Текст книги "More Than This"

Автор книги: Jay McLean

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Chapter 10

*Jake*

Mikayla’s ‘Aunt’ Lisa is on her way over here, I guess they need to discuss funerals and things. I’m just glad she’ll have someone around that she’s known for more than two days. I see her phone going off constantly and she ignores it every time, I bet it’s James.

I had to practically kick my agent out of the house this morning. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, then he saw the swelling and bruises forming on the knuckles of my ‘pitching’ hand and lost his shit.

My dad hadn’t seen it either, he wasn’t very happy about it. When I told them what happened, Ryan, my agent, told me not to let bitches ruin my dream. That’s when I told him to fuck off, in a nicer way, before I left and came upstairs to check on Mikayla. The whole time I sat there, all I could think about was her.

When I went upstairs I didn’t expect to walk in on her conversation with her aunt about having no underwear. Like, none at all. I couldn’t help but look up at her when she said it, her nipples were poking through my shirt.

I know, I’m a dick. The girl’s so fucking fragile right now, she’s just lost everything, and I’m the creepy perv, staring at her tits. I’d punch myself in the face if my hand wasn’t so fucking sore.

***

The doorbell rings and I open the door to a tiny pixie haired lady about my mom’s age. She smiles warily at me.

“I assume your Jake?”

“You must be Lisa, come in. Have a seat,” I gesture to the sofa in the family room. “I’ll just go get Kayla, she’s upstairs.”

“Thanks, hun. Oh, and give her this.” She hands me a bag. Bras and panties.

I run into my mom on the staircase and tell her that Lisa is downstairs waiting, she leaves to introduce herself.

I knock on my bedroom door and open it slightly, peeking in. She’s in the middle of my bed in the fetal position, quietly crying. My heart breaks.

I clear my throat and she looks up at me.

She sits up and wipes frantically at her tears.

I sit on the bed next to her. She’s showered and wearing my mom’s sweats which are a little small for her, they hug her curves, but I don’t look too long.

I grab her face in my hands and start wiping the tears away with my thumbs. I don’t know if she means to, but she leans into my hand a little and it takes everything in me not to kiss her.

“Your Aunt Lisa’s here,” I tell her. “And she wanted me to give you this.” I hand her the bag.

She blushes. “Thank you, uh, I’ll just go to the bathroom and… dress… just wait here, okay?”

I nod, because being in the next room while she tries on underwear is going to be fine.

She’s out within minutes and a shy smile creeps on her face. She sits down next to me on the bed.

“I know that I’ve already said this but I don’t think I can say it enough, Jake. Thank you, for being here, and for helping… and your mom… I need to thank her too. And your dad, I haven’t even met him yet… god, I’m so rude. I just-"

“Kayla, stop. It’s fine. We honestly don’t mind. And you’ll meet my dad soon, he should be home with Julie any minute now.”

“Julie?”

“My little sister, she’s eight.”

Sadness shadows her face, she must be thinking about her sister. “How old is, I mean was, Emily?”

“She was nine.” She stops breathing for a second and closes her eyes. When she opens them, there’s a resolution there, like she’s made a decision, or accepted this horrible fate.

She grabs my hand in hers. “Come with me, please? Just be there… with me.”

I lead her down the stairs and into the family room where Lisa is waiting for us. Mom’s there too and there’s tea set out on the table. Lisa stands when we walk in and they hug for a long time. I take a seat on the two seater opposite and assume Kayla will sit next to Lisa on the sofa, but she surprises us by sitting next to me, and continues holding my hand. She sits so close to me, like she’s trying to climb me.

She’s afraid.

I adjust our positions so I can throw my arms around her waist and hold her hand, she burrows even closer to me.

I’m not blind to the confused stares we’re getting from the grown ups, I just don’t care. If she needs me, I’ll be there.

It’s then I realize that this might be the last time I see her. I don’t know what her plans are or where she’ll live after this. Is she still going to UNC? She might not even want to see me again. Surely, in her mind, I’m linked to the worst night of her life. I didn’t even think of that. My stomach drops at the thought of never seeing her again.

