The Distance

by Alexa Land

  “She’ll love it. Thank you.”

  I told Skye and Dare I’d be back soon, and Dare said, “You two can’t leave yet. You forgot something important.”

  I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “We did?”

  He smiled at me. “You and Kai haven’t slow-danced. We can stay here with Izzy while you do that.”

  I glanced at Kai, and Izzy chimed in, “Go dance! Have fun, Daddy.”

  He took my hand and led me to the dance floor. A slow song was playing, and he slipped his arm around me and held my left hand in his right. I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed in his arms. The evening had been full of wonderful moments, but that was the absolute pinnacle.

  “I can’t even thank you enough for tonight,” he said softly. “Seeing Izzy so happy meant the world to me, and I’m so glad you and I got to share this.”

  The song ended all too soon, and Kai and I stepped back from each other with self-conscious smiles, since we had an audience. When we returned to the table, I said, “I’m going to pull the limo around. I’ll have to circle the block because of where I’m parked, so it’ll take me a couple minutes.”

  “We’ll meet you out front,” Kai said. He picked up one of her little shoes and slid it on Izzy’s foot carefully while she drank her juice. It was such a tiny thing, but seeing that tenderness warmed my heart.

  I told Skye and Dare I’d be back later (not only because I’d be driving Nana and Ollie home, but because it was barely ten p.m.) then headed for the door. My phone beeped, and I frowned as I read the text from Zachary telling me he was back home. I dialed his number, and when he answered, I asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Sorry, I know I should have told you I was leaving. But you looked like you were having so much fun on the dance floor, and I didn’t want to be a buzzkill.”

  “Why’d you bail out?’

  “It all got to be a bit too much, the noise, the crowd, Six.”

  “Did he do something wrong?” I paused on the sidewalk in front of the building.

  “No, not at all. He’s great. Maybe that was the problem, actually. I can’t get involved with an eighteen-year-old, but I was sorely tempted when we were dancing.”

  I said gently, “Do you think you might be using his age as an excuse? You guys seem really good together.”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Nothing will come of it.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I encouraged him to come here, and I guess I shouldn’t have. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or drive you away.”

  “You didn’t at all. Neither did he. I had fun, but after an hour I was just done and wanted to come home. It’s nice and quiet here, since Chance and his family are all at the dance.”

  As I crossed the Embarcadero, I told him, “If you change your mind and want to come back, I’ll pick you up. I’m about to run Kai and his daughter home so I’ll already be out for the next hour or so.”

  “I won’t change my mind, but thanks.”

  We talked for another minute. After we disconnected, I returned the phone to my pocket and sighed quietly. I should have known a big, crowded event wasn’t within Zachary’s comfort zone, and that probably helped set up the not-so-chance-encounter with Six for failure.

  When I reached the limo, I pulled my mask from my pocket and tossed it on the seat beside me. I’d given up on it pretty quickly, after realizing it was giving me tunnel vision. I glanced in the rearview mirror and fixed my hair, then straightened my silver crown. That I liked.

  I pulled up in front of the warehouse a short time later. Kai and Izzy weren’t outside, so I double-parked and went around to the passenger door. When they appeared after a minute, I held the door for them. Kai was carrying Izzy. She wore a puffy pink ski jacket over her dress and he clutched her wand and mask in one hand. The little girl’s mouth fell open at the sight of the rainbow limo. “It’s better than a carriage,” she said. Kai gave me the sweetest smile over the top of her head before climbing in the back with his daughter.

  She was sound asleep by the time we pulled up in front of the pink house in Bernal Heights. I double-parked and cut the engine, then hurried to open the door. Kai got out with Izzy in his arms, then leaned in and kissed me tenderly. “I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” he whispered, resting his forehead against mine.

  “Me too.”

  He said softly, “So, why don’t you come on in for a couple minutes? I mean, unless you have to get right back….”

  “But what about your family?”

  “That’s why I’m asking you to come in. We’ve been going out for two months, Jessie. It’s time you met them.”

