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“That she is. On all counts.”
“Since she has her hand in the decorating, I’m assuming you still talk to her?” Cassie asked.
“Why do you assume she does the decorating?” he asked with a huff.
“Because a man doesn’t put fresh flowers and a Scentsy out unless he is gay.”
“Like I said, she most definitely was in charge ofallthe decorating. And to answer your question, Irma lives here. I just make her take mandatory breaks from us. Otherwise she would never leave the house. She’s playing Canasta with some of her friends she met at the grocery store about a year ago. She will be out late. She never tells me, but I think she has an eye on one of the widows in the group. I’ve seen the way they look at each other.”
Cassie laughed. “She sounds like quite a lady. Grocery stores must be her thing.”
“That she is. And I think she spends just as much time in a grocery store that she does here. Whole Foods is not far from here and she loves going there as much as JJ loves going to sporting goods stores and searching for softball stuff. When you eat her cooking, you’ll understand.”
“Who says I will ever be here to try her cooking?” Cassie huffed. “I only came here because JJ guilted me into it.”
“I say,” Jamal grinned, pulling on her ponytail. “And JJ didn’t guilt you into anything. You came to see what the fuss was about this movie.Andbecause you wanted to hang out with me. You don’t need to admit it. I already know.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. The man was insufferable. But even though he tried to act like a conceited playboy, Cassie was starting to know better. She’d seen him with his daughter. Behind the façade was a sweet dad.
“Come on. I want to show you the rest of the house,” Jamal said, grabbing her hand. “Irma had a hay-day decorating it.”
Jamal led Cassie around the winding stairwell, which opened up into an open concept kitchen/dining/living room area. The kitchen and dining area were on Cassie’s left, leaving the right side of the room open to the living area. The walls were painted a light gray-green that reminded Cassie of champagne bubbles and original hardwood floors were stained a dark brown. Big, wooden beams ran the length of the ceiling and the kitchen, although equipped with modern, top of the line stainless-steel appliances, didn’t seem cold at all. Beautiful ivory and navy blue swirled granite sat on top of navy blue cabinets. The backsplash was a cream colored subway tile and the upper cabinets were open wood and iron shelving that matched the railing on the stairwell at the front of the house. A massive cream-colored ivory dining table with dark gray metal dining chairs sat on the other side of the island that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room.
Big, navy blue microfiber couches sat around a ginormous smart TV mounted above the brick fireplace, the only indication that a man lived in the home. Cassie’s favorite part of the room, however, was the beautiful wood and iron bookshelves surrounding the big picture window that looked out into the oasis that was the home’s backyard. Beautiful day lilies lined the wooden privacy fence. The natural light shone down on green grass that looked like carpet. A small water feature was in the corner of the yard with water trickling down from rocks into a small pond that Cassie was willing to bet held Koi fish. However, Cassie’s favorite part of the yard was the huge oak tree centered in the middle of the window. It even came complete with one of the fanciest tree houses Cassie had ever seen.
“Wow,” Cassie breathed. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks,” Jamal replied. “Irma and our interior decorator, Sarah, really worked hard on it. It’s homey.”
“I meant the backyard.”
Jamal let out a laugh. “And here I thought you were complimenting the décor. Yeah, the outdoors is our favorite place to be. There’s a pool on the other side of the house you can’t see from the window. We wanted the view to be of the yard instead of concrete and pool. I built that tree house with JJ when she was about four. She used to practice catching fly balls while I was standing in it tossing them down to her.”
Cassie grinned. “I can totally picture her doing that. It’s probably why she’s so good.”
Jamal agreed with a nod. “Are you ready to watch one of the greatest sports movies of all time?”
“I am up to the challenge.”
“Then sit back, relax and enjoy the brilliant one-liners.”
-------------------------
“You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” Cassie groaned as Jamal insisted, for the third time of the night, on icing her eye. “No! More! Ice! It’s been on therefor-ev-er! For-ev-er!”
Jamal dropped the ice pack to the floor and let out a groan. “We’ve created a Sandlot monster, JJ! I can’t take this no more!”
Cassie laughed at the Sandlot quotes she, JJ and Jamal were calling out to each other. The trio had finished the movie three hours ago, yet she had made no attempt to leave the comfort of the Jenkins’ house. She discovered a reprieve from studying that she desperately needed.
“It really was a great movie,” she told him with a smile. “And I don’t even like baseball.”
“Everyonelikes the Sandlot,” JJ told Cassie, crawling up next to Cassie in the deep sofa, moving the pillows out of the way as she snuggled against Cassie’s chest. “Unless you’re a big, fat loser. And now I know you enough to knowyouarenota loser.”
“Glad you have so much faith in me, kid,” Cassie said, leaning down and kissing JJ’s forehead. When Cassie had first come to OU, she had every intention of majoring in pre-law. She even started taking some of the courses. But then, for one assignment, she had to sit in on a court trial for a man who had killed his wife and his daughter witnessed it.
The daughter was tiny. Maya was her name. They had to get her a booster seat to sit on just so she could see over the witness stand. She spoke with a lisp and was the cutest thing Cassie had ever seen. Even more than her cuteness, though, was the fact that the tiny girl reminded Cassie of herself when she was six. Scared of her dad, but telling anyway because she thought she could help her mom. Watching that child point to her father as the killer from the witness stand did something to Cassie’s heart. She knew she had to change her major. Her calling wasn’t to fight the bad guys; it was to help kids, to give them a voice.
While JJ had no trouble voicing her opinion and she was more like an adult in an eight year old’s body, with her little body snuggling up against Cassie’s, she was reminded that JJ was indeed a little person. A little person she liked a lot.
