That’s it, he’s dead. I’m not sure how I’m going to take him out, but it will happen. “There will be five of us.”

“You and Jess can share a room.”

Jessica spits out her coffee, sending it flying right into Jack’s face. I get a small amount of joy from that.

“I’m sorry,” she says, trying not to smile as she hands him a napkin. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“He deserved it.”

Delia can barely contain her laughter. “Jess and I will bunk together, it’ll be fine. We are all adults, and Jack is right, we used to do it all the time. Come on, Gray, it’ll be fun.”

Jess looks back to me. “I’m fine if you are,” she assures me softly.

There’s no getting out of this without looking like an asshole. “Yeah, you’re right. It’ll be great.”

Or a complete fucking nightmare.

Chapter 8

Jessica

“You ready for this?” Winnie asks as we pull up to the Park Inn for my first day.

“I am.”

“You took your meds?”

I nod. “Yes, Mom.”

“Please, you mothered me my entire life, it’s nice to be in the other seat for a change.”

I had no choice but to mother her because ours was working. “Did Mom say anything about this?”

Winnie shrugs. “Who cares what she says?”

Resting my head back, I groan. I knew she would have issues with it. The Parkersons have always been nice to her, but it’s been hard. My mother was once friends with Eveline Parkerson. They were on the PTA together and both helped with charity events, but then my father left, changing our entire financial situation. We were no longer doing . . . well . . . we were poor. Buying new things was no longer something they discussed, and my mom didn’t have time for lunches or charity. She had to work, feed her kids, and Eveline didn’t associate with “our kind.”

“Considering I live with her—I do.”

“You could always come stay with me.”

Yeah, that’s not happening. “The money I’m giving Mom will help her. She wouldn’t take it if I wasn’t living there.”

“Okay, I could use your money too,” Winnie jokes.

“You’re doing just fine.”

Winnie got a full ride to the University of North Carolina. She came out of college with a job and has worked her ass off for everything she has. I’m incredibly proud of the work she does as a director at the youth club because she’s helping these kids in a real way by making sure they have the resources to rise up.

“I’m proud of you, Jess. I just want to say that before you go in there.”

“Proud of what?”