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They laid on the couch. Her head on his arm, his lips on her forehead. He was holding up his hand so she could run her fingers through his fingers over and over again.
She'd be content to stay like this forever if the world would just stay on the other side of the door.
She had books laid out all over the coffee table, but studying isn't what she wanted to do. Who wanted to study when she could have Jay time?
"You smell good."
"You're kidding right? I didn't shower this morning, so I stole some stuff from Jack. Old spice I think."
"I like it. You smell like Jay, old spice, and coffee. You could bottle up the combination and sell millions."
He chuckled because she buried her nose into his neck. "We are becoming the two saddest individuals in the world, sitting here smelling each other."
"In this moment I'm the happiest I've been in a long time."
His arm tightened around her. "Me too."
She felt his disappointment only seconds before he sat up and put some distance between them. She didn't hide her pout as he thrust a book in her lap.
Her mom walked in the front door, took one look at them and kept on going.
Paisley pouted some more and patted the area next to her, so he'd move closer.
He shook his head.
She narrowed her eyes and was fixing to move closer to him when her mom walked into the living room carrying a glass of wine. She sat in the chair next to them, but she didn't lounge and get comfortable like she usually did.
Not a good omen. Her mom only drank wine when she was in a mood.
"Have a good day at work, mom?"
"Nope. Kid threw up on my shoes." She raised the hem of her slacks so they could see that she was wearing her old running shoes. Really old running shoes since her mom hadn't run in years. "You realize that book you're holding is mine, right? It's about investing money. It's a pretty boring read and you look to be on what? Page two hundred? Three hundred?"
Smiling, she looked down at the book in her lap. "Two hundred and twenty-three. I want to finish by tonight."
Her mom raised an eyebrow and turned her look onto Jay. "Have you seen your parents?"
He winced. "I was getting to that."
"They've been gone for days and you didn't think it would be nice for you to go check up on them and let them know that you're doing well? Instead, you're over here, not studying with my daughter. Who you see going on, what, twenty hours a day?"
"Now Dougie, I don't think it's anywhere close to twenty hours. You can't count the hours we're sleeping. Or the hours when we're in classes. Bathroom time and the time I have to share her with the four asses. You subtract all that and we barely see each other."
Her mom gave a disgusted looked. "I've been thinking about you two a lot here lately." She took a sip of her wine and looked back at her daughter. "I was young once and in love. I was a little younger than you when I decided I would marry your dad. My parents hated him and fought me tooth and nail."
Paisley closed her book and pushed it off her lap. "I didn't know that."
"They died before you were born, and they had their reasons. Not very good ones, at least they didn't seem like good ones to a young girl with stars in her eyes. Mostly they hated how young I was. He was ten years older than me. I proved them wrong too. We were happy, so when I say I know how the two of you feel, I mean it. I know what it's like to want to spend every second with a person. I've been more than clear I'm team Jay all the way."
Maybe she should feel nervous, but she didn't. She knew her mom wanted the best for her and that was Jay.
"The two of you have my blessing to be together. You have my blessing to decide a future for yourselves."
"But?" Jay asked. He was still. So still that she wondered if he was reading something off her mother that she wasn't picking up on.
"There is no but. You have my blessing. I raised Paisley to be a smart, independent woman and I have complete faith in her. I'm team Jay because I know you're a good person, Jay. I know you will always take care of my daughter the best way you know how to. I will not be like my parents and fight a losing battle. Both of you know I wish you would slow down a tad, but this is the last time you will hear me bring it up."
Jay didn't have the response either of the women expected. He stared at a spot over her mother's head. His expression stormy as he chewed on his lips.
Paisley scooted closer to him and took his hand. "Jay, tell me what's wrong?" She searched through his emotions, but she could find nothing that explain what was going on in his head. He was nervous. Sad. He felt disbelief and fear. "Talk to me, baby."
"I'm not who she thinks I am. I'm not what either of you think I am."
She caught his face and forced him to look at her. "I know who you are."
He was already shaking his head before the words left her mouth.
"I know who you are."
"You don't. There's so much I have to keep from you. Secrets that aren't mine to share with you. Secrets that I would rather die than have you know."
"If they aren't your secrets, then I don't want to know them. And your secrets, you'll tell me when you're ready. I don't need your secrets to know who you are, Jay. I know your heart."
Still shaking his head, he looked at her mother. "You don't know me. You might think I have all the answers, but I don't."
"Of course, you don't. No one expects you to. Jay, you're different. You can't be around you and not know that. I don't know why or how but you have a gift. A gift that helped you save my daughter and keep her safe. It's powerful, and I imagine a very scary gift to have. Do you remember what you told me that cold night that Paisley dragged me out of bed to go and get you?"
"No." He admitted.
"You asked me to please take her away. You didn't want her to be sad when she saw you."
"Why didn't you listen to me?"
"You were a skinny kid with ears too big for his head, wearing dirty clothes that were too small for you and you wouldn't take that damn pink jacket because you said she wasn't wearing a coat. You said you couldn't take something that she needed. You have always tried to protect her, and that is all I need to know."
After drinking the rest of her wine, she stood up. "I smell like throw up. I will shower then Jack and Lisa are taking us to dinner."
