Page 98 of Movers and Shakers

“What’s her name?”

“Jun—June. Just June.”

“Huh,” I said. “She reminds me of someone.”

My mind went back to Lila and Juno, her bodyguard.

“She doesn’t speak English,” Rose rushed to say. “This is her first time in America.”

“I hope she’s enjoying it,” I said slowly. “I was going to walk up and grab you. Maybe I could have said hello.”

“Oh, she’s antisocial. Even the two of us have to communicate through translators. A third person would be so much more work, even if you just say hello. Don’t worry about it.”

I nodded, trying to ignore the bothersome feeling that I was missing something important. It wasn’t like I was upset that Rose had someone staying with her, even if it had been a man. We weren’t anything to each other, so she could do what she wanted.

But it still nagged my mind, and I wasn’t sure why.

“This is a weird day,” I muttered as I pulled away from the curb.

“It’s not every day that you meet your real dad. You’re allowed to be a little off.”

“Thanks for coming, by the way.”

“It’s so weird seeing you in the day and not in the bar, but I like it. This is our first hang out somewhere else.”

“We saw each other in the grocery store.”

“Oh! That’s right. But this isanintentionalhang out.”Her lips curved into a smile that once again reminded me of Lila’s.

“True. To new beginnings, then.”

Her smile grew as if I’d said something funny.

“To new beginnings,” she replied. “Let’s do this.”

The drive was easy. As the city gave way to rolling hills and blue skies, I found myself growing nervous about the man I was going to meet.

Wilfred was truly awful at texting. He used a mix of 2000s lingo and was the victim of autocorrect more times than I could count. In a way, it was funny to see a man who wasn’t so tied to his pride. And seeing him mess up made going to visit him easier.

“Are you okay?” Rose asked as I grew quiet.

“I am,” I replied. “Mostly.”

“You’re drumming one hell of a song on your steering wheel,” she pointed out.

I stilled my fingers. “Sorry. Nervous habit.”

“It’s fine. Do you want to talk about it?”

“There isn’t much to talk about. I’m meeting my real dad for the first time. My mom apparently lives next door and this could go great, or it could go like everything else has in the past with my family.”

“We don’t know yet,” she said. “But what I do know is that I’ll support you either way it goes. Hopefully, that counts for something.”

“It does, but this could get messy.”

“Life is messy.”

It was, even when I wanted it to be relaxed and easy. I’d wanted that with Lila, but it didn’t seem to come to fruition.

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