Page 29 of Truly Forever
Under John’s watchful eye, I feel small. He hasn’t said much. I can only imagine how lame I must look. And I am. I’m a tired cliché. Poor, struggling single mom who can’t deal with her unruly son.
As Jacob reaches the stairwell, I drag my gaze around. Mr. Eagle-eye is still watching. What I’d like is to bolt and run away, the same as my son. “Thank you.”
John fixes his hands to his waist, the action opening his blazer, revealing another pressed shirt across a solid chest—and a holstered gun. “I’m not sure I’ve done anything to warrant thanks just yet.”
“You got him to tell the truth. That’s huge.”
“Potentially.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not completely sold on the idea that he’s going to come clean when it counts. He still has to be forthcoming with the authorities. Protecting this girl seems to be his priority.” He glances toward the apartment. “He’s probably up there texting her right now.”
“Then we’ll tell them the truth!”
John stares.
“I mean,I’lltell them.” Look at me, making assumptions.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Hollie, but that might not be enough. He needs to cooperate.”
My heart pounds. “You really think he won’t?”
“He sure hasn’t so far, and, if I’m completely honest, I’m not certain he was entirely truthful tonight. I did my best to give him a dose of reality. It shook him, but time will tell.”
John kicks off the side of the vehicle and comes closer. My rear end bumps my little hatchback, as if he and I are doing a waltz. He frowns.
Sorry, not sorry. I like my space.
“Look, I explained this to Jacob, but you need to know that these charges are even more serious than I first realized, and apparently, he’s been laboring under the illusion that being seventeen is some sort of get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Yes, he’s tried to calm me with that, even though the juvenile system is bad enough in its own right. “Well, we’ve both been reaching for any consolation we could.”
John shakes his head—and then proceeds to dash my hopes for the relative protection of being a juvenile. “Hollie, the two of you need serious legal counsel. Even if Jacob begins to get real and cooperate, actual exoneration is not guaranteed. When are you going to get him an attorney?”
“The public defender—”
“Is not what he needs. He needs someone energetic, skilled.”
He thinks I don’t know this? “I’m working on it, John.”
“Listen, I’ve got a friend—”
A white flash in my periphery turns into a zip around our feet that cuts off his sentence. Before I can react, John sweeps my adorable canine neighbor into his arms. “Dude, you got a bad habit of interrupting.”
The dog goes nutso in John’s arms, straining for a giant swipe of his tongue across John’s cheek.
“Blakely, you’re getting hair all over John’s sport coat,” I scold. Though, judging by John’s grin, he doesn’t mind.
He peers into the dog’s excited eyes. “Still no luck with the name thing, huh, bud?”
I laugh. “Do you have a dog?”
He pulls his gaze away from Blakely, suddenly sober. “Heck, no. I’d kill a dog.”
I blink once. Twice.
“I mean, notkillkill. More like…you know…like a houseplant.”