by J. Bengtsson
“Is everything okay?” My mom asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You just seem…quiet.”
I looked at my mom. She knew me well. I sighed. “Just annoyed.”
“Why?”
“When we were at Target, Alicia Sanders came up to say Hi. Remember her?”
“Sure.”
“Anyway, I haven’t talked to her since middle school and she comes up and acts like we are best friends and then proceeds to try and set me up with Tommy Schultz, steal my boyfriend and hate on my eyebrows.”
“Good lord! In that order? I can see why you’re annoyed. That is a lot to happen on a trip to Target,” my mom joked.
“What did she say about your eyebrows?” Darcy asked.
“She said she would love to get her hands on them. You know, implying that they look like shit.”
“I think you have nice eyebrows.”
“Well you have to say that because you’re my mom,” I said rolling my eyes.
“No, actually that isn’t in the mom handbook,” she joked.
I grinned.
“Okay so I get the whole trying to steal your boyfriend but I’m confused about the Tommy Schultz part,” my mom said.
“Yeah, so she invited us to her house tonight and then asked if I wanted her to bring Tommy over so we could reminisce about old times…in front of Jake!”
“Oh that’s not cool!”
“I know. That’s what I thought. And she was totally flirting with Jake the entire time. Like, I’m just standing there, invisible!”
“No offense, Case, but doesn’t your boyfriend get hit on everywhere he goes?”
“Yeah, but not by a girl who introduced herself to him as my friend.”
“Yeah, that is pretty low,” Darcy agreed.
“What did Jake do when she was flirting with him?” Mom asked.
“Nothing. I swear sometimes he’s so oblivious. I don’t think he even realized until the end that she was hitting on him.”
My mom laughed. “God I love him. He’s so damn cute.”
“Don’t defend him,” I grinned.
“Sorry if I don’t feel too sorry for you. You knew what you were getting into when you met him. He can’t help the attention he gets and as long as he isn’t acting on it and he’s coming home to you every day, does it really matter?”
“I’m usually okay with it. But today rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t know, I guess I’m just cranky. I’m PMS-ing.”
“I could tell,” my mom laughed. “Don’t take it out on Jake…at least not until he has finished my piano.”
As it turns out, it took longer than an hour for Jake to finish with the piano. He was still working on it when Mitch and Kate arrived at the house. My mom had invited them over for a BBQ. She insisted Jake stop so that he could visit with his brother but that didn’t happen. Instead, Mitch sat on the piano bench and talked to Jake while he finished. Kate and I caught up on everything that had been happening in both our lives. What were the chances when we were waitressing together, years ago, that we would, one day, both end up with McKallister boys?
Luke came over just as Jake had finished with the repairs. Jake started playing an instrumental song on the piano. My mom came running in to listen. When he was done I looked over and saw tears in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She smiled. “I just…my grandma would have been so proud to hear Jake play her piano so beautifully.”
“I had no idea it could make those sounds,” my dad said grinning.
“I think we need to test Jake’s play-by-ear talent.”
“It’s no joke,” Mitch cut in. “It’s totally cool.”
Miles went on his phone and found a song Jake didn’t know. After listening to it in its entirety, Jake proceeded to recreate the melody on the piano. Everyone, including me, was sufficiently impressed. I’d actually never seen him do that.
When he was finished, Luke commented, “That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.”
The BBQ was a blast. We all gathered around the fire pit and talked until late in the night. By the time Mitch and Kate, and the rest of my family, left, my parents were exhausted and went straight to bed. Jake and I stayed up to watch Saturday Night Live. When it was over Jake turned off the TV and yawned.
“So, have you followed @Aliciabrowbabe yet?” I asked.
“You’re saying it wrong. It’s @Aliciabrowsbaby,” Jake laughed as he put the emphases on the word ‘browsbaby’.
“Wow, I’m impressed. You were really paying attention,” I said with just a hint of accusation.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He questioned.
“I didn’t really appreciate that you laughed when she made that dig about my eyebrows.”
“You’re pissed about that?” Jake replied.
“I’m pissed that you seemed a little too eager to flirt with her,” I spat out.
Jake looked at me in surprise. “Are you for real right now?”
“Uh…yeah, I am actually.”
“I thought she was your friend. I was just being friendly.”
“Yeah well try being friendly without making me feel like shit next time.”
“Jesus, you’re being a bitch right now.”
“Whatever.”
He sighed in frustration. “Okay, first. I was not flirting with her. She was flirting with me and second, the brow comment was funny and if you weren’t on the rag you’d have laughed too.”
Oops. Wrong thing to say, buddy. I could feel the heat rising. I got up and stomped off to my room.
Jake appeared at my door a few minutes later with that cute lop-sided smile on his face. I fought to stay pissed. He’d been rude and insensitive. But look at him. No. Stay strong.
“I’m pissed at you.”
“Yeah, I figured that out all by myself.”
“Good for you,” I nodded but refused to look at him.