Lisa clears her throat, glancing between the two of us. “I’m sorry.” Her eyebrows are drawn together in confusion. “I know there are more pressing things we need to discuss, but what’s going on here?” She looks at kayla now. “Kayla, your mom sent me a picture of you last night. You were cozied up next to James, and Megan was there. She said in the message that you had just left for prom. Am I missing something?”

I look to Mom and she’s just as confused. She leans forward in the recliner waiting for an answer. She won’t get one from me.

Mikayla's voice is so quiet you can barely hear her words. “I walked in on James last night.” Lisa gasps, knowing where this is heading. “With Megan.” Lisa’s face falls. Kayla continues, “They were seeing each other behind my back for two years.” It’s Moms turn to gasp.

I hold her tighter.

“That’s when I met Jake, he was there… he was there to help me. He-"

“Wait,” Lisa interrupts. “you guys have only known each other for one night?”

Kayla’s quiet for a long moment before she answers, “I don’t think that really matters, Lisa. I knew James for four years.”

Lisa nods in understanding.

“I know it’s strange, and I know it might be circumstantial. Like, we shared an experience and that somehow makes us closer, but, Lisa,” Kayla looks up at us now, “Jake, he makes things hurt a little less. He… he’s home for me right now. If being around him takes the pain away just a tiny bit, then it doesn’t matter how or why he’s here with me. I just…you can’t understand…” her voice trails off.

Lisa settles back on the sofa, my mom smiles at Kayla, and I kiss her on the temple before leaning us back into the sofa.

Just then the front door bursts open and Julie goes barreling down the entrance hallway. I hear her shoes squeak as she makes an effort to stop abruptly, then she slowly walks into the room. My dad comes up behind her and places his hand on her shoulder. She looks at everyone in the room one by one, her eyes land on Mikayla and she does a double take, she takes in our positions and closeness to each other.

“Ooooh,” she says, coming closer to us. She’s examining Kayla’s face up close. “You’re pretty!” Then she looks at me, “Better than the last one, Jacaaaarb.” She says my name like she did when she was a baby, she does it when she wants to be a brat because it pisses me off, but now is not the right time. I’m about to tell her to get lost when she leans even closer towards Kayla.

“Hey! I know you! Your Emily’s sister, right? Man, she looks so much like you. She’s gonna be just as pretty when she grows up. We have dance together. She wasn’t there today though, is she sick?”

“Okay kiddo, time to get some homework done. I’ll let you do it in my office on the big spinny chair.” My dad says, and then mouths a ‘sorry’ to Kayla.

“Oh no…” My mom covers her mouth with her hand. “Emily Jones? Your parents are Kevin and Denise?” Understanding dawns on her face.

Kayla nods. Her eyes wide with unshed tears.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Mom cries.

Lisa looks between my mom and Kayla. It’s not enough that Kayla’s lost her entire family, or that Lisa’s lost her best friend, but now mom’s lost people she cares about too, she just didn’t know it.

“So, there might be a slight issue with the hotel room, Kayla.” Lisa breaks the silence.

We all look at her.

“I tried to book two rooms at the same hotel, or at least a room with two beds, or even a room with a twin or queen bed, but the only ones available are singles and even they were hard to find. Apparently some new ‘Nicholas Sparks’ movie is being filmed here and that ‘Zac Teflon’ boy from those high school movies is in town. All the hotels are booked out.”

She takes a sip of her tea. “I thought you would be staying with James or Megan, but now I see that that’s not an option.” She glances at me, and then down to our entwined hands. “I can make it work. We’ll make a bed on the floor of the hotel until we sort out what’s happening with the house insurance and stuff.” She tries to smile.

“She can stay here!” I blurt out.

Kayla’s head whips to face me.

“Right, Mom?” I plead with my eyes.

