She Will Be Loved

She Will Be Loved- Chp 14

Chapter 14

“Is she sleeping?” I asked as Jayden entered our bedroom. He had offered to put Emi to bed while I got Tara settled in but I got done before he did.

He nodded, taking off his shirt and throwing it in the hamper. I watched him make his way to the bed and I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. It was obvious that whoever Cynthia was she had a profound impact in those two’s lives and it was clear that her leaving; however she left hurt them deeply but that still never answered many questions. My head turned to him once he was lying down and he instantly picked up the look on my face.

“What?”

“Who’s Cynthia?”

The look on his face told me that, just like with Jonie, that name hit a raw cord with him. I could see that he was trying to collect himself and that took a few minutes of him just staring out blankly.

“She was um—“ his voice was tight, “a friend, just a really good friend.” I stared at him, not sure whether or not to accept that answer. She was obviously a good friend, otherwise Jonie wouldn’t have curled up into a ball after seeing her picture. There had to be more but before I could ask he changed the subject. “Did Tara settle in okay?”

I nodded, a little disappointed that he wouldn’t discuss whatever was bothering him so badly—and he couldn’t say that nothing was bothering him because it was written across his face in block letters. “She got Dustin to sleep then collapsed on her bed.”

He nodded reflectively. “Well then, sleep tight.” He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss then turned his back to me and went to sleep. This didn’t feel good. I didn’t like feeling shut out, unwelcomed. When I was hurting he was there for me, so . . . so why wouldn’t he let me be there for him too? I wanted to make him smile the way he made me smile and have him let go if only for a while so I could find out. He obviously wasn’t going to tell me anything else. I was going to have to try talking to Jonie again. That wasn’t going to be easy but she was my only alternative that I had if I wanted to know.

At the ringing of the final bell I bolted from my seat and hurried to the car. The sooner we got home was the sooner I would be able to find out everything, starting with the reason Jonie was absent from school. She didn’t believe in missing school because she said she missed out on too much. I had a feeling that she was home contemplating the fact that today Destiny got to run free doing as she pleased and making herself more noticeable. I, personally, listened to nothing that she said because if it didn’t come from Jonie it simply wasn’t true and I think she knew that because she had stopped trying to tell me things like she did with the others. It didn’t bother me because I preferred it that way.

“Jonie!” I called, bolting through her front door. I drew immediate brakes when something darted by me and ended up in the wall. With my heart pounding furiously in my chest I turned and saw what looked like a pocket knife fastened into the wall. My eyes bulged. “What the hell . . .”

“Look before you leap.”

My eyes darted to the staircase and saw Jonie, still in her PJs descending the stairs. That was strange. I had never known her to stay in bed for the entire day, not even the time she was really sick with the flu and a terrible headache. I remember that she had been so sick that she was could hardly walk but she still pushed herself despite my Pleas and Jayden’s ‘commands’.

“Well I’m sorry but I didn’t expect knives to be flying after me like that.” I said, defending myself.

She sighed, shaking her head. “When you enter a Data Carriers lair you need to be prepared for any and every eventualities because there is no remorse on the part of a Data Carrier, merely justifications for their actions.”