Page 16 of Give Me a Shot

She was right. He was impressed that she remembered what he’d said.

“Uh, yeah,” he said.

“Is that because you kind of like to keep to yourself? That won’t really be possible if they want to draw a lot of the attention to our skills in particular.”

Mo didn’t know what to do. This woman not onlysawhim; it sounded like shegothim.

“That’s exactly it,” he said, mind still reeling a little.

Jess sighed again. Long and heavy.

“I don’t really want to do it, either,” she said. “Not because I don’t think the School should be saved,” she added quickly. “If I can help, I’ll do it. It’s just that Ren Faires…they bring up some personal stuff.”

“Oh.”

Mo had an inkling that the “personal stuff” might be related to her sister, but he didn’t want to pry. He hated when people did it to him. He wanted to be supportive, but short of saying that she really didn’t have to participate, he wasn’t sure how.

“You know,” she said, “maybe we could help each other. Be a personal sounding board if we need to gripe about it. Or have each other’s backs if the rest of the committee tries to put too much on the two of us?”

She was open to talking to him? Letting him vent? His smile bloomed on its own. That was the exact moment Maddie chose to pop her head out of his office. Her eyes went wide, and she giggled. He scowled and she disappeared again.

“That would be great, Jess,” he said. “Thanks. A lot.”

“Thank you, Mo,” she said. “Feels better not to be alone on this.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll let you go,” she said. “Been talking your ear off.”

He wanted to say that she hadn’t at all. Which was weird because he only ever had phone calls this long with family. However, Maddie had been getting a little too curious and he would be relieved to remove the source of her curiosity.

“Um, okay,” he said. “Thanks for calling.”

“Have a good day, Mo. See you Friday.”

“You too. And see you then.”

After ending the call, he looked at the phone, holding it in both hands. He took a deep breath, trying to clear out the lingering shock from Jess seeing what most other people missed. His worry for the Folk School and how he could possibly deal with the Faire was present, but it had taken a backseat to the amazement of being seen. Jess’s fortitude had been on full display the night they’d crossed paths, as had her desire to make things right at the open house. What he hadn’t anticipated was her ability to be observant. Especially about someone like him. He wanted to do something nice for her, too. The question was, what? Then he remembered that she’d said her keychain was always—

“Dad-dy? Who’s Jess?” Maddie sing-songed less than a foot away from him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin. She’d appeared in front of him without making a sound. She’d done that less and less with time, but still managed to now and then.

“Someone from the Folk School. We’re working on a project to get funding for it,” he said.

Madison tilted her head to the side and squinted.

“You smiled with her, but you don’t talk to her like you talk to me,” she said.

Mo was confused.

“Why would I?” he asked. “I don’t know her very well.”

“You should talk to more people like you talk to me. It would help you make friends.”

Mo frowned. Making friends was an annoying, recurring conversation with everyone related to him. Just how carefully had she been listening in, anyway? He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

“I’m fine, sugar plum. But thank you for being concerned about me.”

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