“Yes, sweetheart, of course, you can stay here until things settle a bit and more permanent housing has been organized.” She smiles reassuringly at me.

“I can’t stay here-"

“What?” I face her.

“You can, and you will.” My mom states with a tone that means ‘the end’.

***

Lisa ends up staying for dinner, Julie is spending the night at a friends house. Dad apologizes to Kayla again and has assured her that he’s explained the situation to Julie. It might be a little hard for an eight year old to comprehend but he did the best he could. I know Kayla appreciates it.

Lisa and Mom make plans to catch up again the next day to organize some more things. I think Lisa is glad someone is there to help both her and Kayla, and I know Mom doesn’t mind, especially now that she’s found out she knew Kayla’s parents.

After dinner, Lucy and Heidi arrive. I rang them earlier and told them about her clothing situation, the fact the she doesn’t have any, aside from underwear.

I get them to wait in the family room while I run upstairs to get Kayla, she’s been holed up in my room since dinner. She didn’t eat.

I don’t know how she’ll feel about me telling them, and them being here.

I knock on the door and wait for her response.

She opens the door and peeks out. I can tell she’s been crying from the puffiness of her eyes.

“Hey,” I say.

She fails her attempt at a smile.

“Umm, I really don’t want you to get mad, but uh,” I rub the back of my head, nervous habit, “Lucy and Heidi are downstairs…”

“Jake, I don’t-"

“It’s my fault, I rang them earlier. I just, you need clothes, and probably other girl things, and I didn’t know what else to do…”

Her eyes are cast downwards, but when she hears my explanation she looks up at me and a small smile breaks through.

She opens the door wider and steps out of the room, grabbing my hand as we climb down the stairs.

We stand at the door of the family room and Lucy and Heidi both turn to us. At first they see our hands locked, then they look up at us and smile.

Lucy speaks first, “We’re really sorry about what happened Mikayla. If you need anything at all… just let us know, okay?” She’s standing in front of Kayla looking straight into her eyes.

Kayla nods.

Heidi stands up and positions herself next to Lucy, “We just bought some stuff over that you might need, Jake mentioned you can’t get back into your house. So… we just bought the essential stuff. I know it’s not much Mikayla-"

“It’s more than enough,” Kayla interrupts. “And my friends call me Micky.”

I smile at her, let go of her hand and use it to bring her head to my lips, I kiss her on her temple. I love doing it and she doesn’t seem to mind, so I’ll keep doing it until she tells me to stop.

“I’ll get some drinks,” I tell them, as I walk out of the room.

Chapter 11

*Mikayla*

Heidi and Lucy have come by to let me borrow some things while I’m here, seeings as I can’t get into my house, crime scene and all that.

“I just got you some stuff you might need, girl things. Jake didn’t really know what you needed. It was kinda adorbs when he rang, all awkward and shit,” Heidi pauses. “Micky…” she waits until I’m looking at her. “Jake… he’s good people y’know. I’m glad it was him you ended up with last night.”

I nod slowly, “Me too.”

“Anyway,” Heidi continues perking up, “I just bought some toiletries, body wash, shavers, toothbrush, lotions. I didn’t know what you liked so I just packed whatever I had. I bought some clothes too. I mean, we didn’t know how long you’d be staying so we really didn’t know what to pack. We figured we’re all about the same size though.”

“You guys, whatever you’ve got will be perfect, I’m sure.” I smile, it’s a genuine one, because these girls, they don’t even know me, and they’re doing what they can to help.

I still haven’t heard from Megan. Nothing.

Lucy pipes up. “I packed some clothes too, obviously Heidi and I don’t dress the same, so at least you’ll have a choice of what to wear,” she chuckles to herself. “Umm, I also bought my spare e-reader for you. I don’t really know…” She looks to the ground, her voice getting softer. “I don’t know if you’ll want to read, or if you can concentrate on reading… I just… it’s there if you want it.”

“Thanks, book best friend.” I tell her, and she beams back at me.

Theres a few moments of silence.

