Page 26 of The Fear (The Hillers of Barratt County #7)

Jessica wanted to scream. Brenton was just messing everything up. Her mother had just texted. Said she wanted to talk to Jessica. About the kids. About Billy.

Jessica knew Billy and the kids were having a harder time adjusting to each other.

But…kids were hard to deal with. Especially for someone who didn’t have them.

Maybe he’d yelled at BJ a few times, but…

they were going to work on that. And BJ could be so frustrating sometimes.

The kid just didn’t listen that well and all he wanted to do was hide in his room.

He wasn’t like Wynnie. Billy told Wynnie what to do, and the kid just did it.

But Billy thought BJ needed to man up. To stop being so needy.

Jessica had had the same damned thought a thousand times.

Wynnie had been a lot easier when she’d been three.

She’d tried to tell Billy to just be patient.

She didn’t want the kids to scare him off.

Billy actually had a decent job—made really good money.

He looked really good in the suits he wore, too.

He was already giving her ideas about how to invest some of her tips and make them work for her better.

Doing some day trading and stuff. She’d already given him her savings account.

She’d had four hundred dollars in there and he’d already said he’d turned it into five hundred or so. That was really going to help.

But her mom said something was wrong, and that meant she was going to be in total lecture mode.

Jessica hurried around the apartment, picking up the trash mess the kids had made the night before—or…

the weekend before. They’d been with Brenton for two or three days now.

It was his parenting time. He was always trying to stretch that time out, too.

He was such a fucking beta. She never would have expected it by looking at him, but all he ever said he wanted was for the kids to have a better life than he’d had. Well, didn’t that just make him the perfect parent?

She wanted a good life for their kids, too.

She was their mother. Of course she wanted that.

That was one reason she was dating Billy now.

He could teach BJ how to be a man, and not a jerk like Brenton.

And he could provide for them, the way a man should.

Jessica just wanted to not have to worry any longer.

She stared out the back patio door for a moment.

That woman was right there. Miss Perfect.

Playing with that nephew of hers. At a distance, he looked like a slightly older version of BJ.

But that kid talked to people. She’d seen him in the diner before.

He wasn’t like BJ. Her kid was a little weird.

Nothing in Jessica’s life had ever been normal.

She loaded the dishwasher as fast as she could, trying not to gag. Yeah, so things had molded a little again. She was busy. And didn’t she get enough of people’s dirty dishes at the diner?

Her mom knocked on the door.

Jessica took a look around the apartment. At least the dishes were hidden and the trash was finally picked up.

Nothing she could do about the rest of the place. She threw the new pillows she’d picked up somewhere after she’d had a few shots a few weeks ago back up onto the couch. She hated those damned things. Where had they even come from, anyway?

Still, at least they made it look like she’d made an effort.

Her mom was just going to have to deal.