She sits down at the table and raises an eyebrow. "Do you really want to know the answer to that right now?"
I let out a heavy sigh. "No. I don't need to be kicked when I'm down."
“Do you want to tell me what's got you in a funk?"
"Would it hurt your feelings if I told you I didn't want to talk about it?"
"No. We can skip straight to me giving you my opinion if you like. But I don't know exactly what the issue is, which means I'll have to be much more broad. Which will make for a longer talk."
“Okay, okay," I stop her. "Long story short, Jo and I had a fight. She was having a bad day and came to the shop. She was acting crazy, saying she wanted to get out of town. It was all just nuts. Then, I came home to find her stuff gone, and we haven't talked, and I'm just irritated about the whole thing. I hate not knowing where we stand, and I hate that she left like that."
“Did you call her crazy when she came to the shop?" she asks.
"Kind of," l mutter under my breath.
"Sweetie, I know you haven't had a lot of serious relationships, but calling your girl crazy is probably never a good idea.”
“Yeah, I'm starting to get that.” I say out loud.
"Beau, let me ask you something"
"What?"
"You've known Jo for half your life. You've always known that she has her quirks. She's never been very conventional. And from what you told me from the time she's been gone, maybe some things have happened to her that have messed with her brain in a negative way. Trauma can mess with a person more than they may care to admit.”
"Was there a question in there?"
"Yeah. When did you stop accepting those things about Jo? She is never going to be normal. She's always going to have her own unique way of doing things. You need to be honest with yourself and figure out if you can love her— not in spite of those things— but because of them."
Chapter fifty-two
Oh, They'll Learn
Jo
"There is no way Spider-Man could beat Thor in a fight,” I say to Colton.
The seven-year-old has gone from sitting next to me on the couch, to standing in front of me. "He totally would!'
“Thor is a god. Spiderman is just a kid from New York who happened to get bit by a radioactive spider. That's not all that impressive.”
Should I be arguing with him about this? I don't know, but it’s cute watching him get all worked up. He's a cool kid.
Yesterday, when Ronnie left, she told me I needed to be gone by the time she got back. Thankfully, Drew took pity on me and told me I could crash on the couch while she was away. I could've gone back to Dylan's, but I knew he'd want to talk.
No, thank you.
Drew lets me hang out without getting too touchy-feely.
We continue our playful argument about which superhero would win in a fight before we start having a nerf gun fight. When a foam dart hits me in the chest, I proceed to keel over and die in the most dramatic way imaginable. Colton follows my lead, throwing his body over mine and screaming, "No!"
I'm about to miraculously come back to life when there's a knock on the front door. Drew gets up to open it, and moments later, my mom comes walking in.
"Joanna?" She greets me with a raised eyebrow.
Drew looks between the two of us and deduces that she came here to talk to me.
Alone.
