Chapter 5 Jack
JACK
“Uncle Jack!” A little while later, I glance up from my phone to see Sarah and Rosa heading towards me. My sister might have gone blond again, but as I look between her and her daughter, it’s still remarkable how much Rosa resembles her.
I stand up just before my niece gives me a flying tackle of a hug. “Oof!” I blow out an exhale as my sister joins us.
Sarah looks me up and down. “You look nice.”
I roll my eyes. “Figured as long as I was getting dragged to this thing, I might as well look presentable.”
Sarah folds her arms. “Dragged? You didn’t want to come and support Addy? Aren’t you proud of him?”
I frown. “Of course I’m proud of him. What kind of question is that?”
She cocks her head and appraises me for a minute before asking, “Are you sure it’s as obvious to everybody else as it is to you?”
I’m not sure how to answer that question, so I decide not to try. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” I say.
“Mm-hmm. I told Addy I would. I wasn’t going to bring Rosa, but Mom had to work late.”
I scowl. “Again? That dickhead manager is taking advantage of her.”
“I’ve told her that, too. But you know how she is.” She shrugs. “You guys are coming over for lasagna this weekend, right?”
I nod. “I still don’t understand why she wants to turn on the oven when it’s a million fucking degrees outside, but yeah, we’ll be there.”
My sister really kept her promise to un-fuck the situation between Mom and I. Sarah and I inherited our mother’s hard-headedness, so I know it took some effort. I’m grateful to her — and to Bunny, actually.
The first time I brought him over to my childhood home for Sunday dinner, I warned him he might be walking into hostile territory.
He rose to the occasion, turning on that friendly charm I’m always amazed he can summon so easily.
Within twenty minutes, he and Mom were snickering together over my old school pictures.
I was equal parts relieved and embarrassed. Maybe a little more relieved.
I realize my mind has wandered a bit when Rosa drifts back over from a display of kids’ fantasy books. She gives the line of people a skeptical once-over. “Come on, let’s go see Addy,” she says, a whine in her voice. “Do we have to stand in line?”
Sarah grins at that. “I don’t know, honey. It doesn’t seem fair to cut in front of everybody else, does it?”
Rosa frowns and spins on her heel, making a beeline towards the table. “Addy!” she shouts.
My sister shakes her head, a mix of amusement and exasperation on her face. “This kid. I swear.” The two of us follow Rosa through the people milling around and waiting. Bunny looks up in surprise; when he sees Sarah and Rosa, his face breaks into a grin.
“Hey, kiddo — what a surprise!” He comes out from behind the table and gives Rosa a hug, then Sarah. “Thanks for coming.”
“How did you not hear her shriek when she first came in?” I ask him.
“Of course!” Sarah says. “I told you I would.”
“Aww…” Gina notices Rosa, who’s twirling like a ballerina as she shows Bunny her skirt. She gives Olivia a nudge to get her attention. Olivia finishes signing the inside of a book and gets up for introductions.
My sister and I watch Rosa bask in being the center of attention. I elbow Sarah with a chuckle. “She sure didn’t get that love of the limelight from our side of the family.”
My sister shakes her head. “Hard nope.” After watching the three of them fuss over Rosa for a few minutes, I follow when Sarah makes her way towards a row of bookcases a little further away.
With a sigh, she pinches the bridge of her nose.
“I swear, she’s like a little kid one minute and a full-blown teenager the next.
So dramatic. I’m already bracing for when school starts again, since she’s gonna be in middle school now.
” She presses her lips together. “She’s started going on about boys — well, one in particular. ”
I huff out a laugh. “Is she now? You just let me know when I should come on by to scare him off.”
That makes my sister smile. “Oh, that’s not necessary. Not yet, anyway.” When she snickers, her dark eyes crinkle a little at the corners. “Besides, I like to think I could get the job done on my own.”
I chuckle. “I’m sure you could. But I’d enjoy it.”
She snorts. “You would, wouldn’t you? Uh-oh, better drop it,” she says in a lower tone, a dart of her eyes telling me Rosa is approaching.
