Her forehead grooves. “Your phone?”
“I dropped it off to have it fixed.” When she glances at the one Ten gave me, I say, “This was just a loaner.”
“Okay…”
“Jade. Hey!” A man with dark eyes and a closely trimmed beard is smiling at my mother.
I tuck my phone into my hoodie pocket.
Mom’s cheeks have dimpled with a wide smile. Whoever this man is, she likes him. As though remembering I’m standing there, she drapes her arm over my shoulder and pulls me to her.
“This must be Angela,” the man says, sticking out his hand toward me.
“Just Angie.” I shake his hand. “Angela’s when I’m in trouble.”
The man laughs. He has a nice, deep laugh. “Pleasure to meet you, Angie. I’m Jeff.”
He releases my hand, but instead of arcing downward, my fingers stay suspended in midair.
Jeff…Did I just shake Jeff Dylan’s hand or is this some other Jeff?
Two people come up behind him—one tall, one short. My limp hand finally drops. Wiping my palm on my camo-print leggings, I duck out from underneath my mother’s arm.
“Hey, honey.” My mom steps forward and gives Nev a quick hug.
I hear my name. Jeff must’ve asked me a question. I snap my attention to him, but my ears are ringing too loudly for me to grasp anything he’s saying. Mom’s hand lands on my forearm. She squeezes, and the ringing begins to lessen.
“Baby?” One of her eyebrows tips up.
“What?”
“Jeff just asked if we want to join them.”
“Join them?”
“Share a meal with them?” She gestures toward Golden Dragon.
I suck in a breath. I don’t want to share a meal with them, much less the same air.
Nev and her father are watching me, waiting. Ten’s concentrated on his cell phone.
I force my lids up real high. “I completely forgot about an assignment that’s due tomorrow!”
Mom’s brow furrows in surprise or in disappointment—probably both. “Can it wait until after dinner?”
“It’s a diorama. It’s going to take me all night.”
Jeff glances at his son. “Did you also have a diorama to make, Ten?”
Ten looks at his dad. They’re the same height and have the same lean, solid build. But Ten has his mother’s eyes, and her hair color, and her mouth…
“Angie and I aren’t in all the same classes, Dad.”
“Well, that’s a shame.”
That we aren’t in the same classes? It’s a godsend.
Maybe he was referring to us not being able to have dinner with them.
