After the Sky Fell Down (32 page)

“Yeah, I am,” she said, the knife stopping in mid-spread and meeting his eyes.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I
t means exactly what I said.  Do you really think that’s a good idea?” he asked again, his tone turning gruff.

“And why wouldn’t it be?”

“Do you think he should be around Sarah?  I mean, what do you even know about him?”

“You’re joking right?” she laughed.

“No, I’m not.  I’m not comfortable with Sarah being around some strange guy,” he said standing up and dumping his cereal bowl into the sink.

“He’s not a pervert or something,” she said glaring at him, insulted he would imply she was putting her daughter at risk. 

“And how do you know?” he sneered.

“Seriously Luke?” Kathryn said sternly.

“What?  I’m just letting you know how I feel.”

“Well, you can keep your opinions to yourself.  I’m her mother.  I decide who she can be around.  You are not her father,” she said glaring at him
.

“No, I’m not her father.  Her father’s dead, but I’m
the closest damn thing she’s got to a father and I’m only looking out for her.”

They stood in silence, staring at each other with Sarah looking between them curiously. 

“We are not having this conversation in front of Sarah,” she said in an angry whisper, knowing Sarah could still hear, but feeling better if she lowered her voice.             

“Then when can we have it?” he scoffed.

“We’re not.  This conversation is over.  You need to relax.  We’re just going on a picnic.”

“Well, for the record, I think it’s a bad idea,” he said staring into her eyes.

“Yeah, you’ve already made that point clear and you know what Luke?I don’t really care what you think.”

He glared at her again.  She’d never seen him like this in all the years she’d known him.  They’d grown especially close since Ben’s death and he was right.  Luke was the closest thing Sarah had to a father, but it still didn’t give him the right to step over the line like this, basically accusing her of putting her daughter in a dangerous situation.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he said.

Luke spun on his heel and walked off to his bedroom.  Kathryn wanted to take off after him and shake some sense into him, to demand why he was acting like such a jerk, but instead, she just
sighed and looked down at Sarah who was sitting on the floor playing with her toes.  She looked up and smiled at Kathryn, causing her sour mood to immediately melt away.  She scooped Sarah up and squeezed her before setting her in her high chair so she could finish getting the picnic ready.

“Don’t you listen to your Uncle Luke,” Kathryn said as she buckled Sarah in and poured some Cheerios on the tray to keep her occupied.  Sarah just laughed and swiped her hands across the tray, causing an avalanche of cereal to spill all over the floor.  “Seriously Sarah?  First your uncle and now you?  Can’t you give me a break?” she scolded jokingly and then went to the utility closet to get the broom. 

As she swept up the cereal, she couldn’t shake Luke’s words.  Maybe he was right.  Maybe he did have a point.  She barely knew Jace.  What if he was some psycho pervert like Luke said?  She put the broom away and then took her phone from her purse and found Jace’s number.  She stared at it for a few moments, wondering if she should call him and cancel.  Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. No, she shook her head and put the phone away.

Chapter 3
2

Luke hadn’t come out of his room since their argument and Kathryn was glad he’d stayed away.  She was still confused by his outburst and a little angry too, but she was trying to forget about it.  She’d loaded up the small Coleman cooler with sandwiches and potato salad along with a few sodas and gotten herself ready while Sarah napped.  She decided on a pair of jeans and a cream knit sweater and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.  Sarah woke up a little while later and just as Kathryn had finished clipping Sarah’s bangs back with a pink barrette, the doorbell rang.

“Alright baby, here we go,” she said nervously as she balanced Sarah on her hip and headed to the door.  She took a deep breath and swung it open. 

Jace stood there smiling and then his eyes immediately focused on the little girl in Kathryn’s arms.

“Hey.  Come in,” she said motioning him inside and they moved to the living room.

“So, this is Sarah,” Jace said taking a step closer and holding out his hand.  Sarah smiled and grabbed his finger.

“Yep, this is Sarah,” Kathryn said beaming down at her daughter.

“She’s cute,” he said almost timidly.  She could tell he wasn’t exactly comfortable around kids, but was doing his best.

“Thanks,” she said and then looked to the kitchen, hoping to leave before Luke came out.  She wasn’t sure if he would, but she thought it best not to wait around to see. “You wanna get going?”

“Sure,” he replied.

“Let me just get the cooler,” she said, beginning to walk over to the kitchen.

“I’ll get it.  Don’t you need to get her diaper bag together or something?” he asked with a grin.

“Yeah, actually I do.  Thanks.”

Jace grabbed the cooler and plastic bag with the plates, napkins and forks and came back into the living room where Kathryn was zipping Sarah’s coat.

“Alright, I think we’re all set,” she said picking Sarah
and the diaper bag up.

“Weren’t you going to introduce us?”

Sarah turned to see Luke standing in the hallway.  His eyes were bouncing between Kathryn and Jace.  His glare wasn’t openly hostile, but his mouth was curved up smugly.  Jace looked over to her curiously.

“Um, yeah.  I thought you might be sleeping or something.  Didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Nope.  I’m wide awake,” he said with a sarcastic grin.

“Well, then.  Luke this is Jace.  Jace this is my roommate Luke,” she said as casually as possible.

“Nice to meet you,” Jace said extending a hand to Luke, who hesitated for a moment.  Kathryn cringed thinking he might refuse Jace’s hand, but a moment later, Luke nodded and took it and shook it briefly.

“I’m Sarah’s uncle,” was all he said and the cringe she’d suffered earlier crept back.

“Oh?” Jace said and looked over to Kathryn, his eyebrows raised in apparent surprise.

