“You’re trying to tell me I’m going to fail, and I don’t accept that.” I rise to my feet, shaking my head. There’s a lump in my throat and butterflies in my stomach. The part of me that will always be a little girl feels too terrified to make the leap, but if I turn back, I’ll never know what it’s like to stand on my own. I exit the parlor with Mom marching angrily behind me.
“You’re not going anywhere unless I say so!”
“You can’t stop me,” I angrily retort. I yank my phone out of my purse and dial Jayson’s number as I make my way to my bedroom. “Hi, I know it’s late—.”
“Kit! I didn’t expect to hear from you tonight.” His warm greeting diffuses my anger, and my hands stop trembling. “You left the club in such a hurry.” I glance over my shoulder at my mother, who’s standing in my bedroom door watching the whole scene play out, the soft smile on my lips at the sound of his voice, the visible calming effect he has on me. I sigh, knowing there’s no way to hide it.
“I really, really need to know if my house is move-in ready.”
“What, you mean tonight?”
“Yeah.”
There’s a pause, and I can tell he wants to ask questions, but I hope he doesn’t. “Well, the electricity is on, all the wiring stuff complete. The plumbing is fine. As far as I know, you could move in tonight if you wanted. You’d just have to deal with the noise of the guys working through the day.”
“Thank you, that’s all I wanted to know…I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up the phone quickly. Mom’s brown eyes meet mine and I glance away. “Will you excuse me? I need to pack.”
She barks a short, bitter laugh and walks away from my bedroom door. “Lock up when you leave,” she calls over her shoulder. “You can keep the key. You’ll be back.”
Chapter 9
JAYSON
“It’s not too bad today, Jay. You don’t have to hover around me like I’m a toddler. I can walk,” says Momma.
I step back with a rueful smile, knowing she’s too independent to easily accept my help, but she needs it. Sabine Zephyr slowly pushes up from the bed of my guestroom—her room now—with a minor grimace and a grunt, leveraging herself to her feet by gripping the guardrails on the side of her bed. She stands in her pink chenille housecoat on wobbly legs, and I can’t help lunging forward to make sure she doesn’t fall. “Now, what did I say?” she reminds me sternly. Her dark hair falls around her pretty, angular face, and her eyes, so like mine, flash golden irritation.
“Yes, ma’am, I know you got it, Momma. I’m here for support, though. Put your arm around my shoulder and let me take you to the living room with the rest of the boys.”
“Slow going. One step at a time,” she cautions me.
The few paces take an eon, but I don’t mind how long it takes. She has been doing physical therapy regularly and seeing an orthopedist since her lumbar disc surgery, but this is the first time in quite a while that I’ve seen her up and about. “You’re gonna love the commercial, Momma,” I whisper excitedly. I look through the open door at my younger brothers taking up space in my living room, awaiting the screening of the television advertisement we put together for Zephyr Brothers Construction. Ashby has his textbook across his lap at the kitchen counter, yawning and struggling to keep his eyes open while Dev plays with his phone on the edge of one of the living room chairs. I hope he’s not on Tinder again. As usual, Castiel chatters inanely, pacing the living room.
In a lot of ways, not much has changed since we were unruly teenagers sprawled around the cramped apartment in Tenderloin while Momma was at work on her second job after we got home from school. That was when we learned that we had to get along because we had no parent to break up fights—and Momma coming home to one of us with bruises, one with a black eye only had to happen once. The look on her face was enough to make us learn how to share a television and stop picking on each other. I’ve always said she should bottle it.
I ease my mother down on the suede sofa, aware of how small she seems now that I’m grown. I can still remember the day, in 7th grade, when I realized I was taller. “Cue up the TV, Cast.” The second-born grabs the remote off the coffee table and hits play. “I want to say in advance that I look hokey in this, so don’t laugh,” I warn. “The rest of you look just as dumb.”
Ashby grins, putting down his electronic tablet. “I won’t laugh.”
