November 10
Somewhere on the outskirts of Vegas
“Happy birthday, little brother.”
Considering the way he left home a few days ago, he hadn’t expected Dom to sound so cheerful. Kevin guessed that it was probably another trait of being the eldest: the maturity and heart to forgive.
“Thanks, Dom.” Kevin replied. “How’s mom?”
He didn’t know why he asked that question.
The answer was obvious. His mother had been the first to call him this morning.
He hadn’t even left the hotel room for breakfast before her name was lighting up his screen.
She’d sounded worried and distraught, but Kevin just wanted to know if it was worse than what he thought.
“She’s okay,” Dom replied. “She’s just worried about you, Kev. I don’t know what exactly you’re up to, but we all understand that this is something you need to do.”
That made him feel a lot better. Dom always knew what each of his siblings needed to set their minds at ease.
He was actually the best big brother ever, protective and reliable.
As his mother always said, typical Capricorn qualities.
Hearing his voice made Kevin feel a little homesick.
He was starting to miss them. There was, however, someone he was missing more than his mother, his father, his siblings. “How’s Kay?” he asked.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?” There was silence for a few seconds and his eyes shut as soon as he heard her little voice. “Hi, Uncle K.”
“Hey, Princess. How was your day with Grandma?”
“Nice. We made cookies.”
Hearing that reminded him of how he blew up at his mother over those stupid chocolate chip cookies.
He ignored the guilt and listened to Kay as she spoke about how she’d messed the flour in her hair and the batch that got burnt.
But then, just like a three-year old, the conversation shifted without warning. “When are you coming home, Uncle K?”
He tried not to let her hear him groan. “I know I said I’d be back in a couple days, but I’m gonna be gone for a few weeks, okay? And I promise, we’re gonna have that ball as soon as I get back.”
“Okay.” She sounded completely disheartened. It was painful to hear. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He hung up the phone and turned around to see Jasmin staring at him.
Sharing a room with her was going to take some getting used to.
He liked his personal space and, for her, nothing was personal.
It was going to be their second night together, and he had to admit that it wasn’t as bad as he’d anticipated.
There were some issues, minor issues though.
They’d left Provo this morning and drove for six hours to…
He didn’t even know where the hell they were.
All he knew was that they weren’t in Vegas yet.
He knew this because Jasmin insisted on doing some girly shit before they actually entered the city.
She wanted a manicure, pedicure and a wax.
She didn’t want to go into Vegas not looking her best. Ridiculous!
She only ever wore sweatpants and baggy tops.
What difference did it make? But they were here now, in a motel in some small town in the middle of nowhere.
“So it’s your niece, not your girlfriend,” she said.
His eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What?”
“The girl waiting for you back home, I thought it was your girlfriend, but it’s your niece. Dom’s daughter?”
Her question made him realize how much she’d overheard. “It’s rude to eavesdrop on other peoples’ conversations.”
“It’s not like I had a choice; we’re in the same room.” She smiled as if pleasantly surprised. “It was nice to see that side of you. I didn’t know you could be sweet. Um…will you tell me about your family?”
He really didn’t want to have a discussion about his personal life, especially not after that phone call. “No,” he answered softly.
Her disappointment was apparent, but she didn’t probe any further. He took it as a sign that she was starting to respect his boundaries.
The room was becoming unbearably hot and he was starting to feel a little sticky. “Why is it so hot here?”
“I turned the heat up. I’m a brown person, Kevin. Brown people can’t handle the cold.”
“I know for a fact that’s not true. And you’re overreacting. It’s not even cold today. Can we turn it off, please? I’m cooking inside.”
“Kevin, my body is not acclimatized to this weather. I was checking this website and the average temperature for June in Montana and South Africa is almost the same. Now in case you didn’t know, June is our winter and your summer.
I saw that on rare occasions Montana gets snow in the summer.
So this might be fine for you, but it’s freezing for me.
Let me just enjoy this for a few more minutes. I’ll turn it off just now.”
He was beginning to grow irritable. “I know this shouldn’t be an issue because we’re both speaking English, but I don’t understand half the things you say. You call a traffic light a robot, you call sneakers takkies—”
“You say crik instead of creek,” she cut in.
