It's All Relative(47)

Kai had politely, but firmly, asked her to not ever do that again. He was sure she would, though. Really, he wouldn’t be surprised if she cupped his junk one day. He was seriously hoping that day didn’t happen anytime soon.

Then there was his boss, Mason. After a full week he’d finally somewhat warmed to Kai. He seemed to truly appreciate Kai’s work ethic and ability to multitask. He’d commended him on his analyses and often asked Kai to help him with projects he was working on, most of them involving those damn bees. Fortunately, Kai hadn’t been stung again by the little bastards.

But even with all that, Kai got the feeling that Mason would prefer it if Kai weren’t around. Like, for some unknowable reason, Kai upset him. Mason wasn’t obvious about it when he spoke to Kai, but Kai was observant, and he noticed the tightness of Mason’s eyes, the guarded way he smiled, and the small sigh that escaped his lips whenever Kai entered a room. Yes, Kai wasn’t sure why, but he was positive that his boss didn’t like him.

That bothered Kai. He really looked up to Mason, admired his mind and his goals. The work he was doing was important, noble even, and Kai had a great amount of respect for him. He wanted to turn the man’s opinion around, get him to like and accept Kai as an important member of the team…he just wasn’t sure how to do that. The only thing Kai could really do was keep his nose to the grindstone, keep doing his job to the best of his ability. Maybe, given enough time, whatever Kai had done to Mason would fade away, and they could be close colleagues.

Kai hoped so.

Just as he was feeling better from his mental pep talk, he heard a soft, lyrical ringing. He looked over at his nightstand, to where his cell phone was softly playing a song. Frowning, Kai picked it up. He’d lowered the volume of the ringer on his phone, but he was pretty sure he’d never changed the ringtone to “Endless Love.” Rolling his eyes, Kai wondered if Missy had somehow stolen his cell phone and messed with it. Great. He was positive her number was now in his contact list.

Glancing at the name on his display, Kai frowned even more. Answering the call, he held the phone to his ear. “Mom? Why are you up so early?”

His mother seemed surprise that he’d picked up. “Oh, hi, Kai. I wasn’t sure if you’d be up this early on a Saturday. I was just going to leave a message.”

Kai looked over to the clock on the microwave and let out a soft laugh. “It’s not that early for me, Mom. It’s after ten. But it is for you. Why are you up so early?” he asked again, relaxing back against his headboard as he idly watched TV.

His mom hesitated. “Oh, I just…had a couple phone calls to make. I was a little anxious about making them, so I really wasn’t sleeping well anyway.”

Hearing the stress in his mom’s voice concerned Kai. “Everything all right?”

She hesitated again, like she was debating whether or not to tell him something. He had no idea what she might want to say, and it worried him. “Of course, honey. Don’t you worry about me. How are you doing? How’s work going?”

Her oft-repeated question relaxed him. She had called him every day, and the one thing she always asked him about, was his work. “Since yesterday, Mom? It’s fine.” He laughed as he answered, amused by her curiosity.

Kai heard a sound from her that he could have sworn was a disappointed sigh, but all she said was, “That’s good.” Kai wanted to ask her again if everything was all right, but before he could, she said, “Well, I was just calling to let you know that I sent you a care package. You should get it any day.”

Wondering what she’d sent him, Kai smiled as he rubbed his stomach. The women of his family were so incredibly thoughtful. Despite all of his current complications, he was a lucky guy. “Thanks, Mom. You didn’t have to do that.”

She scoffed at his response. “I’m your mother, honey. It’s exactly what I have to do.”

She laughed softly, and Kai shook his head. “Well, again, thank you.”

Just as Kai was hoping his mother had sent him some of her world famous chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, she asked him about a touchy subject. “So, you meet a girl yet?”

God, Kai hated that question. Curiosity about his love life was one of the unfortunate side effects that came along with having caring women in his life. If it were up to Gran and his mother, he’d be halfway down a wedding aisle by now, but with everything that was going on with Jessie—which was nothing really—Kai just hadn’t had a moment to think about seeing someone else. It kind of hurt his heart to think about it.

Playing up his annoyance, Kai groaned in frustration. “Come on, Mom. Between you and Grandma, I swear, you’d think I was some desperate loser who couldn’t get his own dates.”

His mom was quiet for a moment after his statement. Then she asked, “Millie tries to set you up?”

Kai could hear the edge of irritation and concern in her voice, and he cringed. He shouldn’t have mentioned his grandmother. She and his mom didn’t exactly get along. There wasn’t any real animosity on his mom’s side, but there was definitely no love lost in the other direction. For some reason, Kai’s grandma did not care for Kai’s mother. At all. Kai had thought to ask her about it while he was here…but somehow he could never bring it up around her. It was too awkward, too personal. Kai had to think his mother was worried that his grandmother was trying to set him up with a girl who could be turned against his mother, but Kai didn’t think his grandma would ever intentionally be that vindictive. And Kai would never date someone who couldn’t form their own opinions.