Page 70 of Is It Casual Now?

“Ms. K! Your twin is here!” Harley’s sweet voice filled Jamie’s ears.

Jamie closed her eyes, debating whether or not to make a run for it. She’d known that Siena would likely show up that night, that she wasn’t going to bail on her daughter again when it came to something as important as this. But she had thought that she could sneak out before they showed up.

She’d just have to fake it until she made it.

She could pretend she was Jessie, right? Bubbly, outgoing, the one that everyone loved, and didn’t care what people thought of her? Yeah. She’d done that before, and she could do it again. Jamie pushed herself off the edge of the stage and smoothed her hands down her tight jeans and the ugly Christmas sweater she’d insisted on wearing so that she could match the kids that night.

She walked close to Jessie, needing to stick by her sister to keep her sanity for the next little bit, and she was pleasantly surprised to see that Siena was nowhere in sight. However, there were two other women standing with Harley. One Jamierecognized as Harley’s other mother—although she didn’t remember her name at all.

God, Jamie needed to be better with names, but so often she was lost in her own world trying to figure out everyone’s drama that she forgot she needed to pay attention to those people around her. “See, Mama!”

“I see, Harley.” The cute brunette put her hand on Harley’s shoulder.

The other brunette looked like Siena in a lot of ways, except they had vastly different eyes. Where Siena’s were dark brown, this woman had honeyed eyes.

“I’m Jamie.” She extended her hand.

“Tori. And this is Miranda.” Miranda didn’t smile at all, and the similarities between her and Siena intensified. She wrangled a wild little child on her hip, a mop of curls on her head that covered her eyes and hung all the way down to her shoulders at this point. The kid, however, was utterly adorable. Even Jamie couldn’t deny that one.

“This is Rebel!” Harley chimed in, pointing to the kid that Miranda was holding. “She’s my sister-cousin!”

“Right.” Jamie frowned when she saw that Harley’s arm was in a cast from her fingers all the way up past her elbow and nearly to her shoulder. “What happened, kiddo?”

“I fell off the bed.” She frowned and stared down at it. “Wanna sign it?”

“Sure.” Jamie waited while Harley dug around in her mom’s purse for something and then handed over a permanent marker.

Jamie had never actually signed a cast before. Everyone had always wanted Jessie to do that, not her. She foundMs. Kwritten with a heart and decided to write next to it. She printed her name instead of using cursive and she added a heart over theIjust to make it seem far more kid friendly.

“There you go.”

“Thanks!” Harley stared down at it and beamed. “It’s almost filled up!”

“It is.” Jamie put her hands on her hips and stilled. Even from this side of the room she could feel when Siena entered the auditorium. Looking up and toward the main entryway, she locked her gaze on Siena’s.

A shiver ran down her spine.Thatwas not a friendly look. Jamie should have known better than to think that Siena wouldn’t feel slighted or upset by what had happened. She should have prepared to grovel or beg again or something. But instead, she was stuck right next to Jessie and she didn’t hear a damn thing that Harley was chattering on about.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Siena’s cool tones rocked through Jamie.

“I was uh… helping Jessie set up for tonight.” Jamie threw her thumb over her shoulder, but she didn’t turn to look at the stage. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the brooding woman in front of her.

“Figures.” Siena leaned in and brushed her lips against Tori’s cheek. “Good to see you.”

“Mommy!” Harley squealed and raced up to Siena, wrapping her arms around Siena’s legs. “You’re going to love tonight.” She giggled.

“I have no doubt of that,” Siena said, but she was cringing. Jamie didn’t blame her. She’d helped Jessie with most of the concerts in the last few years, and each time she went home wondering if her eardrums would ever recover. Though it wasn’t as bad as the fourth and fifth grade band and orchestra concerts. Those were just hands down brutal.

“Where do you need to go to get ready, kiddo?” Siena asked.

“She needs to go to our classroom,” Jessie stepped in. She held out her hand for Harley. “Come on, why don’t we go see who else is here already.”

Jamie was about to walk away, but she couldn’t. Siena’s eyes were locked on hers again, and she was frozen in place. Tori took Rebel from Miranda’s arms and bounced a little with her. She leaned over, bending down with Rebel and making her squeal with delight.

“Thanks,” Miranda murmured.

Siena flicked her gaze to them before drawing right back to Jamie. What the hell was going on? Why couldn’t she speak? She wasn’t ever speechless. She always had words. Words were her life. And now she was stuck here, staring at Siena like she was dumb, and she couldn’t even manage to figure out how to make her feet and legs move so she could get away.

“How long do these usually last?” Siena asked.

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