Page 27 of July (New Orleans #7)

W hen Jill woke up, a coolness surrounded her.

Her eyes hadn’t opened yet, and she was still trying to hang on to those last few moments of peaceful sleep because if she woke fully, she would have to let it all in.

A sick little sister who missed her mother.

A mother who wouldn’t come home. The worry about the house and trying to figure out what to do with the hardly lived-in apartment she’d considered an upgrade when she had rented it but now couldn’t afford to keep.

The fact that she was supposed to be promoted to manager but still hadn’t been, and Mel hadn’t brought it up in a while, worrying Jill even further now because she would need that extra money with another mouth to feed and clothe.

Giving up on her futile resistance, she opened her eyes, turning her head in hopes of taking in Willa next to her because she was the only thing going right in Jill’s life right now, but Willa wasn’t there.

The coolness in the room was because Jill’s bed – or, rather, the guest bed in her mom’s house – was empty, save her own body, which was still under the warmth of the blanket.

She craved the warmth of Willa’s body next to hers, though, because no blanket could ever comfort her the way Willa always seemed to be able to do without doing much of anything.

Jill rolled over and checked the time on her phone.

It was just after seven. Juni would be up by now unless she was still out of it from the cold medicine Jill had found in a cabinet last night.

Maybe Willa had left early so as not to be seen.

That would make the most sense. But Jill didn’t have a text message stating as much, nor did she see a note on the bed or the table.

Then, she heard laughter and smiled because it was Juni’s.

Why was Juni laughing, though? When Jill heard a voice that wasn’t Juni’s next, it all started to make sense.

Reluctantly, she pulled back the blanket, rubbed her face rapidly with both hands, and stood up.

Having grabbed her phone, she tucked it into the pocket of her sweatpants and opened the bedroom door to go across the hall to find them, but Juni’s bedroom was empty.

Jill heard the laughter coming from the kitchen now and headed that way.

“My mom let me cook with her, too,” Juni said.

Jill stopped before the open doorway so as not to be seen yet.

“She did? What did you cook with her?” Willa asked.

“Everything,” her sister replied. “Cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes?” Willa chuckled a little. “What flavors did you make?”

“Chocolate and vanilla. I got to mix them up first, lick the spoon, and then help with the icing.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“I didn’t get to help Jill make the ones for the bake sale because I was in school.”

“They were pretty good, though, huh?” Willa asked.

“She made funfetti. Those are the best. And she did a swirly icing. My mom couldn’t even do that.”

That made Jill smile with pride: Juni liked her cupcakes. In a way, she’d already known that, and she also knew it was such a small thing, but it mattered to her that Juni had something from her that made her happy.

“Whoa. Swirly icing?” Willa asked.

“Yes. You saw them. Weren’t they cool?”

“They were very cool,” Willa replied. “Now, we have to flip this one, okay? See how it has these little bubbles around the edges? That means it’s ready.”

“Can I do it?” Juni asked.

“Can you be extra careful? It’s hot.”

“Yes,” Juni replied.

“Okay. Here you go.”

Jill heard something hiss in a pan.

“I did it!” Juni said loudly, sounding like she didn’t have a sore throat at all.

“Can you set the table for me?” Willa requested.

“Okay,” Juni said. “Um… How many plates do I get? Jill is still sleeping.”

“Just two. You can wake her up in a minute and have breakfast with her.”

“You’re not staying?” Juni asked, sounding a little disappointed.

“I just came over this morning to check on you because you didn’t feel well last night,” Willa lied, covering up the fact that she had slept next to Jill.

“But you could stay,” Juni replied.

“Yes, you could,” Jill suggested, walking into the room.

“Jill, we’re making pancakes!” Juni told her excitedly. “I flipped that one,” she added, pointing to the pan that Willa was currently moving off the burner.

“You flipped that pancake? Well, then, I have to eat that one myself because it’s going to taste the best,” she said and moved over next to Willa when Juni started to get silverware from the drawer. “Stay,” she whispered.

“Are you sure?” Willa asked.

Jill turned to check that Juni was busy and kissed Willa close to her ear.

“Stay. And good morning.”

“Morning,” Willa replied.