  I was nervous all of a sudden and stepped back a little, searching his face as I stammered, “Are you sure? What about Izzy? You were worried she’d get hurt.”

  He grinned a little and shifted his sleeping daughter in his arms. “I already know this thing between us isn’t a short-term fling. I had my reasons for wanting to wait before bringing you two together, but Izzy’s missing out. You’re so great with her! You make her happy, in a way no one else does. You’re fun, and positive, and upbeat, and it’s kind of amazing to watch her respond to that. She’s a different kid when she’s with you, and seeing her laugh and enjoy herself means everything to me. You have the same effect on me, by the way.” I smiled shyly and ducked my head, and Kai said, “I know meeting the rest of my family is a big deal, and if you’re not comfortable doing it tonight, we can wait. But I’d love it if we took this next step.”

  I looked up at him and said softly, “What if your mom and grandma don’t like me?”

  “That’s absolutely impossible.”

  I didn’t share his confidence, but I took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  We went up to the house together and I started to help him unlock the front door since his hands were full, but Malia flung it open and said in a loud whisper, “We were wondering when you two were going to get your asses in here! Let me take Iz upstairs. Mom and Gran are in the living room, and they’re ready to burst at the seams. If you hadn’t brought Jessie inside, I think they would have chased the limo down the block! Nice ride, by the way.”

  “It belongs to my employer,” I explained as she gingerly lifted the sleeping girl from her brother’s arms.

  Malia headed upstairs with Izzy and Kai put his daughter’s mask and wand on a side table. He picked up my hand, and as I took a couple deep breaths, a voice from the other room called, “Would you come on already? I’m gettin’ old over here!”

  “That would be Gran,” he said with a grin, and led me into the living room.

  Kai’s mom and grandmother looked a lot alike. They were both around five-five with thick, black hair to their elbows, shot through with grey. Both were also full-figured, dressed in pajamas, and grinning ear-to-ear. “It’s about damn time,” Kai’s mom said as she hurried over and grabbed me in a bear hug. “We knew Kai was dating someone, but he’s so hush hush! He tried to pretend nothing was going on. Like we don’t have eyes! I can pinpoint right when you two started going out, because it was like a cloud was lifted from that boy.” She took my face in her hands. “Holy Moses, look how cute you are! Please tell me you’re over eighteen.”

  A startled bark of laughter slipped from me, and Kai exclaimed, “Oh my God, Mom, he’s twenty-four!”

  “Quit hogging the boy, Ginnie,” his grandmother exclaimed, hip-checking her daughter a bit to push her out of the way. “Let me get a look at him!” She reminded me a lot of Nana when she squinted at me, then put on a pair of big glasses. “Oh my! You’re just beautiful! Normally, I wouldn’t use that word for a boy, but it fits in this case. Doesn’t it, Kai?”

  “Please don’t embarrass him,” he begged.

  “They’re not,” I told him. To his Gran I said, “Thank you for the compliment. I think you’re beautiful, too.”

  “You lie, but I don’t mind,” Kai’s grandmother said with a gummy smile
.

  “Oh geez, Gran, where did you put your teeth?” Kai asked, looking around in a near-panic.

  “Don’t get your shorts in a bunch, Kai-Kai,” she said. “I don’t think your honey cares if I’m wearing my dentures. And I would have gotten dolled up a bit for this momentous occasion, but nobody bothered to tell us ahead of time that we’d be meeting your sweetie tonight!” She had a point there.

  “I’m so glad I got to meet both of you, but I’d better go,” I said. “I’m double-parked and my employer is expecting me back at the dance. I hope to see you again soon.”

  His mom said, “Now that Kai’s done with the worst-kept secret ever, I want you to come for dinner, Jessie. How about tomorrow night?”

  “I’d love to come to dinner, but I’m not sure about tomorrow. My employer usually makes a big Sunday dinner, and I help out, especially when she records it for her cable TV show.”

  Gran clapped her hands together and exclaimed, “Oh my God, Cooking with Nana! Am I right? That’s why you look familiar, you’re that Jessie!”

