Page 61 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
Chapter Thirty-One
Kate
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn’t his fault,” I spit out, turning from the table—from my parents—and storming out of the restaurant, dragging Jay behind me.
The nerve! The absolute nerve of her—of both of them and their rotten attitudes! It’s one thing to say it to me, I’m used to the verbal abuse…but to take it out on Jay, to blame him? It appalls me. How she knows about his past, I have no idea. She probably has someone spying on me, and it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to get information on him since she’s an attorney and has friends in high places. Bullshit. It’s such bullshit.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell Jay once we get to my car. “Gah! They’re assholes. They’re such assholes. And my mother was so out of line…calling you a felon.”
“It’s not a lie, Kate.”
I sigh as I lean back against my car door. I look at Jay; he looks so defeated. “I know, but it was a shitty thing for her to do. To blame you and then call you that like it’s the only thing that defines you.”
“Let’s just go home,” he says, opening the passenger door to let me in. He then gets in the driver’s side and starts the drive back to my apartment. It’s a short ride, but in that brief time I note that he’s acting different. He’s quiet.
Why do I have the feeling that everything is about to change?
***
When we get to my apartment, Jay quietly follows me up the stairs. At least he’s coming in. He didn’t go straight for his bike and head home. That’s a good sign…right?
Casey and Decker are still on the couch when we walk in and both look over from the television with surprise in their eyes.
“Back so soon?” Casey asks.
I just shake my head, indicating that now is not a good time, and lead Jay to my bedroom.
“I’m gonna change,” he says, grabbing his jeans and t-shirt off my bed and heading to the bathroom. It’s the first thing he’s said since we left the restaurant, and I feel like it might be one of the last things he will say to me, too. And I know it seems silly, but why wouldn’t he just change in here? We’ve already seen each other naked multiple times.
What the hell just happened? Yes, my parents were assholes, but we’d prepared for that—planned for it. We knew that part would be inevitable. Sure, we hadn’t anticipated that my mother would have done some digging into Jay’s history, but it’s not like it was a secret between him and me.
I take a seat on the edge of my bed and wait for him to return…because he will return. He won’t just leave. Will he? I relax as I hear his booted footsteps approaching from the hall.
“Is everything okay?” I ask as he steps into the room.
His suit is folded over his arm, and I stand up to help him put all the pieces back on their hangers. He slips everything inside the garment bag, zips it up, and finally turns to me, looking at the floor.
“I don’t think this is going to work out,” he finally says, causing all the air to rush out of my lungs.
“What? No.” I barely get the words out. It feels as though the earth has stopped moving, and I’m losing my balance. I step back and sit on the edge of my bed again, my legs no longer able to hold me up.
“We’re so different…you and I…we’re from two different worlds, Kate.”
“Is this about my parents?” Of course, it’s about my parents. “What they think doesn’t matter to me anymore. You know that.”
“It’s not about them. It’s notonlyabout them. Shit. I don’t know.” He scratches the back of his neck and looks anywhere but at me. And that hurts. That hurts a lot.
“I don’t understand.”
“What your mom said,” he continues, “that’s going to happen a lot, Kate. When people find out about me…about what I did…they’re going to look at me differently. And if you’re with me, they’re going to look at you differently, too.”
“You think I care about all that?” I ask, raising my voice. “I don’t. You know I don’t. I’ve never looked at you any different, Jay.”
“I know,” he says sadly. “I know you haven’t, and I know you don’t. But others will and you shouldn’t have that following you around the way that I do.”
“That doesn’t matter to me, Jay. You…you are what matters to me. You’re all that matters to me.”
“That’s not true.”
