Page 59 of Crossroads of Love

“Jayla,” Lena starts as she goes toward her.

“How long is Uncle Gavin planning on sticking around?” Jayla snaps as she jogs down the steps. She stands in front of the two of us, looking between us accusingly.

“He’s here for the year. You know that. You can address him, Jayla.”

“It feels like he’s here a lot lately. I spent a full sixteen years of my life only seeing him once or twice a year, but always in the city, and now he blesses us with his presence every single day. Seems a little weird, like he’s trying to push my dad out and take over his life. Did you two have a thing, and that’s why Dad…never mind, this is bullshit.”

“Whoa,” I interject quickly. “You can be mad at me, but you won’t cuss around your mom.”

“You’renotmy dad,” she hisses.

With that, she grabs her phone off the table and walks out of the room, leaving Lena and me in awkward silence. I hear her truck start minutes later. We run out the front door, but Jayla is already gone.

“What is she doing? She never does this,” Lena asks.

“She’ll be back. She probably just needs to get her head straight.”

“This isn’t like her. She’s always been such a good kid.”

“Lena,” I say in a commanding voice. “She’s still a good kid. To be fair, she’s never been this age or in this situation before.”

She lets out a long groan. “I don’t want to lose her.”

“You’re not losing her just because she jumped in her truck to clear her head. Aaron and I used to do the same thing a lot. I remember you used to go sit in the barn or take off on a horse when you needed space.”

She buries her face in her hands and lets out a long breath.

“You’re right.”

“Maybe I should go, though, so I don’t make things worse when she comes back.”

“No. Please, stay. I’ll go crazy if you’re not here.”

I nod, and the two of us sit in the kitchen, waiting for her return. Lena is sitting in the chair, arms crossed, and her knee bouncing up and down recklessly. She’s up every few minutes pacing before she sits down and does it again.

“I should have…I should have talked to her about us, and…she’s not ready to see me move on. She doesn’t want me to get hurt.”

“I get it, Lena. You don’t have to explain it to me.”

“I shouldn’t have…”

“Let’s go in the living room and watch a movie to take our mind off things.”

“I can’t just…”

I cut her off by grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the chair. I lead her into the living room and tug her onto the couch with me. I grab the nearby remote and begin looking for a movie. She immediately snuggles into my side; I wrap my arm around her and tuck her into me as close as possible. Her head is on my chest, her hand on my stomach. I kiss the top of her hair, breathing in her lavender and vanilla scent. She sighs and snuggles even closer, her fingers drawing patterns on my clothes.

I wasn’t expecting this, but it’s perfect. If she needs to be close to me to calm her nerves, I’ll happily be that safe space for her.

Sometime later, I’m almost asleep on the couch with Lena curled up in my arms when I hear the truck pull into the driveway. I remove myself from Lena and stand.

“Pretend to be asleep,” I tell her as I move to the other couch and do the same.

Jayla is attempting to be quiet as she tries to unlock the door that isn’t locked. She keeps dropping her keys and giggling. My eyes flit to Lena.

She’s drunk or high.

“Oops,” she slurs as she opens the door.

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