“I’ll kiss you for real when we’re alone,” Jill whispered before pulling away and walking over to Juni, who was setting forks and butter knives on the blue vinyl placemats. “How are you feeling this morning?” she asked at the same time she placed her hand on Juni’s forehead.

Juni was completely unbothered by this and continued to put the cutlery on the table.

“Fine.”

“Your throat?”

“Doesn’t hurt.”

“And you’re not still tired?”

Juni shook her head.

“Surprisingly, because she woke up at six in the morning,” Willa noted.

“What? Why?” Jill asked, looking down at her little sister.

“I was done sleeping,” Juni replied with a shrug. “Then, I was hungry, so I came into the kitchen to make cereal, but I dropped the box, and the cereal was on the floor, so I had to clean it up.”

Jill looked around and saw no evidence of the mess on the floor.

“I got here right after that,” Willa added with a wink in Jill’s direction, which meant that the cereal crashing to the ground had woken her up, and she had somehow managed to sneak out the front, pretending like she had arrived just in time, and had really been the one who had cleaned up the mess.

“Juni and I decided to make pancakes. Sorry if we woke you up.”

“You didn’t,” Jill said. “Also, thank you,” she added to Willa, who knew what she meant.

“Can I have two?” Juni asked Willa.

“Have a seat,” Willa replied and carried a plate with two pancakes over to her.

Juni’s eyes got big when she saw them. She must have been starving because it looked like she hadn’t seen food in her life.

She had eaten her dinner, but not all of it.

When Jill had felt her head, Juni had seemed okay, but she’d still take her temperature after breakfast and again in a few hours just to make sure it had really gone away, whatever it had been.

“How many do you want?” Willa asked.

“How many did you make?”

“About ten.”

“ Ten ? You thought Juni and I could put away ten pancakes if you didn’t stay to help us?”

“No, I was going to make five, but someone…” Willa pointed at Juni, who was preoccupied with adding way too much syrup to her pancakes. “Added way too much water to the mix in the bowl, so I had to add more mix, and here we are.”

Jill laughed, and when Willa set a plate down in front of her, she used Juni’s syrup distraction to rub a hand over the back of Willa’s thigh, needing to touch her somehow.

“Okay, kiddo. I think you have enough syrup there,” Jill noted.

“I like it,” Juni said.

“Oh, I can see that. But I can no longer see the pancakes under it, so save some for the rest of us, okay?”

“Okay,” Juni replied and placed the syrup bottle on the table.

When Jill looked down and saw three pancakes stacked perfectly on her own plate now, she began to add butter and syrup.

“Willa said that next time, we could add blueberries to the batter,” Juni shared.

“She did, huh? Willa said next time ?” Jill looked over at Willa, who was sitting down with her own plate.

“Sorry,” Willa said. “I thought you wanted to be healthier with her, but you didn’t have a lot of options in the fridge. I was going to make blueberry pancakes, at least, because Juni said she’d never had them, but you didn’t have any.”

“I’ll pick some up,” Jill replied and then added with a smile, “For next time .”

“Oh, coffee,” Willa said and shot out of her chair.

“Sit,” Jill replied. “I’ll get it.”

“Can I have coffee?” Juni asked her.

“Absolutely not. You’re getting apple juice.”

“But I helped cook,” Juni argued.

“And when you’re older, you can cook and have coffee, but not today.”

Willa laughed a little at their interaction, and Juni dug into her pancakes while Jill poured some apple juice for her and set it down in front of her before she went to get the coffee that Willa had brewed.

Having poured two cups, Jill walked back to the table and handed Willa one before setting down hers.

Then, she squeezed Willa’s shoulder on her way to the fridge, where she pulled out the milk since she didn’t have any cream.

Finding the sugar container on the counter, Jill put both items on the table and let Willa take care of the rest for her coffee.

“What are we going to do today?” Juni asked her as she chewed.

“Mouth closed. Manners, Juni,” Jill told her with a little laugh.

“Sorry,” Juni replied and quickly closed her mouth.

“I’m still a little worried that you were sick yesterday. Maybe we should take it easy today and just hang around the house.”

“Can’t we go to the park or something?” Juni asked.

“Let me take your temperature after breakfast, and we’ll see, okay? If you’re really better, we can go for an hour or so. I want to wash your bed stuff today because you were sweaty last night, and I don’t want you to get those germs again.”

“Okay,” Juni said.

