Jessie, recognizing the song, started laughing immediately as she started her vehicle. “Wind Beneath My Wings…really?”
Shaking his head as he glanced at the caller ID, he grimaced at her comment. “Missy…I seriously don’t know how she keeps getting a hold of my phone.” Jessie laughed heartily as Kai smiled at who was calling him. Bringing the phone to his ear, he rolled his eyes again. “Mom, we just left you. Do you really miss me already?”
As Jessie pulled away from the parking lot, he heard his mother chuckle into the phone and then sigh. “I miss you all the time, Kai. I just wanted to make sure that you landed okay.”
Smiling over at a still laughing Jessie, Kai grinned broadly. “We’re fine, Mom. We’re perfectly fine.”
Hanging up after a brief conversation with the mother he’d just left, he stared contently at Jessie as she drove them home. Home. Being with her truly felt like home, not the paradise he’d left behind, not the tiny studio apartment he’d been staying in. Just…being with her was home, wherever that may be.
She glanced over at him watching her. “You know, I’ve been thinking…”
“Yeah,” he murmured, a finger reaching out to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes briefly before snapping them open, maybe remembering that she was driving.
Swallowing, she looked over at him and shrugged. “Well, Grams did mention that her neighbor’s house was free and I was thinking maybe…” She let her thought trail off as her gaze went back to the road. Kai watched her bite her lip, an almost nervous look in her features.
Kai straightened, wondering if she was really considering Gran’s offer of him moving next door to her, in her recently deceased neighbor’s place. He furrowed his brow. A house would give him more space, but in relation to Jessie, it was more of a lateral move than anything. It wouldn’t bring them any closer together. A little farther actually, since he wouldn’t be driving past Jessie’s place on his way home from work anymore.
Noticing his face, Jessie smiled and he relaxed. In a near whisper, she shrugged and said, “Do you think we should ask Harm and April if they’d consider moving there?” Her hand sneaked over to grasp his and Kai’s heart quickened. She wasn’t asking him to move away, she was asking him to move in. She quickly confirmed that as her eyes darted back to the road. “Then you and I could have the place to ourselves…” she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, “if you wanted…to live there with me.”
As she shrugged softly, biting her lip, Kai laughed lightly and laced their fingers together. “I think that sounds like a great idea, Jessie.”
She fully looked at him, smiling, and Kai leaned over to kiss her cheek, angling her face back to the road. She started giggling and twisting away from him as he nuzzled her neck. Living with her? Now that was a move that Kai could whole heartedly support. She was his home anyway.
************
Pulling up to her home, Jessie was flooded with I’m-on-cloud-nine feelings. Kai had asked her to marry him on the plane. Not in so many words, but that had been the gist of it. He wanted a life with her. He wanted his future to always have her in it. Jessie couldn’t believe how just knowing where his head was at, knowing where he envisioned them going, gave her such a feeling of safety and contentment. It was like, all of a sudden, she didn’t have to worry about where she’d be, who she’d be with. She knew, she was one hundred percent sure…she’d be with Kai.
Glancing over at him as she shut off the engine, she was certain he felt the same safety and contentment. He’d essentially asked her to marry him, and she’d essentially said yes. Everything else was details. They’d even begun the first one. She’d asked him to live with her, he’d agreed. They were well on their way to starting a life together.
Grinning at each other, they grabbed their luggage and made their way to Jessie’s house…their house.
Harmony met them in the entryway, engulfing Jessie in a huge hug. Jessie was exhausted from the last emotional week, and the past few days of traveling and transitioning, and really just wanted to crash on her bed, but she dropped her bags and held her friend tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you guys!” Harmony disengaged from Jessie, swooping over to attack Kai. He laughed and hugged her back, just as Jessie had. It warmed her considerably that Kai was so fond of her friends.
“We missed you too, Harm,” she replied tiredly.
Her freckled friend finally released Kai, twisting back to face Jessie. Slinging her hands into her back pockets, her pale eyes watched Kai pick up Jessie’s bag and start to take it back to Jessie’s room. Jessie watched him leave too, smiling at his thoughtfulness.
Once he was out of sight, Harmony shifted back to Jessie. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I sort of did something while you’ve been…busy this week.”
Jessie cocked an eyebrow at her friend, not knowing what she was possibly referring to. Harmony sighed and shifted her weight. Biting her lip, she shrugged and said, “Since you and Kai are pretty much a couple now…I snagged your date.”
Jessie blinked. Date? Other than Kai, Jessie hadn’t been on anything that resembled a date in a very long time. “Uh…what?”
Harmony giggled a little, shaking out her red locks. “Well, I guess you never really dated him. But he called for you all the time trying to get one with you.”
