A Daddy for Jacoby(22)

Justin saw Jacoby nod as the boy stood there and watched her walk away. Justin found himself doing the same.



There was no way he’d get in that bed.

No way. No how.

Jacoby squeezed Clem tighter and kept his eyes glued on the small television sitting on the floor next to the fireplace. His eyeballs were scratchy. It felt like he was pulling a warm blanket over ’em when they closed, but he fought to keep ’em open.

If he fell asleep he was sure Justin would pick him up and carry him to the small bedroom. He’d put him beneath the covers. Then he’d leave.

And Jacoby would be alone.

He didn’t want to be alone. But he wasn’t going to tell Justin that. He’d probably think Jacoby was a baby or something.

He wasn’t.

It’s just that there were a lot of strange noises and the windows in that room didn’t have anything covering them.

He wished Jack was here. Maybe if the dog slept next to him in that bed he wouldn’t be afraid.

Because he liked it here.

The cabin was nice and warm, there was always food and he liked that he didn’t have to ask first when he wanted something to eat or to go to the bathroom.

His mama used to make him do that sometimes, ask before he could do anything.

And sometimes the answer would be no.

She’d say no over and over until he’d finally stopped asking. Then he’d pray he wouldn’t have an accident or that his tummy would stop growling until she changed her mind.

Which she always did, eventually. Then she’d cry and say she was sorry and she wouldn’t do it again.

But she would.

But for the past two days, Justin had been the one asking him what he wanted. First, the new clothes, including two pairs of sneakers because they were buy one get one half off. Then he got to pick the color of his new toothbrush and finally the backpack that sat empty near the bookcase.

He liked the backpack. It was blue and had a cool swirly design on it and none of those babyish cartoon guys. But except for using it to hold his stuff while Justin insisted on washing his pillowcase, it sat empty.

Jacoby didn’t know how long he was going to be here. His mama had said he was going to stay with Justin and Justin was going to be his dad, but he wasn’t sure he believed her.

So he’d keep using his pillowcase. He wasn’t going to use anything he didn’t really need, like that backpack and the second set of sneakers.

Or that bed.

But he would like to see Gina again.

A sharp pain caused his belly to hurt and he hugged Clem tighter to his chest. Was it because he’d rather see Gina again than his mom?

But Gina was nice. And she smelled good, too, like his favorite cookie, snickerdoodles, and she didn’t talk to him like he was a baby.

Maybe he should ask if she could come over again.

Then again, Justin had gotten a funny look on his face whenever Jacoby asked about her.

Maybe he didn’t like Gina. Naw, Justin would hafta be stupid not to like Gina.

Wouldn’t he?





Chapter Five





It had been a hell of a weekend. Justin was ready to collapse and the kid who’d been his constant companion for the last forty-eight hours was halfway to snoozeville himself.

Trouble was, the kid refused to go to bed.

Correction, the kid refused to sleep in the twin bed they’d set up in the second bedroom this afternoon.

Just like he’d done last night.

He hadn’t thought anything of it when the boy had asked if he could sleep in front of the fire like he’d done his first night at the cabin. At the time, the bed had been in pieces. They’d spent most of today cleaning both bedrooms, getting rid of years of accumulated junk and debris from the previous owner. Then they put the kid’s bed together, along with a matching dresser, but the boy wanted nothing to do with the room.

Justin didn’t get it.

And to top it off, he continued to ask when Gina was coming by to see them again.

Running into her yesterday at the diner had left a hard lump in Justin’s chest that still hadn’t gone away. He didn’t know if it was from the fact he never got to apologize for the way he’d talked to her Friday night or maybe it came from the phone call he’d made to Gage late yesterday afternoon.

Despite the sheriff’s inquiries, there were still no leads on Zoe’s whereabouts.

How could a woman walk away from her child? Didn’t she wonder if her son was okay? Wasn’t she worried he didn’t have any idea how to take care of a kid? Then again, considering the boy’s strange behavior this weekend, maybe having Zoe out of his life wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.