Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
JACE
She didn’t deny it.
That’s all that’s been running through my head through the last forty-eight hours.
When I jokingly insinuated that Kinsley might like me, I’d expected her to laugh, to brush it off like she has so many times these past few weeks.
But she didn’t.
Her silence neither confirmed nor denied it, and I am taking that as a win.
I’ve been on cloud nine since then.
Even coming in P6 couldn’t bring me down.
What did though was when we went our separate ways yesterday after landing in England for the week long break.
Every time she walks away from me, a piece of my heart goes with her. And she’s been collecting those pieces for years now without even realizing it.
Now I have a real shot at being hers again.
And this week’s break is ruining that blissful feeling.
“I won’t try to take the look personally.”
I glance over at Mum. “What look?”
She holds up her phone, before flipping the screen to show a picture of my scowl. I smooth out my features and sigh. “Sorry.”
“Where’s your head at, my love?”
Where it always is, on— “Kinsley.”
She hums. “How are you doing?”
I look down at my lap. “I love her.”
“I know you do, sweetheart.” She reaches over, placing her hand over mine and squeezing. “And you really can’t tell her?”
I shake my head. “I can’t— won’t —risk her well being. The doctors I’ve spoken to say it could potentially distort whatever she does remember from that time. Right now there’s still a chance her memories can come back.” I meet her eyes. “I won’t be the reason she loses it all.”
She nods, sadness lacing her features. “I just want you to be happy.”
“I am.” I squeeze her hand. “I will be.”
“Dad.”
“Oi! I didn’t know we were in the splash zone.” I chuckle when Beckham rushes over flinging water on the two of us.
He winces. “Sorry, Gran.”
She laughs and I scoff. “What am I?”
“My dad?”
Since I’m soaked as it is, I wrap my arm around him and pull him down, ruffling his hair. “He’s a comedian, ladies and gentlemen.”
Beckham giggles, wiggling out of my hold. “Can we invite Cooper over to swim so he can practice his cannonballs for when we’re in Monaco?”
“Who’s Cooper?” Mum asks, her eyebrows furrowing.
I clear my throat as Beckham excitedly tells her, “He’s my new bestest friend. His mum works with Dad.”
“And who’s his mum?”
“Miss Kinsley. She’s the best, Gran. She doesn’t yell at us when we wrestle. Whenever we get to a new hotel, she looks up all the best places for us to try food and one of them is always an ice cream shop that has sugar free options for me. She loves pineapple on her pizza like me too. Oh! She got me this.” He points to the superhero themed adhesive patch for his Omnipod.
Mum’s eyebrows raise. “Wow. She does sound awesome.”
Beckham nods enthusiastically. “And Cooper is so cool. He loves pizza, but not with pineapple, so he and Dad always share and I share with Miss Kinsley. He wants to be a race car driver when he grows up and said we could be on the same team. His favorite color is red, too, just like me!”
He turns to me with pleading eyes. “So can we?”
“I’ll think about it. Check back after lunch.”
He nods and turns to Mum. “Granny, when are we having lunch?”
She laughs and pats his face with the towel. “I’ll start on it soon, okay?”
He takes off towards the pool, cannonballing into the deep end and splashing water all over Sydney. I catch Mum staring at me but I don’t take my gaze away from the pool.
“Jace.”
I hum, looking off to the side. Wow, her roses are looking extra rosy this month.
“Jace Collins. Look at me right now.”
I slide my eyes over her but quickly look away and she huffs.
“Jace Cooper Collins!” My head whips towards her and I see the questions swirling in her tender gaze. Why didn’t you tell me?
I drop my head, messing with the label of my water bottle so I don’t break down. When Sydney first told me Kinsley’s son’s name all those weeks ago, I didn’t know what to think or how to feel.
Then she told me how Kinsley came up with the name.
It was from a dream.
But it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.
And I know exactly the moment she was in. We were hanging out with everyone in this very spot and Sydney had just dropped Lawson’s full name on him when he beat her for the fifth time in Cards Against Humanity.
When I dropped her off that night, she’d asked what my full name was. Just in case.
I smirked and told her only if I got to know what hers was too. You know, just in case.
Kinsley Hope Jones.
Jace Cooper Collins.
