38. Aiyana

Chapter thirty-eight

Aiyana

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

" I t shouldn't take this fucking long to get home," I groan to myself. How come no one around here knows how to drive?

The light ahead of me turns green, and yet, the douchebag in front of me, likely playing on his phone, goes nowhere. I lie on my horn, and he jolts forward, finally moving in the right direction. "Jackass."

Ringing startles me, but I see my mom's name pop up on my phone screen, so I swipe it to answer. Her loud voice fills my truck's speakers. "Hi honey," she says.

"Etsi, what's up?"

"Your father is working on a big furniture project, and he needs help. It's too damn big. Any chance you could bring a friend by and give him a hand tonight or tomorrow?"

Without hesitation, I answer, "Of course, Etsi. I'll find someone and let you know when we're planning on going, okay?"

"Thank you, honey. It's just too big for him, and he's working on it for a friend. He promised to have it done really soon, and it's just too much work on his own."

"No problem. I'll talk to you later. I love you."

" Gvgeyui , Aiyana," she tells me before hanging up.

Finally, outside of my apartment, I park and pull up Kas's contact info. He answers on the first ring. "To what do I owe this immense pleasure, little viper?"

I shake my head, knowing he can't see me. "I just got off the phone with my mom—" And he interrupts me.

"Is your dad okay?" he asks, sounding a little frantic.

What the hell is up with everyone doing that lately?

"Yeah, he's okay, I think. He's just working on a really big piece of furniture, and he can't hold it up on his own, and Mom is afraid he's gonna hurt himself. She's wondering if I could come help, and she asked that I bring someone. I know Kat would agree, but she's going out with Ale tonight, and she was always the worst at woodworking of any kind."

"Oh, I remember. All the times she'd spill the cans of stain when we gave her that job because it was the hardest to mess up." He laughs. "I've got a game tomorrow though, but I could go now if you're free?"

I don't really have anything going on tonight, and I already told Mom I could do either night. "Yeah, want me to swing by and pick you up? I can be ready in thirty?"

"Nah, I'll grab you in an hour if that's okay. We both know you haven't eaten, and I was just finishing dinner. I could bring you something if you wanted to leave sooner though." I blush at his thoughtfulness and agree to have him pick me up in an hour before heading upstairs to eat and change. He texts that he's five minutes away, so I lock up and head downstairs to meet him before he can valet and hike up to my floor to get me himself.

I pull open the door to his truck, hoisting myself in and slamming the door behind me. "Hi." I smile at him, buckling myself in.

He reaches over once I've finished, the truck in park as he pulls my lips toward his with his hand on my cheek. He presses a gentle kiss to my lips, and we break apart, someone honking behind us, ruining the moment.

He rests his large, warm hand above my knee, squeezing as we pull out of the parking lot and head toward my parents' house.

When he asks me about work, I excitedly relay everything that's been going on, and he cheers me on. "That's incredible, Aiyana," he says, eyes crinkling with pure joy. "I always knew you were a fucking rock star; I'm just glad your boss sees that too." He looks over his shoulder at me, shooting me a brief smile before redirecting his eyes to the road, and soon, we're pulling onto the long gravel road that leads up back through the woods. We park in front of my parents' small, one-story home—the walls paneled with wood covered in tribal markings my father chiseled in himself.

My heart beams with pride momentarily until I see Kas's gaze fixed on the small home next door. You can barely see it through the thick trees, especially with the sun down and the rain making everything even more dreary. Though with the cold weather and the loss of leaves, you can just barely make out the side of the light-blue house with the caved-in roof. No one moved in after what happened with his parents, not wanting to live in a house with so many unhappy memories.

He's got a faraway gaze, clearly somewhere else entirely. I rest my hand on his thigh and squeeze gently, helping drag him out of the dark recesses of his mind. He looks over at me, mouth slightly ajar, eyes glassy. "Hey, come back to me," I whisper, my voice cracking slightly on the last word.

His eyes cast downward toward where my hand rests, and he covers my hand with his own. We sit just like this for several minutes until the porch light turns on, and my mom walks out, waving over at us, shouting for us to come in.

"You ready?" I ask him quietly. Squeezing my hand, he nods, giving me a small, reassuring smile before unbuckling and hopping out, running around the car as he pulls the hood of his coat up and sprints through the rain to my door to open it for me and help me out.

We head to the door, my mom beaming at us through the rain. When we get to the door, we shake like wet dogs and pull our coats off. Kas's arms reach around my mother's thin frame, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around as she laughs at him, smacking his shoulder like she always does, but secretly loving it.

"My favorite woman! How've you been, Etsi ?" And my heart cracks right open as he uses the Tsalagi word for "mom" when he addresses her. He's always done that, but the realization that she'll never really be his, not by marriage or blood, weighs on me heavily.

