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“Which part? Me leaving a bit early to run errands? Or my siblings freaking out for no apparent reason?”
“Both?”
“Well, running errands is part of life,” Jay said. “And my siblings? Sometimes it happens. They allow their imaginations to run wild. Especially Janessa.”
“Oh. Well, yeah. She had me convinced something bad had happened to you. I was worried.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Jay said, running his hand over his hair. Of all of this, he was the most sorry about worrying Misha. “She needs to just chill a bit.”
“Are you still up for going to the gym?” she asked.
“Yep. As long as you are.”
“I am.”
“Great. Do you want me to pick you up or just meet you there?”
“We can just meet there.”
“Okay. Sounds good.”
He hoped her wanting to drive there on her own didn’t mean anything. Most nights they went to the gym, it was a fifty-fifty thing if he picked her up or she drove herself.
Rather than dwell on that, he forced himself to eat something, then changed into the clothes he usually wore for his time at the gym. If he could just make it through the evening, he would be okay.
Well, okay to the world.
Inside his mind… that would take awhile.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Misha watched as Jay opened his container of food, which appeared to be his usual. He kept his attention on it as he combined the different parts of the salad, adding the dressing last.
None of that was out of the ordinary. The difference was in his attitude.
Whenever they were all together in the lunchroom, Jay usually interacted with her and his siblings while preparing and eating his meal. The others were chatting, but Jay remained quiet. Focused on his food.
He’d said he was fine, and the previous evening at the gym, he’d seemed his usual self, if a little distracted at times. However, he’d also smiled and laughed, and he’d ended their time together by giving her a tight hug, holding her like he didn’t want to let go.
The whole situation was just… weird, and Misha wasn’t sure what to make of it.
When Janessa had called her to ask if she’d heard from Jay, Misha hadn’t been alarmed. They weren’t in contact all the time, so not hearing from him hadn’t concerned her at first.
But then Janessa had called back and asked if Misha would try calling Jay to see if he would answer. When she’d done that and he hadn’t, she’d begun to wonder if perhaps there was a reason for Janessa’s worry.
When she’d finally heard from Jay, it had been a relief, especially when everything seemed to befine. She was starting to hate that word.
On the surface, Janessa’s reaction to Jay leaving early and not answering his phone for a few hours seemed excessive. Prior to the events of the previous day, there hadn’t been anything to even hint that something like that would set off such a crazy reaction from his siblings.
It was almost like they’d thought he was a danger to himself or something. She’d never gotten that feeling from him, though, so she didn’t know what to think.
“Right, Jay?” Janessa said.
He looked up from his salad. “What?”
“I said,” she began slowly, glancing at Gareth. “That it would probably be okay if Aria and I did a major shop for the free clinic bags this week.”
“Yep. That would be fine,” Jay said. “Just come by my office and grab the business credit card.”
