It's All Relative(78)
Changing her line of questioning, Grams asked, “So, do you and Kai still get to see each other a lot since he started dating that girl?”
Jessie made herself smile, but it felt sad, even to her. Why did Grams always have to bring up Kai? Jessie would rather be bugged about Simon. She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, just last weekend we went to the museum…but…I don’t know, he’s busy getting to know April, and busy with work.” She made herself chuckle; it sounded hollow. “I thought I wouldn’t lose so much of him if I set him up with my roommate, but…it’s different now. There are three of us in the relationship, and it used to just be me and Kai.” She didn’t mention that was the point of him seeing April.
Jessie’s grandmother frowned as she rested her hands on her lap. She adjusted her hip again and Jessie stood up to get her a pillow to put underneath her. Grams smiled, then her face turned serious. “But you still talk often?” Jessie nodded absently as she helped ease the woman’s pain. Grams was silent for a long moment, then asked, “Is he happy? With April? With work?”
Jessie paused in helping her get comfortable. She’d emphasized work more than April. Jessie thought back to that awkward moment with his boss and Kai’s comment that he didn’t think the man liked him. With a frown, Jessie sat back down. “Well, I think he’s happy in general. He and April are just starting, so I don’t really know about that yet.” And she really didn’t want to know. Bringing a finger to her lip, she tapped it while she thought. “But work…I don’t know. He said something strange once.”
Grams leaned forward, her eyes wide. “What did he say?”
The sudden worry in her voice was so intense, it caught Jessie off-guard. Worried about her grandmother falling off her chair, Jessie quickly answered with, “He just said he didn’t think his boss liked him, and when I met the man, he did seem odd around Kai. I merely told him his eyes were a similar shade to Kai’s, and he practically ran away.”
Her grandmother’s face paled as she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Concerned over the emotion she saw brewing on the old woman’s face, Jessie quietly asked, “Are you okay, Grams?”
Her grandmother looked over at her with aged, tired eyes. “Just feeling that pain now, Jessica Marie.” Reaching over, she patted her knee. “Could you get some more pills for me, dear?” Jessie nodded and stood to go get them. Her grandmother grabbed her hand before she walked away. “Don’t let Kai get so involved with a woman that he slips away from you. He needs you, Jessica. He needs his family.”
Her eyes were intent on Jessie, and swallowing a painful lump, Jessie made herself nod. She wasn’t sure that she could stay close to Kai though, especially if things between him and April picked up. But Grams was right, he was family, and if Kai ever needed her, she had every intention of being there for him. Grams face was so serious, so troubled, and Jessie had no idea why.
Jessie thought about it all the way home. The look on Gram’s face, the tenor of her voice. It was almost like she was anticipating a tragedy in Kai’s life. Jessie wondered what could possibly be coming for Kai…right up until she pulled into her driveway and saw his bike on the curb. Then she forgot all about her grandmother’s odd statement, and focused on another problem.
It was Saturday, and Kai and April had another date. Their third date. And everyone knows what happens on the third date. Well, everyone who knows April, knows what happens on the third date, if not sooner. Jessie knew from listening to April’s stories about her dates with Kai that it hadn’t happened yet. Much to April’s dismay, it hadn’t gotten anywhere near happening yet. But April liked Kai, and April liked sex, and she was determined to combine the two things she liked tonight. She’d mentioned that little fact to Jessie this morning. Jessie hadn’t been able to eat anything all day long.
Jessie hated it so much. She hated thinking about another woman’s hands on his body, a body that had last been touched and caressed by her. She hated that she was about to be erased from his skin. Not that there was actually any physical part of Jessie left on Kai, or vice-versa, but Jessie liked to think that the last person you were with, somehow stayed with you. Their essence stayed a part of you, until it was replaced by someone else. Jessie was fairly certain that Kai hadn’t slept with anyone else yet. Not that he would mention that to Jessie. But with how close they were, and how he’d reacted to her comment about his coworker, and how slow he was taking things with April, Jessie just knew there was no one else. Jessie also knew that April would be persistent on this, and Kai was making an effort to move past her. Sex was how guys moved on.
She hated thinking about it…and she couldn’t stop. It still filled her with revulsion when she thought of her and Kai’s one night together, but it gave her warm feelings, too. Deep feelings that she shouldn’t have for her cousin. So as difficult as it was to watch him pursue a romance with April, as hard as it was going to be to listen to April talk about their incredible sex life all the time, Jessie had to endure it. It was the only way for both of them to let go.
Pushing back the pinpricks of tears stinging her eyes, Jessie tore her gaze from Kai’s bike and prepared herself to see him again. Butterflies tickled her stomach as she opened her front door. Wrong as it was, seeing him still affected her, even after all these weeks, even after seeing him less and less. Just the fact that the excitement hadn’t gone away yet was further proof that they were on the right track. She had to get to a point where the thought of seeing his face didn’t make her want to squeal like a school girl.