THE NEXT DAY
i was in the farm, gardening or what not.
then i heard pants and footsteps
"j-jayj? jj!? where have you been!?" i ask
"long story." he sighs
"where are the others?" he asks
"almost here, why?" i ask
he takes my hand and pulls me into him
i hug him and he hugs me
"you okay? what happened?" i ask
"nothing.. im.. im just.. its just my dad." he sighs, pulling away and looking down at me
"oh shit. he's.. he's back? since when?" i ask
"yup. he's been holding up at barracuda mikes, i guess." jj paces up and down
"wait, he's not trying to come back here, right? he didn't say anything about the place being his?"
"no.. no, it wasnt that.."
"cause the town council thing is ton.. tonight. you should lay down you don't look good." i tell him
"he told me he wasn't my real dad." he scoffs
"you wish." i scoff back
"vienna, it wasn't a joke. like, he was being.. i don't know! but.. but i get this... letter?! it's from wes genrette. it says to jj, talk to your father and he says.. he says wes genrette is.. is my grandfather. which makes groff..."
"would make groff your dad?" i question
"yeah."
i could tell jj was overwhelmed and overthinking this
"and- and you know that baby? the.. the one that drowned? yeah.. he says i'm that baby. i'm that- friggin-" he kicks a can over
"hey.. hey.. it's okay, we can talk through this later, okay?" i assure as the twinkie pulls up
"finally" i groan as i walk over, jj pulls my arm back
"hey, vie. can we just... not.. tell them?" he asks
"mhm. yeah. between us." i nod
"between us." he nods and kisses me gently before we both head over to the others who i instantly regret because
"what's that smell!?" i squeal
—
we all talk about what happened in charleston then john b looks at jj
"where's you ghost off to, big guy?" john b asks jj
"who? me? oh. i was uh.. just trying to help out the team. didn't work." jj lies, it amuses me how quick he can lie
"not surprised" john b sighs
"im so sorry about the rat shit and.. shit. but we have that bullshit zoning meeting tonight and we don't have money for a lawyer." john b smiles
"any ideas? votes?"
"yeah let me just study law-" pope begins
"that's sarcasm we don't need right now, thanks." john b groans
"maybe we should call people? like jj, your friends, pope? your uncle and stuff?" sarah requests
"yeah, get the family together." cleo chuckles
"speaking of.. uh, family. this is gonna sound insane but rafe came by and gave me his business card. he said he wanted to help us." i explain as i give sarah the card.
