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Chapter Twenty-Four
Joshua
“Unca Josh,” Kaden slapped my face lightly to call my attention. I was trying to read my sister’s lips as she talked to Naomi. They’d just hugged, so that was a good sign. “Unca Josh!” Kaden slapped my face with both hands then and I was so shocked at him that I cracked up and he started laughing maniacally.
“Dude! What the heck?” I said and put him down. He squealed and then ran away from me. I glanced outside and saw Amy walking towards the patio door. I ran after Kaden before she could catch me red handed eavesdropping.
“What’s going on?” Amy yelled. Kaden ran around the dining room table then back into the kitchen and living room. His mom caught him.
“He just slapped me to get my attention,” I said. Amy gave Kaden a disapproving look and his face turned red then he started to cry. Kaden was probably the only two-year-old on the planet that hated it when his mom was mad at him. He hugged her around the neck, sobbing and she rubbed his back and shushed his sobs while talking to him about hitting. She walked into the living room and sat down with him.
I slipped outside and sat beside Naomi.
“Hey,” I said. She smiled at me and slipped her fingers between mine.
“Hey,” she said. “Your sister is really cool,” she said. “She…said that you care about me.”
I studied Naomi’s face, she seemed shy but not turned off by the fact that I cared. I acted on impulse. “I do care about you, a lot, Naomi. I love you,” I said. She blinked rapidly and opened her mouth to say something then closed it again.
“You do?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. A single tear fell from her eye and she hugged me tight. I held her for a long time. I didn’t expect her to say it back and didn’t think she would for a long time. It took long enough for her just to be open with me. But I wanted her to know how I felt. When she pulled back I pushed the swing and we started to rock gently, back and forth.
“Are you ready for tomorrow’s dinner?” she asked.
I laughed, “Of course, what’s to be afraid of?”
#
For starters, Casey had made reservations at a five star restaurant on the water in Sunny Isles. Naomi kept glancing at me as we waited for the host to escort us to Casey’s table. He and her sister, Jess, were already sitting down. Naomi wore a little black dress, her hair was brushed into waves and pinned over one shoulder. I wanted, more than a lot of things, to ditch her brother and sister and head back home.
“Follow me please,” the host said. I took Naomi’s hand and we walked breezily through the dining room to a table with the perfect view of the beach below us. Casey stood up along with Naomi’s sister, who was almost a carbon copy of her. Jess was thinner, an inch taller, and there was something about her expression that made her seem less approachable than Naomi.
“Hey guys,” Naomi said. “Jess, this is Josh,” she quickly introduced us and I shook Jess’s hand. She looked me over head to toe…calculating wasn’t the word.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said, then shook Casey’s hand in greeting. Naomi kissed her sister on the cheek, the same for her brother.
“Yeah, it’s nice to put a face to the legend,” Jess said as we all sat down. I didn’t want to let go of Naomi’s hand but the waiter came to pour water and take our drink orders. I looked at the menu and picked a scotch at random. Naomi ordered a strawberry lemonade in a clearly dejected tone.
“I think the hardest part about being pregnant is the no coffee, no alcohol rule,” she sighed after the waiter left.
“You probably only drink around us anyway, we’re that hard to handle,” Casey teased. She stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled.
“We are…a little hard to handle,” Jess said bluntly. The air at the table pretty much froze then and Naomi squeezed my hand under the table, I was glad for the contact. “I just want to get all of the hard stuff out of the way before we order appetizers, if that’s okay?” Jess glanced at Naomi who simply took a deep breath, then drank some of her water.
“Our family is going through a lot right now, I’m sure you know?” Jess said.
“Yeah, Naomi told me about your parents,” I said. Jess nodded and the waiter came back with our drinks then disappeared again. “I know her relationship with them is rocky,” I added.
“Yeah it is and Naomi is the baby of the family and now you guys are having a baby. My brother and I want to look out for her because our parents don’t really live up to that task and right now they can’t,” she said. “My big question is, how on earth does a professor end up here with his student?”
Naomi’s hand squeezed mine tightly and I wondered how much she needed the contact. Then again, I was able to drink, she was stuck with water and juice. “It’s not that simple for us, it’s never been—”
“So you knew her before class started?” Jess asked. “You guys were friends?” She glanced at Casey for a second, as if he’d kicked her or something under the table.
“Well, no but our relationship wasn’t like any of those typical student teacher things that you hear about. We had real interest in each other and were attracted to each other since the first day of class. Neither of us acted on it immediately for obvious reasons but when there’s a spark…” I shrugged and glanced at Naomi for a second. Her elbow was on the table and she was focused on me entirely. She smiled and I took an easy breath for a second.
“It was inevitable that we’d end up together, I think. We had our issues because Naomi was scared that I’d get bored with her or something and the pregnancy was…an accident. But I’ve always felt attached to her, I still do—I love Naomi and she knows that,” I said and took a deep breath.
