Page 28 of Janessa

“Would you come to your own defense, though?”

That got another sigh from Will. “I guess I’m weak, since my answer is probably not.”

“Weak?” Janessa frowned. “Not weak at all. Some people just prefer to avoid confrontation.”

“Well, that would definitely be me.”

“And that’s fine. Can you imagine if everyone in the world thrived on confrontation? There are degrees of confrontational comfort,” Janessa told him. “I would guess that you’re willing to confront people, given the right circumstances.”

“Possibly,” Will said.

“Probably.” She knew he wasn’t likely to confront someone on his own behalf, but he likely would for someone who needed his support. “Just don’t consider it a fault that you don’t like to run headlong into confrontation.”

“But you do,” Will told her.

“I’m not sure that I seek out confrontation.” She thought of her immediate response to confront Marissa when she came after Jay. “Okay. Maybe I do. I also don’t back down if someone seems to want a confrontation, especially if I feel I’m in the right. Which I would be if Daphne’s grandma gave you any grief.”

“Who knows what Daphne told her family about our breakup,” Will said. “Maybe they thought I deserved to be dumped.”

“You two dated for a lot of years,” Janessa reminded him. “I would think that they’d know what kind of man you are, so that anything Daphne told them would be filtered through that knowledge.”

Will pulled his car to the curb in front of the house. “They haven’t said anything to me yet, so I assume they’re not going to.”

“Is it hard seeing Daphne at church?”

“It was at the start, but not so much now.”

“Time heals all wounds, huh?”

“Apparently.”

Will didn’t sound completely convinced, and Janessa couldn’t blame him.

“Thank you for giving me a ride to and from our torture session.”

“Anytime,” Will said with a laugh.

Janessa climbed out of the car, then waved at Will before heading for the front door of the house. After letting herself in, she went to the kitchen to get something to drink and eat.

Setting her bag of gym stuff on a stool at the counter, Janessa headed for the pantry and pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn. After putting it in the microwave, she went to the fridge and got a can of soda. Weird though it might be, she planned to enjoy her popcorn and soda while soaking her sore muscles.

“How was the gym?” Charli asked as she walked into the kitchen.

“Just peachy. 10/10. Would highly recommend.”

Charli laughed. “You are such a liar.”

“Excuse me. That was sarcasm, dear sister. Learn the difference.”

“Sure. We’ll go with that.”

“It could have been worse,” Janessa said. “Though my legs are very unhappy.”

Janessa went on to tell Charli about the evening, focusing on the part where Reese and Misha had words with Marissa.

“You didn’t say anything?” Charli asked, looking unconvinced that Janessa had kept her mouth shut. Janessa didn’t blame her.

“Not to Marissa,” Janessa said as she took the bag of popcorn out of the microwave. “I didn’t need to.”

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