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“I already told you I never got anyone pregnant in high school and I never beat anyone up for their shoes and I never sent anyone to the hospital”

“Fine” She harrumphed and silence filled the lawn He waited patiently for her next effort to get hi off her clever and wily attee him in conversation

“Let’s talk about your dad”

Jesse paused for a moment, stunned Never expected that one

Wain barked at his ankles and Jesse took the opportunity to stall as he winged the board in his hand toward the garage Wain, old but still game, trotted after it

Jesse’s father, the er hurt—those scars were old and faded But the tis he ever talked about

“Why would you want to talk about him?”

“He’s, like, randpa”

“He’s dead” Jesse pointed out the obvious

“Would he have liked me? Eva liked me a lot”

Jesse almost choked on the sudden wave of e hard to not like Amanda and had failed pretty miserably

But his father would have been a different story

“Dad didn’t like ” That was a ludicrous understatement

“Mom said he drank a lot”

Jesse nodded

“She said he was mean”

“I can’t really argue with that,” he rass with a bit more speed than he had before

“She said he hit you two”

“I think I’d rather talk about your love life soh And he didn’t, either

“My mom was mean, too,” she said “Not Rachel, but my birth mom”

Jesse realized again with a sudden pang that despite her bold words and bravado, she was still young and, therefore, frail, this niece of his He hated the idea of her being hurt by a callous parent He knew first hand how painful that could be