Jackson stood near a picnic table and was staring intently at the car as if he had X-ray vision, making Kayla wish she could tell him to dial it down a few notches. Projecting the energy of a stalking mountain lion was not the way to make Alex more comfortable.
“How long do we have to stay?” Alex muttered.
“Give it thirty minutes, okay?”
They got out and Alex dragged his feet as they walked toward the picnic table. He visibly gulped when they got close. “Uh, hello.”
“Hi, Alex. I’m really glad to meet you.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“Do you want to sit down?” Jackson gestured toward the table.
“Uh, no, I’m okay.”
As Alex shifted his weight from one foot to another, Kayla had a feeling that it was going to be a really long half hour.
* * *
MORGAN GIGGLED WHEN she read Alex’s latest message about how the previous year he’d injected blue dye into the shampoo of some jock jerk at his school and red dye into this other jerk’s shampoo. But the joke had fallen flat because everybody thought they’d done it deliberately to show the school colors. The jerks had taken all the credit and then used the shampoo for every game after that.
They never even tried to figure out who did it, Alex wrote. Not that they could have. I was careful.
Did you want them to know? she asked.
Are you kidding? I’d rather not get pounded. You’re only the second person I’ve told. Sandy knows, but my other friends might blab.
It was awesome that Alex’s best friend was a girl. Morgan had friends, but she didn’t have a best best friend, so it made her feel good that she and Alex were sharing a secret. She hadn’t told her dad they’d been messaging each other. So that was another secret. Well, she didn’t know for sure that it was a secret—Alex might have told his mother—but Morgan had a feeling he hadn’t.
It was weird getting to know her brother this way. The night before they’d messaged back and forth for over two hours.
She typed, Have you decided to go on the trip to Yellowstone?
Yeah, I told Mom I would. I guess your dad already has reservations at a campground. Mom is like a superwoman planner. Your dad must be, too.
Not usually, except for stuff to do with his cows, Morgan wrote back, shrugging off the “your dad” thing. She was really glad Alex had decided to go. He and Dad had met at the park, but since he wasn’t writing anything about it, she felt funny asking what had happened.
Maybe, if she got to know Alex well enough, she’d ask what he thought about the whole teen-pregnancy thing. Especially whether he thought his mother was sorry she’d had him, the way her own mother was sorry.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THREE DAYS LATER Alex dragged his eyes open when his grandfather knocked on the bedroom door and told him it was time to rise and shine.
He blearily checked the clock. Five a.m. Crap, they were going on vacation—why did they have to get up so early? Grandma had told him it was part of the fun and she wished they were leaving when it was still dark—it was what she called an indelible experience. He didn’t know what that meant and didn’t care.
After another fifteen minutes, a sharp rap woke him up again and his mom stuck her head inside the room. “Second warning, kiddo. Breakfast is almost ready.”
Rats. He sat up and started taking off his shirt before remembering he’d slept in his clothes so he could stay in bed longer. So he yawned and stuck his feet into his sneakers. He’d been up late messaging with Morgan on his phone long after Mom had sent him to bed.
Morgan was turning out to be okay. They’d gone back and forth about practically everything...except Jackson McGregor.
It was hard to wrap his head around the idea that the guy was his birth dad. As soon as Alex had seen Jackson at the park he’d thought, Holy crap, he really is my father. But it still didn’t seem real.
Alex finished tying his shoes and trudged down to the living room, where DeeDee was groggily brushing her hair. Mom was bright and energetic, double-checking their luggage and joking with Grandpa.
“Jeez, Mom,” DeeDee mumbled. “You went for a run, didn’t you?”
“A short one.”
Alex groaned along with his sister. Running made Mom all perky in the morning.
After a few minutes a big shiny black SUV pulled up in front of the house and Jackson McGregor got out, looking as if he’d been up for hours.
Alex rubbed his face. Cripes, the guy was a cowboy. That was the same as finding out his father was a Klingon.
Everyone headed toward the front yard. Mom stopped and looked back at him. “How about it, Alex?”
“In a second.”
“Okay.”