“Hey, I happen to look good in a tool belt, so the ladies tell me,” says Devon. I fire a finger gun at him. Someday one of those ‘ladies’ is going to win his heart, and won’t he be surprised. The thirty-second commercial set to begin airing in a few days comes on and everybody hushes. It’s just what we need to get the word out about the family business. On the screen I stand in front of a project site wearing a hard hat, holding blueprints, a pencil tucked in my mouth. The homeowners stand nearby giving a happy testimonial. These are actual customers, not actors. Mr. and Mrs. Greenberg wanted to help and they did a great job of looking both super-normal and totally memorable. He’s got a paunch and a little beard and she’s wearing an old-fashioned flowered dress that accentuates her broad hips. Kind of like a cross between hipsters and hamsters—in a good way, I mean. Behind me, Cast and Dev are working on the building. The camera lingers on their muscles, then the scene cuts to our headquarters where the three of us brothers stand outside with arms crossed.
“Call or click for Zephyr Brothers when you need residential construction and leave the building to us. We can make it home!” I say from the TV. The scene fades to black and that’s it.
“That was lovely!” Momma chortles. “Play it back again.”
“Ah, Momma, we had to film that thirty times for Jayson to get his one line right. Don’t make us watch it again,” Castiel whines. Momma giggles, wincing at the movement. I look to her with concern.
“Don’t do too much, now,” I tell her.
“Oh, stop it. I’m so proud of my boys.”
“Soon as I finish this degree, I’ll be with them, Momma.”
“Ashby, I’m proud of you, too. You’re doing a great job in school. Gosh, I feel like I’m missing watching all of you grow up, cooped up in that room. I’m glad to be out.”
“You’re sure you’re not in pain?”
“Well, if I was, what could you do about it?” she answers me with a saucy grin.
“I’d put you in time out,” I chuckle. “You haven’t missed anything with us. Devon is still running around with loose women. Castiel’s trying to follow in his footsteps—with little success, I might add. Ashby is doing what he’s supposed to be doing in school, and I’m working my butt off trying to keep ‘em in line. The usual.”
Momma grins. Castiel pipes up, “Don’t let him fool you, Momma. Jayson’s got a girlfriend now.” He nods his head knowingly, smiling like a joker.
“Is that so?” she asks. I roll my eyes and shake my head, lamenting the fact Devon and Cast were with me when Kit and I hung out at the nightclub.
“She’s a cute one this time, too. We’re working on her house for her, and Jayson—.”
“Boy, mind your own,” I shout him down, laughing. All his life, I’ve had to deal with his teasing. I’ll be glad when he gets serious about somebody so I can return the favor, but Castiel has no business getting Momma’s hopes up. I know she wants me to settle down with a loyal, adoring wife who’ll start popping out grandchildren. That’s not in the cards for me, especially not with someone like Kitrina Schneider.
Momma dismisses my protests. “Quiet, Jayson. I want to hear this.”
Castiel snickers next to Devon, who’s quirking a brow and hiding a smile. Mom looks from the two of them to me. “Well, who is she, Jay?”
I sigh good-naturedly, shooting daggers at Cast with my eyes. “There’s nothing going on between me and Kitrina Schneider, Momma. She’s a sweet girl, but she’s too young for me.”
“Last I checked she was a sophomore in college,” Devon replies softly.
“How’d you even find
that out? You’ve never even met her,” I point out in surprise.
“I have my ways.” He grins.
“She’s too young and immature for any type of serious relationship, and I’m not looking for anything serious anyway. So…” I shrug.
Mom replies, “You’re twenty-four, you wizened old sage, you. Seriously, you’re not too far off from 'young and immature' yourself.”
“Momma!”
“What? Everybody starts out young and immature. People have to live a little, get some life experiences. Come to think of it…you do, too!” She points to me, and I hold my chest at her mock disapproving stare.
“What?” I ask, smiling nervously.
