Chapter Thirty-Nine
we finally made our way to the car where Jimmy was waiting, I pulled him to the side and asked why he hadn't come looking for us.
"Hey, I'm not an FBI agent, kid. I'm just a driver," he shrugged before he slid into the front seat and turned the key. Jimmy's nonchalance made me wonder about my father's activities, but I decided it was better not to question things.
"Honey, you're home late," my mother said as we entered the house. "There are some plates for the two of you out in the kitchen. Do you want me to have someone warm them up?"
"No, I think we can handle it ourselves," I said as my mother gave me a questioning look, which I pretended not to see. I led Leah back to the kitchen and stuck the plates in the microwave, leaning against the counter as we waited for them to finish warming up.
"Well," Leah said uncomfortably.
"Well, indeed," I replied. I had no idea why she'd put such an abrupt end to our encounter, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I'd never had a woman pull away from me like that. Normally they were aiming to get closer, which was something that often resulted in my doing to them what Leah was doing to me now. As I made the connection, I felt a brief wave of shame roll over me. She didn't want to be close to me, and she was distancing herself so that I wouldn't get the wrong idea.
When the microwave beeped, I pulled out our plates and handed one to Leah. She grabbed it and walked to the kitchen table where she had set out silverware and glasses while we were waiting. I sat down across from her, and we ate in silence. A few times it looked like she was getting ready to say something, but then thought about it and went back to focusing on her food. I said nothing.
"I'll clean up," she said taking the plates to the sink after we'd finished. I nodded and headed upstairs.
"Hey, Jack!" Riley called as I passed the open door to her room. "What's up, homeboy?"
"Where in the world did you get that?" I laughed as I stopped and peered at the girl sprawled out on her bed, doing homework, and listening to ancient CDs.
"I found a box under the bed that said, 'Do not open upon penalty of death,' so I opened it," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I figured anyone who could kill me over it was too old to care anymore."
"I do believe you're right," I said as Eminem rapped about losing himself in the moment, and I was thrown back to a time when the song resonated. "Other than the new music, how's everything going?"
"Not bad," she said as she sat up and held out the sheet she was working on. "Can you check this to see if I got it right?"
"Sure," I took the paper, looked it over, and saw that she was doing algebra. I found a mistake and pointed it out. "Do you know why this is a mistake?"
"Oh, wait, it's first inside outside last . . ." she murmured as she looked at the problem and reworked it. "Is that right?"
"Yep, that's perfect!" I nodded.
"Thanks for checking," she said as she set the sheet down and looked at me seriously. "Have you told Leah that you love her yet?"
"What?" I choked. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh please," Riley said as she rolled her eyes dramatically. "I'm 12, and even I can see it. You two are nuts about each other. I get it."
"What on Earth . . ." I said as I looked at her, shocked that she was being so blunt, and a little scared that she was right.
"I'm just saying that you guys obviously like each other a whole lot," she continued, unaware of how she'd thrown me for a loop. "Just saying."
"I'm not sure Leah feels that way about me," I said cautiously. I didn't want to have a “he said—she said” conversation with Riley, but I did want to know if Leah had actually told her anything about how she felt. I wanted to kick myself as soon as the thought crossed my mind.
"Dunno," she shrugged. "Seems obvious to me, but I'm just a kid. What do I know?"
"All right, well, I'll take that into consideration," I said as I moved toward the door adding, "Good job on the math homework."
"’night, Jack," Riley said as she rolled back over and returned to her homework.
I closed the door and headed down the hall toward my mother's room. There was one more piece of the plan that I needed to put into place before I put everything into play, and my mother was the only person who could help me make it happen.
I just hoped she'd agree to the plan.