With a quick sigh, Kai walked around to the passenger’s side of Jessie’s truck and got in. As she drove away, he rubbed his hands together, warming them with the hot air blowing from the heater.
Cocking an eyebrow at him, Jessie asked, “Is it cold here to you?”
Looking over at her, Kai smiled. “Well, I’m wearing two shirts under this jacket and wool socks.” Grinning wider, he laughed. “I even considered doubling up the underwear.”
Jessie flushed as she glanced at his jeans, and Kai instantly thought that maybe he shouldn’t say anything that could be perceived as suggestive. That might hamper their conversations quite a bit, since almost everything could be made suggestive. Like his clueless Grandma asking him if he had a bed yet. Jesus.
Jessie’s dark eyes darted to his ankles before returning to the road; the bottom of his pants were still wet from the water splashing on them as he’d driven around town. Definitely not helping him warm up. “So…you bought a bike?” she asked, a tight smile on her lips.
Kai smiled as studied her. He liked her sober, playful personality just as much as her drunken aggressiveness. “I know, kind of dumb, but, I heard it only rains 300 days out of the year here, so I thought my odds were pretty good. So far, it’s dumped on me every day. Guess my odds are shit.” Laughing, he looked out the window. “But really, the weather doesn’t matter. I’m a bike guy.” Amused at his own comment, he wondered what he would do when the roads got slick. He’d never driven on snow before. He’d have to invest in some studded tires…and a snowsuit.
Jessie chuckled. “Well, at least you look hot on it.” She immediately stopped laughing and looked over at him. He shook his head. Looked like they would both have to work on not saying suggestive things.
“Um…thanks.” He smiled, then sighed. Would they ever be able to forget? They drove the rest of the way in silence.
Jessie backed into Gran’s driveway once they got to her house. Stepping out of the truck, Kai noticed the helpful old lady next door peeking through her window. He thought there probably wasn’t much that happened in the neighborhood that the woman didn’t know about.
Following Jessie inside, Kai smiled as he took in his grandmother’s home. It was warm and welcoming, painted in a cheery yellow with pictures and mementoes of family taking up almost every available space. Kai noticed a few pictures of himself, from when he was much younger. He remembered Gran taking those pictures, remembered the bright woman behind the lens, snapping away at everything, like she could store her memories away in each click. Seeing the green foliage of home in the background brought on a twang of homesickness, and he thought maybe his grandmother was on to something.
As Jessie turned to walk down a short hallway, he noticed a multitude of her pictures throughout the home. Having lived here with Gran for so long, she’d been around a lot more, and that was evident in the sheer volume of photographs. Kai saw bits of Jessie’s entire life splashed along bookcases, mantels, and end tables. Proms, birthdays, ski trips…it was all around the room for him to see. A brutal reminder of the chasm between them.
Closing his eyes to block out the sudden rush of sadness, Kai twisted to follow Jessie down the hallway. He walked into the room where he could hear her shifting things around, and was instantly struck with a stale, musty odor. Gran was right; she rarely used this room.
Jessie had grabbed a box from somewhere and was placing photos inside it. Glancing up at him, she pointed across the hall. “There are some boxes in Grams’s room. Let’s pack up her stuff so we can move the furniture.”
Nodding, Kai looked around at all the mementoes, knickknacks, and tchotchkes. This room was sort of a shrine to collectibles, each one with their own small doily. Cleaning it out was going to take some time. Kai found a box, then rejoined Jessie. She was carefully placing several horse figurines into the box, on top of the photos. Noticing that one of the pictures was of his dad, Kai knelt down beside Jessie and shook his head. “This is so weird. You’re placing ponies on top of my dad’s head. That is something I would not have imagined happening yesterday.”
Jessie paused in her packing and glanced up at him. He couldn’t quite read the emotion on her face. Finally, she glanced down at the box she was packing and murmured, “Uncle Nate is your dad. That’s still so weird…”
He tilted his head as he stared at her. Weird was an understatement. “Yeah, Nate is my dad…”
Shaking her head, Jessie sighed and resumed her packing. “Seeing pictures of him, hearing you talk about him, it just makes all of this that much more…real.” She glanced at him as he started packing objects into his box.
Kai sighed in agreement with her. Yes, it was all getting horrifyingly real.