Page 23 of When Stars Collide
“Hey, Dad?” Jackson peered up at his father, who hadn’t so much as glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was even still behind them.
“Yeah?”
“What does fuck mean?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Thanks to a storm in Philadelphia, I rolled back into New York later than usual on Sunday evening, exhausted emotionally, mentally, and physically. After the events of the weekend, a part of me wished that Jo would already be in bed when I got back to our apartment. I’d had enough peopling over the last forty-eight hours.
No such luck.
The back of her head was the first thing I saw when I walked inside.She looked up when she heard me walking in. Even from where she was sitting on the couch, I could see about a dozen questions in her eyes.
“How did it go?” she asked, turning her body around to face me.
“Just dandy.” With a sigh, I threw my purse, keys, and carry-on bag on top of the counter, sauntering into the living room to plop down on the other end of the couch.
“Why do I feel like there should be a narrator piping in at this very moment to announce, ‘But everything really wasn’t all that dandy.’?”
“Let’s just say it had the same level of success as the Hindenburg and Titanic. Except in my case, everything was going great … until I accidentally taught Jackson—and a smattering of other people’s children—a four-letter word on a ride commissioned by the devil himself. This, of course, led to Peter having to have a talk with Jackson’s mother, who in turn left me with a ‘Bless your heart’ parting gift when she came to pick Jackson up early.”
“Wait … a normal ‘Bless your heart’ or a Southern ‘Bless your heart?’”
“Full on Southern.”
“Oh, fuck.” Jo’s lips pursed together.
“Coincidentally, that’s exactly the word that afforded me the opportunity for Peter’s supermodel ex-girlfriend to bless my heart. Well, that and the fact that I gave Jackson an apple that wasn’t organic.”
“You animal.” Jo laughed, running her fingers through her hair. “But let’s circle back to the four-letter word incident, if we may.”
I recounted the incident at the fair with the teddy bear ride, including the mysterious wheel in the center of the car, the miscreants sharing the ride with us, and the aftermath of a little slip of the tongue.
“And that’s the story of how I found myself banned from the Virginia State Fair.”
About mid-story, Jo had gotten up from the couch to rummage through the kitchen. She returned to the living room, giggling as she plunked a bottle of pinot noir down on my lap.
“I know it’s a school night and all, but I figured after the weekend you’ve had, you could definitely use some fermented grapes to wind down a bit.”
“That’s great, but you forgot the glass.”
“No, I didn’t.”
My eyes trailed down to the uncorked bottle and, with a shrug, I brought it up to my lips and took a sip.“There is one silver lining to it all.”
“A handful of families in Virginia will never be able to look at the fair the same way again?”
“Besides that.” I took another swig of wine. “I think the kid likes me.”
“Sure, he does. You just taught him the most useful word in the English language.”
“Right? It’s all about perspective.” A notification on my phone alerted me to an incoming text message. “It’s Elle. She probably wants to talk about the guy who’s claiming to be her long-lost father.”
“Wait, what?”
“Exactly.” Grabbing the bottle of wine and my phone, I prepared to head into my room.
“And people say life in New York is full of drama and debauchery. The next time you go back to Virginia, I’m coming with you,” Jo called out from behind me. “I’ll just stay in the background and observe with a bucket of popcorn. You won’t even know I’m there.”