I can’t even imagine how awkward this must be for them, trying to console a girl they don’t even know.

“So…” I start, “Justin Bieber’s your jam, Heidi?”

They both laugh, and the awkwardness leaves the room for the moment.

“It’s kind of an inside joke,” Heidi says through giggles.

“Not really,” Lucy smirks at Heidi. “Heids here had a wee little obsession with the Biebs when he first blew up. She went a little too stalkerish when he was in town once, his security had to detain her and her parents had to pick her up.”

“No way!” I say, eyes big in disbelief.

“Yes, way.” Jake interrupts, as he walks in with drinks for all of us. He places the tray on the coffee table between us.

“The next day at school everyone knew about it, people were calling her ‘wannabeiber’. She didn’t care though, she wore it proud, like a badge. I still see Dylan's eye twitch whenever he hears Justin Bieber.”

Our laughter fills the room.

Talking about this reminds me of Emily, so I tell them about it.

About how my dad tried to dance ‘The Dougie’ to Emily’s version of ‘Baby’. About how they followed me around belting, ‘Penis, penis, penis ohhhh’.

When the laughter fades, a sadness washes over me.

“I can’t believe it was just last night,” I say to no one in particular. “It feels like so long ago. This day has gone on forever.” I look at Jake next to me. “Is this like, the longest day in history? What is with today?” I ask seriously.

He puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses the side of my head, I love when he does that.

“We’ll let ourselves out,” Lucy says, halfway out the door with Heidi.

“Let’s get you to bed.” He helps me to my feet.

***

I’ve been laying in bed for 2 hours and I can’t seem to settle. I’m exhausted and restless, and devastated. I don’t have words. I want to go home, and I don’t. I guess I won’t be able to tell how I feel until I’m faced with the opportunity.

An hour later I’m still wide awake. I need to get out of this bed, out of this room. I head downstairs. I can hear the murmurs of a TV running, but stop in my tracks at the bottom of the stairs when I hear my name, conversation’s coming from the kitchen.

“Does Mikayla have nowhere else to stay?” Jake's dad, Nathan, asks.

I freeze, my stomach drops to the floor.

“Dad, Seriously?”

A moment of silence.

“I’m sorry, son. That came out all wrong.” Nathan's voice is softer now, more sympathetic. He doesn’t have an accent either, come to think of it, neither did Julie.

“Look,” Nathan continues, “it’s not that we don’t want her here, you have to know that, but you need to understand that we’re just worried about you-"

“Dad-"

“Hang on, Jake. Just let me finish… What you guys experienced, it’s a lot to take in, even if you had known each other for years, it’s still would have been… I don’t know. It’s just that, well, your mom told me that you guys met last night, and we’re not blind Jake, I see the way you are with her, the way she is with you. I know that there’s something there. But, I guess we just worry, and not just for her, for you too, Jake. This is a lot to take in for someone your age, for anyone, regardless. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we, your mother and I, are just afraid that she’ll depend too much on you, and that you’ll take it as more than what it is. She has no one else?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Dad.”

“I don’t want you to say anything, I’ve said what I need to,” Nathan sighs. “Now that that’s out of the way, we also want you to know that we’re so proud of you, Jake. You’ve changed and grown up a lot in the last year or so, you’ve turned out to be a good man, and we love you. Just remember that you’ve worked hard to get to where you are, all of us have. Just remember that, and your mom and I, well… we trust you to make the right decisions, not just with this girl, with everything.”

“Thanks, Dad.” his voice breaks.

I hear footsteps heading toward me and panic. I can’t run back upstairs, I’ll look like I’ve been listening in on their conversation. Idiot.

“Kayla?” Jake says.

I turn around to face them both, they have to know I’ve just heard everything they’ve said.

“Goodnight, Mikayla.” Nathan brushes past me to the staircase and gives my shoulder a little pat.

I struggle to find my voice. “Goodnight, Sir.”

“Can’t sleep?” Jake asks.

I shake my head.

