She trailed off, shrugged, then bent to kiss her girl’s forehead.
When she straightened, Juno asked, “Do you want me to go get it for you now?”
Shit, Juno was a good kid.
And she got that from her mom.
Pepper shook her head. “No, baby. I’m getting hungry. You and Auggie make dumplings.”
There was hesitation when she asked, “Are you mad at Dad?”
“I’m not happy with him. But sometimes he does things I don’t like. And sometimes I do things he doesn’t like. Or you don’t like. Or you do things I don’t like. It’s the nature of the world. The test always is, regardless of that, we find a way to keep on keeping on. You with me?”
Juno grinned up at her mom. “Yeah.”
“Am I gonna eat dumplings before New Year’s?” Pepper asked.
Juno giggled. “Don’t be crazy, Mom.”
“I won’t be crazy if you feed me.”
Juno turned to Auggie. “C’mon, Auggie. We gotta feed Mom.”
“I’m there,” Auggie replied.
Juno took off.
Pepper stayed where she was, and Aug went there.
He didn’t stop as he passed her, but he maintained eye contact when he said, “Well done.”
“Thanks, honey,” she murmured.
He grinned at her too.
Then he met up with another girl, this one brunette, in order to make dumplings.
* * *
“So I’m thinking volleyball. But also softball. I don’t know. I did softball this summer. But it’s kinda boring. There’s a lot of sitting or standing around. You can go a whole inning, and nothing will happen. Volleyball, if you’re on the bench, that’s boring. But if you’re playing, you gotta be sharp,” Juno chattered.
There were only two stools at the island, so he and Pepper were on their couch, close but not too close, eating, and Juno was entrenched in a nest of cushions and pillows on the floor, also eating.
“So, do you like volleyball or softball?” Juno asked Auggie.
“I like both,” he answered, cutting into a pan-seared dumpling that was better than any he’d ever had at a restaurant or takeout.
He was looking forward to the teriyaki.
Juno made a face.
“What?” he asked.
“You don’t have to like both because I like both,” she said, a thread of impatience in her tone.
He felt Pepper shift at his side.
But he understood that impatience.
It had been a long time, but he’d felt the frustration of dealing with an adult who did shit and said shit only to make you like them.
A kid didn’t cognizantly know the ways and means of getting to know someone.
They still knew when someone they wanted to get to know was bullshitting them.
“I’m not,” he said before Pepper could get in there and admonish her girl about her tone. “I like both. And I think you already answered your question, because you think softball is boring. All you said about the game isn’t gonna change. It’s the same game now as it will be if you do it every summer for the next ten years. If you don’t like it now, you won’t like it then. And it looks like you’re gonna be tall. And to be good at volleyball, it helps to be tall.”
He shot a smile at her and finished.
“Though, neither of these sports is gonna be banned in the next five years. So you can try volleyball, and if you change your mind about softball, you can go back.”
The liveliness had returned to her voice when she asked, “Which one do you prefer to watch?”
“Do they let adults drink beer at your softball games?”
She twittered and answered, “No.”
“Then volleyball,” he replied.
“You can’t drink beer at a volleyball game either,” she noted.
He faked shock. “Really?”
She giggled, then offered, “You can hide your beer in a Koozie.”
He shook his head and kept his tone light and his lips tipped up when he stated, “No way. I always am who I am and do what I do openly. Hiding isn’t my bag.”
Juno held his gaze and said, “Me either.”
“Good take to have,” he replied.
“Yeah,” she muttered, and looked down to her food.
She totally knew he knew about Cisco.
The doorbell rang.
Auggie tensed.
“No biggie,” Pepper said softly, shifting in the couch like she was going to get up. “FYI, this happens a lot. The ’hood is friendly. Evening drop-bys aren’t often, but they happen.”
“I’ll get it,” he replied, also shifting in the couch to get up.
“You eat, I’ll get it.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want me to get it?” he asked low.
She caught his eyes.
Then she settled back.
And she said a lot with one word.
“No.”
He felt his face get soft before he put his plate on the coffee table, got up and headed to the door of Pepper’s house, which meant whoever was beyond it would know she had a man in that house.
He didn’t do it for that reason.
He did it because she was probably the only one who had to get up and get the door.