“You need to, Jay. You’re not immature, mind you. I’m very proud of how responsible you are. But you certainly don’t open yourself to experiencing much of life. You can’t possibly, with all the working and lurking over these boys’ shoulders you do.”
“Tell him, Momma,” Castiel crows, hooting. Devon chuckles, and even Ashby snickers. I feel outnumbered.
“Now, hey, now—when did this become a bash Jayson day?”
“I’m not bashing you,” Momma softens. She reaches for my hand, and I take her warm, dry fingers in mine. She tilts her head to the side and studies me. “I just think you need to stop living vicariously through your brothers and do some living of your own. You’re well-established now, and you’ve helped with the kiddos long enough, so working yourself into an early grave on their behalf, or mine, isn’t at all what I want you to do. Life ain’t all about money anyway. It’s time you start focusing on yourself and what you want….You like this girl? I can tell you like this girl. Every time she’s mentioned, you don’t even notice, but you start to smile.”
I find myself smiling and shake my head to negate her claim, but she’s right. “Tell you what, Momma, if it makes you happy, I’ll start living a little. That’s all I can promise. Just because I like her doesn’t mean she likes me back. Can we change the subject now? Thanksgiving is at the end of this month. I was thinking each of us boys can bring a dish over here and do dinner at my place.”
“Have mercy, the four of you cooking!”
The conversation devolves into laughter at the potentially disastrous prospect of our culinary failings, and I sit back, enjoying my family’s company, but I’m thinking about Kit. She called me last night asking me if she could move in to the house in Western Addition. I suspected she had run into trouble with her mother when she got home late, which I regret. It was my fault. If we hadn’t gotten caught up in each other, dancing…kissing….
“About this commercial,” Mom interjects. “When will it be airing so I can let my friends know to look out for it?”
I drag my attention back. “By the end of the week, it’ll be airing through the local cable network. Plus, we’ve got it up on our website,” I reply. “I expect business to pick up in a big way. I’ve hired some new laborers and new office staff in anticipation of that.”
There’s no point in prying into Kit’s personal life. Like I told Mom, just because I like her doesn’t mean she’s interested in me. Kit made it pretty clear the other night at the club that I’m not the sort of guy she can bring home to her mother. I can’t stop wondering if the rules will change with her moving out. What will it mean for me?
Chapter 10
KITRINA
“Open up, Kit! I know you’re in there!” The pounding at the door startles me out of my pity party, echoing through the empty house and bringing me back to my senses. At the sound of the familiar voice, I step out of the nearly finished guestroom I’d been surveying.
“Is that you, Grace? Just a minute!” I sniff hard and dash the telltale tears from my face, hoping my eyes aren’t as red as they feel as I move across the main living area of my new house to open the front door. I don’t want her to see I’ve been bawling my eyes out. This is supposed to be my dream come true, being out on my own. Yet all I’ve experienced so far is crippling fear of what might come next.
I swing open the door, stand there trying to look confident with a smile on my quivering lips. Grace pushes her shades up to her auburn hair and squints at me with dark brown eyes. “Girl, what happened? I got this bad feeling and called your house looking for you, and your mom said you moved out. Tell me you guys didn’t get into it about you arriving home late.”
“I wish I could, but you know Candace. That was a punishable offense in her book. Come on in. Make yourself at home. Sit wherever you like.”
“Kind of hard to do without any furniture,” Grace says with a gentle laugh. She eyes the pile of blankets in the corner of the living room that I slept on the night before, too nervous to sleep upstairs by myself in case somebody tried to break in. I have no security system, and this isn’t a gated neighborhood. It’s not a bad neighborhood, just not what I’m used to. Grace drags me into a hug. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry this is happening to you.” Her brown arms close around my narrow shoulders, and I squeeze her back.
At that moment, the dam breaks and I start crying again. “It’s horrible, Grace. I walked in here last night thinking I had everything under control…until I got up this morning to take a shower and realized I didn’t have any soap or towels or anything. Not even toilet paper,” I wail.