He’s in sweatpants, and nothing else. His broad chest and shoulders are on display, his stomach muscles ripped and defined, down to the V that leads to his… I’m staring.

“Watch some TV with me?” He holds out his hand. “Nothing like infomercials to make me wanna crash.”

I take his hand as he leads me to his bed on the sofa.

Once were seated, he turns to me, “You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah, I’ll organize somewhere to stay as soon as possible, I’ll make some calls in the morning.”

“Kayla, that’s not at all-"

“Let’s just not talk about it tonight, okay?”

He nods, then looks away from me.

“It’s Mom’s birthday today,” I say quietly.

“Christ, Kayla.” He rubs the side of his face.

Silence fills the space between us.

“Megan hasn’t tried to contact me once,” I tell him.

His arms wrap around my shoulders and adjusts us so I’m leaning into him, my head on his chest under the crook of his arm, the heat from his bare skin is overpowering. “I hate to state the obvious here, but Megan’s kind of a shitty person.”

I let out a tiny laugh.

His hand is stroking my hair, from roots to tip, it’s making me drowsy.

“You know who isn’t a shitty person?” I say through a yawn. “You, Jake Andrews, you’re not a shitty person. Not even a little bit.”

“Thanks,” he chuckles.

My eyelids are getting heavy. “Mmmm,” I hum. “My mom used to do this when I was little, when I couldn’t sleep, play with my hair I mean, it always helped.”

“Go to sleep, baby.” It’s the last thing I remember before he kisses the side of my head and I give in to exhaustion.

Chapter 12

*Mikayla*

I’m woken by the sounds of a feminine throat clearing.

My eyes snap open and Mandy, Jake's mom, is standing in front of me, hands on her hips, except she’s sideways. I take a few seconds to get my bearings and work out what the hell is happening.

Then there’s a moan and movement from underneath me. I sit up quickly, too quickly, and the room begins to spin.

“Shit,” Jake says, from next to me. “We must have fallen asleep.”

I feel something wet on the side of my face, my hand reaches out to touch it. Drool. I’ve fricken drooled, on him. My eyes automatically go to his lap to see if there’s evidence. I instantly regret it.

He’s got morning wood.

Shit.

I immediately look away, but not before a tiny squeal escapes my mouth.

“Shit,” he mumbles as he stands up to hide/adjust himself. He must know I’ve seen it.

My eyes dart to him again, I try to avoid that area but I can’t. I squeal again. Because I’m a 12 year old virgin girl.

His mom is giggling.

He picks up a cushion from the sofa and covers himself.

“Aawww, Jakey, don’t be embarrassed, it’s a nat-"

“MOM!!” he yells, interrupting her. “Stop, please. Just get out!” His hand not holding the cushion points to the door.

She’s all out laughing, as she exits.

It’s just the two of us in this, what feels like, tiny, room.

“This isn’t awkward at all,” he sighs, shaking his head.

Then we both start laughing.

And for a second, I almost forget about the pain. Almost.

***

*Jake*

So, she’s pretty much seen my junk. In all its glory. At least it was covered up. It could be worse, I don’t know how, but I’m sure it could be.

Lisa will be here soon, Kayla says she’s coming because she wants to finalize a bunch of stuff before everyone’s back to work tomorrow. Personally, I think she’s just coming to check on Kayla. I’m sure a part of it has to do with the strangers bed she’s been sleeping in.

After breakfast, I go looking for her. I walk into the family room to see her sitting on the sofa, looking down at her phone, her eyebrows bunched together in confusion.

“Whats up?” I sit next to her and nudge her leg.

“Huh?” She’s distracted.

I watch her as she stares at her phone.

“Have you heard from Megan?”

“Huh? Oh… no.”

I remove her phone from her hands so I can get her full attention.

She looks up at me.

“What’s going on, Kayla?”

“I’m just trying to work up some courage.” She looks resolved.

“What do you mean? Courage for what?”

