Page 71 of Shameless

I shake my head at the way my daughter keeps jumping, too excited to stay still. “A snow cone couldn’t have done all this, Mom. What else did she have?”

This time Mom is too embarrassed to look me in the eye. “Definitely some ice cream and some churros dipped in chocolate.”

“Mom,” I groan. “No wonder she’s bouncing off the walls. She’s jacked up on sugar. Give her an hour and she’ll crash. I expected better from you. You used to always tell Grandpa to make sure Stefan and I didn’t get too many sugary treats when he took us out to the boardwalk.”

This time Mom smiles. “And did Grandpa listen?”

I think about it. Stef and I used to love going out for a day on the water and a stroll on the pier with him. “I guess he didn’t. He used to buy us anything we wanted.”

She nods. “That’s the job of every grandparent, Ju-Ju. We spoil our grandkids and what’s a little too much sugar on occasion when we don’t need to deal with the fallout?”

I laugh. “Unbelievable. You let her have all those treats because now I have to deal with her hyper little butt?”

Her smile widens. “It’s the grandparent’s privileges. You’re Jenna’s parent and that comes with all the parental responsibilities. I just get the fun part this time around. As long as I keep her safe and return her in one piece, I just get to spoil her.”

Mom’s smile is contagious. I’m not the only one who missed Jenna and I love the way she dotes on her.

“I guess you do. What do you want to do next, princess?” I ask my little girl.

“Bouncy castle!” She screams, jumping for good measure.

If the bouncy castle wasn’t visible from here, the screams and laughter of all the kids that are enjoying it, would give away its location pretty easily.

“Hey Jules,” Trish welcomes me with a smile. “Who do we have here?”

Right. Trish is a recent hire and she didn’t get a chance to meet Jenna, before Jasmine decided to use her as a pawn to get more money from me by cutting me off from my daughter.

I make the introduction and Trish gets immediately on Jenna’s good side when she compliments her mermaid t-shirt and outfit.

“Ready for the bouncy castle?” she asks.

“Yay!” Jenna jumps, beside herself with excitement.

It might be overkill but every kid is given a helmet and knee and elbow pads. Mom doesn’t want to risk a lawsuit in case of an injury.

“All that’s left to do is take your shoes off and we’re all set.”

Call me an apprehensive father, but I’m suddenly worried about letting Jenna go into the bouncy castle without me. “Can I go in?” I ask, more out of respect than anything because after all, we own the club.

“If you want,” Trish sounds uncertain. “The thing is, I had to tell a few parents that it’s kids only. I know this is your club, but if I let you in, we’ll have complaints. If you’re worried about Jenna getting hurt, you can relax. We have one member of staff in there to monitor and for the next two hours it’s toddlers and up to age five only.”

That puts my mind at ease and I stand a few steps back. “If I go grab a snack, would you mind keeping an eye on Jenna in case she gets tired before I’m back?”

Trish reassures me that she doesn’t mind. “We’ll come and find you if you aren’t back when Jenna is done. I’ll get someone else to cover for me here if needed.”

As I near the side of the main pool where all the special food stands have been set up, I spot Lula and Crew by the hot dog stand.

Before I get within earshot, Tiffany approaches them and I can only assume that their conversation isn’t a pleasant one by the way Lula tenses up.

I watch with a mixture of awe and amusement as Tiffany marches toward Evan and my ex-wife.

God knows I’ve never liked Lula’s mom or seen anything eye to eye with her, but I can’t fault her for wanting to nip in the bud whatever seems to be blossoming between her stepson and my ex.

“She never had a motherly bone in her body when it comes to me, but she cares about that creep.” Lula sounds sad, bitter even.

Crew wraps his arm around Lula’s shoulders in a comforting way as I reach them.

“She doesn’t care about him, baby. Tiffany is the female version of Eddie. People like them only care about themselves. She just doesn’t want Evan’s actions to make her look bad with her husband.”

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