Possessing Jessie by Nancy Springer Page A

she was probably still trying her darnedest to win her mother’s love, when the sad truth was there just wasn’t much love there –except for Jason.
    Meanwhile, it had fallen to him to parent Jessie. Help her select modest clothes to wear. Buy her classy jewelry, real ruby, her birthstone. Talk to her about boys, how to be careful, how not to get sweet-talked into trouble. His daughter had a real good reputation, and she was smart , a genuine scholar, and even though all that brain was certainly no way to impress her clueless mother, it made Daddy really proud of his little girl, almost as proud as he was of Jason.
    His therapist was watching him. “What are you thinking?”
    â€œHow much I love those kids.”
    â€œThey probably believe you deserted them. When are you going to set the law on your ex and get back in touch with them?”
    â€œEvery time I think about my ex, I want a drink.”
    â€œI know how that is. You just deal with it, that’s all.” She paused. “I also know it’s nice to dream about how wonderful it’ll be to see the kids, right? And maybe you’re scared to leave the dream behind and face the reality?”
    She was right. In his imagination, Jessie and Jason were just the way he had left them. He didn’t want to think anything might have changed.
    â€œDon’t you think it’s time to man up?” his counselor challenged. “Anything could be happening to your children.”
    When school let out, Alisha went straight to the public library to continue her search for W. Richard Ressler, starting where she had left off yesterday. She looked at every photograph on the singles dating sites, but she could not find him. And even if she did, would he be able to bring Jessie back to being Jessie?

Chapter Ten
    After school, Jessie hung around in the lobby, pretending not to watch kids gawk at her new car. It was still parked diagonally. Maybe worn out from dealing with Jessie, the office staff hadn’t said anything about it all day. But while the administration ignored the Z-car, some of the kids were practically kissing it. They were still avoiding Jessie herself, and some of them walked past the black beauty trying not to look as if they were eyeing it, but others clustered around it, stroking its sleek hood, stooping to peer into its tinted windows, owlish looks of awe on their faces as they exchanged comments with one another.
    Jessie watched, smiled, got bored, idly pulled Jason’s cell phone from her pocket, and flipped it open. The instant it lit up, her heart turned over because she knew she was making a mistake, just asking for grief by snooping to see what her dead brother had on his phone. Turn it off, quick–Wait a minute. It said there were new text messages.
    Maybe from the day he had died? Messages he had never answered?
    Aching, Jessie knew she had no choice. Pain if she looked, pain and regret if she didn’t. She thumbed the button.
    And stared. The phrase “stark, staring mad” shot through her mind, and for an instant she wondered what “stark” meant, anyway.
    The messages were not from ten days ago, when Jason was killed. They were received today.
    Lcum bak J
    Who u think u r
    DEB r ded
    2nite DEB r u chikn
    Scrw u + ur car
    Jessie couldn’t tell from the initials who had sent them. Nothing made sense. Why were they texting him? He was dead. Why about Deb? Who was Deb?
    Wait. DEB.
    Dead End Bend.
    Challenge.
    Confrontation.
    Her brother’s friends daring her to show them that she had a right to go around pretending to be Jason.
    Not that it was any of their business, Jessie reminded herself. She didn’t care what anybody else thought. She had never cared what kids in school thought of her. A few times in the past, some imbecile had insulted her to her face, calling her a nerd or geek or whatever. Her response had been to turn and walk away. People like that, no matter how