She’s quiet for a beat. “Sam, James’ mom… she’s been calling me, I haven’t spoken to her yet, she’s sent a few texts too.” She looks away from me. “She’s asked that I stay with them. I don’t think she knows about James and Megan, but she knows something’s up with me and James.”

She pauses.

I sit and wait for the rest.

She looks back at me now, tears in her eyes, “I think I should go there, Jake, stay with them, I mean. Just until everything gets sorted…”

I try to interrupt but she stops me. “I was with him for four years, I was like a daughter to them. I just think that maybe… they might be more comfortable with me there.”

There’s a lump in my throat that makes it hard to speak, I have to clear it a few times before anything comes out. “Kayla, if that’s what you want then I can’t stop you, but it’s not what my family want, and it’s definitely not what I want.”

She sighs, “I think I need to, Jake.”

“And what about James?” I can’t help but spit out his name.

“What about him?”

“Are you guys gonna get back together? I mean, do you still love him?”

“I-"

She gets cut off by the doorbell, Lisa’s here.

***

Lisa spends the day with Mom and Kayla, making phone calls and arranging appointments for the next week. I can see Kayla’s preoccupied, she just tends to nod and agree to anything, I don’t think she actually has a clue about what’s happening.

Logan comes by, but Kayla’s not really in the mood for hanging out, so he leaves soon after. Logan might be an ass most of the time but the kid’s got heart, there’s a reason he’s my best friend.

I don’t know what Kayla’s thinking… about where she’s going to stay. I hope to god she doesn’t go to James’ house, not just because he’s an asshole, but because, well… honestly, I don’t really want to be without her. It’s selfish, I know.

Lisa ends up staying for dinner again. Apparently the funeral director is coming tomorrow morning to make arrangements and then the cops will come by for an update after that. Then the next day they have an appointment with the family lawyer. I think Lisa’s hoping the funeral will be the day after, turns out she’s getting married in a couple of weeks, the weekend after graduation, so she has to head back home the day after the funeral.

“So…” Lisa says at the dining table, while we eat desert. Kayla's plate is untouched. Julie is still at her friends house. “I know that this is far from important right now,” Lisa continues, putting down her fork, “you know your mom was going to be my Maid of Honor, Kayla? I’m hoping that maybe you would take her place. I mean, I think it’s fitting, I love you just as much as I love her.”

Kayla agrees, and they make plans for flights and accommodation. Lisa invites my parents too, but they have Julie's dance recital that weekend. Apparently Lisa, the fricken awesome lady she is, doesn’t want Kayla traveling alone, so I have no choice but to go with her.

After Kayla insists on cleaning up after dinner, we head to the back patio. It was a nice summer day, but it started cooling down in the evening. We sit in the swing seat together with a light blanket over us, her tucked under the crook of my arm, legs tangled, swinging, sitting in silence.

“Are you adopted, Jake?”

I laugh, because it’s not the first time I’ve heard the question, but I play dumb to amuse her. “What?” I mock.

“Don’t laugh, it’s just the only conclusion I can come to. You’re the only one in the family that has that sex– I mean,” She flushes… “you know, that accent.”

“You think it’s sexy?” I try to hide my smirk.

“Shut up.” She swats my chest and sits up a bit. “I know I’m not the first girl to think or say that. I’m sure that Casey girl has mentioned it.” She looks at me waiting for a reaction.

I flinch at the mention of her name.

“What’s the deal with her anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

“So, back to me being adopted…” I try to change the subject. “I was actually born here, my parents were raised here, and so was I, until I was five anyway. I lived like, literally two streets down. Anyway, my dad got offered a job he couldn’t refuse, but it was in Australia, so we packed up and moved there.”

“What does your dad do?”

“He’s a lawyer, it’s actually amazing what he does. He specializes in children and family law. He takes on all these jobs, like pro bono and shit. He normally works with like, disadvantage kids, or kids that are beaten or neglected. He’s kind of their voice when they don’t have one, you know?” I look at her. “I know what you’re thinking, he’s like this huge, tough guy, right? It doesn’t seem like something he does, but when he gets in the court room, he has the same reaction. He’s intimidating. When he speaks, people listen.

