It's All Relative (62 page)

P
ulling up to her house, Jessie was flooded with euphoric bliss. Kai had asked her to marry him on the plane. Not in so many words, but that had been the gist of it. He wanted a life with her. He wanted his future to always have her in it. Jessie couldn’t believe how much just knowing where his head was at, knowing where he envisioned them going, made her feel safe and content. It was like, all of a sudden, she didn’t have to worry about where she would be later in life, or who she would be with. She knew, with absolute certainty that she would be with Kai.

Glancing over at him as she shut off the engine, she was positive he felt the same safety and contentment. He’d asked her to marry him, and she’d said yes. Everything else was details. They’d even begun the first one. They were going to move in together. They were well on their way to starting a life together.

Grinning at each other, they grabbed their luggage and made their way to Jessie’s house…for now. Harmony met them in the entryway and engulfed Jessie in a huge hug. Jessie was exhausted from the emotional week and all the traveling and transitioning. She really just wanted to crash on her bed for a few hours, but she dropped her bags and held her friend tight. She’d be leaving her soon, after all.

“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you guys!” Harmony disengaged from Jessie, then attacked Kai. With a laugh, he hugged her back just as tightly as Jessie had. It warmed her that Kai was so fond of her friends.

“We missed you too, Harm,” she tiredly replied.

Her freckled friend finally released Kai. Slipping her hands into her back pockets, Harmony watched Kai pick up Jessie’s bag and start to take it back to Jessie’s room. Smiling at his thoughtfulness, Jessie watched him leave too. Once he was out of sight, Harmony shifted her attention back to Jessie. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I sort of did something while you were…busy this week.”

Not knowing what she was possibly referring to, Jessie cocked an eyebrow and waited for details. Harmony sighed and shifted her weight. Biting her lip, she shrugged and said, “Since you and Kai are pretty much a couple now…I snagged your date.”

Jessie blinked. Her date? Other than Kai, Jessie hadn’t been on anything that resembled a date in a very long time. “Uh…what are you talking about?”

Harmony giggled, and a warm smile escaped her. “Well, I guess you never really dated him. But he called for you all the time trying to get one with you.”

Still confused, Jessie shook her head. “Who are you…?” Suddenly remembering her grandmother’s attempt to set her up with her nurse’s son, Jessie’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Oh my God! Do you mean Simon?”

Harmony cheeks flushed with color. “Yeah…I hope you don’t mind.”

She really didn’t. Shaking her head, Jessie wondered how in the heck that had come about. Maybe seeing the question in her expression, Harmony gave her a shy smile. “You wouldn’t ever talk to him or call him back, so I just started talking to him for you.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, he was just really sweet on the phone and the more he called for you, the more we started talking.”

Jessie felt embarrassment and remorse heating her cheeks. She knew Simon had called her a couple times, and she felt bad that she hadn’t just admitted to him outright that she wasn’t interested. At the time though, Jessie had been a little…preoccupied.

Harmony glanced back at the hallway as the object of Jessie’s preoccupation returned. Kai grinned at seeing both of the girls watching him. Shrugging again, Harmony twisted back to Jessie. “The last time he called, he called to talk to me.” Her smile turned bright. “We had our first date last night…and it was great. He’s smart and funny and so nice, and he loves to ski as much as I do…and you’re not mad, are you?” She said all of that really fast, and her expression turned anxious, like she was sure she’d just done something really wrong.

Shaking her head, Jessie laughed and hugged her again. Kai came up to them and cocked a curious eyebrow. Jessie ignored him for a second and answered her friend. “Of course I’m not mad.” Giving Kai a pointed look over Harmony’s shoulder, she added, “I was never interested in dating Simon anyway.”

Kai smiled as he looked down at the floor. Harmony pulled back and squeezed her friend’s arms. “Good, because I really like him.”