  It was rare that I got recognized. I grinned and said, “That’s me. Kai was supposed to be in an episode of the show, but we ended up with almost no useable footage after a crab crisis.”

  “I didn’t know you watch that show, Gran,” Kai said.

  “Sure I do, I’m a big fan! Nana’s my kind of woman,” she said with a huge, toothless smile.

  “In that case, why don’t all of you come to dinner tomorrow night? Nana loves having company. I mean, if it’s alright with Kai,” I said. He was all for it, so I shot Nana a text. She wrote back: Hell yes, the more the merrier!

  We made a few plans for the next night, and then Kai told me, “I’ll walk you out. I hope you haven’t gotten a ticket.”

  “What do you mean, walk him out?” his mother said. “It’s still early! You know Izzy’s going to sleep like a rock after all the excitement tonight, so there’s no need to stick around. Go back to the party and have fun!”

  Kai glanced at me and said, “It’s up to you. I don’t want to make assumptions, since I know you were meeting friends at the dance.”

  I took his hand. “Please come back with me. We only got one slow dance in, that wasn’t nearly enough.”

  He smiled at me, and we said goodnight to his mom and grandmother before heading out the door. When we reached the limo, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me, and then he said, “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Everything. Tonight meant so much to Izzy, and to me.”

  I kissed him again and told him, “It meant a lot to me too, and the night’s not over yet.”

  When we returned to the Embarcadero, I hopped out of the limo full of energy and optimism, but then I murmured, “Oh no.”

  “What’s wrong?” Kai asked, coming around to my side of the vehicle.

  “That looks like my friend Cole over in the far corner of the parking lot. By the way his shoulders are shaking, I think he’s crying. That means I messed up.”

  “How?”

  “I gave him a ticket to the masquerade ball, knowing his boyfriend River would be here. I was hoping they’d reconcile, but it doesn’t look like things went according to plan.” I locked the limo door as I said, “I’m oh-for-two. I tried to fix up Zachary and Six tonight too, and that also backfired. I suck as a matchmaker.”

  “It’s sweet that you tried, though.”

  “I’ll meet you inside in a minute, okay? I’m going to go see if he’s alright.” Kai kissed my forehead before heading to the warehouse.

  Cole’s back was to me, and he wasn’t just crying, he was sobbing. “Hey,” I said softly as I walked up to him. He jumped a bit at the sound of my voice and spun around, then quickly wiped his face with the sleeve of his black dress shirt. “I guess it didn’t go well. I’m so sorry for setting this up.”

  He took a couple shaky breaths as he pulled off his glasses and ran a hand over his swollen eyes. His voice was raspy when he said, “Don’t apologize. I knew he’d be here since his brother’s sculptures are in the show, and I came anyway. I guess I needed to know if it really was over, and I sure as hell have my answer now.”

  “Did you talk to him?”

  “I tried, and it just turned into a huge fight. I’m so embarrassed. The last thing I wanted was to start screaming at him in front of a crowd. But see, that’s why we never brought up anything serious the whole time we were together, because we both knew it’d turn into a yelling match.”

  He took a couple more ragged, deep breaths, and I said, “Why don’t you come back to the warehouse and get a drink of water?”

  But he shook his head. “River’s still inside with his brother and a lot of their friends. I’m just going to go home to Miranda’s apartment. Shit. I really need to find my own place.”

  Jamie and Dmitri came up to us just then, and Jamie asked, “Are you alright, Cole?”

  “Oh great, so that also happened in front of my employers.” Cole put a hand over his face. “I didn’t know you guys were in there.”

  “Hey, shit happens,” Jamie said. “You have no reason to be embarrassed.”

  “I really do,” Cole muttered.

  “We’re heading home because my sister’s babysitting and can’t stay late,” Dmitri said. “Why don’t you come with us and crash at our apartment tonight? I’ll drive your car for you if you want, since you seem pretty shaken up.”

  “You don’t have to take care of me,” Cole mumbled as his hands dropped to his sides.

