Page 136 of Forking the Billionaire

Right on top was a metal spatula—Rufus’s anole smasher. No way was I returning that to him. Let it stay lost forever.

There were lots of sunglasses, some watches, and a strangely large number of underpants. It was probably better not to look too far into that.

But a parrot couldn’t carry all of this stuff. Was the parrot working with a person? Was a man going to jump out from behind a floppy sun hat at any moment?

I’d come too far to give up now. So, I kept on digging through the pile, until I unearthed something shiny. Two something shinies—a pair of eyes staring up at me.

“Ah!” I fell back, ready to cut my losses.

But then a brown shape scurried out. It was about as big as a medium sized dog, but very thin, with a long tail and a flat face.

It was a monkey.

There was no parrot family, no human weirdo, just a gossipy parrot and a klepto primate. The two of them didn’t belong together, that was for sure, but they’d chosen to live here anyway, tormenting the people around them in the most hilarious way.

“You guys are trouble.”

“Trouble,” the parrot said.

I dug through the pile until I found something that made me pause.

It was a luggage tag with a gummy bear embroidered onto it, just like the gummy bears on Jasper’s favorite underpants.

My heart skipped a beat.

I unearthed the luggage attached and found an open bag with some of the contents spilling out. I opened the bag and tucked a loose shirt and pair of shorts back inside when I saw something completely unexpected.

It was a bracelet, made of tiny pink rubber bands. It was the friendship bracelet I had given him when we were kids. Out of all of the belongings that he’d lost when his luggage was stolen, this was the one thing he’d been concerned about losing.

My heart was full. Everything changed in an instant.

He cared, even when it seemed like he didn’t. Jasper had always cared about me.

We were just like the monkey and the parrot, two weirdos who shouldn’t work together, but somehow did.

I needed to reunite our weird duo.

Yes, he’d screwed up, but I screwed up plenty, too. If he’d had the chance, he would have figured out how to tell me. It sucked that he hadn’t figured it out ahead of time. But we were both thrown into a storm of a situation, and even if we got some bumps and bruises along the way, we were better together.

Maybe I just needed to show him that.

My life was better with him in it, and even if it put my heart on the line, I needed to try.

I gathered up anything that looked like it might be his into the suitcase, and bid the parrot and monkey farewell.

Then, with Jasper’s suitcase and my skateboard in hand, I booked the next flight to Epiphany.

THIRTY-SEVEN

ESME

After a quick visit to the doctor to get the okay, because safety first, I was off. But I realized on my flight that I didn’t know where Jasper lived. I knew where he’d grown up, of course. And as far as I knew, his mom was still there.

I parked my rental car on the road and walked down the long driveway for a few extra minutes to prepare.

Not only was I not completely sure if Jasper’s mom lived here, but I also didn’t know what would be appropriate to say to her.

Likehey, by the way, you remember me as the little terror screaming in the field next to your house for years and stealing all your popsicles, that’s me. And now I’m having your grandbaby, surprise!Showing up would lose some of its sweetness as a gesture if I also spilled the beans to his mom without his permission.

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