I feel my mouth dry up, not sure if I should laugh, cry, or tell both my parents where to go right now.
It’s like my whole world’s been turned upside down in under twenty-four hours.
“Listen,” he continues, “Where are you? I’ve only just really pressed your mom for the same and she says she doesn’t know where you are.”
I feel anger rise at his words.
“You disappear for most of my life and the first question you have is ‘where am I?’” I say angrily, asking what I need to know, “Where were you, Dad?”
“Where were you,” I repeat, sitting in silence before my mom’s voice is in my ear, taking the phone from my dad.
“Jacinta, just come home, will you. Your father and I need to talk to you. And it’s not an over-the-phone type of thing… Just come home,” she says with a tone of finality before hanging up.
I sit, stunned. But Kyle seems to have been expecting something like this and offers to drive me home.
“Not to stay,” he says with a sympathetic smile. “To find out what you need to know, and to tell them both about us,” he says, a matter of fact.
“I’m not exactly one for lurking in the shadows, Jacinta. You’re mine now. I’m yours, people need to know and if it’s an issue then the sooner they start dealing with it the better.”
I feel my mouth moving, trying to speak, but it’s a while before I can actually say anything.
“Did you organize this?” I ask Kyle hesitantly. But he just frowns and shakes his head.
“I just can’t believe this,” I murmur.
But strangely I feel good about this for some reason. Like everything’s just falling into place.
“C’mon,” he says firmly. “I’ll grab your bags from the car and you can change. We can get something for breakfast on the way.”
Is this really happening?
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kyle
It’s nothing for me to have to make big decisions or deal with a sudden change first thing in the morning.
In fact, I thrive on it.
It really is the breakfast of champions, but I can see it’s not how Jacinta rolls. Which is fine too.
Not everyone’s like you, Kyle.
Thank fuck for that.
It’s a big shock for Jacinta to hear me on the phone with her dad of all people, but I made sure he told her out loud. It’s the first time I've ever spoken to the man.
I don’t want Jacinta thinking I’ve been holding out on her.
And there’s a huge part of me itching to get to the bottom of what he actually wants. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.
I can use this morning’s meeting as a way to let both Jacinta’s parents know exactly what’s going on.
I don’t play games either. If I’m with Jacinta, it’s for good and the whole world can know. Starting right now.
Starting this morning.
The only stop we make on the way is to Rick’s room.
I give him a quick update on how to proceed from now on.
“You’re in charge, Rick,” I tell him, letting him know to hold off on anything definite with the planned redevelopments on existing homes.
His mouth flaps like a shoe tongue, but no words come out.
I get it.
Shocks all ’round for a lot of people this morning.
But I’ve never felt so alive.
“I wanna keep the small town vibe here in Cherry, Rick,” I continue, forgetting my manners.
“Oh, Rick? This is Jacinta. We’re a couple now, so if and when you do see me, Jacinta will be right next to me. Where she belongs,” I add, turning to face her and taking her hand in mine.
Her shocked expression is a lot like Rick’s right now.
Jacinta stammers, “How do you do?” and shakes Rick’s hand before I whisk her away, off to our next meeting.
“Are you okay?” she asks once we’re in the car.
I guess Jacinta’s never seen me in proper work mode, so I take a moment to explain that to her. “Sorry, that’s just me on a workday but I’m still the same underneath it all I promise.”
“And I thought yesterday was a handful,” she says.
I’m not sure how keen her parents will be to see me with their only daughter but there’s not much I can do there. She is the one and I’ll tell anyone who asks and anyone that needs to know.
I can feel Jacinta’s uncertainty mixed with her excitement, and my own excitement rises to the point where I want to turn us right around and take her back to bed.
But this is important.
I’m eager to get this meeting underway, but I understand Jacinta’s apprehension when we finally pull up to her old house.
“It looks so… small,” she says, looking at her old place with fresh eyes, and that somehow fills me with a flush of warmth and relief.