by Sam Ayers
She sat on the bed and asked him to sit next to her. “I’m in a holiday mood now!”
She jumped up and started packing her stuff. Jake noticed that her clothes were scattered on the floor and she was packing them into a duffel bag and her backpack.
“Where are you going?” he asked curiously, looking around.
“Holiday! Finally I’ve a week off, so I thought I’d take a break. You are going to be busy, right?” she asked, as she stuffed her backpack with maps, candies and a pair of socks. Jacob couldn’t believe that she was doing this, even though she knew that he was against this.
“You aren’t going anywhere.” He started unpacking her bag. “Do you hear me? Every time you go out, I need to get some serious help to bring you back home. Remember the last time I had to get my lawyer to bring you back home safely?”
“Jake, I am not a kid anymore.” She frowned and started stuffing the bag again. When he glared at her, she stopped and said, “All right! I know you’re scared, but don’t worry about me.” She placed her hands on his shoulder and gave him a tight hug.
“Who are you going with? And where are you going? How long? Where will you be staying?” He bombarded her with questions. She sat down again and ran her hand through her hair.
“On a hiking trip – Adventure trip, Jakey.” She grinned. “I’ll be fine. I’ll call you every day, okay?”
“I have a few conditions; I’ll drop you off at the airport and pick you up. And yes, you will call and text me every single day. If there is any emergency, you will catch the next flight back home. Is that understood?”
“Done! Gosh, I’m starving! Let’s go out and grab something,” she said. When she noticed that Jake was still sitting, lost in his thoughts, she pulled him up and pushed him out of the door. He sighed and agreed to take her to her favorite restaurant and she rejoiced like a kid.
* * *
Aiden had no clue what Jo had planned for them, but he trusted her. Or at least, that’s what he thought. As he sat on his bed, neatly packing everything, he received a call from Jo.
“Hey, Jo,” he answered. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Aiden! I wanted to tell you something about the trip. Don’t forget to pack two extra pairs of socks and . . . Hey! No, wait, that’s mine! Go away, Jake!” It was obvious that she was with someone else and was talking to that person, too. “Sorry. You see, I’m out and wait, where was I? Oh yeah! Socks! And don’t forget to bring something warm. And Aiden, please don’t bring your suits along,” she teased him. He knew that she was grinning at the other end.
“Alright, so you aren’t going to tell me where we’re going?” he asked, running his hand through his hair.
“What? No! Never! Didn’t I already tell you that it was a surprise?” There was some kind of disturbance, so Aiden decided to speak to her later. “Jo, you sound busy. I’ll speak to you later?”
“Sure! I’ll call you tomorrow. Take care, and goodbye,” she replied. After he said goodbye to her, he ended the call. Aiden turned around to see Adele standing right in front of him with her hands on her hips. He was sure he hadn’t seen her come in, but that was replaced with excitement in a minute.
“Hey! When did you get here?”
“What’s all this?” she asked, picking up his sweater and looking at him in surprise. “You are packing! For a trip?”
“Yup! I’m going away for a while. With Jo,” he replied. Adele wasn’t shocked or surprised; she knew that he was going to leave the next day and was glad for him.
Adele helped her brother pack his clothes and other stuff that Jo told him about. It was weird that Aiden had no idea where he was going, but it seemed to be exciting. Gabe picked her up later and Aiden was left alone, once again packing his stuff. It was late, so he decided to go to bed. He was lost in his thoughts as he lay in his bed, but his phone vibrated, pulling him out of his reverie. He had a text message from Jo.
Hey, Aiden! I’m so sorry for not answering properly. I was having dinner with my uncle and he kept distracting me. I hope I’m not disturbing you.
He replied at once, Hi. No, I was just resting. All packed! What about you?
He didn’t get an answer, so placing his phone on the side table he closed his eyes. Once again, his phone vibrated.
I wish I could call you now but Jake is busy writing something and he thinks that I’m asleep. And yes, I have packed my stuff. All ready to go. Jacob will be dropping me at the airport, so I’ll see you there?
