Page 48 of Undeniable You

“Yes ma’am,” I said, and something flashed in her eyes. Oh, she liked that. Noted.

I went back to scratching her head and she continued. “I really didn’t know anything about him. He was just here for the summer. He worked on fishing boats and all he cared about was having a good time. I don’t even think he had a bank account. But he’d been interesting and exciting for that one night.”

Her expression turned contemplative.

“But not for more than that,” I said.

She nodded. “Not for more than that. I didn’t fight him, though. I knew I had my family’s support. If I hadn’t had that, I might have made a different decision.”

That made sense. It was a little uncomfortable talking about this, but it was part of Larison’s past and someday, Juniper was going to want to know about these things. Part of me wanted to find Josh and dismember him for abandoning not only his daughter, but Larison too. But he wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth thinking about for even a few more seconds. Which was probably how long he’d lasted, but I wasn’t going to say that to Larison. There was a chance she didn’t even remember.

“Ugh, enough about him. He’s already taken up too much of my time and energy.”

“Do you ever check up on him?”

She shook her head. “No. I mean, it would be easy to find him online. I know that. But I don’t want to. I want to think about you. And me.”

Chapter Eighteen

Larison

Jo said she was in. She kissed me like she was serious about this. But kissing was the easy part, generally. It was everything else that made relationships rough. At least we had the kissing part figured out, though. Oh, did we have that down.

When Jo kissed me, it was hard to remember why I spent time doing anything else. She was soft and enthusiastic and responded with the same intensity. We were evenly matched in a way I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

If ever.

The fire was lit. We just had to make sure neither of us got burned.

Eventually I rememberedthat I couldn’t spend every waking moment making out with Jo and that I had a daughter I needed to take care of.

“Crap,” I said when I realized that I must have put my phone on silent and I needed to check it to make sure everything was okay with Juni. I turned the notifications back on and saw there were several missed messages from Sophie, but they were all just videos and pictures of her with Juniper at the park and then getting lunch together. She’d taken her to one of the food trucks near the pier and gotten her a hot dog and fries.

I turned my phone to show Jo.

“God, I adore that kid,” she said, flicking through the pictures and laughing at the videos.

“She’s a keeper,” I said. That was the same thing that Mama had said when Juniper was born. Her birth had been an utterly terrifying experience and I didn’t like to think about it that much. Juniper and I had both made it out alive and that was what mattered.

Buck up, lovely.

“I think that we should go on a date,” Jo said, passing the phone back.

“Oh do you now?” I said, taken aback. When the hell was the last time I’d gone on a date? Had I ever really gone on a date as an adult? I didn’t think so. Not a real one.

“What kind of a date?”

Jo smiled in a way that made me want to taste it. “How about you let me take care of it?”

I sighed. “Jo, you don’t always have to take care of me.”

“I know. But I want to. I like it. And you’ll get to plan the next one.”

I laughed. “Wow, you’re awfully confident there’s going to be a second date.”

Her smile grew mischievous. “I’mveryconfident.”

This new, flirtatious Jo was doing all kinds of things to me. I felt giddy, like I couldn’t catch my breath. Everything was shivery and fluttery.