Page 84 of Kaine

Chapter Thirty-Two

HIM

I’d expected that afterdropping Gabriel off at the rehab clinic, sooner or later Jade would want to sit down and talk. A lot had happened in the last few days, a lot of things that needed to be resolved. But maybe it was the stress of losing and then finding her brother again, and then leaving him to detox, that pushed everything else down the list of urgency.

When we finally arrived home that night, without a word, she climbed into bed with me, and let me hold her until she fell asleep.

I woke the next morning and she was already awake and getting ready to leave. When I came out of the shower, she’d made breakfast and simply asked if I’d give her a ride to work. That afternoon she texted to say she would be done by 6 p.m. and was waiting in her office when I came to pick her up. That night, after dinner, she sat watching tv in bed while I finished up some work, and when I put the laptop away, we made love late into the night.

The next morning, we repeated the process all over again. And have been for the last week.

There seems to be some sort of unspoken agreement, that for now, she will stay with me. Maybe it’s just easier than fighting me, during this time when her mind is focused on her brother. Or maybe she just finds comfort in my company. I’m not arguing either way. It’s been a lifetime since I felt this comfortable with someone, enough to share my home, my bed, my life with them

It comes so naturally. This time we spend together. We don’t talk much, share much. But each other’s presence seems enough to be a mutual form of contentment.

The rhythm we sink into is easy.

Not a word of argument, not a word of protest. As if things had always been this way.

Which is why what was about to happen would surprise us both.

***

“It’s my birthday tomorrow,” she says a week after we dropped Gabriel off at Dunes, as we lay in bed, recovering, breaths still heavy and deep, skin still damp with sweat from the exertion of sex. We’ve just came home from visiting Gabriel who looks like he’s making progress. Her relief in the car on the way home is shown in the way she couldn’t stop touching me, kissing me.

“Really? Is there anything special you want to do?” I ask her, as she settles against me, her ear against my rising chest.

“No. It just occurred to me that’s all. I hadn’t really thought about it. I haven’t really been celebrating birthdays much these last few years.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m getting ollldddd,” her voice shakes, as if impersonating an old woman.

“Hey,” I say softly, nudging her so she’ll look up at me. “No, really, why? You don’t like birthdays?” It surprises me that she doesn’t, she seems to have a lust for life in every way. A day of your own to celebrate would seem like something she would look forward to every year.

She just shrugs in reply though, letting her head fall back down onto me with a soft thud.

“Tell me, sweetheart,” I urge her.

“I just didn’t really have anyone to celebrate with once I moved to Manhattan. My grandparents are too old to make them come here just for a dinner, and I didn’t have a lot of money to go to Harrisonburg in the beginning, and then I guess it just became a habit. And Gabriel... well, he wasn’t always around.”

“What about your friend, um, Harriet?”

I feel her smile against my skin.

“Yeah, well, if anyone noticed, it would be Harriet. And she tries. But, well, I guess my heart isn’t really into it.”

“Well, you have me this year. You can have anything you want.”

“Honestly, you, me, fried food and a really schmaltzy rom-com with the world’s biggest bucket of popcorn is all I need.”

“You got it,” I drop a kiss on her forehead.

She does a little giggle that restores the blood to my groin and I flip her over, sliding down her body as she wriggles in mock protest.

“Now... how about an early birthday present?”

She squeals which quickly fades into a low, deep moan, as my fingers graze the inside of her thighs and my tongue slides into her.

My present seems to be well-received.