It's All Relative(109)

April slung an arm around Jessie’s shoulders, and Jessie leaned into her, grateful. It was the first time in a long time that April had been anything other than snarky with her. “She’s right, you know. Kai would have told you if it were a family emergency.” She shrugged in an adorable way. “I mean, that would affect both of you, right? He’d want you to know.” She smiled like what she’d just said was a positive thing. Jessie wanted to cry again.

Seeing the despair on her face, April squeezed her tighter. “Hey, I’m sorry about throwing a fit over the rooms. Threatening to leave...giving you no other choice but to stay with him. That was kind of petty. I was just…hurt, I guess.” She leaned her head on Jessie’s shoulder while Jessie sniffled. “Harmony and I talked a lot last night, and she’s right…I was being bitchy about the whole thing.” Glancing up at Jessie, she gave her a small smile. “It’s not like I haven’t called you worse.” April winked at her and Jessie managed a small laugh.

With a sad sigh, Jessie thought of everything that had happened between her and April recently, and all of it was because Jessie had tried to place April between herself and Kai. Truly a bad idea. All she had done was added jealousy into the relationship with her cousin, and strained the relationship with her friend. And the worst part was, she couldn’t explain any of that to April. “I am so sorry I went off on you.” Blushing, she added, “I know it’s a poor excuse, but it really was more about him than you.”

April put her hand over Jessie’s and squeezed. “Yeah, the girl in his past that he can’t let go of. I know, he told me.” Jessie felt a tightness around her heart. That girl was her, but April didn’t know that. April’s face brightened as she sat up straighter on the bed. “Hey, maybe that’s it! Maybe it’s the girl? Maybe she realized what an idiot she was being, called him, and begged him to come back. Maybe he fled in the middle of the night to run to her.” She let out a romantic sigh and shook her head. “I bet by tonight, he’s on a plane back to Hawaii, where she’ll be waiting for him at the airport. Then they’ll kiss, an orchestra will play, and everyone will live happily ever after.”

Jessie closed her eyes. April had just unknowingly played out her greatest fantasy, but it wasn’t reality. No, in the real situation, Kai wasn’t running to Hawaii to get the girl, he was running to Hawaii to get away from the girl. Away from her. He could very well be on a plane by tonight, heading home…alone. No orchestra would be waiting for him and there would be no happily ever after with the woman he loved. Not in this fairy tale.

Harmony paused in packing her bag to smirk at April. “Well, aren’t you the closet romantic?” Grabbing a pair of pants, she chucked them at April. “Now pack up, I’m not doing it for you…again.” Harmony pursed her lips while April stuck out her tongue.

What felt like an eternity later, the girls were all piled in Harmony’s car, ready to leave their getaway spot. Harmony let out a sad sigh as she cast longing glances at the lodge in her rearview mirror. Jessie felt guilt resurface, but she just couldn’t sit around and try to have fun for a few hours while Kai slipped farther and farther away. She didn’t blame him for planning on leaving, for going back home. She just couldn’t stomach the thought of him leaving her without saying goodbye.

And besides, Jessie could make it up to Harmony with another trip in a couple of weekends. If there was one thing that was easy to do in Colorado, it was ski in the wintertime. Maybe she’d treat her friends to the best room in the lodge, as a way to thank them. That was, if she ever felt like doing anything fun again.

Sighing, as she hoped for the millionth time that they were gaining on him, Jessie felt April beside her pat her knee. “Hey, relax. I’m sure he’s fine.” Jessie gave her a half smile, not really in the mood to chitchat about Kai. April brightened as an idea struck her. Digging through her jacket, April pulled out her cell phone. “Did you try calling him?”

Jessie slowly nodded. “Yeah…it went straight to voice mail. Maybe the battery died?” Or maybe he shut the phone off? She didn’t mention that possibility though.

April tried him anyway, but she got the same result as Jessie. Jessie bit her lip to keep the tears at bay. She hated the idea that Kai might have intentionally shut the phone off—intentionally shut her out. That was a whole new level of torture. April frowned as she put her phone away. Then, with a small smile on her face, she said, “Want to hear about the guys from the bar last night? It might take your mind off things?”

Jessie smiled softly, and April bit her lip. “Mine was a tight end for Oregon State...and yeah, he had a very tight end.” She giggled while Harmony shook her head.

Jessie managed a tiny laugh. “Sure, tell me all about him.” Anything to stop worrying about Kai.

Settling in, Jessie listened to her friends talk about all the fun, innocent flirting they’d done last night. Jessie tried not to let it happen, but words and sounds of her own night with Kai filtered through her head while they spoke, breathing in her ear, whispering how he needed her, how much he thought about her, her own sounds as he finally entered her. Telling her that he couldn’t stop, the erotic noise he made when he came…

It was a devastatingly long drive home with all of that in her head, and by the time Denver rolled into view, Jessie’s stomach was knotted so tight, she wasn’t sure if it would ever relax. Jessie told Harmony how to get to Kai’s place. When she pulled up to the apartment building, Harmony stared at it with an odd expression on her face. Too anxious about Kai to care why Harmony looked perplexed, Jessie opened her door.