around me and buries her face in my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I just saw him holding you with Jason in the next room and I saw red.”
“I’m not going to sabotage my relationship with Jason. Not after he waited for me again.”
“Yo! Babe! Sara!” Damian calls. “Movie’s starting.”
Arissa breaks away and swipes at the tears under her eyes. I laugh and give her a playful shove towards the living room. She pushes me back and smiles.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Jason takes me to his house a week later to meet his dad. My fingers are interlaced with Jason’s and he’s facing me on the porch. “He’s having a good day today, but he might not look like it.”
“Okay. Are you worried?”
“Just hoping his appearance won’t freak you out.”
“J, you know me better than that.”
“I do.”
“Then stop worrying,” I say.
“Okay.” He kisses me softly.
From the entryway, Jason leads me through the living room. A blue sofa faces two matching chairs with a mahogany coffee table between them. An enlarged photo of a deserted tropical beach hangs over the white fireplace. Assorted seashells line the mantle.
We walk through the large opening in the back of the living room, then to a room on the left. A large, flat screen TV takes up much of the wall space opposite the door. Two overstuffed black leather sofas line the two side walls and two recliners face the TV on the edge of the taupe area rug covering the dark wood floor. A low, black entertainment center sits under the TV and holds various electronic components, including a stereo playing jazz through the room’s speakers.
Alana is in front of the left chair, holding a lidded cup with a straw. She peers up and smiles. “Sara! I so enjoyed our dinner at work the other night.”
“I did too, Alana.” I smile in return.
Jason leads me to the chair. “Dad.” He bends down and kisses his dad on the cheek. “This is Sara.”
His dad looks like nothing more than skin covering a skeleton. His white t-shirt and blue basketball shorts are ten sizes too big for him. His head is bald and his face sunken, yet ice blue eyes shimmer at me. A sign of true life behind the disease ravaging his body.
“Sara,” he says, slow and deliberate. “I’m thrilled to finally meet the girl who stole my son’s heart.”
“I’m glad to meet you as well, Mr. Waters.”
He rolls his bright eyes and slowly waves his hand in dismissal. “Mike. My name is Mike.”
“Okay. Mike,” I say, smiling.
Jason tugs me to the sofa closest to his dad, covering our joined hands with his free hand. Alana sits in the other recliner, holding Mike’s cup.
“Tell me,” he says, leaning over the recliner’s arm, “is my boy treating you right?”
“He’s been nothing but a gentleman since we met.”
“Good.” He shakes a finger at Jason. “You better keep it up.”
“And risk you being on my case if I didn’t?” Jason asks in jest.
“You like me being on your case,” Mike jokes back.
“Yes, I do, Dad.” He grins, releasing my hand and sliding his arm around me.
Mike returns his attention to me. “Do you know what colleges you’re applying to in the fall?”
I tense and Jason squeezes me into him. “I really hadn’t thought about it. I’m just trying to get through one day at a time right now.”
“Oh, right. The trials start soon. Jason told us about that. I do hope they get what’s coming to them. There’s no excuse for what they did to you.”
“Thank you, Mike.”
He sits back in the chair and closes his eyes.
Jason pulls his arm out from behind me, setting his forearms on his lap. “Dad? Are you okay?”
“Just a little tired, son,” he answers with his eyes still closed.
“Do you want me to take you to your room?”
“That might be a good idea with company coming later.”
Jason squats in front of Mike. He leans forward and wraps his arms around Jason’s neck, the strain of the effort etched on his face. Jason sets his hands into Mike’s armpits and slowly lifts as Mike pushes up with trembling legs. Alana pulls a wheelchair over from the back corner of the room. Jason and Mike each keep an arm around the other as they shuffle to the wheelchair.
“Sorry to leave you so soon, Sara. I’ll be back out once I’ve had a nap,” he says, tired but cheerful as he’s wheeled out of the room.
When Jason returns, I place my legs over his lap. He takes my hand into