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Jasper wriggled, reaching out to Rhys. “You can share it too. But we don’t have any beds yet, so we’re sleeping on the floor.”
“More camping?” Rhys asked, his gaze sliding to Jess, his question reminding her of the last time she’d gone “camping” in her car.
“This time we have air mattresses,” Jess said. “And blankets. And heat.”
Rhys acknowledged her comments with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, while Tony scowled.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“We got your note,” Rhys said.
“Did you see my picture?” Jasper was still holding on to Rhys tightly. She understood her son well enough to know he was unwilling to let go for fear they’d leave. That thought broke her heart even more.
“It’s a great picture,” Rhys said. “The perfect family portrait. We’re going to buy a frame for it and hang it on the wall properly.”
“Go on back to your room, Jasper,” Aunt Berta said. “And grab your bag. The two of us are having a sleepover at my apartment.”
Jasper released Rhys in an instant, excited by the prospect of returning to the home they’d just left. “We are?!”
“No—” Jess started.
“Yes, we are,” Aunt Berta said, her hands on her hips, the pose one Jess was all too familiar with. It was Aunt Berta’s I’m-getting-my-way stance.
Penny had risen at the arrival of her brother and Tony, but she’d been quiet thus far. She exchanged a look with her brother, a strange smile blooming before she said, “Come on, Jasper. I’ll help you get your stuff.”
“Wait,” Jess said, but neither Penny nor Jasper stopped, so she turned back to Aunt Berta. “What’s going on?”
Aunt Berta stepped next to her, placing a gentle hand on Jess’s forearm. “The boys have something to say to you. I hope you’ll hear them out. Either way, Jasper is staying with me the rest of the night and I’ll get him to school tomorrow.”
“But—”
Jasper raced back down the hall far too quickly, his bookbag slung over his shoulders, his pillow in his hands. Penny carried two of the duffel bags they’d lugged in from her car just an hour earlier, too tired to unpack.
“All ready,” Penny announced. “I’ll walk out with you, Aunt Berta.”
“But—” Jess tried, only to be interrupted yet again.
“I’ll call you this weekend, Jess,” Penny said. “Get all the juicy details from you then.”
“Juicy details?” she murmured, confused.
Rhys shouldered his sister affectionately. “You realize I’m going to be a part of those juicy details.”
Penny shuddered. “Okay. Half of the details then.”
Jess stood there dumbfounded, wondering where she’d missed a step or twenty.
Penny, Aunt Berta, and Jasper were all gone within seconds, leaving Jess alone in her new apartment with a scowling Tony and an amused Rhys.
“What the hell just happened?” she asked.
“Why did you move out?” Tony countered, ignoring her question and asking his own.
“Hasn’t that been the plan all along? Your cousin, Bruno, called this morning and offered me this place. I can afford it, and it’s in a great neighborhood. Jasper doesn’t even have to change schools.” Jess was rambling, over-justifying, when what she should have done was apologize for leaving without saying goodbye.
It was just…whenever Tony hit her with that tone, her back went up and the next thing she knew, she was talking back, rising to the challenge he presented. Probably not one of her better traits but something she didn’t see changing in the future.
“Let me rephrase my question,” Tony said, his arms crossed. “Why did you move out without telling us?”
