He captures her hand before she has time to give his ear the reaming she intends, and kisses it. “How about you, Miss Cassiopeia? You giving your auntie a run for her money?”
“Of course she is. Doesn’t she always?” Jana holds her hands out to take the baby, and I give her back. I don’t want Jana thinking I’ve got designs on her child; that’s all Jeremy. I catch him staring at them, caution in his eyes.
“Is James here yet?” Robinson asks.
“No, not yet,” Jeremy says.
“They’ll be here soon,” I add, glancing down at my phone. Leah’s text is still fresh on my screen. “They’re two minutes away, trying to find parking.”
“Perfect. I’ll go get the pasta boiling.” Jeremy walks past us, and I follow Jana into the living room. Robinson leaves quietly in the direction Jeremy was heading.
Jana stops when she sees the painting I did of Jeremy hanging behind the couch and slowly lowers Cassie to the carpet as she stares at it.
“Wow. What’s this?” she asks. “Is it new?”
I don’t say anything as she walks closer to it.
“S. Booker.” She turns around and looks at me. “Is that you? Did you paint this?”
I nod. “At the cabin.”
She goes back to staring at it. “That’s Jeremy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” I’m nervous, waiting for her assessment. I argued with Jeremy about hanging it here, but he wouldn’t have it anywhere else. He wanted anyone he invited into his home to be able to see it. He uses it as a constant reminder of who he needs to be and how far he’s come in his recovery.
“It’s amazing. Really. You completely captured him.” She lowers her voice. “What a mess he is.”
“Was. What a mess he was,” I correct. “He’s doing really well now.”
She doesn’t say anything for a while. Then she turns away from the painting and faces me. “So, you settling in okay?”
Cassie is on the floor and Jana moves to stand over her, watching her like a hawk.
I guess if she can pretend we didn’t just disagree about her brother, then I can too. “Yes,” I say cheerfully. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I feel really guilty about you having to go, especially so close to Christmas.”
She waves her hand at me. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I was glad to do it. It was about time Jeremy got his butt back in here. And my apartment was empty anyway.”
I bite my lip to keep from saying anything else. Does she think he should get back to being a father too? That would make everything go a lot smoother if she did, but I’m not going to be the one to ask.
“Anyone want any wine?” Robinson asks, walking into the room holding up the bottle he brought.
I raise my hand. “I’m allowed to have half a glass.”
“I’ll have one too,” Jana says, moving to take a book out of Cassie’s hands. “No, no. That’s not for babies. You play with this.” She takes a toy out of her back pocket. Cassie takes one look at it and throws it to the ground.
“Or not,” I say, laughing.
“Stubborn little cuss,” Jana says, almost to herself.
“Hey, is that new?” Robinson asks, pointing with the wine bottle at the painting.
“Sarah did it,” Jana offers. “It’s of Jeremy, obviously.”
Robinson nods. “That dog looks like he wants to take a chunk out of his leg.”
I laugh. “He did, actually. A couple times.”
Robinson grins at me. “Sounds like a great story. I’ll be right back with the wine.”
He leaves us alone in the room, and an awkward silence descends. I’m not sure that Jana notices it, but I sure do.
“How’s your sight now? Better?” She glances up at me before going back to hawk-eyeing her niece.
Jaws is across the room, watching what’s going on from around the corner of the couch. I’m glad Cassie hasn’t seen him yet. I’m sure he’ll become the star of her show if she so much as catches a glimpse of him.
“Yes, much better, thank you. Almost back to normal. But my eyes still aren’t very pretty, so I’m sticking with the glasses for tonight so I don’t mess with anyone’s appetite.”
She laughs. “I appreciate that. I never knew how weak a stomach I had until Cassie came along.”
I nod, not knowing what to say to that. Jana has so much experience with babies, and I have almost zero, other than my babysitting history from fifteen years ago. Is that enough to play mother to another woman’s child? It doesn’t feel like it.