Grace rubs my back, giggling. “You make it sound like all the toilet paper in the world is out. Luckily, I brought you a care package.” She pulls back and scans my face, and I feel a little ridiculous for blubbering. I swipe my eyes. “Come with me to my car,” she says. “I got you some stuff to make the move-in a little easier since I could tell from your mom’s tone that you didn’t leave on good terms.”
“Aw, you didn’t have to, Grace.” I peek through the open door at her car parked behind mine on the curbside in front of my place.
“I figured you were without some essentials. But, Kit, look at the bright side! There are endless possibilities ahead for you. I can see you decorating this place to the max! Candace won’t be able to control your every move any more. I know it’s scary, homie, but we’ve got this. I’m right by your side.”
“Thanks, chica-boom,” I mutter, drifting out the door to her car with her. Grace pops the trunk of her sedan to reveal bags of stuff for me: soap, tissue, toothpaste and other personal-size hygiene items. There are cleaning supplies. She even thought to pick up snack food. I squeal in delight at the sight of it.
“I knew the only cure for a shitty night was cheese curls. I bought the big bag.”
“You’re a life saver. I so love you right now.”
“Speaking of love,” Grace says in a sing-song voice. I roll my eyes, knowing exactly where she’s heading with the rejoinder. I grab up a handful of bags, and she takes the other, slamming the trunk closed. I notice a neighbor next door and wave, but the elderly woman doesn’t wave back. I shrug.
“Uh-uh, not speaking of love,” I say to Grace. “Right now all I want to do is eat junk and rant.” We head back into my house and spread my blanket from last night over the middle of the floor. Grace busts open the bag, and I tear paper towels from the roll she brought over. “You know she had the nerve to tell me I wouldn’t make it? I was so mad last night. It took everything in me to keep cool and just pack my bags.” The first cheese curl crunches between my teeth, and my eyes flutter shut at the overly cheesy flavor. I lick my fingertips, groaning in pleasure. I didn’t realize I was so hungry, but without a microwave or any groceries, I skipped breakfast.
“What happened, Kit? I mean, you guys fight a lot, but it’s never gone this far.”
“She was talking about Jayson like he was some kind of bum.”
“Pushed some buttons, did she?” Grace asks with a grin. She tosses me a bottled water, and I take a sip.
“Admittedly, she ruffled some feathers, but it was the principle of the matter, Grace. I come from a very privileged background financially. That makes it all the more important for me to recognize the advantages I’ve had over others like Jayson. It’s
clear he’s not Ivy League material, the type of guy Mom seems to think I should be panting after, but that doesn’t mean he’s less of a man. He’s smart and focused. I can’t stand when she gets all high and mighty like that.”
“Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Your mom said something about the future Mr. Zephyr-Schneider, and you freaked out and packed up? That was the straw that broke the camel’s back?”
“Ugh! You’re not helping, Grace,” I chuckle. Marriage? In a decade maybe.
Grace belly laughs, rolling back on the floor and sitting back up with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. “I’ve been trying to convince you to move out forever. I should be stung by how easy it was for Jayson to get you to go through with it, but I’m not. Jayson Zephyr is amazing! I totally get why you’d snip the umbilical cord for him. It’s about damn time, too.”
“I’d feel so much better about the move if I didn’t think Mom was right to some degree. I have to find an apartment since this place has to sell so I can pay Mom back for the renovation expenses.”
“Wait a minute, you’re not staying here?”
“Nope.” Grace looks like she doesn’t approve, but I don’t have a choice. I’ve already made plans to sell. Mom’s expecting me to follow through. “I still have money in my savings from my long defunct acting career, but that won’t last forever. The fact of the matter is, if I want to pay my mortgage, my rent and all my bills without her help, I’m going to have to take on more hours at Devil in the Details, which could very well compromise my grades. You might think it was Jayson who got me to move out, but the truth is I now have even less time for romance than I had before. It’s time for me to focus on my needs…not my wants.”
Jayson: A New Adult / Coming of Age Romance Page 8