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He sucked air through his teeth. “That’s hard,” he said, putting my plate in front of me and sitting back down. “If she’s turned over a new leaf, I can see why you wouldn’t want to get involved. It’s kind of messed up to bring up old stuff. And it’s not like he’s marrying her or something, they’re just having fun, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then let them have fun. Let him make his own decision about her. The guy’s not an idiot.”
I nodded, feeling a little better about my decision.
Chelsea squirmed in her seat. “Jussin, I’m done.”
He set his fork down and got up again. “Okay. Let me clean your face and then you can go watch Frozen until bedtime.”
I watched him take a wipe and get the sauce off her mouth and her hands. When he let her go, she ran out of the kitchen toward the living room. He followed her to put on her movie. I smiled after them.
When he came back, I was washing dishes.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, coming up next to me as I set the pot in the drying rack.
“It’s no problem, Jussin.”
He grinned and picked up a towel to start drying. I’d already loaded the dishwasher and started it, it was just the big stuff left to wash.
“Do you babysit a lot?” I asked.
He laughed dryly, but he didn’t get to reply. The sound of a door slamming came from the front of the house. Justin checked his watch and leaned back to peer down the hall. “Alex? You home? You’re early.”
But it wasn’t a teenage boy who came down the hallway, it was a young girl with a pink backpack slung over her shoulder.
He wrinkled his forehead. “Sarah. I thought you were spending the night at Josie’s.”
She looked around the kitchen, bored. “She’s being a bitch. I don’t want to hang out with her.”
“Uh, does Mom let you talk like that?” Justin said.
She rolled her eyes. “You asked me.”
“How did you get home?”
“I walked?”
He shook his head. “I don’t want you walking alone at night. You need to call me next time.”
“It’s like three blocks—”
“I don’t care. It’s late.”
She looked annoyed. “Fine. Whatever.” Then she looked at me. “Who are you?”
“This is Emma,” Justin said.
“Is she your girlfriend?” she said, looking me up and down.
“Yes.”
The corner of my lip twitched. I know we’d agreed on that title, but it still surprised me to hear it out loud.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
I’d never seen someone roll their eyes without actually rolling their eyes, but she somehow managed it anyway.
