Page 24 of Is It Casual Now?

She stomped off, refusing to focus on that look any longer, even if her mind seemed to have other ideas. The sticky tack was in plain sight, but she hesitated before leaving the small claustrophobic area again. She wanted to give Jessie a chance to get through to Siena. If anyone could do it, it would be Jessie.

Did Siena truly think Jamie was some kind of criminal mastermind, setting up these pieces just to fuck with her? To what end?

With a heavy sigh, she knew exactly what she might get out of interviewing Siena and hopefully Bunny and Piper.

But she didn’t premeditate any of it. She had just always been good with taking advantage of the situations that arose in front of her. Siena would never believe it though.

This entire situation had become nothing more than a royal cluster fuck.

Jamie made a slow return back to where Jessie and Siena stood talking. Looking around the room, Jamie was relieved to see only a handful of children remained. Currently there were no other parents besides Siena.

Siena’s shoulders had lost some of their tightness, and they rolled inward as her hand rubbed small circles on Harley’sback. The kid didn’t look much like Siena. Jamie focused on what she had learned over the years about Siena—not much about her personal life to be honest. Jamie had always been more interested in getting to Bunny and Piper—but Siena had been given a little more credit in Jamie’s eyes when she confirmed her sexuality publicly as though there were nothing salacious or newsworthy about it.

Oh Fuck!

She was married—married with a kid whose birth mother was Siena’s wife. That had been the thing she had read about Siena. One of the only pieces of personal information. Everything else she knew about the woman had to do with the business.

Or at least until she discovered firsthand that the woman was wicked with her tongue and could make her scream louder than thunder.

Harley leaned into her mother’s leg, head resting on Siena’s hip. What mattered was the way she clung to Siena. The idea that this woman, so eager to call her posse down on Jamie for calling out shit behavior, had engaged with Jamie in a goddamn affair.

Jamie’s stomach roiled with queasiness at the thought. She wanted to call Siena out on her hypocrisy, but she didn’t want it to be true. And she certainly didn’t want to be the asshole to do it in front of Harley. The girl looked sweet enough. As far as kids went, Jamie felt for her. She seemed little, but maybe not. Jamie had no idea.

It didn’t matter. What did matter was the drama that was unfolding in Jamie’s life. She loved other people’s drama. But this was definitely not the shit she had signed up for.

“Pulling Harley out will do little but cause another big change far too soon after she’s just settled in. If you’re really concerned, I’ll be happy to discuss having her go into another teacher’s class. But I promise Jamie can be a bit of an idiot attimes, but she never has a long-term plan. To my parents’ chagrin.”

“Gee thanks.” Jamie had stood, silently listening until her mouth as usual got her in trouble. She turned to Siena. “And this way you don’t need to have to explain to yourwifewhy you suddenly want to pull your daughter out of the school.”

“Excuse me?” Siena’s cold words might have hurt Jamie if she wasn’t filled with fury.

“Come on, Harley.” Jessie wide-eyed Jamie as she veered the child away from the two women about to go toe-to-toe. “Let’s double check you have everything before you head home.”

“I remember reading about your wife giving birth.”

“Not that it’s any of your business,” Siena said, though Jamie heard her swallow audibly. “But myex-wifeand I share custody of our daughter. And explaining to her about my desire to change schools is none of your business.”

“You’re still pulling her out of the school?” Jamie’s mouth dropped open.

“No.” Siena’s shoulders slumped forward, and for the first time, Jamie saw an exhaustion hidden behind the dark eyes and beauty of this woman. “I don’t know. I’m not doing anything now. But this sure is one hell of a coincidence.”

“Tell me about it,” Jamie muttered.

To her surprise, Siena offered her a small smile, and after a moment assuring herself she really had seen it, Jamie returned it with her own.

Siena stepped closer, and Jamie caught a whiff of Siena’s scent. It was so familiar at this point because Jamie couldn’t get it out of her head. “Write anything about my family, and you’re going to wish that getting fired was the only thing I could do to you.”

Jamie put her hands up in the air, shock running through her. “I don’t do that.”

With one last hardened look, Siena turned away and strode over to where Jessie helped Harley with getting her backpack on. “Time to get going, Harley.”

Jamie tuned out as the adrenaline drained from her. What the hell was the world playing at? Finally alone with Jessie, she could let her guard down a bit.

“Well, this better not appear on your blog.” Jessie stepped up beside Jamie and crossed her arms over her chest. “Especially after the disaster of your last post.”

“Seriously?” All the fury Jamie had built inside that hadn’t been given a release burst from her mouth before she could stop it. “Couldn’t you ever be on my side? Just this once?”

“Wow.” Jessie lifted her hands up, palms facing Jamie as she took a step back. “That’s not fair.”

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