Aiden replied immediately. Yeah, go to bed, Jo. I’ll see you tomorrow.
He got a reply straight away; it was a smiley with a good night. He smiled and turned off the phone before he switched off the bedside lamp. Deeming it far too late to stay up, he fell asleep peacefully.
No dreams, no nightmares and no headaches.
* * *
Aiden woke up pretty early, excited even though his curiosity was killing him. He took a shower and put on something simple – jeans, a red tee and a black hoodie – before he ran towards the kitchen, trying to resist the one thing that he loved, but he couldn’t. So making himself a strong cup of coffee, he drank it and rushed out to catch a cab. He had his backpack, and a map of the whole country with detailed ones of the important places. He figured they weren’t leaving Canada. She also told him to get some warm clothes along with extra socks. So basically they were going to someplace cold where it might rain. Proud of his deduction skills, he smirked and pulled out his phone. He got a cab pretty fast, and, not wanting to waste any time, he got in and called Alex.
Alex’s phone rang several times. When Aiden finally decided to cut the call someone picked up and answered. To his surprise, that someone wasn’t Alex.
“Hello?” said a young lady’s voice. Wow! A girl was answering Alex’s phone at 5:30 in the morning. And it sounded like she was still asleep.
“Hi, is Alex there?” he asked as he checked if he was calling the right number. He didn’t get a reply as she was already speaking to Alex. “Al, it’s for you.”
“Who is it, baby?” Alex murmured. He got up and rubbed his eyes. Now it was his turn to be surprised. Aiden never called him so early. “Aido?” he mumbled, getting up and walking towards the living room. “Talk to me!”
Aiden, who remained quiet, answered after a minute, “Hey! How are you?”
“Seriously? You call me at stupid o’clock and ask me how I am? Where are you now? I’ll see you at the office later, right? And I’m fine!”
“No, Al, I’m not going to be there. Look, I gotta go. Talk to you later,” Aiden murmured. He reached the airport and had to take the luggage out and pay the cab.
“Wait! Why aren’t you coming to work? When will you be back? Aido?”
“Call Adele and she will tell you everything, alright? Goodbye.”
“Aid, wait!” But the call was cut. Alex couldn’t understand what Aiden was trying to say, and it was early to call Adele so he decided to go join Abigail again.
“Who was it, Alex?” she inquired when he walked towards her.
“Aiden.” He sighed. “He isn’t coming to work and he is out somewhere.”
Abigail pulled him closer and hugged him. “I can call Jo later and ask her if you want. She must know something; after all, he is her boss, right?”
“You can try.” He sighed and dropped down on his pillow. It was true that he hadn’t picked up Aiden’s call once or twice, but Aiden never kept a secret from him before. Why now?
Later that morning, Jacob woke up to the loud sound of an alarm. He hadn’t set one last night, so it must be Jo. He sighed and got up. Walking down the stairs, he noticed Jo in the living room with all the stuff that she packed last night.
“Jo? What’s all this? And what are you wearing?” It looked like she was already in her holiday mood. Red t-shirt with ‘I’m Rocking!’ written on it and black shorts, not to forget that stupid backpack she carried around.
“Jake, you’re finally up! Hurry up! I don’t wanna miss the
flight.”
That’s when he remembered that he had to take her to the airport. Without another word he ran upstairs. Jo waited for exactly ten minutes before her uncle was back down, lifting her bags and walking out to the car. They got in and he drove as fast as he could.
“Slow down! Are you trying to get us killed?” Jo shouted.
“I thought you were getting late!” he defended. Slowing down a little, he turned towards her. She looked excited. All his life he tried to do something exciting to please his niece, but she was something else. “Joey, if he calls . . . don’t pick up.”
Now it was her turn to look at him; she knew what he was talking about. “Richard doesn’t know that I’m leaving. Well, he would be furious if he finds that I’m gone.” She giggled. “I would love to see that expression!”
“Maybe I’ll click a pic for you when he comes barging in, demanding answers about where you are,” Jake said in a teasing tone.
