Page 77 of Please, Sir

CHAPTER

THIRTY

Dinner was perfect.I wasn’t very hungry after everything that had happened, but once I sat down at a table with two people who care so deeply about each other and me, my appetite came back full force.

After a deep talk with Jo Jo, Jake and I explained to her that I’d be staying with them for the time being, and that he and I would also be dating. Such an unusual situation, to move in while you’re still dating, to be madly inlove without admitting it, to feel so connected to someone you’ve known for such a short period of time.

I did everything in order with Michael, and it was a fucking nightmare.

What I have with Jake is slightly messy, and definitely doesn’t conform to any norms, but it’s better than any other relationship I’ve ever had.

Already.

Imagining us a year down the road, two years down the road, five? My heart threatens to burst at the thought.

Jo Jo’s phone was ringing off the proverbial hook after dinner. The girls were concerned about me, and a few parents even called Jake to thank him and Jo Jo both for handling today so well. Some of the girls that teased and picked on her for not having her period yet have even apologized. A few haven’t, and it remains to be seen if they'll come around. I’m proud of the girls who have made amends, but who I’m most proud of is Jo Jo. She didn’t leap into their arms after their apologies—Instead, she was kind and thanked them, but now she’s asking if she can sleep over at Peyton and Cassidy’s house.

Jake called Mr. Brownstock, and after they got off the phone, he told Jo Jo she could go, and to pack her bag.

I’m sitting on the foot of her bed, watching her select things to stuff in her duffle bag while we chat.

“You forgive them?” I ask, nodding to her phone where it rings again, but she doesn’t answer.

Jo Jo shrugs. “The ones that mean it.”

I nod. “Trust me when I say that one day they’ll look back on making fun of someone for not getting their period yet and literally want to shrivel up and disappear.”

Jo Jo nods. “I know. And I know it’s not anything I canworry about. It’ll happen when it happens. I just… wish everyone didn’t know.”

“I know,” I tell her, empathizing. “Everyone at Bluebell High knows about my personal life now, and that I was in a relationship with someone abusive.” I let out a long, concerned sigh. “I came to Bluebell to leave it all behind, and he kind of followed me here and ruined things, didn’t he?”

Jo Jo studies me for a moment, and in that moment I question if she’s out of her depth. If my attempt at rebonding with her after our fallout is reaching too high for a fourteen-year-old girl. She tosses a satin pajama set into her bag, followed by a pair of socks.

“Maybe not. I mean, I told my dad about the photo of my mom finally,” she hedges, grabbing her makeup bag off her desk, zipping it before she tosses it in. “What if she wanted me to find that picture of her and join cheer? And joining cheer caused a lot of grief between me and dad, but it ultimately led to tonight, and we talked through a lot of things.” She adds a tiny stuffed bear to her bag before zipping it closed, taking a seat next to me, the mattress dipping from our joint weight. “What if mom wanted me to find the photo so that it would lead me to you, so that we could be close when you met my dad? All I ever wanted was my dad to meet someone and be happy, and for us to talk about my mom so that I don’t forget her. And now, all of that has happened.”

I nod my head. “That’s such a beautiful way to look at everything that’s happened, Jolene. I never considered fate an option, but who knows, right? The universe works in mysterious ways.” I bump my leg into hers. “Hey, you really do wanna sleep over at the Brownstocks tonight, right?”

Her eyebrows fall into a thin line. “Yeah. I told you, we’regood now. I apologized to them about ditching them. We made up.”

I nod. “Okay, just making sure you truly want to go and you’re not doing it just to give your dad and I time alone.” That sounded bad, so I quickly amend it. “You know, to talk.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Okay, I hadn’t even thought about the fact I’d be leaving you alone but thanks for that mental image,” she teases.

Jakeand I drive Jo Jo to the Brownstocks, and I sit in the truck while he goes to the door to usher her inside.

Sighing, exhausted but also feeling lighter than ever, I rest my head against the cool glass of the passenger window, and watch the lilies sway with the lazy breeze. My eyes close, and a sense of peace washes over me.

Then my phone rings.

I consider not answering it, but I think of Jo Jo. If something happened to Jo Jo, even if she ended up being okay, I would want to know. She’s not my child, but still, I’d want to know. So when I see my father’s name on my phone screen, I answer because it’s the right thing to do, and I’ve always done the right thing.

“Hello,” I answer softly, my head immediately starting to ache. I glance over at the front door where Jake, all six foot four inches of him, stands with Mr. Brownstock, intensely chatting. But, like he senses I’m watching, he glances back, and shoots me a wink that I feel between my legs.

“Oh my god, Riley, I’ve been trying to call you for the last few hours. Are you okay?” he asks.

“I haven’t had my phone on me until now,” I admit, because getting my cell phone out was not something I made a priority once I got home with Jake and Jo Jo. I called Leah from Jake’s land line when I was giving Jo Jo and Jake privacy, but I had no other phone calls to make. Everyone that mattered was there, and my only other friend had already been contacted.

“We heard about Michael. Brian called me after he got a call from Michael, down at the Bluebell police station. He was looking for bail.”

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