By the time Calypso comes around the back of the car, Jo is back to her bubbly persona. I’m worried about her, though.
“Sorry about that,” Calypso mutters. She comes around the back of the car, shaking her head softly. All night, she was much calmer than I anticipated, but there’s a frantic energy to her now.
I’m torn on what to do, quickly glancing between my sister and my… Calypso.
Between Jo and Calypso.
Half of me wants to pull Calypso to the side and ask what the call was about; the other half knows I should focus on Jo since I dragged her to this dinner, and talk with Calypso when we have time and privacy.
Still, I’m hesitant until Calypso catches my eye and mouths,later.
Whatever it is, she doesn’t want to talk about it here either. That makes it easier to turn back to Jo, who is clutching the sides of the box. It reminds me of a raccoon caught in the trash.
“Are you okay?” Calypso gently grabs the box out of Jo’s hands.
“Hm?” Jo perks up, looking around. “Oh, I’m fine. Just hungry.”
Calypso gives her a sympathetic smile. “I promise things will be fine. My mom and Selena are excited to meet you.”
My sister takes a breath and nods, steeling her shoulders. “Okay. I’m great. This will be great.”
“That’s the spirit,” Calypso encourages with a chuckle. There’s no malice in her tone, and I could happily dedicate my life to her just for the fact that she’s been so amazing to Josephine.
With a wink in my direction, Calypso gives Jo a run of who’s who and guides us inside.
By the time I got home on Friday, Calypso was asleep. I knew she would be busy with the next round of cookies, like she has been over the last couple of weekends, so I didn’t wake her. Instead, I woke up at five the next morning and offered to help.
Neither of us were confident in how much help I would be, but after a few trials, I picked up the seal design easily. It’s similar to coloring with acrylic pens, which isn’t my preferred medium, but one I have experience with.
When we got home, I was the first one in bed and passed out. A full day of cookie decorating isnojoke. We were both off today, and she wanted to skip the farmer’s market to sleep in instead.
I hope tonight I can finally take her the way I was fantasizing on Friday, when she was coming all over my face.
Following them through the door, I’m immediately pulled to the side by Asher. Jo doesn’t have a moment to look back for me before Calypso hands the greetings off to Vivi, who is more than happy to introduce her “new friend” to the rest of their family.
As I promised her, Calypso’s family is welcoming toward her.
Jo usually has more confidence in herself, but everything with Megan has dimmed her spirit recently. I understandthere’s a lot she isn’t telling me, even if I wish she would. More than that, I just want her to talk to someone.Anyone.
I’m relieved when I see her sitting with Grady’s younger sister, Blake, while we wait for dinner. Blake is quieter and more reserved than any of the other women in this group, but I’m not surprised that Jo was drawn to her first.
Blake is the baby of the family, like Jo; she doesn’t have that authoritative energy Calypso often exudes. She’s not as high energy as Lexi, who is one of my new favorite people, and I sometimes wonder how Vivi keeps up with her. Between Lexi and wedding planning, I don’t assume Vivi has a lot of spare time.
“I don’t know,” Lexi says in a quiet but frustrated voice.
I haven’t been paying attention to her conversation with Calypso, too worried about my sister. They’re talking about Vivi’s wedding, though. Lexi is the maid of honor, and Calypso doesn’t seem to mind.
“Knox and I don’t know what to do,” Lexi continues. “We need to plan a trip within the next month and a half, but there are so many conditions.”
Taking a sip of sangria, Calypso asks, “What are they?”
Lexi lets out a sigh. “They want to have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party, which is fine and expected. We can’t go more than five hours away because they don’t want to fly. If it’s not during the school’s fall break, then it has to be no longer than a weekend because of Grady’s girls. And they don’t want to do anything like Vegas. They want something fun, somethingdifferent,for us as a group. Somewhere we can all spend time together rather than get drunk in a club.”
I raise my brows at the list but stay quiet.
“Yeah, that’s about what I would expect,” Calypso muses and starts tapping her lips. “What about a wine tasting?”
“Grady doesn’t like wine,” Lexi reminds her. “So Vivi doesn’t want to do that.”