“Eleven, huh?” I address her as she comes to stand between us.
“Eleven and-a-half,” she corrects me. Sarah rolls her eyes behind her daughter’s back.
I have a two-second mental debate with myself. “So, who’s this boy?”
Sarah raises a palm and drops her forehead into it with a groan. “You’re going to be sorry you asked. Don’t expect me to bail you out in fifteen minutes when you know every detail of this kid’s life, down to what brand of gym socks he wears.”
Rosa eyes me as if she suspects a set-up. “What did Mom tell you?”
I shrug. “Just that there’s a boy. Is he in your class?”
When my niece rolls her eyes, she looks exactly like her mother. “No. He’s not a loser like all the boys going into sixth grade. He’s going into seventh, so he doesn’t know I exist. But I’m going to change that.”
“An older boy? Oh, he’s already on thin ice.” I make a show of cracking my knuckles.
“Nooo!” When Rosa grabs my forearm, I try to stifle a laugh. Sarah wasn’t wrong when she said dramatic.
That’s the moment when I realize, to my surprise, that I’m actually having a pretty good time. I’m standing at an angle where I can see Bunny out of the corner of my eye. I don’t really know how these things work, but it seems like he’s getting almost as much attention as Olivia.
When a girl hands him a blank sheet of paper, I watch his pen fly across it in quick, confident strokes.
I can’t make out what’s on the paper when he hands it back to her, but she squeals and brings a hand to her mouth.
I’m too far away to hear the conversation, but I watch as Bunny circles around from behind the table.
He gives her a hug and stands next to her so she can take a selfie of the two of them.
I’ll have to ask him about that when we get out of here. When I glance over, I see Sarah watching me with a little smile on her face. I frown. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m just glad you came out for Addy.” It sounds like there’s something else she’s not saying, so I fold my arms and pin her with a glare until she sighs.
“He was worried you weren’t going to come.” I blow out a sigh and she quickly adds, “You better not tell Addy I told you that, or he’ll be pissed-off at me. But that’s part of the reason I told him I’d come. I didn’t want him to feel like he was all alone.”
I frown at my sister. “He’s not all alone.”
I’m bracing for a challenge, but to my relief, she just sort of smiles. “Yeah. I’m glad to see that. Let’s go back over there. Looks like the crowd’s thinned out a little.”
Bunny’s face brightens again when we get back over to the table.
“He got to officially meet Gigi!” Bunny tells Sarah excitedly.
“She came by earlier to say hi and good luck and all.” His big blue eyes sparkle with mirth.
“Oh, and you should’ve seen the way some of these women were throwing themselves at Jack.
A couple of them were flirting hard, and he was completely oblivious! ”
Sarah cackles so loud she puts a hand over her mouth to stifle it. I frown at her, but she just grins as she looks between me and Bunny. “I can totally believe that. I’m sorry I missed it,” she says.
I glower at both of them. “Seriously? I think you read too many of these books,” I tell Bunny as I wave towards the table. “Do I look like the kind of person somebody would want to flirt with?”
I don’t realize Olivia and Gina are following this conversation until I turn to find both of them staring at me, too. “Uh, yeah,” they say, almost in unison.
“You’ve totally got that dark, brooding alphahole thing going on,” Olivia pipes up. “It’s freaking catnip for a lot of these readers.” She nods authoritatively before adding, “Oh, and the bun, too.”
Well, fuck me. Bunny cracks up and I huff out a sigh of irritation. “I’m going to sit back down where I was before. Just — just come get me if you need a hand carrying anything out, Bunny,” I tell him.
The word is out of my mouth, but I don’t realize my mistake until I see the eyes of Bunny and all three women go wide. Christ. I scowl. “What?” I can practically feel all those stares shrinking me down to nothing.
Bunny puts a hand over his mouth to hide a smile. I point at him. “Don’t you start.” I stare down the rest of them, my brows pulled low. “A guy can’t use a pet name once in a while?” I snap.
I purposefully keep my expression glowering as I make my way back to where I was sitting before. “Alphahole, my ass,” I mutter underneath my breath as I settle down and pull out my phone.