Page 43 of Justice for JoElla

The small blond appeared in a doorway across the living room. “Oh! Hi! I’m Jerrica! JoElla, right?”

“Yes. Did you…”

“Go to school with you? Nah. I’m a little younger than all of you. I feel twenty years older right now, but… Oh, hell, it’s good to meet you. Brandon has said super nice things about you.”

“Well, at least now I know he’s a liar,” JoElla answered with a wicked chuckle.

Jerrica giggled. “Caught on to that pretty quickly, huh?” From somewhere behind Jerrica, JoElla heard an unearthly scream. “Oh, lord. He must’ve dropped his pacifier. I swear, that kid, he’s just like his dad, throwing stuff around and acting a fool all the time. I’m coming, baby! Right there! JoElla, please, just make yourself at home.”

“Thanks.” She turned to Brandon. “Did you by any chance tell them that I’m staying the night?”

“Uh, no. Should I?”

“I just thought?”

“Hey, Jerr, JoElla’s staying the night!”

“Hell, I could’ve done that,” JoElla growled.

From the kitchen, Jerrica yelled back, “That’s great! Like I said, make yourself at home! Brandon will show you around! Oh, baby, there’s poop coming out the legs of your diapers! What in the world…” That was all the encouragement JoElla needed to head down the hallway with Brandon leading the way. If there was poop, she was getting away as fast as she could.

The bedroom was a little small, but it was nice. It smelled as though it had been recently painted, and the bedding looked brand new. “Cozy,” she said softly.

“Yeah, it’s not the Taj Mahal, but it’s comfortable.” The furniture was an entire bedroom suite, with matching nightstands, a nice throw rug on either side of the bed, and a comfortable-looking chair in the corner. “Anything in there that needs to be hung up?”

“Yeah, probably my shirt. Wouldn’t hurt to hang up my pants either, I suppose. I’ll do it.” She grabbed the bag and hung her clothes in the closet while Brandon emptied the duffel onto the counter in the hallway bathroom.

“There. You’re all set! Come on. I’ll show you around.” The grand tour didn’t take long?it wasn’t a very big place?but it was nice. One thing she could definitely call it was a family home. Every square inch looked lived in, but not in a bad way. Jerrica seemed to have a knack for using every space wisely, and JoElla thought maybe she should take some lessons from the little blond dynamo.

They were sitting in the back yard with Landon when the back door opened and a tall, redhaired man stepped out. “Hey, Red! What’s goin’ on?” Landon and the man clasped hands and gave each other half-hugs.

“Not much. How ya doin’, Brandon?” the man said and reached out. Brandon took his hand and shook it.

“Great. JoElla, this is Breckin, my sister’s fiancée. This is JoEllaTompkins, a friend of mine,” Brandon said, and it made her happy to hear someone call her their friend. Breckin reached out a hand to her, and JoElla took it. Something about his grip made her feel safe. As a matter of fact, she got that impression with every man she met in that family.

A tall, thin woman stepped up behind Landon and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Hi, sweetie,” she heard him say as he turned to the woman and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Hi, bub. You doin’ okay?”

“I should be asking you that. Feeling good these days?”

“Yeah. I’m doing fine.” She pointed at Breckin. “This one over here gets bossy sometimes, but it’s a good kind of bossy.” That was about the moment JoElla realized the woman had spotted her. “Oh! I’m sorry. Have we met?”

“Liella, this is JoElla, Brandon’s friend,” Landon said as JoElla held out a hand. The woman seemed timid, but her grip was firm.

“Wait. JoElla?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

Liella stared at Brandon. “Are you kidding me?”

He hiked up an eyebrow. “What?”

“JoElla? Liella?” All the guys stared at her. “And Mom is Louella?”

“Oh, lord. I hadn’t even caught that,” Brandon mumbled.

“Your mom is Louella?” JoElla asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.

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