Still confused, Jessie shook her head. “Who are you…?” Suddenly remembering her grandmother’s halfhearted attempts to set her up with her nurse’s son, Jessie’s jaw dropped. “Do you mean Simon?”
Harmony laughed, her cheeks flushing with color. “Yeah…I hope you don’t mind. Jessie could only shake her head, wondering how all that had come about. Maybe seeing the question in her expression, Harmony smiled shyly. “You wouldn’t ever talk to him or call him back, so I just started talking to him for you.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, he was just really sweet on the phone and the more he called for you, the more we started talking.”
Jessie felt heat flush her cheeks. She knew that Simon had called her a couple of times, and she sort of felt bad that she hadn’t just told him that she wasn’t interested outright. But at the time, Jessie’s mind had been a little…preoccupied.
Harmony looked back at the hall as the object of Jessie’s preoccupation started walking up it. Kai grinned at both of the girls watching him. Shrugging again, Harmony twisted back to Jessie. “The last time he called, he called to talk to me.” She smiled widely. “We had our first date last night…and it was great. He’s smart, and funny, and so nice, and he loves to ski as much as I do…and you’re not mad, are you?” She said all of that really fast, an anxious look on her face, like she’d just done something really wrong.
Shaking her head, Jessie laughed and hugged her again. Kai came up to them and cocked an eyebrow, curious about what they were talking about. Jessie ignored him and answered her friend. “Of course I’m not mad.” Raising her own eyebrow at Kai over Harmony’s shoulder, she added, “I was never interested in dating Simon anyway.”
Kai smiled and looked down at the floor. Harmony pulled back and squeezed her friend’s arms. “Good, because I really like him.”
As Harmony started giggling and going on about how great he was, April stepped into the room from the kitchen. Jessie waved at her and April’s face paled. Quicker than you’d believe possible, she ducked back into the kitchen. Jessie looked back at Harmony and then Kai. They both had puzzled looks on their faces and an odd tension started building in Jessie’s belly. Maybe while they’d been away, April had decided she couldn’t handle the strangeness of Jessie and Kai’s relationship? Maybe she was weirded out now?
Feeling like her legs were suddenly made of lead, Jessie walked into the kitchen, Kai and Harmony following her. April was dressed to the nines and chugging back a glass of wine that she’d just poured. Jessie thought she looked about to head out for the evening, maybe on a date.
Giggling nervously after swallowing the last bit
in her glass, she quickly spat out, “Oh, you’re back, great. I can’t wait to hear about your trip but I have a date tonight with that guy from your work, Kai. Louis. Remember, I asked about him once. Well, yeah, he called and he’s taking me to that four-star downtown, so I gotta go. Anything I should know about him, Kai? He’s not a psycho or anything, right? Well, I guess I can handle a little bit of craziness for Lobster Thermidor. Oh, look at the time…I should go, we’re meeting there and I don’t want to be late on my first date with him…”
Jessie blinked several times as all of that was rapid-fired at her. No one in the room answered any one of her various questions as everyone gawked a little at the obviously nervous, obviously babbling April. Thinking maybe she was just anxious for her date, although, Jessie had never seen her anxious for a date in her life, she muttered, “You okay, April?”
Her gorgeous, but exhausted looking friend closed her eyes and slumped against the counter. Peeking only one open, she wrinkled her nose. “Don’t hate me.”
Jessie sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as Kai came up to stand beside her. Kai looked down at Jessie then over at April. “Hate you for what?”
April inhaled and exhaled, looking between the both of them. Then her hands flung out to her sides and she started babbling again. “Okay, see the thing is, I thought once you two came out of the closet, or whatever, everyone knew about it. Especially since you were going to talk to Kai’s parents in Hawaii and all. I just sort of assumed that it was common knowledge now that you two are bumping uglies…”
“April!” Jessie exclaimed, trying to steer her friend back on track. “What happened?”
She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Your dad called.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow, not liking where this was going. “And?” Jessie felt Kai slip an arm around her waist. Only then realizing her posture was rigidly straight, she relaxed into his side, dropping her arms from her chest.
April sighed, yet again. “He asked for you and I told him you were on your way back from Hawaii. Then, he was naturally curious about what you were doing there and I didn’t think much about it, because again, I thought it was common knowledge, so…I told him you and your boyfriend were visiting his parents there.”
She shrugged and Jessie swallowed. Well, that was okay…she could work with those facts. Nodding, she muttered, “Alright, if that’s all he knows then it’s not that big of a deal really.”
April shot down that hope with her next comment though. “I may have also gone on to mention that Kai was your boyfriend and that his parents included your uncle…”
“You didn’t!” Jessie felt herself tighten back up. Her dad was currently under the impression that she was dating her cousin? “Damn it, April, all you had to do was tell him that I’d call him back when I got home!”