There’s a part deep down in my girl that remembers. And I can sometimes see the moments it happens. She’ll say or see or hear something and get this far away look, like her brain is trying to connect the dots, but it’s never quite there fully.
Like there’s a wall the memories can’t quite get over.
But Cooper’s name?
That one has slipped through the cracks.
“His name is Cooper,” Mum whispers.
“His name is Cooper,” I confirm.
She watches me for a moment before standing. “I’m going to go prepare lunch.”
“Okay,” I say, watching her slide open the back door and step into the house.
Wait. That’s it?
“You good?” Sydney asks, sitting in the chair next to me, towel drying her hair. She twirls a finger around me. “Your face is doing this weird thing.”
“Something’s wrong with Mum.”
“What?” She sits up, alert.
“She didn’t ask any questions.”
“What?” Her face twists in confusion.
“Beckham just spilled the beans about Cooper and I was prepared to be hounded with questions because, well, it’s Mum.” I turn to look at Syd. “But there was nothing. Not a single question.”
“What did she say?” She glances to the window where we can see Mum moving around the kitchen.
“She said ‘his name is Cooper’ and I confirmed it. Then she got up, said she was going to fix us some lunch, and walked away.”
“That is strange.”
“When have you ever known Eleanor Collins not to pester her children about something?”
“Never,” she snorts. “She once asked me a minimum of fifty questions on why I decided to change my coffee order to include one extra pump of caramel. Because I love caramel, Mother. That’s why.”
I chuckle, shaking my head and she leans back in her chair. “Honestly, take the blessing in disguise for what it is. A blessing.”
Dad walks up with a burrito wrapped Beckham thrown over his shoulder and deposits him in my lap. “Where’s your mum?”
“Getting lunch ready.” Sydney looks up at him with a raised eyebrow. “She’s being weird.”
He snorts. “More than usual?”
We all look over as the sliding door opens and Mum struts out holding her purse. “Sorry, my loves. I burnt lunch. Is everyone okay if we just go to eat somewhere?”
We glance at each other before Syd and I roll our heads to look at our father. He shrugs and smiles at Mum. “Of course, sweetheart. Let us get changed and we’ll head out.”
Sydney stands up, whispering, “I thought we were having sarnies for lunch?”
I hum peering at my mum. “Something’s fishy.”
Beckham gags. “Fish. Bleh.”
I chuckle as I stand with him in my arms. Mum smiles, tickling his cheek as we walk by and I squint. She looks up at me, full of innocence. “What?”
Innocence I can see right through.
“Funny. That’s my question. What are you up to?”
She rolls her eyes and struts off into the house.
“Not dodgy at all, Mother,” I yell after her and she waves.
“No idea what you’re talking about, Son.”
After changing, Sydney, Beckham, and I follow behind our parents in my car. Twenty minutes into the drive, Beckham groans that his stomach is eating itself and I look at Sydney. “Did she say where we’re going?”
She shakes her head. “Just said it’s a little sandwich place one of the ladies in her knitting club told her about.”
I nod as we turn down a street leading out of the city. My eyebrows furrow as we get farther into the countryside. “What friend of hers lives all the way out here?”
“No clue. Maybe she got the address wrong or—” Her words break on a gasp as we pass a sign and she shifts in her chair, looking out the windows. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“Oh no. No. No.” I turn onto a street and she groans, dragging her hands down her face. “Mother, what have you done,” she mumbles.
“What are you going on about over there?”
She sits up and leans over the center console. “Don’t freak out. Whatever you do, promise me you won’t freak out.”
I park and turn off the car. “Why would I?—”
“Hey, this is where Aunt Sydney gets those cookies.”
I take in the small pink building to the side as we get out. Beckham runs off towards my parents and Sydney drags me to a stop by my arm.
“Jace—”
“You two coming or what?” Mum calls out.
We meet them by the front of the shop and Dad opens the door. Mum nods for me to go in and Sydney slaps a hand to her forehead.
Tentatively I step through the doorway and scan over the green and white checkered floors, pink walls, crowded bookshelves, and mismatched tables.
A gasp pulls my attention to the counter and I stop in my tracks.
“Kinsley,” I whisper.
“Jace?”
Someone shoves at my legs and Beckham slips in behind me. “Coop!”
