“It’s Mrs. Wagner to you,” she snaps. Part of me just wants to drown my worries in a milkshake or two and maybe a glass of wine, but the other part is finding immense pleasure watching my dad flinch as he gets scolded. “Knew your mom since I moved here from Chicago. Knew your dad too. Both of them good people. Solid. Always willing to help me when I needed it. And to this day, it’s a fucking mystery how they got a crap kid like you outta the deal. Guess that’s why Alice loved Drew so much; our Drew here gave her everything you couldn’t.”

Our Drew here.

Up until this very moment, if someone were to ask me what Collette Wagner thought of me, I’d tell them she hated me. She dealt with me because I came with the package of Alice Young and the Book Nook. But right now, hearing her stand up for me against the man who has made my life hell since what feels like my very first day on earth? Tears start to build again, but this time they’re good tears.

Thankful tears.

“Ummm . . .” a deep voice I’ve only heard on the phone for the last week says from behind me. My body doesn’t need to see him in order to react. Goose bumps race down my spine as those butterflies I’ve been trying to rid myself of take off. “Is everything okay here?”

“Oh yes.” Mona’s eyes drift over my shoulder. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. We ran into Jasper outside.”

Jasper.

Of course it is. Because why couldn’t this get any worse?

CHAPTER 13

I don’t know if I should feel thrilled or mortified when I turn around and see Jasper’s concerned gaze laser focused on me.

I haven’t seen him since I dropped him off at his place after our hike last week. He had to go to some book conference thing in California and was supposed to get back tomorrow. Just in time for him to take me on our first bookish excursion. I was hoping when I saw him next, it’d be with my hair and makeup done after an Issa Rae mirror pep talk or even makeup-less and unprepared. Anything other than the current domestic dispute I’m embroiled in.

When I accidentally word-vomited about my life during our first dinner, he found out a little bit about my relationship with my dad. But hearing it and seeing it are two different things. Dark, messed-up family relationships should be saved for—I don’t know—forever? At least, that would be ideal. But for some reason that I refuse to investigate further, instead of profound embarrassment, I feel beyond grateful to see Jasper taking my back . . . both literally and figuratively.