diff --git a/src/ufoLib2/serde/json.py b/src/ufoLib2/serde/json.py
index b6e27565..9a99e0a1 100644
--- a/src/ufoLib2/serde/json.py
+++ b/src/ufoLib2/serde/json.py
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from typing import Any, Type, cast
+import json
+from typing import Any, Type
 
 from ufoLib2.converters import structure, unstructure
 from ufoLib2.typing import T
 
 have_orjson = False
 try:
-    import orjson as json  # type: ignore
+    import orjson
 
     have_orjson = True
 except ImportError:
-    import json  # type: ignore
+    pass
 
 
 def dumps(
@@ -26,18 +27,21 @@ def dumps(
         if indent is not None:
             if indent != 2:
                 raise ValueError("indent must be 2 or None for orjson")
-            kwargs["option"] = kwargs.pop("option", 0) | json.OPT_INDENT_2
+            kwargs["option"] = kwargs.pop("option", 0) | orjson.OPT_INDENT_2
         if sort_keys:
-            kwargs["option"] = kwargs.pop("option", 0) | json.OPT_SORT_KEYS
+            kwargs["option"] = kwargs.pop("option", 0) | orjson.OPT_SORT_KEYS
         # orjson.dumps always returns bytes
-        result = json.dumps(data, **kwargs)
+        result = orjson.dumps(data, **kwargs)
     else:
         # built-in json.dumps returns a string, not bytes, hence the encoding
         s = json.dumps(data, indent=indent, sort_keys=sort_keys, **kwargs)
         result = s.encode("utf-8")
-    return cast(bytes, result)
+    return result
 
 
 def loads(s: str | bytes, object_class: Type[T], **kwargs: Any) -> T:
-    data = json.loads(s, **kwargs)
+    if have_orjson:
+        data = orjson.loads(s, **kwargs)
+    else:
+        data = json.loads(s, **kwargs)
     return structure(data, object_class)
diff --git a/tests/serde/test_json.py b/tests/serde/test_json.py
index 954d86cf..67cdab8b 100644
--- a/tests/serde/test_json.py
+++ b/tests/serde/test_json.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ def test_dumps_loads(
 ) -> None:
     if not have_orjson:
         monkeypatch.setattr(ufoLib2.serde.json, "have_orjson", have_orjson)
-        monkeypatch.setattr(ufoLib2.serde.json, "json", json)
 
     font = ufo_UbuTestData
     data = font.json_dumps()  # type: ignore
@@ -52,7 +51,6 @@ def test_dump_load(
 ) -> None:
     if not have_orjson:
         monkeypatch.setattr(ufoLib2.serde.json, "have_orjson", have_orjson)
-        monkeypatch.setattr(ufoLib2.serde.json, "json", json)
 
     font = ufo_UbuTestData
     with open(tmp_path / "test.json", "wb") as f:
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 8d418c3e..e55a83b3 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@ deps =
 commands =
     black --check --diff .
     isort --skip-gitignore --check-only --diff src tests
-    # typing stubs for orjson exist but I don't want mypy to use them!
-    pip uninstall -y orjson
     mypy --strict src tests
     flake8