Page 40 of Just Like That
Is it terrible parenting to have a kid start school and then leave? What if we wanted to try a new city—what then? Is there some online option he could do? But then what about making friends? Would he be destined to be the weird, antisocial kid if he wasn’t in a class with his peers? He is already delightfully quirky. What if the kids don’t understand or accept him? Olive would have known exactly what to do ...
I could feel the panic mounting due to my lack of preparation, but I shoved it down and tried to remain calm.
“So what are the Bluebirds?” I finally asked, wondering what I might have gotten myself into by tentatively accepting Sylvie’s invitation.
JP smiled as though walking as a trio was the most natural thing in the world. He ignored the sidelong, curious glances that had followed us out of the Sugar Bowl, but I could still feel their eyes on my back.
As we walked down the sidewalk toward the lakefront, he lifted a shoulder. “They’re a not-so-secret society of women in Outtatowner who basically run everything behind the scenes. They plot and scheme and it’s all very secretive.” His eyes moved toward me. “You’d fit right in.”
“Hmm.” I smiled at the fact that JP thought I could belong.
What would it be like if we stayed, just for a little while?
I tipped my head toward him. “Is it because I’m a witch?” I teased.
He shook his head and laughed. “It’s because you’re trouble, Hex.”
Enjoying the rare lightheartedness of JP’s mood, I decided not to poke the bear. Instead, I accepted his comment as a compliment.
“Thank you.” I grinned with a nod.
“Exactly my point—you think trouble isfun.” He playfully rolled his eyes. “But if you want to go, Teddy and I can find some trouble of our own.” JP ruffled Teddy’s hair, and my heart clanged against my ribs.
Something was shifting, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wasn’t in a world of trouble when it came to JP King.
FOURTEEN
JP
In the doctor’s office,Teddy looked at me with worried eyes. “Will it hurt?”
I crouched to level with him. “Not even a little bit. It’s a cotton swab—like a really big Q-tip. The nurse will rub it on the inside of your cheek and that’s that.”
I patted his shoulder and stood next to his chair. The office of the county DNA Diagnostic Center was sterile, and its plain walls and too-bright lighting made my eyeballs ache.
It kind of reminded me of home, and I didn’t like it.
I glanced at Hazel, who was fidgeting and picking at her nail polish while we waited to be called back. Lately her eclectic style and love of mood lighting had been taking over the house. At first it was a throw blanket, then something she called a pouf showed up on my living room floor. Yesterday, she had insisted on using only table lamps for indirect lighting instead of the very expensive overhead light fixtures I’d had custom made for the house.
Nothing she added to my house matched, yet everything seemed to tie together in her weird, bohemian style.
I wasn’t used to someone else coming into my home and disrupting the order I’d created, but I also wouldn’t admit that I didn’thateit. The soft lighting was actually kind of nice.
Instead, I mostly grumbled and stayed quiet about it whenever something new and unexpected showed up inside the house.
That’s what you get for moving them inside.
“Theodore Adams?” A male nurse entered from the back, glancing up from his clipboard as he looked around the waiting room.
Teddy stood, and Hazel walked with him to the back, where they’d collect his sample and we’d all find out if he was really my kid.
Since we’d seen my sister, Hazel had casually brought up the Bluebird Book Club meeting more than once. It was clear to see that she wanted to go, but we hadn’t talked about it since our breakfast a few days prior. I considered what I might do to keep Teddy occupied while she was gone.
My mind came up blank.
“Fuck this,” I grumbled and pulled out my phone.
I needed reinforcements.