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“Well, let me know what the plan is.”
“If you end up not going on the hike, you can come by later.”
“Okay.”
As Will walked away, Jay looked around for his siblings. When he spotted Janessa, Aria was standing there with her, so he headed in their direction.
He passed Casey on the way, but she didn’t say anything to him, for which he was thankful. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation with her at church.
“Hey, bro,” Janessa said when Jay joined them. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” he said. “Are you guys doing anything this afternoon?”
“I’m not,” Janessa said.
“Gareth might have something planned,” Aria added. “Why?”
“I’m going on a hike this afternoon and thought you guys might like to come along.”
Unsurprisingly, Janessa didn’t look very excited at the idea. Aria, however, wasn’t as opposed to being outdoors as Janessa was.
“Let me see if Gareth wants to go,” Aria said. “It’s supposed to be a nice afternoon.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought,” Jay agreed.
“Maybe you should ask Misha,” Janessa suggested.
“I already did,” he said. “She’s on board. I asked Will as well.”
Janessa laughed. “Did he say he’d go?”
“He’s thinking about it.”
“His polite way of saying no way.”
“Who’s saying no way to what?” Gareth asked as he joined him, his drumsticks in his hand.
“I was saying that Will said no way to going on a hike this afternoon,” Janessa said. “Jay’s trying to round up a bunch of suckers to go with him and Misha.”
“Where’s the hike to?” Gareth asked. “I’m not feeling up to a long or difficult trek.”
Jay told him where he was thinking of going. “Nothing too strenuous, especially if I’m going to convince Will to come along.”
“That sounds doable,” Gareth said, then looked at Aria. “Do you feel up to getting out?”
“Yep.”
Janessa crossed her arms and sighed. “Okay. Fine. I’ll go too.”
They made arrangements to meet at the parking lot closest to the trail Jay wanted to hike. He pulled out his phone and texted the information to Will as he walked to the foyer.
Glancing around, he spotted Misha and her mom talking to Eva again. He headed in their direction to let Misha know what time he planned to pick her up. Misha smiled at him as he joined them.
Misha had Ciara on her hip, but the little girl squealed when she spotted Jay and held out her arms. Jay took her without hesitation. It wasn’t the first time he’d held her. She was a very personable baby who didn’t seem to have a fear of strangers.
“Hey, baby C,” Jay said as he bounced her lightly in his arms. “How’s life treating you?”
She gave a squeal and bopped his cheek with a wet fist.