“Okay Casey, here is my apology. I’m sorry for suggesting that your bad mood might somehow be related to that time of the month. It was wrong of me. Please don’t kill me,” he said grinning.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re just digging your hole deeper and deeper.”
“I know. Truce?” He said reaching out his hand.
“Truce.” I shook it. Jake pulled me into a hug. We didn’t talk for a minute or two. Finally I said, “I’m sorry. I got jealous. It was stupid.”
“You don’t have anything to be jealous of. You know you’re my girl. Those others, they are just interested because I’m a rockstar. It has nothing to do with me.”
I scoffed. “You always say that but it has everything to do with you. You’re gorgeous, Jake. Women would hit on you regardless of your job.”
Jake shook his head.
“Seriously? Have you looked in a mirror lately, Jake.”
Jake shook his head.
“Oh come on,” I scoffed.
Jake focused on me. His expression changed. Then he said in a serious tone of voice, “I don’t look at myself in the mirror.”
“Why not?” I asked, perplexed.
Jake paused then shrugged and said, “I’m kidding. I’m going to bed. Good night, babe. I love you.”
He gave me a kiss then walked out of my room.
“I love you too,” I called out after him.
What was that all about? Another one of Jake’s many mysteries. I changed and got ready for bed. I crawled under the sheets and lay awake wondering what he meant. Why wouldn’t he look in a mirror? Unable to sleep, I threw the covers off and walked down the hall to the guest room. I quietly opened the door. Jake was sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep. I crawled into bed with him and wrapped my arms around him. Jake’s body settled into mine. We didn’t speak but I could tell he was awake.
“Why don’t you look in a mirror?” I whispered.
Jake lay there a while and I wasn’t sure if he heard me.
“Are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you look in a mirror?” I asked again.
Jake sighed. Instantly I understood that it had something to do with the kidnapping.
“Why don’t you look in a mirror?” I asked for the third and last time.
“The day I escaped,” he started but then stopped abruptly. I waited. “That day…uh…I got injured pretty bad. I couldn’t walk so I crawled or dragged myself around until I could find a phone and call for help. I found one on a dresser in a bedroom. There was a mirror attached to the back of the dresser. As I pulled myself up, I caught sight in the mirror of this…this thing…this bone-thin, bruised and bloodied creature with dead eyes and wild, blood-streaked hair. I gasped and looked behind me, sure I was about to be attacked by this beast. There was nothing there.”
Silence filled the air. No more words came from Jake.
After a minute of quiet I finally finished the story for him, “You were the creature.”
I could feel him nod. “For years afterward, if I looked in the mirror, I saw him and I hated it. He was just a fucked up reminder of what I’d become. So I stopped looking.”
I hugged him a little tighter but didn’t say anything. A calm settled around us before I whispered, “You’re looking at him the wrong way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The creature. You see him as negative. But Jake, he was so brave and so determined to live. He persevered against great odds,” my voice broke with emotion. “He doesn’t deserve your scorn. If you look in the mirror and see that boy again you should thank him.”
Jake didn’t respond to me. In fact we didn’t speak again. Jake seemed to fall asleep immediately. I lay awake and listened to his rhythmic breathing. My love for him was beyond all reason. Most days Jake was the man I met the first night, so funny and talented and intriguing. And then there was the man with secrets. A man so tortured by his past that he blamed the boy he once was. There was so much sadness buried deep inside him. Moments like last night, where he bared the tiniest bit of his soul to me, were so few and far between. I wanted to help him see himself the way I saw him but I knew pushing him would only serve to draw him deeper inside his head. Since meeting Jake, I’d researched a lot about how to approach survivors of abuse. The key was to wait for a moment like last night…a moment where Jake, himself, offered up a piece of his past. And with gentle nudging, possibly pull out a little more than he had originally planned on giving. Although I wanted so much more from him, I knew I needed to be patient. He was worth the wait.
I woke up to sunlight streaming through the windows. Jake was not beside me. I bolted up, worried and feeling like a jerk. I was so concerned about stupid stuff like eyebrows and flirting while Jake was forced to deal with real issues. I wondered if he looked at me like some stupid little girl with laughable problems. The minute I stepped out of the guest room I heard his voice in the kitchen. I wandered in. Jake was standing over the stove with a spatula in his hand. My mom was beside him. My dad was sipping coffee at the table.
“Hi honey,” my mom said cheerfully. “I’m teaching Jake how to make omelets.”
“Good lord,” I smiled.
I walked over and kissed my dad on the cheek then went to Jake. He gave me a quick side hug and went back to his task at hand.
“Scoot the spatula under it here. Just halfway. Good now flip that part on top of…oops,” my mom laughed. All the filling came out of the omelet. “You have to flip it faster.”
“You could have told me that before I flipped it,” Jake laughed as he tried to scoop the filling back into the omelet.
“How long have you been awake?” I asked him.
“About an hour.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Jake shrugged. “I was letting you sleep because you were a little salty yesterday.”
My mom giggled. My dad grinned behind the newspaper.
“You’re both traitors,” I said, smiling. “One weekend and you already like him more than me.”
