"So you're Veronica?" she asked.
Veronica felt her face go red as she slowly lowered her hand.
"Um, yes," she said.
"Well, you've got some nerve showing your face around here!" Alexis yelled, and she stepped forward as though she were about to attack Veronica. Jason, however, stopped her before she could.
"Whoa, sis," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and holding her back, "it's all right. I'll take care of it. You'd better get going anyway. You don't want to piss off Dominic."
Alexis stared hard at Veronica for a second longer, but soon she relaxed. She turned to look at her brother.
"Yeah, you're right. You're gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Get going, huh?"
"Okay, okay," she said, and she turned back to face Veronica, who took a half-step backwards. "You'd better just watch it, Missy. My brother's a great guy, okay?"
Veronica nodded mutely and watched as Alexis walked past her off the front step and down the sidewalk.
"Come on," she heard Jason say, bringing her back to where she was. She turned and saw that the front door was open. Jason was looking at her. She walked into the house and he followed her inside.
Jason's place was, at first glance, not at all what Veronica was expecting. Given the state of the neighbourhood she thought that it would have been run down inside, with a greasy-looking kitchen and maybe some peeling wallpaper from the 70's. It looked, however, like some real effort had been put into making it look good. Everything was clean and shining bright, the walls were painted, things were organized. There wasn't a mess in sight.
And on the walls were many different drawings and paintings. Veronica saw some that looked like as though child had made them, but scattered throughout were better-looking ones, done by what she would have thought was a professional. In the kitchen, on the table, was a large notepad with sketches in it, and beside the table was an artist's easel, a half-finished painting of the kitchen on it.
"Have a seat," Jason said. Veronica sat down at the table, still looking around. She watched him go to the counter and grab the electric kettle, filling it with water from the tap. "Do you want some tea?" he asked.
"Sure, thanks," she said. "Did you do all these paintings?"
"Yeah, Alexis has been helping me get better," he said with his back turned. "She did a lot of art in high school before she dropped out, so she knows her shit."
He put the kettle on and grabbed two mugs from the cupboard, putting a teabag in each and turning back around to face Veronica.
"What ... does Alexis do now?" Veronica asked.
"She turns tricks," he said. "Over on Washington."
"Oh," Veronica said, feeling embarrassed, like she had asked something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry."
Jason shrugged. "Don't be. It's not ideal, but it's work. Besides, she's safe, and that's what's important. Dominic is a really great guy."
The kettle whistled and Jason turned it off. He poured the steaming water into both mugs and brought them over, setting one in front of Veronica before sitting down in another chair, facing her.
"So what're you doing here, Veronica?" he asked. "How did you find me?"
Veronica stared at the tea as she spoke.
"Well, at first I tried calling you but you didn't pick up. And then I called the operator and was able to get them to tell me your address, which I'm pretty sure was illegal but …"
She took a sip of her tea. Jason said nothing.
"And the reason I came here," she continued, "is because ... because I want to make things right between us. What happened at the park that day was so messed up, I didn't mean for anything like that to happen to either of you."
"Yeah, well," Jason said, "Greg was pretty pissed off. Is he okay?"
"He had a get a few stitches but other than that he's all right."
Jason nodded.