Page 89 of Give Me a Shot

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I…well. You just sounded a lot like your father,” her mom said.

Jess saw red.

“I’msorry?” she asked, a blast of adrenaline making her heart take off.

“Well…” Her mom let out a whine-whimper sound that stabbed at Jess’s ears. “He won’t talk about Cassie; you won’t talk about Cassie. You two are so similar, boxing things up inside. How can we possibly do better, feel better if you all won’ttalk?”

Jess’s chest was rising and falling, head spinning. In no way, shape, or form was she anything like her misogynistic father. Shemanagedher feelings, which was a perfectly logical way to deal with them. Her father simply refused to have any and tried to stamp them out of everyone around him. The tiniest flicker of a thoughtthat there may have been a similarity betweenmanagingandrefusingpassed through her mind, but she ignored it. With her breathing still rapid and her heart racing with anger, she decided to end the call before she passed out.

“I have to go, Mom,” she said.

“Wait!” her mom said, pitch high. “Please, come home so we can—”

Exhausted and disgusted, Jess ended the call and tossed her phone on the passenger seat.

—

She was pulling into her driveway, having mentally tossed her anger and frustration along the road during her drive, when her phone buzzed with two laughing emojis from Mo.

Mo:

Hephaestus?

Jess smiled. That was a much better thought to return to.

Jess:

That’s your nickname from now on.

Mo:

Why?

Cuz you’re a blacksmithing god.

She could just imagine how red his cheeks must have gotten. Thinking of his skin reignited the fire that had kindled in his smithy. She glanced at her front door. She did have things she should do. But there was one thing she wanted to do a lot more.

Jess:

Do you have anything going on right now?

Mo:

No, I don’t.

Jess:

Feel like a little company?

Jess’s hands got shaky waiting for his reply. She started to chide herself for acting impulsively, and she poised her fingers to take her suggestion back, but his reply appeared.

Mo:

I’d love that.

Jess smiled again, breathing a sigh of relief.

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