“For someone who doesn’t get involved, you’re looking pretty involved.”
Simon gestured to the mostly eaten blue cotton candy in JT’s hand and the purple giraffe behind him. “I told you. We were talking and it just slipped out.”
Simon laughed. “For someone who doesn’t talk a lot, you sure are doing a lot of talking.”
Yeah. He’d noticed, but he was different around Casey and Paige. Something he’d have to think about later.
“I don’t see you complaining,” JT said.
“Nope. What’s to complain about? There’s seventy-five different foods on a stick. No, man, I think it’s great. Sweet girl. Sweet mom.”
“And Jenny.” JT snuck a glance at his friend, curious for his reaction.
“Yep.”
JT straightened his right leg, pushing his prosthetic heel into the ground to get a stretch in his quad.
Their attention was caught by Jenny’s wildly waving hand. Wearing cutoffs, a yellow crop top, and her perpetual smile, she moved toward them with Casey in her arms.
Casey had walked fine with her prosthesis as far as he could tell, but she’d ditched it an hour ago. He assured Paige it wasn’t unusual for her to get tired when she wasn’t used to walking in it for long periods. Hell, half the kids here were being carried or pushed in strollers, and she barely weighed anything. He didn’t mind carrying her. But he was growing more convinced that there was nothing wrong with the device itself.
He’d checked her stump closely when she took it off, and found nothing. Her gait was near normal, would probably be even better in a prosthetic he designed. And most of all, when she was otherwise occupied, she didn’t mention or seem to notice it at all.
“Hey, guys. Here we are,” Jenny said, joining them. She sat Casey beside him on top of the table.
“Where’s Paige?” he asked, which got him another amused look from his friend that he noticed Jenny shared.
“She’s coming. We got Little Bit here cleaned up, and then the girl’s bathroom line exploded.” Jenny produced a folded-up piece of paper from her pocket. “There’s a beer festival on the other side.” She handed the flyer to Simon. “Want to check it out?”
“Sure.”
“Well, come on, big guy. Let’s bust a move.” Jenny kissed Casey on the head. “Have fun. Win me something pretty.”
Simon stood and looked down at JT. “Catch up with you later, man. Or not.”
And with a laugh from the fun-loving, take-nothing-serious pair, they were off.
“So,” Casey said, swinging her foot beside him, “what do you want to talk about?”
He angled his head up and back to see her face. Something about the way Casey made conversation always made him smile. Pretty much everything about Casey and Paige made him smile. “I don’t know. What do you want to talk about?”
“We can talk about Miss Miller. She’s gonna be my teacher and I’m going to meet her soon. Barbara is her other name, but I won’t call her that.”
“Probably a good idea.”
“Did your mom say you had to go to kindergarten?”
Uh-oh. Touchy subject. “Yes.”
“Did you cry?”
“No. I don’t think so.” He didn’t really remember.
“I’m gonna scream,” she announced evenly.
“Really?” He tried not to grin at her decision. “Why are you going to scream?”
“ ’Cause I hate it.” She picked up her cotton candy. Finding it old and hard, she licked it a few times and put it back.
“Oh. Well, what do you think will happen when you scream?”
She screwed up her face in thought. “I guess the fire department will have to come ’cause someone’s screaming so loud.”
Go big or go home, he thought and smiled to himself. “And then what?”
“I don’t know. I’m only five. Does your mom let you spell your name with letters?”
Huh?
“A J and a T on your papers.” She made the letters in the air in front of her.
“Yeah, I guess she did.” He’d never thought about his mom letting him. Even though his mom called him Jacob, or often Jacob Thomas, everyone else called him JT, so that’s what he’d done. He still had no idea why he’d told Paige his name was Jake.
“My mom makes me write all the letters and not just a K and C, and s’s are really hard to make. So are y’s.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Your mom’s nice.”
“Yes.” His mom was nice, even if she had smothered him with concern after the accident to the point he’d felt suffocated. “Your mom’s nice too,” he said, seeing Paige exit the bathroom.