More Than This (More Than, #1)(22)

“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?”