"Oh, shush, you! I just saw you a few days ago." She smacks his shoulder again and laughs, a big smile on her beautiful, tawny face. She turns to me, but her words make me pause. What does she mean that she saw him a few days ago?

Before I get to ask the question that's sitting on the tip of my tongue, she envelops me in a crushing hug just as my dad walks out, carrying his oxygen tank with him. I hear his deep cough before I see him, though, and my heart sinks just a little more.

I smile at them both, bringing them in for a hug together, and when they let me free, Kas hugs my father in the same way he did my mom, lifting his legs just a couple of inches off the ground as if my father isn't a hulk of a man himself. His deep brown eyes, the same as mine, smile back at me as my mom waves us inside.

"Okay, so what are we working on tonight?" Kas asks, and Dad ushers us into the garage, where we find massive slabs of stained wood and tools strewn all around. I think it might be a giant chest of drawers.

"It's a wardrobe for Adohi. He came over after he saw that patient who Kat called about and said he had been meaning to commission a piece from me." He smiles broadly, the wrinkles in his forehead furrowing gently on his tanned face.

"Alright"—Kas claps him on the back—"put me to work." He smiles, and that same crack in my heart threatens to burst open again.

He tells us what to do, and as we work, he drags his oxygen tank around, and I see how cumbersome it's become despite being on wheels. When he needs a break, he pulls a chair next to me, and my mom comes out with electrolyte drinks for us. Red for Dad and me, and yellow for Kas, remembering his favorite flavor.

"You know," my dad says, looking at me with mischief lacing his words, "Adohi is only thirty-eight." My eyes widen, but I try to collect my composure as I see Kas peer over at us from my periphery.

"Okay?" I ask, feigning ignorance.

"He's a good-looking man; maybe you should let me set you up sometime?" he asks, his broad smile making it difficult for me to deny him.

"I'm not really looking for anything right now, Dad, but I'll let you know," I tell him, glancing over at Kas. His cheeks are hollow from sucking them in, presumably holding his breath, but he releases a long one when my father nods.

We go back to working on the project, and once it's fully assembled, we stare back at it, standing a few feet away with our fists on our hips. "It looks great," I say.

My dad smiles, laughing as he scratches his head. "It looks"—he pauses—" crooked ." At that, we all keel over laughing because it absolutely does look crooked.

My dad walks around the piece, taking it in at every angle, and bends forward, chuckling again. "There's a rock!" he says, leaning further forward to pluck it out from under the leg. The furniture shifts and nearly topples over onto him, but Kas darts out an arm, steadying it in time for Dad to stand and get out of the way.

We take it in again. "Now," I say, smiling with the accomplishment. "It looks perfect."

My dad nods, as does Kas, and he turns to him. "You free sometime before we leave on our holiday cruise? I could use your steady hands to help me finish with the carvings. You're better than anyone I've ever known at carving, even those who grew up doing it." Kas blushes as the compliment washes over him, laughing when Dad adds, "Besides me, of course."

"Of course," he chuckles, "I'm free in a couple of days. How's the twenty-second?"

Dad claps him on the back, heading inside. "Sounds like a plan."

We follow behind him, Kas's fingers grazing mine as his cell phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out, reads it quickly, and sends a reply before tucking it back in his pocket and glancing over at me with a guilty expression.

My face twists in confusion, but I smooth the expression and take a seat at the kitchen table where Mom has molasses bars sitting for us. I pluck one up, bringing it to my lips, and sigh with the first bite, my eyes rolling in my head from the familiarity.

"I packed some for you to take home." She nods toward the tin sitting on the raw wooden entry table.

Dad coughs in between sentences, clearly having expended too much energy, overdoing it tonight till his lungs couldn't keep up. We talk for the next hour until they send us home, wanting to make sure we get back safe with the rain.

As they walk us out, my dad cups Kas's cheeks, planting a kiss on his forehead, and Kas does the same, returning the sentiment. They whisper to each other before Kas opens my coat for me to walk into. I push my arms through the sleeves, and he zips it closed, pulling the hood over my head after I say goodbye to my parents.

When we get in the truck, I consider asking what my mom meant earlier but go silent as he stares back at the house he grew up in. A haunted look appears in his eyes before he puts the truck in reverse and turns us around in the driveway to pull straight out onto the gravel path to the road.

***

We drove all the way home in comfortable silence, my mind racing with unanswered questions, and Kas hummed along to the quiet music playing over the radio. When we pulled up to my building, he planted a kiss on my cheeks and asked me to text him when I got inside, not trying to weasel his way into my bed. It made me sick with worry, but I pushed it aside.

I texted him when I got in and again before bed, but he didn't answer until after I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning with his goodnight text waiting for me.

Kas

Sleep tight my little viper 3