the house. Rosa trails after us, still wholly occupied with whatever game she’s playing on the phone, but Sarah looks around with frank curiosity.
“This is really nice. It feels homey.” She does a double-take when she sees the bookcase. “Whoa. That’s wild!”
“Jack made it,” I say proudly.
Sarah turns to look at him, mouth agape. “Really? It’s seriously gorgeous.”
Jack actually smiles as he thanks her. There’s an ease to his demeanor that wasn’t there earlier today. It makes me feel good.