Page 54 of Only You

Fourteen

Jack gazed at Kayla, imploring her to speak. Then the doorbell rang again.

“I’ll get rid of whoever it is. Wait here.” Jack strode out of the kitchen. At the front door, he peered through the peephole and saw his parents. Their timing couldn’t have been worse, but he opened the door and waved them inside. If it were anyone else, he’d have left them standing on the porch.

Eileen and John took in his appearance. “Looks like we caught you at a bad time,” John said.

“I just got out of the shower.”

“We won’t stay long. I just wanted to drop off some pumpkin pie for you and Kayla. Aunt Sue made it,” Eileen explained. She glanced around. “Where is Kayla?”

“She’s in the kitchen,” Jack said. His parents followed him into the kitchen, where Kayla was seated at the table looking at her phone. She instantly put down her phone and greeted them.

“Hello,” Kayla said.

“We just stopped over to give you some pie,” Eileen explained.

Kayla peered inside the container. “Yum. Did you make this?”

“No, my sister did. It was left over from yesterday, so we thought we’d share it with you and Jack.”

“That was really sweet. Thank you,” Kayla said.

Eileen smiled. “So, what are you two up to tonight?”

Jack answered before Kayla could. “We’re going out with Ryan and Kayla’s friend, Josie.”

Kayla gave him a disgruntled look. “Maybe we should cancel and hang out with your parents instead?” she suggested.

“You don’t have to cancel on our account,” John piped in.

“I agree. We don’t want to interfere with your plans,” Eileen said.

“We can see Ryan and Josie anytime, but you’re only here for a while,” Kayla pointed out.

“Our friends are expecting us to show up at the bar,” Jack said. Or at least him, since Kayla hadn’t committed to it.

Eileen and John exchanged a look of discomfort. “We didn’t mean to start an argument,” Eileen said.

“We’re not arguing. We’re just talking, right honey?” Kayla said to Jack.

“We’ll give you some privacy,” John said, ushering Eileen out of the kitchen.

Jack waited until they’d gone and then stalked toward Kayla.

She sucked in a breath but held her ground.

He paused when they were mere inches apart. Lowering his voice, he said, “I know what you’re doing.”

“What?” she asked, feigning innocence.

“You’re trying to avoid being alone with me.”

“I thought you wanted to spend quality time with your parents, and that is what I signed up for.”

He sighed. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”

“We shouldn’t leave your parents waiting,” she deflected.