CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
JULIUS
The phone ringing on the left side of me wakes me up immediately.
I rub my hands against my eyes, adjusting to the morning light while trying my hardest not to wake Kaylah. It was a long night for us, and I’m going to bet we only got a couple of hours of sleep, so this call better not be a waste of time.
Seeing that it’s her phone ringing, I come to a realisation as the name on the screen jumps out at me, it’s too damn early for this. But I get my headphones out and pick up the phone anyway, everything I’ve learned so far about this woman preparing me for all kinds of things she may say.
“Hello,” I answer plainly.
“Have I got the wrong number?”
“You’re calling for Kaylah.” It’s not a question. The name on the phone literally says, Mother.
“I am.”
“You have the right number.”
There’s a pause, then, “Who is this?”
She sounds stern, serious. Pretty much the exact way I was expecting her to sound from the way Kaylah has described her.
“I’ll be handling Kaylah’s conversations with you from now on,” I say bluntly.
With a firmer voice, she says, “Who…who is this?”
“The person who will be handling Kaylah’s conversations with you from now on.”
“You won’t be handling anything. Put my daughter on the phone.”
I sigh. “I feel like it’s quite possible you’re not listening to me.”
“I don’t know who you are to listen to you.”
“So how does this go? You ask her a few questions for your own self interest, and then the five minutes is up?”
“You can tell Kaylah that this doesn’t count. I will call back later and I expect her to answer the phone then.”
“No, this counts,” I say quickly and carefully.
“If you have a question for her, ask me and I’ll answer.
But that’s the only way you’ll get to fulfil this arrangement from now on.
I know you like to have the last word, so you probably have a whole list of things you plan to get off your chest once I’m done talking, but let me just say this first. Kaylah’s well.
Hockey’s great. Friendships are blossoming.
Education is amazing. I think I’ve covered everything, which is perfect timing because our five minutes are up.
It was nice meeting you, Bernadette. I’m Julius, by the way.
Now you know how to address me when you call in two weeks time. But until then, bye for now.”
I don’t know when Kaylah woke up, but our eyes pierce into each other as I cut off the call and hand her phone over to her.
“Why did she call so early today?” she says, exasperation on her face.
“Who knows? But I’m glad that’s done with.”
She stares at the phone in her hand, then lifts her head up to look at me.
“I know you said you were gonna do it, but I didn’t think you actually would.
” My heart beats faster as I wonder whether I fucked up.
But then she smiled and says, “ Or maybe I did, but…it was so impressive, fuck. Thank you, is what I’m trying to say. ”
She leans into me, but I meet her halfway and proudly melt into her as soon as our lips meet.
When we break apart, I say, “I would do anything for you, you know that. And I’ll do the same thing all over again in two weeks.”
“I wish this didn’t even have to be a thing.”
“Me, too, and I’m gonna try to figure it out to get this shit to stop. But for now, I’m happy to give you take those five minutes of stress from you.”
The most heartwarming look rests on her face as she responds, “You are just so, so amazing. I’m not even gonna complain we woke up early because now I get to spend more time with you.” My laugh is instant, and I’m going on for a while until I feel her hand hold on to my arm. “What?” she laughs.
I let out one more chuckle before I say, “Every time I wake up and you’re still sleeping, I have to fight against my selfish desire to wake you up so I can spend every waking moment of my life with you.
” I know I’ve come a long way because it feels good to speak my truth to this woman who deserves it.
“Wow, we are corny as fuck,” she says after a minute of her smiling at me.
“I wouldn’t change a thing about that, though.”
She deserves to know how I feel about her, so I love knowing that I’m probably going to become even more corny as time goes on.
I guess that’s another thing in learned about myself, that it’s really not that hard to talk about my feelings when I desperately want them to be known.
Because as I wrap Kaylah in my arms and her aroma that’s perfectly her comforts me, I know that without me opening my heart up to her, we wouldn’t be here right now.
I took a risk, it paid off and now I get to feel like a winner everyday doing life with the best team mate I’m ever going to have.