“Right! Will that be before or after you break his nose?” Jo teased him. Jake could get worse if Richard tried to cross the line. Sometimes she was scared to leave him alone.
“That guy crossed his limit! What does he think of himself?”
“Jerk,” Jo replied coolly. Jacob nodded, agreeing with her. They reached the airport and she literally ran. She spotted Aiden waiting outside and waved at him.
Aiden smiled and waved back. She walked towards him and Aiden couldn’t help but notice a guy carrying all her bags. Not to mention that she was exactly fifteen minutes late. But, as always, he couldn’t tell her that.
“Hey! You made it!” She exclaimed. Aiden nodded, still looking at the guy with all the bags.
“Hi, Jo!” he said and moved towards Jacob. “Hey, can I help you with the bags?”
“No, that’s okay, man. This kid is trying to break my back,” Jacob replied, setting the bags down.
“No, old man. Here, give me that,” said Jo, pulling the bags towards her. Aiden sighed in relief now that she made it in time. As she had the tickets, he knew that he would miss the flight if she didn’t make it in time.
“And I thought you were going on this vacation alone,” Jacob stated. He folded his hands and glared at her.
“I knew you would react like this.” Jo sighed. “Jake, this is Aiden. Aiden, meet my uncle, Jacob.”
“Uncle?!” Aiden exclaimed. Jo knew that she was going to get a call from Jacob later where he would give her a lecture for not telling him about Aiden, and she also knew that Aiden would be asking her many questions. She sighed and nodded.
“Yeah. Jacob is my uncle,” she said to Aiden. She turned around and spoke to Jake, “I think you should go home now. We need to go check-in. Take care, Jakey.”
“Hey, come here,” he said and pulled her into a tight hug. “Call me, okay? And take care of yourself.” She nodded and Jake placed a soft kiss on her brow. Waving towards her, he turned around and walked away.
Aiden cleared his throat. “I think we should get going; don’t wanna miss the flight!”
“Sure.” She smiled as they walked towards the terminal.
Aiden couldn’t help but notice her hair. “Why did you cut it?” he asked pointing towards her hair. He liked this hairstyle, too; it was cute, but he was curious to know the reason.
“You don’t like it? I call this the vacation spirit!” She laughed. He was happy to see her enthusiasm, and nodded while patting her head. Their flight was on time, so they checked in and waited for a while. Jo inquired if he had had a word with Alex yet. He hesitated, but decided to tell her about the incident that took place while he was on the way to the airport. She didn’t sound surprised when he told her about the girl.
“A new girlfriend, maybe?” She sighed.
Aiden wasn’t comfortable talking about Alex’s love life, so he changed the subject. “So that was your uncle?”
“Yeah. Too young, right?” She grinned. When he muttered something, she asked, “What did you say, Aiden?”
He was quiet for a minute and he replied, “I saw you at the mall once, a day before Aubrey’s birthday. And I thought that he was your boy—” She cut him off before he could say the word ‘boyfriend’.
“No. He is SO not my boyfriend. I get that a lot! That was Jake. Well, I forgot to mention that we were going on this trip together, so he was surprised when he saw you today,” she explained.
“Overprotective uncle?” Aiden grinned. “Dad is like that too. The day he found out that Adele was dating Gabriel, let’s just say he wasn’t very happy. My grandfather is the same. He isn’t fond of my father because he thinks that Dad took Mom away from him.”
Jo giggled when she heard him say that, because she had spoken to Aiden’s grandfather once and he was really cheerful. She looked at him as he sat there smiling. “Aiden,” she called. He turned around. “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
“I don’t know, Jo,” he answered, completely surprised that she had asked something like that so suddenly.
“My mother married a guy she barely knew,” she said as her face abruptly filled with unhappiness. He remembered the day at the park, when they were talking about their families and she refused to talk about her father. “Dad loved her but he left us. All alone! He never came back, and when he did – it was too late. The reason why Jacob means so much to me is because of his love and kindness. He took me in when I was alone. And he has always been there for me.”
