Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,47
both calm down.
“I think we both needed that.” She says wiping the tears from her eyes. “First things first, we get you and your sister food. Where is she by the way?”
“School.”
“Will she be home soon?”
I tap the screen on my phone to check the time. “She’ll be home in about an hour.”
“Okay, let’s run out to the store now before she gets back. Then you need to figure out if you want to take Eli up on his offer to move in or I could call Cooper and ask if he would mind you taking over one of his bedrooms until you can get up on your feet.”
She’s right, I have a decision to make and honestly I don’t know what to do. On one hand I feel like it might be a better idea to stay with Jaylinn at Cooper’s but then I feel like I’m imposing on them even though he’s not around much. I don’t want to bring them into my messy life when they just got back together. And on the other hand I could move in with Eli and rent a room from him. He did say he was looking for a roommate. I’m afraid to take the chance with him. What if we can’t stand each other. Then I would be back to square one and I just don’t think I could mentally handle that.
Jaylinn elbows me in the arm. “You’re lost in thought over there.”
“I am.”
“Let’s figure it out together.” She gets this evil smile on her face and I already know where she is going to steer this conversation. “Cooper’s house, you’d have to put up with me, you’d have to share a bedroom with your sister but he’s not going to charge you rent. Once I tell him what’s going on he’s going to refuse.”
“I’m not doing that. If we stay there we’re paying.”
Jaylinn smiles triumphantly. “Then you just picked.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You did that on purpose.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
Jaylinn pats me on the leg. “Let’s agree to disagree. We need to go though so we’re back in time for Fallon. I’m dying to meet her now.”
“She’s a good kid.”
“If she’s anything like you, I’m sure she is.”
On our ride to the grocery store I bring up the fact that if I still do have a job and Eli still has his roommate offer open I’m going to need help with Fallon. I will need help taking her back and forth to school and someone to watch her on the nights I have to work.
“You can borrow my car. You have a license, right?”
I pick up a can a soup that’s on sale and place it in the cart. “Yeah, Brian took me for my test.”
“Well, at least he was good for something.”
Jaylinn added in those microwavable containers of macaroni and cheese and tosses them in the cart. When she turns her head I quickly fish them out and put them back on the shelf but she catches me.
“What are you doing?”
I grip the handle of the cart and whisper, “I can’t afford those.”
“Who said they were for you?” She grins.
I place them back in the cart then following her down the next aisle.
“So back to what we were talking about, Cooper isn’t using his car. I’ll leave you mine and I’ll take his.” She winks. “I love his and now I have an excuse to use it.”
“You sure you’re okay with that? It’s not too much trouble?” The guilt from asking for help is getting to me. I feel like a freeloader.
“I wouldn’t have offered if it was. Anyway, on the nights you have to work I’ll babysit. I’ve always wanted a little sister. Hunter wouldn’t let me braid his hair when we were little.”
I giggle. Hunter with braids I’d pay to see that.
I’ve just about used up the twenty dollars I have so I just follow Jaylinn around until she’s done. We pay, I had just enough thankfully, loaded the car and headed to Fallon’s school to pick her up. When we pull up in front of the school, Fallon is waiting in her normal place but she doesn’t see me until I get out of Jaylinn’s car.
“Squirt, how was your day?”
She clings to my side as I open the back door of Jaylinn’s car for her to climb in. “Who’s that?” she whispers.
“That is my friend Jaylinn.”
“Hi, Fallon,” Jaylinn turns in her seat to greet her.
“Hi,” she says shyly.
“Did you have fun at school today?”