Sparks and a Girl (Rewritten to publish)

9. Running around in the rain

Being in no mind to cook, Jeisa walked into the main house's kitchen and grabbed one of her casserole trays from the freezer.

"Hey Sport," her dad said, walking into the kitchen from his study. The sun was just about to set. Jeisa was hoping he would be too engrossed in his work to come out here.

"Hey dad."

"I haven't seen you for a few days. Everything okay?"

Jeisa tugged at the hem of her white sweatshirt. "Everything is fine."

"Your nails are done. Is it the girl with the green eyes? Were you guys hanging out? It would have been nice to get a heads up."

Jeisa sighed. She really didn't feel like lying tonight. She was already so deep in disappointing her father, she didn't have the strength to go any lower.

"I found something, dad," she finally said. "But right now, I just want to rest a little bit. I'll bring it up later tonight and we can discuss everything."

"Alright honey," he replied, walking up to her. "Can I at least get a hug."

Jeisa smiled and let him gently wrap his arms around her. A lungful of his familiar woodsy, musky scent centred her. She was home. And even if she was struggling to keep herself from sparking at that very moment, she knew that, as long as he was here for her, she'd be okay.

*

"Should I ask where or how you got this phone?" her dad asked.

It was almost midnight when Jeisa had returned to the main house. She found her dad waiting up for her, sipping on a fresh mug of coffee. She knew he would be there. They both usually tried to keep their word when they promised to meet, especially when it was about their work keeping Wraith Hamlet safe. They were in her father's study, Jeisa standing next to him as he sat at his desk, working on cracking through the phone he'd connected to his computer.

"I won't lie if you don't ask."

"Noted."

"What I can tell you is that the owner of that phone belongs to a group that is after our former target, the police captain."

"I thought we agreed to let her be?"

"Trust me, dad, I did," Jeisa assured him. "Then I met her daughter. We kind of... hit it off from the start and... became friends. She knows that someone is after her mother and I'm pretty sure the owner of that phone is a part of that, because it sure as hell isn't us, right? You didn't hire a bunch of goons to target her after I failed, did you?"

"I'm hurt that you'd think I'd consider any bunch of goons being anywhere as good as you." He said with a chuckle.

"Aww... love you too, dad." Jeisa said, giving him a half hug in his office chair. "So, what does the phone tell us? Anything about the police captain? About the WMDs?"

About Cass and how she's tied up in all this?

But Jeisa kept that last one to herself. She knew that she should tell her father about Cass. This girl was a part of this even though Jeisa couldn't see how that could be. So, why didn't she tell him about her? Why couldn't she? Why did she want to keep Cass to herself for a little while longer? To keep pathetically basking in whatever little affection Cass would shine on her every so often, like at the spa? To stay on this stupid ride?

'You're one of those people, aren't you? The ones who believe that choice actually exists.'

The words streaked through Jeisa's mind from weeks ago, when she was confronted the dope dealer fiend woman misleading young teen girls.