Cooper’s head pops up from where he’s sitting at a corner table with paper and color pencils spread out around him. “Becks!”
He jumps down from his chair and runs, the boys meeting in the middle for a hug.
Kinsley smiles at them before she looks up at me. “What are you doing here?”
“Gran burnt lunch, so we decided to go out instead,” Beckham answers for me as they walk over to the counter.
She laughs, tilting her head to look around me.
“Uh, Son? Mind moving so we can come in?”
No. I’m good right here.
Sydney puts a hand on my shoulder and moves me to the side. Our parents step into the shop and Mum waltzes right up to the counter. “You must be Kinsley.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Mum waves a hand. “Pfft. None of that ‘ma’am’ stuff, sweetheart. Just call me Eleanor. I’m Jace and Sydney’s mum.”
Nope. My mum’s a sweet soul. I don’t know who this woman is.
Kinsley beams. “It’s nice to meet you. I hear you’re looking for some lunch?”
Mum laughs and orders for her, Dad, Sydney, and Becks before settling in at a table. I haven’t moved from my spot just inside the door, but the moment she looks at me, I take a step. Then another. And another. Until all that separates us is the countertop.
“Hi,” she whispers.
“Hi.”
“What would you like?”
You. Always you.
I clear my throat and lean onto the counter. “What do you recommend?”
“My personal favorite is the turkey, bacon, and avocado wrap with lettuce and apple slices.”
“I’ll have that then.”
She blushes, nodding. “Okay.” I pull out my card to pay and she waves me off. “None of that. It’s on the house.”
I shake my head. “Kinsley?—”
“Nope. My house, my rules.”
I chuckle and slide my wallet back into my pocket, raising my hands. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gives me a few waters to take over to the boys and I make sure they’re all good before settling into a chair. I watch her as she disappears into the back before sliding a hard look to my mother.
“You.”
She sips on her lemonade. “What?”
Sydney leans on the table. “How did you even know this was where she worked?”
“Sydney, darling. You still live at home.”
“Okay, wow. How is that relevant to your explanation?”
“Because you suddenly started bringing home these pink baggies with delicious baked goods almost every day.”
She cringes and I glare at her. Recovering, she points her finger at Mum. “But that doesn’t explain how you knew this was where I found her.”
Mum shrugs. “You’re right. I didn’t. I took a gamble—” Kinsley walks out of the back with a tray full of our food. “And it just so happened to pay off.”
“Here we are,” Kinsley says. I shoot out of my chair and help her with the heavy tray. She smiles. “Thank you.”
We set everyone’s plates down, and take the boys theirs. I ruffle Beckham’s hair. “There’s a cookie in your future if you eat all of this. I’m talking licked clean.”
The boys giggle and Kinsley brushes Cooper’s hair off his forehead. “Maybe even two.”
They look at each other with wide eyes before bending over their plates, two boys on a desperate mission for their sweet treats.
I walk with her back to the counter and lean against it. “Are you going to join us for lunch?”
“It’s okay. Enjoy the time with your family before you’re stuck with me for the next few weeks.” She winks and my heart gallops at the thought of it being just the four of us.
“You think I’m stuck with you while we’re traveling?”
She shrugs. “I’m sure there’s other people you’d rather spend your time with. Don’t feel like because the boys want to hang out all the time that you have to be around me just as much.”
“Ever thought that maybe I want to be around you?”
She stops wiping down the counter and stares at me. “What?”
I smirk, leaning with my hands directly beside hers. “I said that I want to spend that time with you, Kinsley. Maybe it’s me using the fact that Cooper and Beckham are inseparable as an excuse to be around you.”
She ducks her head, that beautiful pink hue blooming on her cheeks.
I push away from the counter and walk backwards towards the table. “Grab yourself something to eat and join us.”
“Are you going to save me a seat?”
I pull a chair up to the table. “Right next to me.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “I’ll be right over.”
I sit down with a smile and look across the table. Mum watches me with a victorious smile and winks before digging into her sarnie.
“When did you start liking turkey?” Sydney asks, face twisted in confusion as she looks down at my plate.
She’s right. I don’t like turkey. Never have.
I look over as Kinsley carries her own plate of food to the table. She sits down and picks up half of the wrap, taking a big bite and softly groaning at the flavors.
But the girl I love does.