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Both of them said my name at the exact same time in the exact same way. I was being chastised by my daughter and her mother.
“What?” I turned my attention to JoJo. “You are still the only one who can shock the hell out of me.”
I’d begun to get used to that, though now I resented her for it.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you,” she said quietly.
“Are you sure about that?”
She dropped her spoon with a clatter. “Contrary to what you think, I prefer to preserve life.”
I drew satisfaction from the deep red her cheeks turned. “You prefer to lie. That’s what I think.”
“You’re impossible.” She tossed her napkin down. “We aren’t in a courtroom. There’s no need to argue.”
I leaned forward. “I’m stating facts.Notarguing.”
She leaned forward, her hot breath reaching my face. All that weariness disappeared, replaced by fire. “I’m not sorry.”
Those words were gasoline to my rising temper. “You should be.”
Penelope let out a low whistle. I started. JoJo jolted.
Our daughter fanned herself. “Maybe the two of you need to spend somealonetime together.” She grinned mischievously.
If I weren’t so angry, I’d have joined in on making JoJo more uncomfortable.
“Penelope-I-we . . .” JoJo couldn’t form a coherent sentence.
Something about seeing her vulnerable and real and not so perfect eased a bit of my tension.
“I’ve never seen you like this, Mom.” She pointed at JoJo. “You were right. Neil isn’t for you.”
Neil?
“You said he worked for you.” There was ice in my tone. Apparently the bus I’d run over him in my mind hadn’t done the job.
“Mom never dates. I’ve been trying to get her to go out with him. He’s a nice guy. But he doesn’t bring out this”—she waved her hand around—“in her.”
That red on JoJo’s cheeks crept down her neck. “I’m not discussing my personal life.”
She didn’t deny she wantedNeil.
“Since your personal life directly affects me, we need to discuss it. Because if you’re fooling around with Neil, I don’t think he’d be too pleased to find out you kissed me.” Take that,Neil.
A strangled growl escaped JoJo.
“You kissed him, Mom?” Penelope lifted her hands to the sky. “Hallelujah.”
She was . . . happy? The idiot I was when it came to JoJo hadn’t considered what our daughter would think.
She was more mature than the two of us combined.
“Are you sorry for that?” I rumbled.
JoJo lifted her chin. “No.”
She wasn’t sorry. She. Wasn’t. Sorry. Neither was I.
