Chapter 590
As Jamison rattled off his list of instructions, Ivy barely looked up from her phone, nodding along absentmindedly like a pigeon pecking at crumbs. He could tell she wasn’t paying attention. With a sigh, he reached over and pinched her soft, fair cheek. “Don’t roll your eyes at me,” he scolded, his tone firm. “You’re hopeless at looking after yourself. Sometimes I wonder how you’ve managed to survive this long.”
“I heard you, I heard you,” Ivy protested, finally putting down her phone and meeting his gaze. She dutifully repeated his words, “Be careful on campus. Your department’s busy these days, so I need to lock the doors and windows before bed, and call you if anything happens–am I missing anything?”
She could multitask with ease. Jamison pressed his lips together, rendered momentarily speechless.
“Alright, I’m off now,” Ivy said, tucking her phone away as she shot her own instructions back at him. “Don’t overwork yourself trying to visit me. The commute’s too long and you’ll get back late, which will wake me up–and trust me, if you wake me, I won’t be happy.”
Jamison knew she was only saying it to keep him from burning himself out with back-and-forth trips, but it still irked him. He shot her an affectionate glare. “Ungrateful brat.”
Ivy just grinned, leaned over for a quick kiss, then hopped out of the car, her stride carefree as she disappeared through the campus gates.
Jamison waited until she was safely inside before turning the car around and heading back toward the hospital. But there was something gnawing at him. As soon as he merged onto the main road, he put on his Bluetooth headset and dialed Boyd.
“Uncle Jamison, what do you need?” came Boyd’s crisp greeting.
“I want the people watching Emma to keep a closer eye these next couple of days,” Jamison said. “See if she goes to any hospitals, and if so, which one.”
“Understood. I’ll let them know.”
Jamison needed to know if, after his warning on Saturday night, Emma would go in for a checkup that Monday. If she turned up with some kind of contagious illness, it was likely Micah would be in trouble too.
Not that he cared much about his hopeless nephew, but their mother visited the family home often. If she somehow caught something and unknowingly passed it on to their elderly parents, that would be a real disaster. Better to catch any problems early–test, isolate, treat–before things got out of hand.
After hanging up with Boyd, Jamison hesitated, then decided to call his sister, Carla.
But as soon as he explained, Carla’s temper flared. “Jamison, what’s that supposed to mean? Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I’m no longer part of this family. As long as Mom and Dad are alive, I have every right to visit home!”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying, maybe don’t come by for the next few days.”
“Why? Is this about me supposedly telling Grandma about your fertility lie? Are you punishing me now?”
At the mention of that, Jamison’s expression darkened. He remembered how he’d wrongly accused his sister.
“It wasn’t you,” he said, voice low. “I’ve already looked into it. I blamed you by mistake. I’m sorry.”
Carla was so taken aback, she fell silent for a moment.
Then, after a few seconds, she let out a cold, incredulous laugh. “Well, look at that. Mr. Jamison, the tyrant himself, actually knows how to apologize.”
Jamison said nothing.
“Looks like Ivy’s really whipped you into shape–she’s even got you talking like a normal person,” Carla went on, never one to spare her brother from a little teasing.
Jamison kept quiet, but he had to admit, Ivy had rubbed off on him. When you make a mistake, you own up to it and apologize. That’s just basic decency.
“So if it’s not about that, then why can’t I go home? You and Boyd are both too busy these days. If you don’t want me there, who’s supposed to keep Mom and Dad company?”