“Where are you taking her?” Stevie’s frantic voice filled my ear.
I glanced next to me and watched my mother sleep with the passenger seat fully reclined. “I’m taking her to Geneva Key. We weren’t able to find anywhere she could stay that didn’t involve stairs, and neither one of us could stand to be in that house a minute longer. What other choice do I have?”
“What’s she going to do about her doctors’ appointments and physical therapy? What about the at-home-care nurses? You can’t just take her hours away this soon after hip surgery. And I’m pretty sure having her sit in a car for three hours is a horrible idea.”
I couldn’t help but smile at my friend through the phone. “Are you sad that I’m leaving?”
“Of course I am. This is all about me, Jade. How long have we been friends? You should know by now that I’m a selfish bitch, and I was secretly hoping you would just decide to stay here.” Even though she was joking, she meant it on some small level.
“I’m not going across the country, Stevie.”
“Country…state, same thing.” She huffed dramatically. “Whatever. Enough about you. Back to your mom and her hip. What are you planning to do?”
“Well, right now, she’s sound asleep, thanks to her painkillers. As far as her doctors and therapy, I’ve already made the calls. If I have to drive her back for appointments before we can get her transferred to someone over there, then so be it. I don’t care.”
“What about her house? A job? Now that she doesn’t have his income, she’ll need to work.”
“Calm down. Those things don’t matter—they’re not important. You’re missing the bigger picture here. My mom and I get to be together and sort through everything without a state between us. Without my fear of being in her home. We finally get to heal…and everything else will work out the way it’s supposed to. The house will sell. She’ll find a job if she has to.”
“You’re right.”
I snickered. “I know I am.”
“Have you talked to Cash about your plan?”
My chest grew tight. Things between us had felt strained Sunday night when he went to bed, closing himself off in his room, and I hadn’t heard from him since. The few texts I’d sent him, along with the call I’d placed this afternoon, went unanswered. I had probably ruined everything, but I refused to give up. If he didn’t want my mom or me there, then we’d leave and find somewhere else—on the island. For the first time in my life, I was ready to fight for what I wanted instead of waiting for it to happen.
Crying in my mother’s arms did something to me. I wasn’t sure if it was finally breaking down that wall of secrets between us, or if it came with the evidence of her love, but the tether that had held me back was snipped.
I was free.
And as soon as the idea of going to Geneva Key came up, there was no place else I wanted to be. This whole time, I couldn’t make a decision because I’d been stuck in the grey space. But the second I had fully let my mom in, the colors began to shine, and I was finally free to live my life.
“Um…no. I tried to call him, but it went straight to voicemail.”
“So you’re just moving your mom into his house and hope he’s okay with it?”
I truly believed Cash wouldn’t have a problem with my mom living there, because it would mean I’d be there, too. Occasionally, when I started to panic that he’d given up on me, I worried that maybe he no longer desired a relationship. But in my heart, in my soul, deep within my core…I didn’t believe that was true.
“Are you kidding? What man wouldn’t be ecstatic to have his girlfriend’s mom living with him?” And just like that, the lectures were over.
We stayed on the phone for the rest of the drive while Mom and Aria slept. When I pulled up to the house, I couldn’t help the stabbing pain in my chest when I noticed all the lights off and his Range Rover missing from the back. Aware that he’d gone back to work, I hadn’t expected him to be there on a Thursday night, but that didn’t stop the hope from building on my way over.
“Mom…” I lightly touched her shoulder to stir her awake. “We’re home.”
24
Jade
Light moved through the windows while I lay wide awake in Cash’s bed. It was a Friday night, so I anticipated he’d come home, but I hadn’t expected him quite this early. The low purr of a car pulling around the back of the house caused me to fling the covers off and jump to my feet, nervousness and excitement at war within me. But when I separated the slats of the blinds and saw Cash, relief washed over me in a soothing current.
He moved around the back of my car, his attention bouncing between it and the house, and then he took off in a sprint. By the time my unsteady legs carried me to his bedroom door, he’d already made it inside, only a few feet from where my mother was asleep in my bed.
“Cash,” I whispered so I wouldn’t wake anyone, but mostly because I couldn’t find my voice. My fingers ached with how tightly I gripped the doorframe, needing it to steady myself. It was like I’d dreamt of this moment all day, and now that it was here, I was unsure of what to do.
Any fear I’d had that he’d changed his mind about us vanished the second he turned his head and took notice of me. In a heartbeat, he charged toward me, his long legs eating up the distance in record time. But when he stopped in front of me, he glanced over my shoulder into his room, then down my body, as if wondering why I’d be dressed in a sleepshirt in his bed.
Then his eyes found mine, and in them, I saw a man at the cusp of having everything he wanted, yet too scared to believe it all to be true. And it was proven in the way he appeared to hold himself back when he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Aliens abducted me and when they brought me back, this was the only place I remembered.” The only reason I was able to keep a straight face was the anxiety rolling through me—over his reaction, over what I had to say.
“Yeah? Did they steal your clothes, too?” He pointed to the shirt I had on, which happened to be his, and smirked.
“Yup. They beamed me back to Earth naked.”
Slowly, he moved toward me, making me retreat into his room. “Damn…I miss all the good shit.” But he stopped in the doorway with his grip on the frame, as if needing it to hold himself back.
Maybe two feet separated us, but I knew why he refused to come closer. He’d told me before that he wouldn’t touch me until I gave him what he wanted. Little did he know, I wanted to give it to him more than anything else in the world.
“Really, Jade…why are you here? Did something happen?”
“Yeah. Something happened.”
“What?” Concern filled his tone and his grip on the wood tightened.
“I fell…” When his body coiled tight, I added, “In love.”
His posture visibly softened and he took a step toward me. “Oh yeah? When did that happen?”
“A while ago.”
“He must be one lucky guy. What’d he do to deserve that?”