They laughed but didn’t refute my claim. I smiled. I loved that they loved him. I gave my mom a kiss.
“I love you mom. Thanks for taking care of my guy.”
“Are you kidding? I’m enjoying every minute,” she said and put her arm around Jake.
He smiled as he scooped his omelet out of the pan and onto a plate. He handed it to me. “My first omelet,” he pronounced proudly.
I laughed. It looked like scrambled eggs.
Jake posted a picture of his culinary creation on Twitter and we both laughed when @Aliciabrowsbaby retweeted it.
After our late breakfast, Jake and I packed up our stuff. Our flight was scheduled for 2:00pm. Miles and Darcy and the kids came over to say bye, as did Luke. It had been a great visit. My family had welcomed Jake with open arms. Sydney started crying before we got in the car, clinging to Jake. Apparently he was charming even to seven-year-old girls. Jake promised he would visit again soon. And he meant it, telling me that spending time with my family was like spending time with a bunch of Casey’s.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Casey
Once back in LA, Jake called home to his family. We made plans to visit Saturday. I was a nervous wreck the whole week of school. I’d met most of his family, yet still, I was filled with anxiety. I didn’t know what to expect. One thing was certain, I was very thankful I hadn’t gotten frisky with Jake around my dad or the payback would have been a bitch.
We left around three on Saturday. Jake drove us along the coast. He would tell me little stories about what he did on this or that beach and pointed at the spots he’d surfed. It was cool to see him in an environment that obviously made him very happy. An hour later, we pulled up to an enormous electric fence surrounded by stone and flowering vines; I gaped in shock at the enormous plantation style ranch house that sat back on the property. I turned to Jake.
“Where are we?”
“My parent’s house. Where did you think we were?”
“Um…I thought you said your parents were middle class.”
“They are. I bought them this house,” Jake said as he placed his thumb on a security scanner and the fence opened.
I laughed. “Oh, well shit.”
Jake grinned. “I wanted to do something nice for them.”
He drove through the gate and pulled up in front of the house.
“Well, this is definitely nice,” I said as I stepped out of the jeep. Jake took my hand and led me up the front porch. A teenage girl threw open the door and flung her arms around Jake’s waist.
“Gracie,” Jake smiled as he hugged and greeted his baby sister. After a minute of mindless chatter, Jake introduced me. Grace smiled and said hi. She then grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him through the front door. Their dad was standing just inside wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, flip-flops, and a big smile on his face.
“Casey this is my dad Scott.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said as I held my hand out, but Scott didn’t take it. He came in for the hug instead. Okay then.
“Casey, it’s so good to meet you,” he said patting my back.
“You too,” I beamed.
“Come in. Come in. Michelle will be here in a minute. She just went up to change clothes.”
“No, I’m here,” she said from behind him as she walked in. She came directly to me and gave me a hug. “Casey it’s so nice to see you again. I really look forward to talking to you.”
“You too.”
Wow, they were way friendlier than I expected.
“Jake you have to come and see,” Grace said excitedly. “Debra had babies.”
“No way,” Jake replied. “Where are they?”
“In the music room.”
“Why in the music room?”
“Oh trust me, it wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” Michelle cut into the conversation. “I had a box all set up in the family room but Quinn left the door open to the music room and Debra snuck in
and ended up having her babies in there.”
“Who is Debra?” I asked, confused.
“Our cat.”
I laughed. “Who names their cat Debra?”
“We name all our animals the whitest people names we can think of,” Grace giggled. “We have another cat named Carl. And a dog named Mark.”
“Seriously?” I laughed.
“Don’t ask,” Jake said rolling his eyes. “It was my dad’s brilliant idea.”
“That’s hysterical.”
We followed Grace into the music room and as Jake dropped to the floor to pet the tiny white kittens, I peered around the room in shock. Every wall was covered in framed honors. Every shelf held trophies and awards. Every name on every accolade in the room had Jake’s name on it.
Jake glanced up and saw me looking around. “My mom insisted.”
“Only because they were all over the floor of his townhouse. He hadn’t bothered to do anything with them. He had Grammys lying on the floor. Can you believe that? Someone had to do something,” she shrugged, with an amused look on her face.
“Oh yeah right…you didn’t put these up to save them, you just put them up to brag,” Jake teased.
I laughed.
“Can you blame me? Look at these awards,” she grinned. “I’m proud of my boy.”
“I don’t blame you at all,” I said. “I would do the same thing. This is impressive.”
“Not as impressive as this,” Jake said as he held up the most adorable little kitten next to his face. “Can we keep it Casey? Can we please?”
I laughed.
“You can have them all,” Michelle offered.
“Do they have names yet?” Jake asked his dad.
“As a matter of fact, they do,” Scott answered proudly.
“Oh no,” I giggled. “I can’t wait to hear.”
“Okay so we’ve got, Dennis, Karen, Cynthia, Ronald and this little guy here is Chuck.”
We all laughed.
“I have nothing to do with this,” Michelle said, rolling her eyes.