As Harmony started giggling and going on about how great Simon was, April stepped into the room from the kitchen. Jessie waved at her and April’s face went ghostly pale. Quicker than Jessie would have thought possible, April ducked back into the kitchen. Jessie exchanged looks with Harmony then Kai. Both of them seemed puzzled and an odd tension began to build in Jessie’s belly. What the hell was that about? Maybe April had decided she couldn’t handle the strangeness of Jessie and Kai’s relationship. Maybe she couldn’t even stand to be around them now.

Feeling like her legs were suddenly made of lead, Jessie trudged to the kitchen. Kai and Harmony followed her. April was dressed to the nines and chugging back a glass of wine. She looked like she was about to head out for the evening, either on a date or searching for one.

After swallowing the last bit in her glass, she let out a nervous giggle and quickly spat out, “Oh, you’re back, great. I can’t wait to hear about your trip, but I have a date tonight with that guy from your work, Kai. Louis. Remember, I asked about him once? Well, yeah, he called, and he’s taking me to that four-star downtown, so I gotta go. Anything I should know about him, Kai? He’s not a psycho or anything, right? Well, I guess I can handle a little bit of craziness for Lobster Thermidor. Oh, look at the time…I should go. We’re meeting there, and I don’t want to be late on my first date with him…”

All of that was spat out rapid-fire in one breath. Jessie blinked several times as she absorbed the multitude of information. No one in the room answered any of April’s various questions as everyone gawked. Clearly, April was a nervous, babbling mess. Thinking maybe she was just anxious about her date, although, Jessie had never seen her anxious for a date in her life, she asked, “You okay, April?”

Her gorgeous friend closed her eyes and slumped against the counter; she suddenly looked exhausted. Peeking one eye open, she wrinkled her nose. “Don’t kill me.”

Sighing, Jessie crossed her arms over her chest. This wasn’t going to be good. Kai looked over at Jessie then back to April. “Hate you for what?” he asked.

April inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she flung her hands out to her sides, and she started babbling again. “Okay, see the thing is, I thought since the two of you had come out of the closet, or whatever, everyone knew about it. Especially since you were going to talk to Kai’s parents in Hawaii. I just sort of assumed that it was common knowledge that you two are bumping uglies now.”

“April!” Jessie exclaimed, trying to steer her friend back on track. “What happened?”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Your dad called.”

The hair on the back of Jessie’s neck started to rise. She definitely didn’t like where this was going. “And?” Jessie felt Kai slip an arm around her waist, and it was only then that she realized her posture was rigid. Dropping her arms from her chest, she tried to relax.

April sighed, yet again. “He asked for you, and I told him you were on your way back from Hawaii. Then, he was naturally curious about what you were doing in Hawaii, and I didn’t think much about it, because
again
, I thought it was common knowledge, so…I told him you and your boyfriend were visiting his parents there.”

She shrugged and Jessie swallowed. Well, that was okay…she could work with those facts. Nodding, she muttered, “All right, if that’s all he knows, then it’s not that big of a deal really.”

April shot down that slim hope with her next comment. “I might have also gone on to mention that Kai was your boyfriend, and that his parents included your uncle…”

“You didn’t!” Jessie felt herself tightening back up. Her dad was currently under the impression that she was dating her cousin…shit. “Damn it, April, all you had to do was tell him that I’d call him when I got home!”

April cringed then stuck her chin out. “I’m sorry, but your dad is like this super scary FBI investigator dude. He cornered me! I had to talk!” She shrugged apologetically. “I tried to explain Kai’s situation, but your mom flipped out and grabbed the phone and we sort of got disconnected.” She pointed to the handset on the counter. “It just happened like twenty minutes ago, so I’m sure you could call back…”

Groaning, Jessie brought her hands to her face. Great, both her parents thought she was sleeping with her cousin. “April…”

“I’m sorry! Your dad intimidates the hell out of me! And you know, you could have told them about all this
before
you left for your little vacation.” Jessie peeked through her fingers to see April scowling at her.