“Yeah, my brother was Sarah’s father.  I’m surprised Kathryn didn’t tell you,” Luke said and Kathryn could tell he was enjoying making everyone in the room uncomfortable.  Jace was staring at her and she could almost see the question mark floating over his head.  She wasn’t going to hide the fact that her roommate was Ben’s brother, but she hadn’t gotten around to explaining it just yet and now she looked deceitful again.  This picnic was getting off to a great start.

“Well, um, Jace, we should go,” Kathryn said flinging the diaper bag over her shoulder and heading to the door.  A few seconds later, Jace followed her.  Luke was still standing in the hallway and Kathryn wanted to go slap the victorious smirk off his face, but decided she’d save that for later.

“Have fun,” Luke said cheerfully and watched as they walked out.

****

The ride to the park had been polite a
nd quiet.  She half-expected Jace to begin hounding her with questions the moment they were alone, but he didn’t and they pulled into the park a few minutes later.  It was a beautiful day, crisp and cool, and the leaves all around were turning into a fire of color.  They found a spot at a picnic table under a large maple tree and Kathryn began laying out the sandwiches and potato salad, wondering when he’d bring up Luke’s revelation.

“I hope you like ham,” she said, breaking up a sandwich and setting it in front of Sarah who began playing with it.

“I do,” he said taking a sandwich too and then turning his attention to Kathryn. “So, you didn’t tell me your roommate is Ben’s brother.”

Kathryn sighed knowing she couldn’t avoid it forever and looked up to meet his dark eyes.

“I was going to tell you.  Today actually, but Luke had to go and open his big mouth before I could.”

“I don’t mind.  I think it’s pretty cool actually.  Luke seemed a little perturbed about something though.”

“Yeah, you caught that, did you?” she asked quietly looking down.

“You’d have to be blind and deaf not to,” he said with a laugh.

“I’m sorry he came across so rude.  He’s not usually like that, he’s just very protective of Sarah,” she said hoping he’d understand.

“It’s fine Kathryn.  I
get his concern.”

“Well I don’t,” she said thinking back to hers and Luke’s conversation that morning. “I guess he’s all freaked out because I’m letting Sarah spend time with someone I hardly know.”

“That’s understandable,” he said taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Well, maybe a little, but he still didn’t need to be so rude to you.”

Jace just shrugged his shoulders and dished them each up some potato salad.

“Here you go
, Sarah,” he said sweetly placing a small dollop on her plate. 

Her fingers went directly into it and shoved some in her mouth.  He started laughing and then she grinned too.  Kathryn found herself almost mesmerized watching Jace and Sarah.  It was so strange sitting around with her daughter and another guy other than Luke, but J
ace seemed to be enjoying himself and Sarah was warming up to him.

“She looks like you,” he said looking over to Kathryn.

“You think so?”

“Yeah.  She looks like you when she smiles,” he said and she grinned thinking back to the d
ay she was born when Luke had said almost the same thing. “Her eyes are pretty.”

“She can thank her father for that.  Ben had the most beautiful hazel eyes,” she said
as her mind drifted off.

It was quiet between them and she knew Jace must be getting uncomfortable as she was obviously lost in her memories.  Kathryn quickly shook her
head, trying to push the memories away, which pained her.  She didn’t want to push Ben away.  She couldn’t push him away, but she couldn’t have him around all the time.  It hurt too badly. 

“So Luke’s pretty good about helping out?” Jace asked.

“Yeah.  He’s been great.  One of the few people I felt I could turn to when Ben died.”

“Who’s idea was it to move in together?  Yours or his?”

“His actually.  He wanted to help.  He didn’t want me to have to move back in with my parents or do it on my own.”

“So it works out then?”

“We get along great and Sarah and Luke adore each other.  He’s been a huge help.  I’ll never be able to repay him for everything he’s done.  So yeah, it usually works out, unless you count today,” she said trying to laugh it off, but couldn’t.

“Hey,” he said reaching over and gently touching her hand.  “I don’t know Luke, but give him a break.  He’s just worried about you and Sarah and that’s a good thing.”

“I’ll try to remember that when I’m kicking his butt tonight,” she said and they both started laughing.

****

The afternoon had gone well, despite how the day had begun.  After eating, they’d played with Sarah on the playscape and collected shells along the beach.  Jace had been so sweet with Sarah.  Kathryn was glad they’d taken to each other and was relieved to have everything out in the open.  She still didn’t know what was happening with Jace.  All they’d done is hang out a few times, nothing more had happened.  They hadn’t even kissed, but she liked being with him and she found that both scary and a little exciting, but also overwhelming. 

It was almost four o’clock when she and Sarah got home.  Sarah had missed her afternoon nap and had zonked out in the car on the way home.  With her hands full, Jace had walked her to the door, setti
ng the cooler on the doorstep and he had said, “I’ll see you later,” before gently rustling Sarah’s hair, careful not to wake her up.  Kathryn didn’t know when or if later would actually occur.  She had no way of knowing if his words were true or not or if he was just being polite and would write her off as soon as he drove away.  She wouldn’t blame him if he did.  At least he’d been polite enough not to bolt right away.  He’d played the part of the good guy, going on a picnic and getting to know her daughter, but maybe he’d felt obliged to do it.  He hadn’t wanted to appear like a jerk, so he did the one obligatory meeting and could either not call her at all or politely call or text the whole
It was great getting to know you, but I don’t think it’s gonna work out
thing.  She didn’t know what would happen, but at least she’d tried, just like Lacey had encouraged.

When she walked in, Luke was sitting on the couch reading a book with
the TV on.  He looked up at Kathryn and Sarah, but Kathryn just ignored him and walked Sarah to her room where she put her in her crib to finish napping before walking back out to put everything away.

Again, she ignored Luke as she walked past him to the kitchen, but a few minutes later as she was wiping the counters, she heard him approaching and when she turned around, he was standing behind her.