“Hey, you want to be a grown-up and drink coffee. You cooked this morning. Want to learn how to do laundry? You can do that while I hang out and play on your tablet all day.”

“What?” Juni asked, looking shocked at the mere suggestion. “No.”

Jill stuck her tongue out at her, showing her sister that she was joking, and then looked over at Willa, who was smiling at them both.

“Want to come to the park with us?” Jill asked.

“Oh, I–”

“You don’t have to,” Jill said. “But you can if you want.”

“Maybe,” Willa replied, giving Jill a look that told her they would talk about it when they were alone.

“Please come with us, Willa,” Juni said.

“Hey, Juni?” Jill asked.

“Yeah?”

“After breakfast, we’ll do the temperature thing. Then, you take a shower, all right?”

“Okay.”

That got Juni to refocus on her food, and Jill was glad that she’d managed to distract her.

She looked over at Willa, who was eating now, and then turned back to her sister and thought that she could get used to this.

She smiled before she remembered that the mortgage was due and that her mother still hadn’t sent her any money.

Jill knew her name wasn’t on this house, so she wouldn’t be responsible for anything with the bank, but if she didn’t help her mother put the house up for sale, she would be, leaving her with probably no money to send anyway to help with Juni moving forward.

Jill also knew that mornings like this could exist in her apartment but that Juni wouldn’t have her own room, and the living room would be a disaster with all of her stuff around.

As she ate, Jill thought about how, only a month ago, she had had Enid over to her apartment, and she’d planned on them having sex on that sofa.

She hadn’t exactly been a one-night stand kind of person, but when she liked a woman, she loved the idea of bringing her home to her nicer apartment and showing it off a bit before they disappeared into her bedroom.

That wouldn’t be happening anytime soon if Juni was asleep on the sofa.

Hell, she couldn’t even let Willa stay over with Juni out there.

The bedroom door opened to the living room, so Juni would wake up and realize that Willa hadn’t come from the front door.

“Put your plate in the sink for me, please,” she said to her sister when she was finished eating.

Juni rose and put her plate and juice cup into the sink before rushing off to her room to get ready for her shower.

“Hey, take your bedding off your bed and toss it on the floor,” Jill yelled after her.

“Okay!”

When Willa was done eating as well, she stood up and walked over to the sink, where she put her own plate down. Jill took advantage of this moment alone and walked up behind her, wrapping her arms around Willa’s waist.

“I missed waking up with you.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I heard her, and I was afraid she’d storm in like last night. Then, I heard the cereal thing, and you were still out like a light.”

“It’s okay,” she replied and kissed Willa’s neck. “Thank you for this morning. You’re amazing.”

“It was just pancakes. She said she was hungry.”

“Willa?”

“Hmm?”

“Babe, turn around,” she said, and when Willa turned in her arms, she added, “I promised you a real kiss, remember?”

“You also promised to make out with me last night, but you passed out after you got Juni back in bed.”

“I’ll make all of this up to you, I swear.” She tugged on the T-shirt she’d loaned Willa last night. “Juni didn’t notice you were wearing my clothes?”

“No,” Willa said with a laugh as she wrapped her arms around Jill’s neck. “But if I’m going to be staying over, I need to start bringing a bag.”

“Yes, do that,” Jill told her with a nod and leaned in, pressing her forehead to Willa’s. “Come to the park with us, if you can.”

“I have to work,” Willa said. “I need to be there in two hours.”

“Oh,” Jill replied, disappointed. “All day?”

“I have an eight-hour shift today and a four-hour shift tomorrow unless they cut either of those. I’ll find out when I get there and check the schedule.”

“Tonight?” Jill asked. “I’m sure you’ll be tired, but I can cook this time. No broccoli.”

Willa laughed a little and said, “I’ll call you and let you know.”

Jill was hoping for a definitive yes or no, but she’d take that answer and hope it would turn into a yes. She pressed her lips to Willa and kissed her slowly, reveling in how domestic this all felt already and how much she craved more of it along with… other things.

“Jill, I’m ready for my shower!” Juni announced.

“Coming!” she yelled back after pulling away from the kiss. “I wish,” she added more to herself than anything, but it made Willa laugh, which made Jill smile.

“You will. Soon,” Willa said with one last kiss to Jill’s lips.