“Anyway, there’s really no money in it for him, in that field, not here anyway. I was too young to really grasp it but I think that his job in Australia was doing the same thing. Only, he was in charge of all these like, junior lawyers who were just starting out and were interested in doing the same thing. The company he worked for got huge financial backing from donations and I think even some from the government. The junior lawyers were mainly volunteers who did it for the love of it, so Dad apparently got paid quite well just to oversee and make sure none of the juniors were breaking any laws.

“That’s awesome, Jake. He sounds like a good guy.”

“He is,” I agree. “Anyway… my dad was always a baseball fan, so when we got there he looked for a baseball team for me to join. If you didn’t know, baseball isn’t really a big thing there. They have like rugby, and cricket, and something called AFL. It’s just another code of football. I actually got into that a bit, but it’s like a full contact sport, no padding, and it’s really rough play. After a few years I was starting to get pretty good at baseball and my dad and coaches noticed. They didn’t really want me getting injured so I had to choose one or the other, I chose baseball.

“When I was about fourteen or so, dad thought that maybe I might be good enough to get into a decent college here, but it was kind of hard to compare my talent there, because there really wasn’t any. So he sent me back for like six months to live with my aunt and uncle up the road, and made a bunch of appointments with specialized coaches and talent scouts and stuff.

“When the information got relayed back to Dad that I might even be good enough to go pro one day, they packed up everything and moved back here. I guess I adapted the Australian accent and it’s stuck. Julie was actually born there, she was four when we moved back here so she doesn’t have an accent either. You think mines thick but it’s only half assed compared to the real thing. You should hear some of my mates when they call on Skype, even I have a hard time understanding them.”

She’s been listening so intently, I can hear the cogs in her brain turning. “So what happened to your dad’s job?” she asks.

“He left it behind. He’s back to doing what he was doing, not as much money,” I shrug. “They kind of gave up everything so I could make it, it’s hard not to appreciate that.”

“But you didn’t go pro straight out of high school? Are they disappointed?”

“Not at all, I mean, I could have gone pro if I wanted. The offers are there, but it was always my decision. I want to get a college education. I mean, who knows what the Majors has in store for me. I could play two pro games and then injure my arm and it would be over. I have to be smart about it, you know?”

“Shit, Jake.” She’s looking at me wide-eyed, “Your mom wasn’t kidding, you kind of are a big deal.”

“Shut up,” I laugh.

After a few minutes the patio door slides open and Julie comes out. She looks at Kayla, and smiles shyly.

“What’s up Ju-ju? Did you have a good time at Cindy's?” I raise my hand for a high five.

She returns it, “Yeah, I did.”

“Hey, Mikayla,” she starts, “I’m really sorry, about Emily and your parents, and about what I said. I didn’t know…”

“Oh, sweetie.” Kayla moves to sit up in front of her, out of my arms, “Don’t worry about it okay? It’s fine,” she assures her.

Julie nods her head slowly, then hands Kayla a little wooden box.

“What’s this?” Kayla says, as she grabs the box and opens it.

“When I got to Cindy's house, I told her about Emily and Mr. and Mrs. Jones. We umm… we rang around the other girls from dance class and we decided to make these cards, for you. Cindy’s mom drove us around and we collected them from everyone, I chose the box. The cards… I know it’s not much… but we all wrote stuff we liked about Emily, and stuff that we remember about her, she always made us laugh. We just thought you might like it, that’s all.”

Kayla’s holding the cards in her hand, tears are endlessly flowing from her eyes. She places the box carefully on the seat next to her, gets off to squat down in front of Julie and gives her a gigantic hug. Kayla starts sobbing, and Julie begins to cry too. Kayla pulls back, holding Julie's face in her hands and wiping her tears with her thumbs. She looks from Julie, to me, then back to Julie.