Page 100 of Other Side Of Never
He shrugged.“They don’t know I’m here, but I needed to see you.See for myself that you’re okay.”
“I’m okay,” I breathed, my exhale spilling into laughter.“Seeing you, I’m great!”I glanced around.“Do you want a treat, Jakey?Remember Aunt Anita?You still love chocolate chip cookies?Or maybe you want to walk with me on the beach?”I pointed toward the beach then swung my arm around to indicate the door I’d just locked.“How about you come up?”
“Jake,” he admonished gently.He smiled then shook his head.“I have to get back.”
Disappointment hit me like a Mack truck, but I tamped it down in order to revel in the unexpected gift of his presence, if only for a few minutes.
Tilting my head, I took him in once more.He was a glass of water, and I’d just emerged from a forty-day stint in the desert.For years, my life had been barren and empty save the sporadic moments I got with Jakey.
Jake.
Always supervised, they even monitored his cell phone.
“You drove all this way just to look at me for a minute?”I prodded softly.
I wouldn’t have blamed him if he was angry.He had every right to be.
Leave him be.He’s got a right to be angry.
He’s not the only one who suffered a loss.
Looking into Jake’s wounded eyes, I understood Kian like never before.Because Jake may have towered over me at six feet, but he carried the wounds of a little boy.
A little boy who needed to expel his suffering if he hoped to move on.
And heal.
“More or less.”He grinned and shrugged, his cheeks turning pink.“The hug was a good bonus.”
I stepped forward and wrapped him up once more.“Jakey, Jake, if you ever want to talk things through, I’m here.I’ll listen.I’ll answer every question you have.”
His arms tightened and he laid his cheek on top of my head and nodded.
“I have to go,” he said.When he pushed back, I struggled to let him go, and he laughed.
As sweet and open as he was in my dreams.
With my heart in my throat, I watched him walk around the car to the driver’s side.Clutching my hands at my waist to stop them from shaking, I wracked my brain for something, anything to make him stay.
Even as I willed him to get back before they caught him.
He pulled open the door and stepped one leg in before stopping.Looking at me over the roof of the car, his eyes older than they had any right to be, he broke me.
“I knew, you know.”
I inhaled shakily.“What did you know, Jakey?”
He smiled.“Jake.”
I smiled back and rolled my eyes at my mistake and repeated, “Jake.”
Jake who I’d nursed through teething fevers and ear infections.
Jake who I walked to school every day for four years.
Jake who wouldn’t sleep without me when there was a thunderstorm.
Jake who I enrolled in little league, music classes, and swimming lessons.
