“Because you think you were abducted by people who wanted to have coffee with you? The horror.” The retelling of her outing had actually been amusing, especially knowing what I do about the dynamic between Ellison, Bea, and Cal.
Outside of our group—Cal and Ellison especially—we are fairly reserved and not exceedingly outgoing. So it meant a lot that they all made Nessa feel welcome.
Eventually.
“Exactly. And don’t forget I got bombarded about pottery classes and impulsively took a flyer because she was sonice.”
“What is your problem with nice people?”
Remi grunts and rubs her face on the blanket, her little feet trying to find purchase to propel her forward.
“I like nice people,” she says defensively and I raise an eyebrow at her. “What? I do. It’s just harder to switch back to interact with regular people when I have to beonall the time.”
It makes me sad for her, but on some level, I do get it. Bein’ a small town sheriff, I’ve been lucky for a lot of my career, fielding nonsense calls and herding animals back to their pastures.
But I’ve still seen things—been in situations where I had to be completely detached from what was going on in order to do my job. It’s not easy and it takes a toll on you, but I knew that goin’ in.
And I’ve never wanted anything else.
“Are you done stalling now?” Nessa asks, rolling Remi onto her back and tickling her belly.
“What?”
“Your mom. Chances are she already knows and she’s just been waiting on you to tell her,” Nessa says, ramping up my anxiety over making the call.
“You know that’s not helpful, right?” I say as I watch her pop up from the ground and walk over, tapping the call button on my phone before grinning and sauntering back across the room.
“How ’bout now? I bet it’s ringing.”
Cursing under my breath, I put the phone to my ear and close my eyes, getting only one more ring to prepare myself before my mother’s voice fills the line.
“Jensen, what a nice surprise…”
“Hey, Mama.” Swallowing hard, I open my eyes, reaching for the back of the kitchen chair to my right, needing something to steady me. “I have something to tell you.”
“Should I get your daddy?”
“Yeah,” I whisper, my voice lacking its usual confidence.
Picking Remi up and positioning her to face me, Nessa holds up my daughter’s hands like she’s cheering.
“Go, Daddy! You can do it! Look at how cute I am! Woo!”
My lips twitch at her antics, the little dance exactly what I need as my father’s deep voice joins my mother on speaker.
“All right, son, what’s goin’ on?”
“About a year ago, I met a woman in Nashville.” I swallow hard because telling my mother I had a one-night stand isn’t high on my priority list but is unfortunately unavoidable. “We spent the night together and uh, didn’t exchange information.”
“You’re a grown man, Jensen. I’m not sure why I need to know about your extracurricular activities,” my mother says skeptically.
“Normally, I’d agree, but I got her pregnant.” Silence fills the line as Nessa’s mouth forms a perfect O before she mouthsoh shit.
“I have a grandbaby?” Mama nearly weeps into the phone. “And where’s her mama? When do we get to meet them? Wayne, can we change our tickets home?”
I sag into the chair, my hip pushing it flush against the table. “Scarlett passed away shortly after giving birth to our daughter.”
“Oh Jensen.”
