Page 31 of Until I Find You

The words ring in my ears.

What does that mean? That he’s his father’s son. I know Mari used it as a jab, but if Jack is excusing this behavior, he must be saying his father taught him how to be a gentleman too. The two can coexist I suppose. One can be a gentleman when times are good and an avoidant bastard when the going gets rough. Doubtlessly, I’m a product of a relationship like that.

I shake off the confusion. Keep my head down. Do the work. I’m a businesswoman now, after all.

I don’t have time for distractions. Even if that distraction is my own business partner.

We stareat the bed in the tiny guestroom. The room is barely wide enough for the queen-sized mattress and two nightstands on either side of the bed.

The only saving grace of the room is that it has a private bathroom which will allow at least some semblance of an escape from each other.

Still, though. This is our room.

Our.

Because we’re a couple. Who should be used to sleeping beside one another. Of course, we would share a room and a bed! Would be silly not to, especially in a house where the rest of the rooms are taken.

Jack looks at me dejected. “I can sleep on the floor.”

“Where?” If he slept in the space between the bed and the wall, it would be like sleeping in a coffin.

Jack swallows, then runs a hand through his dark hair.

It’s been a long day. The exhaustion pours off of him. It wasn’t enough that we had a long flight this morning. And it wasn’t enough that the time change was massive.

Dealing with Jack’s mother and her family is no joke.

Mari isn’t afraid to call anything like she sees it, which made me on edge all day.

At dinner, Jack and I held hands on the table, acting like that wasn’t a big deal to us, just to really hammer home the idea that we’re together. Lucky for us, she is so enchanted by the idea of her son having a girlfriend that I don’t think she suspects a thing.

Geoff, on the other hand, is quiet until he isn’t, and when he isn’t quiet, he usually has a very direct question. No wonder they get along so well.

I’m not bothering myself with Kelly and Winston beyond pleasantries, however Kelly became bubblier the longer we chatted. Winston, on the other hand, clearly wants to be anywhere but where he is.

Being a teen is hard.

Being a grownup, I think, is harder.

While Jack’s family is stressful, Hawaii is beautiful. The views of the ocean are spectacular, and the family home is only steps from the beach. It’s hot, not the same sense of impending doom from approaching autumn we had back in New York. And the place puts me at ease.

I didn’t know I needed a vacation so bad. Too bad this isn’t one.

He is still looking around. As if a place for him to sleep other than the bed will suddenly appear. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“We can put a wall of pillows up,” I say. “It’ll be fine.”

I go to my suitcase in the corner of the room.

Jack says nothing more on the subject and, to my mind, it is decided. We’ll share a bed. It’s just a week. We’ll probably be so tired between all the work and dealing with the family that we’ll both sleep like logs and we won’t even know the other is there.

That’s what I’m telling myself.

From behind me, the springs of the bed creak as Jack sits. “I’m sorry about all of this.”

I stop in my tracks. His voice is…aching. I turn to look at him.

He’s at the edge of the bed, head bent low, his hands folded between his knees.

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