He held her hand tightly and said, “Thank you for telling me this. I know that you don’t feel comfortable talking to others about your dad. But you trusted me, and I hope you always will.”
“I trust you more than myself,” she whispered and moved closer. Just as he came closer, their flight was announced and she pushed him and jumped on her feet.
“Let’s go!” She grinned while pulling him up and started walking towards the gate.
“Vancouver?” he asked. He wasn’t surprised at all because he guessed that they might be going to British Columbia or somewhere near the other side of the country.
“YES! Now let’s go,” she exclaimed and pulled him along.
“Hey, wait, I was going to get my coffee.”
Poor Aiden! Just one cup wasn’t enough, but Jo wasn’t listening to him and they boarded the flight.
“Finally! You and your coffee, I swear you are addicted to that stuff,” Jo complained as they searched for their seats. Aiden was a little disappointed to see that they weren’t in the business class. When the stewardess asked them if they would like something, he tried to ask for coffee, but when he saw Jo glaring at him, he ordered apple juice instead.
“That’s better.” Jo winked. “Now, let’s get this adventure started.”
“Bien sûr, ma chérie.” He smirked, leaving her confused about what he said.
Their flight was peaceful; they talked a lot and got disturbed by the lady who sat next to Aiden. She kept flirting with him, and Jo, who had become a little possessive, glared at her and, at one point of time, rested her head on Aiden’s shoulder and teased him about being popular. Realizing that this was going to be an unforgettable experience, he placed his hand on hers, knowing that something exciting was going to happen in the near future.
- Chapter 15 -
Grisly Road Adventure
“Where is she?”
“We are extremely sorry, Mr. Knight. Miss Josephine isn’t in Toronto. We tried to find out where she went, but we couldn’t track her location.”
“Did I hire you to give me excuses? Find her. NOW!” Joseph Knight said in a stern tone and stormed out of his office. He would find her, no matter what happened.
Richard stood near the door looking at this tenacious man, who would do anything to bring Josephine back home. He sighed and walked away because he wasn’t ready to argue with him anymore.
* * *
Aiden and Jo reached Vancouver at noon. Jo couldn’t help but feel thrilled, and she saw that Aiden looked exhausted. He had been tensed during the flight
.
“Are you jet-lagged?" Jo asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“I just need some coffee,” Aiden muttered, walking away. As soon as they exited the airport, Aiden raised his hand to hail a cab.
“No, Aiden, wait. My friend will pick us up,” Jo called after him.
“You didn’t tell me about this friend of yours.” He sighed and waited. Five minutes later, a black Volvo pulled up in front of them. Jo, who seemed to be familiar with the driver, waved at him. He stepped out and hugged her. “Long time no see, Joey!”
“Hey, Seth, how are you? Help me with these bags?” Jo smiled and introduced Aiden to Seth. Aiden was uneasy because he had to sit in the back while Jo sat next to Seth in the front. Why does she have to sit there? He thought.
“How was your flight?” Seth asked, breaking the silence.
“It was good,” Jo replied instantly. “But I guess Aiden didn’t enjoy it much.”
Seth just nodded. “Hey, Aiden, would you like something to eat or drink? I should have offered that first. My home is almost an hour away,” Seth said.
Aiden knew that this was the right time, and as Jo was busy talking to Seth, she wouldn’t notice. “Yeah, is it possible to stop by a café?”
Jo looked at him in the rear-view mirror and sighed. She knew that he would get himself a huge cup of coffee now.
“Sure, there’s one just ten minutes away,” Seth replied.
Aiden kept staring at his wristwatch and Seth was right; ten minutes later he pulled over and Aiden walked towards the café as soon as he could, followed by Jo.
“Aiden, wait! Is it okay if Seth joins us? He has done this before and it would be good to have some company,” she murmured.
He stopped in his tracks. “Is it just him? Who else will be joining us?”
Turning towards the lady who was taking his order, he said, “One double espresso to go, please,” before he turned to face Jo.
