“Okay, so you can go back to Irish Hills and let them all know I’m alive and quasi-well.”
“Actually, you’re really going to have to come back with me,” Libby said. And she had a look.
J.J. had seen it many times. There was a determination in Libby Quinn that was scary if you were in her way and inspiring if you were on her side. J.J. wondered which one it was. She was not ready to save the town again. Maybe she was in Libby’s way right now. J.J. felt goosebumps rise on her arms. This was what it was like to know Libby had you in her sight and was about to pull the trigger.
“You’ve got plenty of powerhouse women to save Irish Hills,” J.J. pointed out. “I know this better than anyone.”
“We need you, yes, and I’d like nothing more than to talk business and world domination, but it’s your family that needs attention.”
J.J.’s heart rate spiked immediately.
“What? Is everyone okay? I got a text from Austin last night, and D.J., uh...” J.J. opened her phone.When did I last heard from D.J.?She scrolled through her messages in a panic.
Libby put her hand on J.J.’s.
“Calm down, they’re okay, but it is D.J. I’m really worried about him.”
“What?”
Libby was reluctant all of a sudden. The hard-charging deal-maker receded, and J.J. watched Libby squirm a little in her seat. The waitress showed up again; this time, it was Libby who looked grateful for the momentary interruption.
The food in front of her, waitress gone, J.J. couldn’t wait any longer. “Spill it.”
“I think—no, Iknow—that D.J. has a terrible drinking problem. And I think you need to try to get him into AA or something.”
J.J. took a breath and let it out with a sigh. And then she remembered. “Darn, looks like he takes after his dad more than I realized.”
Libby cocked her head.
There were decades when J.J. and Libby had not been in each other’s lives, a part of J.J. and Dean’s story that Libby had no knowledge of.
After hearing about D.J., it was that part that came flooding right back to J.J.
1998 - J.J.
J.J. was only four months along.
So why, oh why, does it look like I’m in my third trimester already?
She lay on her side and tried to grab sleep. But an intense focus on sleep is not how to get there. She was lying in bed and about as far away from relaxed as you could be.
D.J. was three years old and usually slept through the night. But Dean had promised to take him to seeMulanand instead took him to seeArmageddon. The poor kid was worried a giant Gastroid, as he called it, was going to land on Playdoodle Preschool.
She’d spent the first part of the night assuring him that they weren’t going to be hit by a Gastroid and the second part trying not to feel whoever was in her belly kicking her.
Ugh. Dean.He made it seem like he was going to take care of everything, but lately, nothing was getting done. Just today, she had to make a special trip to get cash to pay for Playdoodle.
After she’d asked him three times, Dean had forgotten to do it.
She tried not to take evening appointments, but Shelly pushed her to open her book for the evenings: “It’s two weeks before Christmas. Everyone needs their roots done. I know you can use the extra.”
Shelly was right, they could use the extra. J.J.’s days were stretched to the max already, but the evening clients were the extra money she needed.
There was so much that they needed to do for the house. It was new to them, but it was still Jackie’s old disaster. It needed so much work, which was why they could afford it.
Even if Dean did the work himself, the roof would easily cost a couple of thousand bucks.
So, she did two colors and one cut this evening. She was exhausted. But also wide awake.
