Page 121 of Bad Medicine

Making my way down the hall, I headed to Jasper’s room.

Or, at least the room he was staying in here at Francesca and Enzo’s place until we moved him and Mia into their new house tomorrow.

Mia and Francesca had spent the last few days ordering furniture, and the moving company was arriving at the old duplex way too fuckin’ early in the morning, but that was alright. That’s why coffee was invented.

Stopping at the door, I leaned against the frame and watched as Jasper and Linny cuddled on the bed, Linny reading a book with cutesy voices and everything. When Jasper saw me standing there, he jumped off the bed and practically threw himself at my legs.

“Rocco!”

“Hey, buddy,” I said, hauling him up into my arms. “Man, you sure are getting big. What did Linny feed you today? Bricks?”

“No, just noodles.” He giggled, the sound music to my fuckin’ ears.

Every day, it seemed like the awful twenty-four hours he’d spent with his father were farther and farther from his mind, on the way to being forgotten, just as I’d promised Gregor.

“What are you readin’?” I asked, giving Linny a chin lift as I entered the room.

“A book about families. Hey, Rocco?”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“Dat man, he said he was my dad. Is dat true? Is he my dad?”

Well, shit. Maybe not completely forgotten.

Catching Linny’s eye, I motioned for her to give us the room, and she complied with a smile. When we were alone, I sat on the edge of the bed, placing Jasper on my knee as I turned him to face me.

“That man,” I started, suddenly feeling like it was three hundred degrees in the room. How would Mia want me to talk about this? What if I fucked it up?

Deciding that the truth was the easiest, I took a breath and just talked to the kid.

“Yeah, Jasper. That man was your father.”

“But he was so mean. Dad’s aren’t supposed to be mean.”

Reaching for the book on the bed, I held it up for him to see.

“Well, buddy, families come in all kinds of ways. Most are pretty good, but some families are not good. Some moms and dads can be mean.” Seeing his frown, I tossed the book and tried again. “The thing about families is, though, if you get a bad one, you can choose your own.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely, buddy. Me? I had a mom for a little while, but then I lost her, so I picked Enzo to be my family. Francesca, well, she only had a dad for a really long time. Enzo had a mom and a dad, but they lived in different cities, so he didn’t see his dad very often at all. Even your mom, when she found herself alone and needing a family, picked Linny to be hers, because she knew how awesome Linny was, and didn’t want to let her get away.”

“Is dat why she picked you? Because you’re awesome?”

“Heck yeah, I’m awesome,” I teased, bringing another round of giggles. “You’re pretty awesome, too, you know?”

Jasper laughed again before turning serious, looking at me with a tiny frown playing between his eyes.

“Rock?”

“What is it, Jasper?”

“If I get to pick my dad, can I pick you?”

Fuck. I was not prepared for this.

Not at all.