A Daddy for Jacoby(23)

But where did that leave Justin?

“Are you mad at Gina?”

Jacoby’s question pulled him from his thoughts. He looked down at the boy who’d rolled over to face him. “What? No, why’d you ask that?”

“You look mad. Just like you did when I asked if she was going to come visit again.”

He relaxed his facial features. “I’m not mad.”

Jacoby shrugged and turned away. He clutched his bear closer to his chest. “You should be nicer to her.”

“To Gina?” Justin dropped to the sleeping bag, ignoring how his cell phone pressed into his groin. “Why’s that?”

The boy shrugged again. “My teacher said boys are supposed to be nice to girls. Even if they can’t play ball and they giggle a lot.”

Did Gina giggle? No, her laugh was low, smoky and smooth, much like a fine, aged whiskey. He remembered the first time he’d heard it, less than an hour after they’d met. It had brought to mind Hollywood’s leading ladies of the ’40s from those old movies he’d always liked to watch. The sound didn’t fit her age, but he’d learned Gina wasn’t like most girls her age in a lot of ways.

He shifted. “Ah, you should be getting to bed.”

“I am in bed.”

Justin sighed. He really needed some alone time. Time to think about what he was going to do next in this crazy twist his life had taken. “I mean in your own room.”

“I’m not…sleepy.” Jacoby continued to face away from him, but Justin heard him yawn. “My mom lets me stay up as late as I want.”

That was the first time he’d mentioned his mother all weekend. “Really?”

The kid’s head bobbed up and down. “Sometimes she and Miss Mazie would both be passed out and I’d stay up for hours watching television.”

Passed out? “You mean they fell asleep?”

“Well, they’d drink and laugh. Miss Mazie loved to drink. And my mom would smoke these funny-smelling cigarettes and they’d make her sleepy.”

Justin held back a groan. “Does Miss Mazie have a last name?”

“I don’t know. I just called her Miss Mazie.”

“Think hard. Did she ever tell you her name?”

“Now you really sound mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Justin repeated, slumping back against the pillows. He’d let it go for now. “I’m confused. Why won’t you go sleep in that bed? You were so excited when we put it together.”

“I thought Gina might come over and see it first.”

“Gina, again? What made you think that?”

“Because I know if you said it was okay, she would come!” Jacoby jumped up. “I’m not going to sleep in that dumb old bed or in that dumb old room, and you can’t make me.”

Before Justin could move, the kid took off. By the time he got to his feet and followed, the bathroom door slammed shut. A sharp click sounded.

Damn! He’d forgotten about the lock. Maybe it was so old it wouldn’t catch. He grabbed the handle and twisted. No such luck. “Jacoby, open this door.”

“No!”

Justin shook the handle. “Open this door right now.”

“No!” The boy’s voice rose another octave. “I’m not openin’ nothin’ until Gina comes.”

Oh, hell no. There was no way he was calling her.

Justin took a step back and looked at the door. Solid oak, probably close to a hundred years old with hinges on the inside. Taking a screwdriver to the original hardware was unacceptable.

His fingers curled and he was tempted to puncture his words with a few sharp raps on the wood. “Jacoby, you need to open this door…now.”

Silence. Justin relaxed his hand. Scaring the kid wasn’t going to help. Instead, he sighed and dug into his pocket for his phone.



“Are you still a virgin?”

Gina froze midbrush, the minty froth of her toothpaste causing her to gag. She turned to find her younger sister, Giselle, standing in the doorway of her bathroom.

Clenching on to the toothbrush with her teeth, she spoke around the bristles. “Whad did yuz sway?”

“You heard me.”

Giselle moved back into the bedroom and dropped to Gina’s bed, rolling to her stomach so that she faced away from her. Gina shot a look at her bedroom door, grateful to find it closed.