  “You’re our friend, Cole, and we want to help. Come with us,” Jamie said. “As an added incentive, the bar is right downstairs. That might be a really good thing tonight.” Cole had to agree. He put his glasses back on and gave Dmitri his keys.

  After the two of them drove off, I walked Jamie to his car as he said, “Thank you again for the tickets, Jessie. Dmitri and I had a great time. You were right that we’d been way overdue for a night out.”

  “At least I did one thing right tonight. Getting Cole to come here was obviously a mistake, though. Was the fight bad?”

  “It was intense. Dmitri and I were ready to step in, we were afraid they were going to start punching each other.”

  “Holy crap,” I muttered. “How does that happen? How can two people who loved each other end up that far from where they started?”

  We reached his white SUV, and as Jamie pulled off his navy suit jacket and loosened his pale blue tie, he said, “You know I used to go out with Charlie, back in the day. When he broke up with me, I really thought I hated him for a while. I guess when emotions run that deep, there’s a tendency to replace one extreme with the other, love with hate. He’s one of my best friends now, but that took some time. Maybe River and Cole will get to that place eventually. I hope so, anyway.”

  “Do you think there’s any chance they’ll get back together?”

  “I doubt it. That fight seemed like a bridge-burner, if you know what I mean. Things were said that nobody can take back.”

  “That sucks,” I said. “They seemed so good together.”

  “I know, but couples don’t always show their real face to the world. I hope they both go on to find people who truly make them happy.”

  “I hope so, too.”

  Jamie tossed his jacket into the SUV and gave me a hug. “Go have fun with your handsome prince. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  After he left, I walked slowly back to the warehouse. Kai was waiting outside the door and drew me into an embrace when I reached him and kissed the top of my head. “River and Cole will both be okay in the long run,” he said. “I know you must be upset because you care so much about everyone who’s lucky enough to call you a friend, but sooner or later they’ll find people who fit them perfectly.”

  “That’s what Jamie said, too.”

  “He’s right.”

  For most of the partygoers, the fight had been just a momentary distraction, and the atmosphere was festive when we went back insi
de. My friends were the exception. They sat in a corner by the bar, their expressions grave. River was well on his way to getting very drunk, and Skye sat right beside his brother with his head on River’s shoulder. Ignacio and Dare were handing out shot glasses, and Haley and Yoshi leaned against the wall with solemn expressions.

  Dare came up to us and gave us both a shot of amber liquid as he said quietly, “You guys missed all the excitement.”

  “We heard. How’s River?”

  “Drunk and stoic. We’re going to take him home with us tonight, but he refuses to leave yet because he wants Skye to enjoy his evening in the spotlight.”

  River overheard us and surged to his feet. “That’s right, tonight is about my baby brother.” Skye got up too, and River grabbed him in a bear hug. “I love you, bro. You’re so fucking talented! I mean, holy shit! Look at what you can do.” He kept an arm around his brother’s shoulders and pivoted a bit so he could wave his hand at the angel sculpture. “We all need to stop acting like we’re at a damn funeral and start celebrating! My brother is going to be a famous artist after tonight. So are you, Iggy,” he said, pointing at Ignacio. “I’m sorry that my personal drama had to gush out all over the place tonight, but it’s over and done now. No more scenes, no more fighting. Just a whole lot of whatever this is,” he said, scooping up a shot glass from the table and tossing it back.

  River almost fell over after that, and Haley stepped forward and held him up with an arm around his waist. “He’s right that you should stay, Skye. You promised an interview to that art blogger. I’ll take your brother back to your apartment.”

  Yoshi stepped forward and put his arm around River’s shoulders as he said, “I’ll help.” He’d put on a black t-shirt over his body art, but was still sporting the hand-drawn mask.

  River nodded, and that was almost enough to tip him over again. “This is good. Skye can stay and get famous. We can go drink all his tequila.”

  “I still feel like I should go with him,” Skye said, pushing his blue bangs out of his eyes.

  “He just needs to sleep it off, there’s nothing you can do for him tonight,” Yoshi told Skye. “We promise to stay with him until you get home, right Haley?”