Page 12 of His Custody

He must’ve heard her then because he turned around and clammed up, his shoulders rising and stiffening. It made him look bigger, which goodness knows, he already looked big enough. The furniture around him looked like it was built for him whereas it made her feel like a toy who’d wandered into the wrong scale dollhouse.

“I have to go, Deja, but if you get any more information, I want it. Email or text for the next hour, though.”

Jasper hadn’t taken his eyes off of her even as he finished his conversation with Deja. Gavin’s had been a sweet baby blue, whereas Jasper’s were grey. She’d never met anyone else with eyes that color, but she was glad. They would’ve been intimidating on anyone else but on Jasper... they were part of him, something she took for granted.

She picked up a paperweight that graced one of the side tables and hefted it in her hand. The thing was heavier than it looked. “What was that about?”

He shoved his phone in his pocket, and then ran a hand over his hair. She hadn’t noticed before, but his tie was undone and hanging around his neck, the top button of his shirt undone. That was a habit he’d shared with Uncle Arvid: they both wore a shirt and tie and not jeans when they were working, regardless of whether they were at home or in the office.

“Just Deja.”

She liked Deja. Unlike Sarah, Deja had always been nice to her. Plus, Keyne had wanted to be her when she grew up. Not work for Jasper, but a badass lawyer who didn’t take crap from anyone and who was so good at her job even a bull-headed guy like Jasper listened to her.

“Not ‘just Deja.’ You would’ve finished your conversation if it were ‘just Deja.’”

The corner of Jasper’s mouth lifted and she couldn’t help but mirror his expression while she tossed the paperweight in the air and caught it again. He wagged his finger at her, and snagged the weight out of the air, tossing it behind himself and back to her.

“You pay too much attention.”

“Sorry?”

“Don’t be sorry, it’ll serve you well later in life. And if you have to practice on me, well, that’ll be good practice for me, too. Apparently my poker face could use some work.”

They tossed the paperweight back and forth, and it was easy. When everything else was so hard, this simple act was comforting somehow. She let him do it for a few minutes before she caught the heavy glass globe and held on, ruining their rhythm, his hands outstretched and waiting for a prize that never came. “If you think you’re going to distract me, you’re wrong.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

No, she couldn’t, and actually, she appreciated it. That he’d been trying to hold everything away from her, no matter how mundane. But she was curious now, and stubborn as she ever was, so she sat on one of the oversized couches and waited for him to sit next to her. He didn’t.

Instead, he stood in front of her, and gestured for the paperweight. She tossed it to him, and he shifted it back and forth between his hands.

“So, what I actually wanted to talk to you about was that you won’t be seeing Sarah anymore. She and I ended things last night.”

He tossed the weight back to her, and she caught it before it landed in her lap. “You broke up?”

She’d read somewhere that British people think you frown with your forehead and Americans think you frown with your mouth, and decided in that moment that Jasper must be British somewhere along the line because he was frowning without his mouth moving. “Yes.”

Jasper made a “come on” motion with one of his hands, and she let the glass roll off her fingers. She’d barely put any force behind it and he had to bend almost to the floor to catch it. There was that icky feeling in her stomach that crawled up through her ribcage.

“Because of me?”

He said no, but didn’t look at her as he said it. That meant yes.

“Don’t lie. She broke up with you because of me, didn’t she? I’m sorry, Jasper. I know I said I didn’t want to go to Miami, but I could. Sean and Deborah aren’tthatbad. You can call Sarah and tell her—”

Suddenly his knuckles were white around the paperweight and he pointed at her with his free hand. “I will do no such thing, and you aren’t going anywhere. So, yes, the symptom of our split was she’s not a fan of not being able to live the single childless life we did before, but—”

She opened her mouth to say something, but Jasper cut her off before she could. “Don’t you dare. What I was going to say was even though that was technically the reason, it wasn’t the root cause. I realized I wouldn’t want to be with someone who wouldn’t do the same thing and who wasn’t willing to make some changes when someone in my family needed me. Do you see the difference?”

“Sort of.”

“No, not sort of. I forbid you to feel bad about this.”

He lobbed the weight back and she caught it with a smile. “You know you can’t control my feelings, right?”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not going to try when you shouldn’t feel bad.” Hands on hips, he stared at her. “It might’ve taken longer, but she was immature and self-centered, and it wasn’t like I was going to marry her or anything, okay? You saved me some time and effort. So thanks.”

She didn’t buy it, but the icky creepers had retreated to the bottom of her stomach and she didn’t have a ton of capacity to hold onto it anyway. It’s not like she and Sarah had been besties. Now if she’d done something to make Deja leave, then she’d be sorry. Speaking of Deja...

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