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“Why?” Layla asked with a frown.
“You came home from school dirty today. I don’t want that all over your bed.”
“Okay. Fine.”
Charli herded her daughter out of the kitchen, leaving Will and Janessa alone.
“I’m sorry that you got saddled with me on this committee,” Will said as he picked up a cookie. “I told Mom it wasn’t a good idea, but she wasn’t having it.”
“I don’t know why you’re apologizing,” Janessa told him. “You’ve already given great input with your ideas for the program.”
The more she saw the uncertainty in him, the angrier she became. It had to be a result of the breakup. Daphne must have said or done something that had him questioning himself. She didn’t like it.
“Just don’t expect me to get up at the dinner and say anything.”
“No worries,” Janessa said. “I’m hoping that I don’t have to get up either. Maybe we should also come up with some suggestions on who might be a good choice to MC the program.”
“You don’t think they’re expecting us to do it?”
“Well, it might make it easier for them to accept that we don’t want to if we can present them with other options.”
“So who do you suggest?” Will asked. “Probably not either of my parents.”
“I agree with that, although it might not be a bad idea for your dad to give a brief message.”
“Not sure Dad can keep it brief enough for the purposes of the dinner.”
Janessa chuckled. “You don’t think if we told him ten minutes that he’d keep it to ten minutes?”
“There’s always a first time, I suppose,” Will said.
They spent a few minutes talking about other MC possibilities and ended up making note of two or three who might be willing to host the evening.
Janessa skimmed over the notes she’d made on her phone. “I think Evelyn will be happy with all of this.”
“I hope so.”
“If she’s not, we still have time to come up with more suggestions. The program is probably among the easiest things to settle near the end, unlike the food.”
Will shifted on his stool as he lifted his mug for another sip. “I’ll keep thinking about it in case she wants more ideas.”
“Don’t stress too much over it,” Janessa said. “Like I said, I have a feeling that others on the committee will have some suggestions as well.”
Charli came back into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie from the container. Standing opposite them, she took a bite, then said, “How are you doing, Will?”
“I’m fine,” he said without any hesitation.
Her brows lifted. “Don’t give me a pat answer. I really do care about how you’re doing. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy dealing with your breakup.”
Will shrugged as he cupped his hands around the mug and stared down at it. “It hasn’t been, but I think that’s normal for anyone who’s had a relationship end.”
“Have you spoken with her since then?”
“Nope, and I’m fine with that.”
Janessa had never felt strongly one way or the other about Daphne before. Though they’d been in the same grade at school, they hadn’t been friends. Daphne had her own group of friends, and Janessa had had hers. Back then, it hadn’t been anything more than just having different interests.
When Daphne and Will had started dating, Will hadn’t accepted as many invitations to spend time with the Halverson family, and any he did, he usually came by himself. It might have been odd, if not for the fact that Casey, Jay’s former girlfriend, hadn’t often spent time with them either.
