Page 147 of Embracing the Change

“Oh, right. Yeah. Anyway, thanks for assuring me Ma’s okay.”

“She’s good. See you on Saturday. Look forward to it.”

“Yeah. You’re busy, so I’ll call Ma and tell her I’m coming.”

“Right. Take care, Nico.”

“You too,” Jamie replied.

They ended the call, and Jamie had just enough time to text Kateri about the latest developments with Chet and make a note for himself to deal with the audio files for Elsa when he returned, then he was up and on his way to the door to his office.

It opened and Dru peeked her head around.

He came to a halt.

He should have known this would happen. She was very bad at hiding how distressed she was last night. He didn’t buy her consistent reiterations she was fine, she’d stop by that evening to check up on them, and he should let her go so he could see to Nora.

But woefully he was a father who had a now-adult daughter he couldn’t coddle and protect, and if she expressed her wishes, he had to abide by them rather than sending a car for her and all of her clothes and moving her in with him and Nora.

“Hey, darlin’, this is a surprise,” Jamie greeted.

She smiled at him and slipped in.

“Is this a good time?” she asked, walking his way. “You look like you’re off somewhere.”

It wasn’t, and he was.

But for Dru, he always had time.

She made it to him, they kissed cheeks, and she stepped away.

“I have a lunch,” he told her. “But I can text and say I’ll be a bit late.”

“This won’t take long, promise,” she said.

“You okay?” he asked, watching her closely.

“I just…well it hit me, last night, with my bio-dad rearing his stupid head again, that I’m twenty-three now.”

He smiled at her. “You are.”

“So, I don’t need his permission for you to adopt me.”

Jamie’s stomach dropped and his throat closed, but oddly, neither were unpleasant sensations.

“He can kiss off,” she went on. “I’ll officially be an Oakley, and he’ll just be the pathetic loser he always was.”

“Darlin’,” Jamie whispered, his voice choked.

Her eyes were bright with tears of happiness because she knew his answer to her suggestion.

And setting him up, she clobbered him with the rest of it.

“Now I can tell you, I saw him. My bio-dad. Last week, he was lurking across the street from the brownstone. He was there, then gone, and he’s aged a whole lot. I wasn’t sure it was him. Until what he did to Nora, that is.”

Christ.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jamie asked.

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