April cringed then stuck her chin out. “I’m sorry, but your dad is like this super, FBI investigator guy. He cornered me! I had to talk!” She shrugged apologetically. “I tried to explain about Kai’s situation, but your mom flipped out and grabbed the phone and we sort of got disconnected.” She pointed to the phone on the counter. “It just happened like twenty minutes ago, so I’m sure you could call back…”
Jessie sighed, bringing her hands to her face. Great, both her parents thought she was sleeping with her cousin. “April…”
“Sorry, your dad intimidates the hell out of me! You know, you could have told them all about this before you left for your little vacation.” Jessie peeked through her fingers to see April scowling at her.
Jessie sighed then let a soft laugh escape her. “It’s fine, April. Really, I needed to talk to him anyway. This just…sped up the process.”
April’s irritated face evened out into a smile. Kai beside Jessie exhaled heavily. “I forgot your dad was FBI.” Looking down at Jessie, he cringed. “He’s going to shoot me, isn’t he?”
Jessie chuckled at Kai and shook her head. April took that moment of distraction to mutter apologies again and duck out of the room, pulling a laughing Harmony with her. Jessie sighed and shook her head again. “I guess I should call my dad back.” She closed her eyes. “This is such an awkward phone call to make.”
She opened her eyes at hearing Kai’s laugh. “You’re telling me.”
He gave her a wry smile and Jessie tried to hold onto the light feeling that he gave her. Trying to push down the butterflies wanting to build, she grinned crookedly at him. “Ready to be introduced to my family?”
Kai laughed again and shook his head. “I think I was born ready.”
Jessie couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her, but managed to frown too. “That’s not funny, Kai.”
He grinned at her, slinging his arms around her waist. “It kind of is…now.”
She sighed, placing her arms over his. “I love you.” He nodded, smiling warmly at her, and Jessie exhaled slowly, preparing herself. As she released from Kai’s body, she slowly walked over to the phone. She could almost hear the executioner’s drums in her heads, beating out a hollow, ominous rhythm. Wrapping her hand around the receiver, she inhaled for ten long counts.
Kai grabbed her hand and gave her a supportive nod. Jessie squeezed it back, determination filling her. She could do this. She could turn her family around about this. She was positive that once they realized that Kai was no more related to her than her ex-douchebag Jeremy had been, they’d accept him. And then, once they got to know Kai, she was positive that they’d love him too. He was just so different from every other guy Jessie had ever been with. So wonderful, caring, and kind…there was just no way they couldn’t get past his last name and eventually come to terms with him.
As she punched in their phone number, a peace flowed into her. And really, even if they somehow couldn’t, even if they somehow rejected him forever, it didn’t matter anymore. Jessie knew the truth, and the truth was all that mattered. Kai wasn’t related to her. Kai loved her. She loved Kai. They were going to be together for a long, long time…possibly forever. They were going to get married one day. They were going to have children one day. And those children would be beautiful and perfect and genetically safe, because she and Kai were genetically different.
It was really as simple as that.
Smiling widely as she heard the long rings finally silence as the phone was picked up, she completely relaxed. Jessie knew that her parents would always love her, even if they didn’t approve of her relationship, and either way, this would all end up okay, as long as she and Kai got to be together. Clutching Kai’s hand tighter as her dad’s gruff “hello” echoed in her ear, she brightly said, “Hi, Dad. I hear that you called and I wanted to clear up some things.”
Her dad’s voice immediately started barking questions at her and she paused, waiting for the break that only her silence would give her. Once his end of the line went silent, and once she knew he was listening, she looked up into Kai’s amazingly beautiful, ocean-like eyes. “If you are willing to listen now, I want to tell you all about someone that means the world to me. I want to tell you about a man that you think you know…but you don’t. I want to tell you about the man that I do know. Dad…I want to tell you about Kai Harper, my…”
She searched for a word that would adequately describe his importance to her. Boyfriend? That word was too paltry, too simple and insignificant. Smiling brightly as her and Kai’s gazes remained locked, she thought over what he meant to her, what they meant to each other. He’d found her at her lowest point, after being broken and betrayed by a man that she’d thought she loved. Kai had picked her up, helped her put her feet back on the ground, and made her feel appreciated and respected…loved. When his world had crumbled around him, Jessie had been the one to hold him up, help him through the pain of discovering who he really was. They were each other’s rocks, each other’s support, each other’s best friends, and each other’s lovers.
Shaking her head at Kai, she could only sum up her feelings for him with, “He’s my…everything.”
***The End***
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