“That’s just a pronunciation issue. It’s not an entirely different word.”
“You say jockey box instead of cubby hole.”
“We agreed that there was no right answer for that one and compromised on glove compartment. Besides, the point is that most of the time I don’t understand you, so please, take a second and explain to me what exactly just now means, because South Africans clearly don’t use it in the same context as the rest of the world. ”
Confusion wrinkled her face as she tried to find the words to explain it. “There’s no…definitive time for just now. It like…it’s like just now, like it could be five minutes or five hours. Just now can be at any time…just…not…now.”
It was like a hundred degrees in there and he was sweating under his T-shirt. He didn’t know how she could even breathe in this heat. “So what you’re saying is that you’re probably never gonna turn it off?”
“I will turn it off…just now.”
“You’re driving me crazy, Jasmin! Can we not get through one day without arguing? We can’t even agree on simple things.”
“That’s because you become aggressive over simple things. It’s your triple S acting up again. It’s not your fault. I forgive you.”
“Fuck!” If he wasn’t so annoyed, he would’ve laughed. “I hate you. It’s been brewing for a couple days but it became official today.”
“It’s a milestone.” Her smile told him she didn’t take him seriously and he hadn’t expected her to. “I’m glad I was here to witness it.”
His phone rang again and he was grateful to see it was his brother—his other brother—because he didn’t want to talk to her anymore. “Hey, Max.”
“Hey, Kev. Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.”
“Mom says you’re not at home.”
He looked over at Jasmin before he answered, making it as cryptic as possible so she wouldn’t know what he was talking about. “Yeah…I…uh…there’s something I need to do…for Perry.”
“So where are you?”
“I’m…hang on…” It was time to take the conversation outside.
He was boiling and he didn’t want her eavesdropping on his conversation again.
He walked out of the motel room. It was dark already and the air was cool and refreshing.
Closing the door behind him, he lifted the phone to his ear again.
“I just had to get out of there. It’s the only way I can get some privacy. ”
“Where are you?” Max asked again.
“In the middle of nowhere,” he shouted, “stuck on this road trip with a girl who is literally fucking bat-shit crazy!”
“You have a low tolerance for people. I’m sure she’s not that bad.”
“Psycho is definitely bad. She’s like Shane. She doesn’t stop talking. Fucking Virgos!”
He heard Max laugh on the other end and decided to vent to his older brother. Even though he’d chosen not to take the bus, she still found a way to make him question his decision all the time.
“Her mouth runs on a motor,” Kevin continued, “just on and on and on. I can’t stand her!
She’s driving me fucking insane. I’m ready to strangle myself.
So she took us on a like…a hundred thousand mile detour and instead of this trip taking a few days, it’s gonna take weeks.
Weeks, Max! Fucking weeks alone with this girl, day in and day out.
I won’t survive—” He stopped midsentence when the door opened again. “Hang on a second, Max.”
“Sure.”
“Jazz, where are you going?”
“To the store,” she replied.
Again with this shit, he thought. “You can’t walk alone at night.” And it felt like he was explaining common sense to her for the hundredth time. “I’ll come with you.”
“Kevin, it’s just across the parking lot,” she said, pointing to the small store about fifty feet away. “You can watch me walk there from here. Besides, black belt in tae-kwon-do, remember? Anyone comes at me and I turn into a swirling storm of death. Kick, quick jab and—”
“Yeah. Yeah,” Kevin said, brushing her off. “I get it. Go on with your bad self.” He waited until she was out of earshot before resuming the conversation with his brother. “See what I mean, Max? Fucking bat-shit crazy!”
His brother chuckled. “You’re gonna stand outside until she gets back, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
“For someone who can’t stand her, you sure are protective.”
“Shut up, Max! She’s not street-smart, all right? Black belt, my ass. Give her waffles and ice cream and even aliens could abduct her without much of a fight.”
“Whatever you say, Kev. Enjoy the rest of your birthday.”
Kevin exhaled an exaggerated breath. “Yeah, I’ll try. Thanks again for the call.”