Jessie sighed then let a soft laugh escape her. “It’s fine, April. Really, I needed to talk to him anyway. This just…sped up the process.”

April’s irritated expression evened out into a smile, while Kai let out a heavy breath. “I forgot your dad was FBI.” Looking down at Jessie, he cringed. “He’s going to shoot me, isn’t he?”

Jessie chuckled at Kai and shook her head. April took that moment of distraction to mutter apologies again and dart out of the room, pulling a laughing Harmony with her. Jessie sighed again. “I guess I should call him back.” She closed her eyes. “This is going to be such an awkward phone call.”

Kai laughed. “You’re telling me.”

He gave her a wry smile, and Jessie tried to hold onto the light feeling that she got by being near him. Trying to squish the butterflies stirring nervous holes in her belly, she gave him a crooked grin. “Ready to be introduced to my family?”

Kai smiled. “I was born ready.”

Jessie couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her, but she managed to frown, too. “That’s not funny, Kai.”

Grinning, he slipped his arms around her waist. “It kind of is…now.”

She placed her arms over his and leaned up to give him a light kiss. “I love you,” she murmured.

Kai nodded, smiling warmly at her, and Jessie prepared herself for a tough phone call with a long, slow exhale. Releasing Kai, she slowly walked over to the phone. She could almost hear the executioner’s drums beating in her head, banging out a hollow, ominous rhythm. Wrapping her hand around the receiver, she inhaled for ten long counts.

Kai grabbed her free hand and gave her a supportive nod. Jessie squeezed it back as determination filled her. She could do this. She could turn her family around. She was positive that once they realized Kai was no more related to her than her ex-douchebag Jeremy had been, they’d accept him. And then, once they got to know Kai, she was positive they’d love him, too. He was just so different from every other guy Jessie had ever been with. So wonderful, so caring, and so kind. There was no way they wouldn’t get past his last name and eventually come to terms with him and Jessie being together.

As she punched in their phone number, peace flowed through her. And really, even if they couldn’t, even if they somehow rejected him forever, it didn’t matter anymore. Jessie knew the truth, and she knew her heart. Kai wasn’t related to her. Kai loved her, and she loved Kai. They were going to be together for a long, long time…possibly forever. They were going to get married one day. They were going to have children one day. And those children would be beautiful and perfect and genetically safe, because she and Kai were genetically different.

It was as simple as that.

As Jessie heard the long rings finally silence as the phone was picked up, she felt completely relaxed. She knew her parents would always love her, even if they didn’t approve of her relationship, and either way, all of this would end up okay, so long as she and Kai got to be together. Clutching Kai’s hand tighter as her dad’s gruff, “Hello,” sounded in her ear, she brightly said, “Hi, Dad. I heard that you called, and I wanted to clear up some things.”

Her dad immediately started barking questions at her, but Jessie didn’t answer them. Instead, she waited for him to finish, then she waited a little longer. Once his end of the line went silent and stayed silent, Jessie looked up into Kai’s amazing ocean-like eyes. “If you are willing to listen now, I would like to tell you all about someone who means the world to me. I want to tell you about a man who you think you know…but you don’t. I want to tell you about the man who I
do
know. Dad…I want to tell you about Kai Harper, my…”

She searched for a word that would adequately describe Kai’s importance to her. Boyfriend? The word was too paltry, too simple and insignificant. As her and Kai’s gazes remained locked, Jessie thought about what he meant to her, what they meant to each other. He’d found her at her lowest point, after being broken and betrayed by someone she’d thought she loved. Kai had picked her up, helped her put her feet back on the ground, and had made her feel appreciated, respected…and loved. And when his world had crumbled around him, Jessie had been the one to hold him up, to help him through the pain of discovering who he really was. They were each other’s rocks, each other’s support, each other’s best friends, and each other’s lovers. And Jessie could only sum up her feelings for him one way. “He’s my…everything.”