“Yeah,” he said. “I do. It’s fine.”
She didn’t need to know it’d cut into other things or give him more worries, but it’s not like it’d leave him with nothing.
He had investments he could cash in but wanted to avoid that if he could.
Everything else in his life worked out in the end; this would too.
There wasn’t anything wrong with his apartment for now. It was bigger, nicer, and in a better location than any place he had lived as a kid.
“There you go,” she said. “Baylee has been in jail for over a month now, what’s another one? Without you, she’d be there until her trial. It’d go as time served since she’ll end up back there, right?”
“She’ll end up back in jail. No doubt. I’m sure she’s not thinking about it being time served, but that is on her. If she skips her date or trial, she’s someone else’s headache and it will only add to her sentence.”
Selfish of him to hope that happened.
“I’m sure she isn’t thinking of anything more than an hour at a time,” he said. “I’m on my way to see Monica now. She knew what was going on. I’m positive it was going to take time anyway for this to happen, then with the holidays.”
Jocelyn laughed. “A few more weeks will hurt no one but her and will give you some peace of mind.”
“I need it,” he said. “Thanks for everything, Jocelyn.”
“Don’t thank me. I care. You know that. About both of you.”
It was the closest she’d come to saying how she felt.
“The same. I’ll see you later tonight.”
“I’ll be at your place when I get out of work,” she said. “I thought maybe I could spend the night, if you don’t mind. I can drop Maverick off at daycare for you so you’re not rushing out the door so early.”
“I’d like you to spend the night,” he said. “We’ll figure out tomorrow when it gets here.”
Which was how it felt he was living his life now. One day at a time.
It sucked when he’d finally gotten to a place where he could plan.
40
MELTED HER HEART
“Coming,” Jocelyn yelled when she heard a knock at her door five days later. “No, stay, Maverick. I don’t know who it is.”
The toddler always wanted to charge whoever was coming over. She wondered if he thought it might be Chance coming to get him. Since Chance was at the pub, it could be him. He said it’d be before Mav had to be in bed. He didn’t give a specific time he’d be home, just that he was held up.
Or it could be a neighbor complaining about the noise.
Maverick had been yelling out in excitement for the past twenty minutes.
He thought it was funny and she was struggling to get him to stop without punishing him for doing it.
This parenting thing was hard.
She didn’t want to take away any joy in his life when he’d had so little that she could see.
She got to the door, turned around and saw Maverick still on the floor playing with his favorite musical toy and shouting animal sounds back.
Her hand was on the knob, her eyes through the tiny piece of glass to see the last person she expected.
What. The. Freak.
