said. “Give JoJo a few minutes to get settled in.”
“Settled in to what?” Harris asked.
Josie laughed. “It’s fine,” she said, taking a seat at the kitchen table and holding Harris in her lap as he prattled on.
When he tired of telling her every minute detail of his day, he hopped down and chased after Trout and Pepper. Misty said, “Noah called me.”
Josie took out her cell phone and logged in to find five missed calls from Noah.
Misty said, “Lisette called him. He’s stuck at work, and he couldn’t reach you.”
Josie massaged her temples. “What is this? Some kind of network you guys have? Has anyone else been notified that my grandmother has a long-lost grandson, and she’s worried that I might lose my shit?”
Misty shrugged. “You’ve lost your shit before. This is a whole lot to take in.”
She turned off the burners on the stove and sat down across from Josie, focusing all of her attention on Josie’s face. Her blue eyes bore into Josie, making her feel like she was the only person on the planet. Squirming in her chair, she waited for the barrage of pitying questions, but they didn’t come. Misty said, “Did you check this guy out?”
Josie resisted the urge to come around the table and hug Misty. “Not yet.”
“Don’t you think we should get that over with at least?”
Josie laughed. “You know me very well.”
“I’ll get the laptop.”
Josie downed more ibuprofen and spent the next hour searching the internet and every database she had access to for Deirdre and Sawyer Hayes. Everything checked out. There was an obituary for Deirdre from the year before. From what Josie could gather, she’d moved the two of them out of Denton shortly after Sawyer was born. Josie wondered what, exactly, Lila had said to Deirdre that had made her feel she had to not just stay out of Lila’s way but leave town altogether? They’d lived for a long time in Williamsport. Sawyer had gone to college at Penn State, then hopped around the state a bit before settling just outside Denton a few years earlier and taking the EMS job in nearby Dalrymple Township.
“There’s nothing here,” Josie told Misty as she placed a plate heaped high with steak and steamed vegetables in front of her.
“You mean there’s nothing suspicious.”
“Right.”
Josie heard the rapid clickety-clack of dog feet on the tile of the foyer. A moment later, Harris hollered excitedly, “Noah!”
A few minutes later, after properly greeting child and dogs, Noah entered the kitchen. He looked around and went straight for the stove to make himself a plate. “Misty,” he said. “Josie and I have been talking, and we’d like you to move in full-time.”
Misty laughed. “You know, my cooking’s not that good. But thank you.”
Around a mouthful of food, Josie said, “Trust me, your cooking is the best.”
Noah sat down at the table with a plate of food and dug in. “Or maybe it’s that Josie’s cooking is just that terrible.”
Josie said, “I’d get mad but he’s actually right about that. Plus, his cooking is only passable.”
Noah chuckled. “And I would get mad about that but it’s true.”
They ate in silence. Misty went in search of Harris so he could join them. Noah put his fork down and regarded Josie. “Are we going to talk about it?”
She said nothing.
“Josie,” he said. He left the questions unspoken. He knew that if he asked her if she was okay, she’d say she was fine. She was always fine. But he wasn’t going to leave it alone. Not until she said something. He never left her alone with anything. Sometimes it was maddening, but she understood that he was trying to tell her something. He was going to be there for her whether she liked it or not.
She said, “I’m still in a little bit of shock.”
“I can imagine,” he said. “Lisette wanted me to tell you that this doesn’t change anything.”
But of course it did, Josie thought. It changes everything, she wanted to shout at him, but she didn’t. What she wanted more than anything was for this conversation to be over. By now, she knew there was only one way to accomplish that. She mustered a smile for Noah and said, “I just need some time, okay?”
He smiled back and nodded. “You got it.”
That night, sleep was even harder to come by than the night before. Her mind was so full, it felt like it might explode. Her thoughts swirled with questions about Lisette and her new grandson, Sawyer,