Page 58 of Lies and Lullabies
I glanced again at Jonas, giving him a tiny nod.
That was all the permission he needed. He closed the distance to Vivi, plucking her off the bed and kissing her on the forehead. “You are very,verysmart,” he said, his voice husky. “And you are, in fact, my baby girl.”
“You’remy daddy?” she asked, her little voice reedy. She turned to me for confirmation.
I didn’t trust my voice. I could only nod and swallow hard.
“Wow,” Vivi said. “Are you going to live at our house? That would be neat.”
“Well…” Jonas chuffed out a laugh and held Vivi close to his chest. His back rose and fell as he tried to control his emotions. “I’m going to see you as much as I can. Your mama and I are trying to figure that out. I live far away.”
“You could stay in my room,” Vivi offered. “Once, Grandpa slept on my floor. The bed isn’t big. Not like this one.” She wiggled out of his embrace, and Jonas set her gently on the bed, his eyes bright and shiny.
There were two knocks on the outer door. “Hey, Jojo?” a voice called. It sounded like Ethan. Jonas met my gaze again, uncertain if he should walk away.
“Go,” I mouthed. I knew that Vivi wasn’t finished with this topic. She’d come at me later with more questions. She’d circle back, always catching me off guard.
I plucked her off the bed and carried her through the living room and into the other bedroom. Behind me, I heard Jonas take in a deep, steadying breath. Then he went to answer Ethan’s knock.
I sat down heavily on one of the beds, feeling shaky. Vivi climbed onto my lap. “Love you, Mama.”
“Love you too, sweetie,” I whispered.
“Can I watch TV now?”
“Nope.”
“Bummer.”
* * *
After that,the suite began to fill with people. Band members arrived one by one. They were polite to me and Vivi, but clearly had no idea what to say.
I was starting to feel like we were in the way when Adam texted me.Where are you? I’m in the lobby.
Let me figure out how to get you upstairs,I tapped out, relieved that he’d decided to join us.There’s a secret handshake and everything.
Will this make me cool?Adam returned.I’ve always wanted to be cool.
We are about as cool as we’re ever going to get. Sad but true, I replied. “Hey, Ethan?” I stopped the big man as he walked by.
He turned around with a smile. “What do you need?” I got the same greeting he gave everyone tonight. As far as I could tell, his job was to put out everyone’s fires.
“My brother is in the hotel lobby…”
“There’s a key card for him at the front desk,” he said immediately. “Under his name.” With a wink, he strode off to answer someone else’s question.
A few minutes later, Adam knocked on the door, and I was right there to let him in. “Hi,” I said, grabbing him into a hug. “Guess what Vivi figured out? The truth.”
“Seriously?” Adam gave a low whistle. “You can’t get anything past that kid. She’s probably going to be president one day. Or head of the CIA.”
“She still believes in Santa,” I reminded him.
“Maybe she’s just humoring us.”
Ethan skidded to a stop in front of us. “Hey! Good to see you again,” he said, grabbing Adam into a hug that was tighter than the one I’d just given him. Huh. “Thanks for helping me with the lawyer thing.”
“No problem,” my brother said. And if I wasn’t mistaken, Adam’s cheeks got a little pinker than normal.
