Page 102 of Only You

Twenty-Seven

At lunch with Josie, Kayla was distracted. While her friend gushed over Ryan, Kayla couldn’t stop thinking about Jack telling his parents the truth. After lunch, she hurriedly drove home, thinking Jack would already be there. When she opened the garage, it was empty, and her concern skyrocketed. He’d left almost two hours ago. Why wasn’t he back yet?

Kayla went inside and took out her phone. She hadn’t checked it during lunch because she didn’t want to interrupt Josie. There was no word from Jack, not a text message, voicemail, or a missed call. Kayla went into the kitchen, thinking he might have left her a note on the counter like he sometimes did, but there was none.

Kayla turned on the TV to pass some time, but just like at lunch, she couldn’t focus. Frustrated, she shut off the TV and went into Jack’s bedroom, or their bedroom, as she’d begun to think of it. Kayla climbed onto the bed and picked up her book from the bedside table. Since she was having sex on a regular basis, she’d traded the erotic romance for a psychological thriller. After rereading the same paragraph multiple times, Kayla slammed the book down in disgust. Immediately afterward, she heard the garage door opening.

“Finally!” She jumped off the bed and raced into the living room to greet Jack. The minute she saw him, she knew something was horribly wrong. His hair was disheveled, like he’d been running his hands through it, and his face was drawn. When he met her gaze, she got a real sense of impending disaster.

Jack approached her without speaking and paused, just out of reach.

“You were gone a long time,” Kayla ventured.

He nodded.

“Were you with your parents the whole time?”

He shook his head. “I drove around for a while afterward.”

“Do you want to sit down?”

“Not really.”

Kayla reached for him, but he brushed past her and started pacing.

“My parents hate me,” he stated.

Kayla swallowed hard. “Tell me what happened.”

“They were upset that I lied, but then they started questioning our relationship.”

She went silent.

“They kept saying if it was built on a lie, it couldn’t possibly be real, and nothing I said seemed to matter.”

“Did you apologize?”

He scowled. “Of course, but they didn’t accept it. My dad walked out of the room before I was even done talking.”

Kayla winced. “What about your mom?”

Jack sighed. “She was disappointed … in both of us.”

“I should have come with you.”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Jack argued.

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh. So I don’t know my own parents?” He was so tense, a vein pulsed at the side of his neck.

Kayla sucked in her bottom lip. She’d never seen him this upset, and she wasn’t sure how to handle it.

“As I drove around, I was thinking,” Jack continued, “maybe you should move back in with Josie for a while.”

The floor fell out from under her. Kayla grabbed the back of the couch to steady herself. “You want me to move out?”

“Just until this blows over.”