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“My mom just had a stroke.”
“Ugh, do not use that as an excuse,” he says and then moves back to his computer, packing it up and stuffing it into his bag. “Do you need to stay for anything else or do you want to go?”
I move up next to him and grab on to his bag, pulling it over my shoulder.
This startles him a bit, and I don’t know why. I mean, I usually carry his shit if he lets me. I think Jasper is just used to being on his own, doing everything himself. Having someone do things for him is confusing to him. I wonder what his parents are like. Maybe they’re the reason he is the way he is.
“No, we can go. I’m ready. I can come back again tomorrow.”
“Okay, but remember, on the way home we need to stop by the grocery store and grab some stuff for dinner.”
“Sure, sounds good.”
“And when we’re there, we can grab you something to eat. Unless you’ve already gotten something?”
Just as he says it, my stomach rumbles loudly, and Jasper arches an eyebrow at me.
“I can hear that you haven’t. Well, let’s go before you expire from hunger.”
My stomach rumbles again, and I press my hand against it.
“How was it?” he asks and then shakes his head. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine. She’s…she’s better than yesterday. The doctors are hopeful, but you just never know with strokes.”
Jasper bobs his head, peeking up at me. “Well, hopefully when we come tomorrow things are even better.”
Yeah, I can only hope.
We make our way to the automatic doors, and Jasper says, “Also, I just wanted to let you know that Carter posted our teaser and there are already a ton of people subscribing. So yeah, we are for sure doing another one tonight.”
“Sounds good,” I say as we make our way across the wet pavement. Thankfully, it stopped raining but now, it’s just bitingly cold. And to be honest, doing another teaser with Jasper is something fun to look forward to.
I’m so damn glad I have something to take my mind off of all this. Even if it’s just for a little while.
“Wanna drive?” he asks as we approach the large truck.
I nod as I move toward the driver’s seat and pull myself inside. Jasper scrambles up next to me and buckles in. I glance over at him and his eyes meet mine, and I resist the urge to reach out and tug his hand into mine.
“Ready?” I ask.
He nods and then we’re off.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Jasper
So, dinner tonight wasn’t exactly what I would call a success, but it was tolerable. Kristy and her husband were fairly quiet, Mark only making a few inappropriate dad jokes at inopportune times. I did catch Kristy eyeing me a few times, something unreadable on her face, but she didn’t really speak to me. I think the reality of her mother’s condition may be hitting hard. She didn’t fuss when I insisted on helping with dinner, and she even let me take the lead.
Hence my ability to sneak in some greens when she wasn’t looking. I’m surprised this family isn’t on a steady diet of cholesterol pills. Honestly.
Thankfully, no one seemed to notice that I did it, and if they did, they didn’t say anything. I mean, I admit, I’m a fabulous cook. Maybe these people haven’t had a roasted vegetable before.
I can do wonders with carrots. And don’t even get me started on zucchini.
After dinner, I helped Bennet do the dishes and then we retired to the trailer, just in time for a text message to pop up from Carter.
I swear, I get worse reception in the house than I do in the trailer. How is that even possible? I don’t understand Kansas at all.
