36. Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Vi
"I have one question," I said.
Jake had gotten me a glass of water, and we sat with my parents at the table. He and I still displayed our interlocked fingers on the wooden surface, and my eyes kept returning to them.
I pulled my gaze away, to catch my dad's eyes. He looked at me with a glint in his eyes.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Did you suspect?" I smiled. "Gabe and Lina said they did."
"I did not!" Dad said. "I thought you treated each other like you treat Gabe. I did not see this coming."
"I didn't, either." Mom grinned in a gesture I recognized in myself, when I looked in the mirror. "Then again, we didn't see you interact the same way that Gabe and Lina did. Maybe you were unconsciously hiding it from us even before getting together."
Dad laughed, recognizing my mom's teasing.
"You're probably right, to be honest." Jake gazed at me with a considering look. "I had convinced myself it would never happen, so showing any of it seemed useless, if not dangerous."
"Tell them how long." I squeezed his hand and smirked, shifting my eyes to my parents. "I've had a crush on him since high school."
"High school?!" My dad said.
I laughed. "Yep. He took a while longer, but this has been going on for years. This wasn't a rushed decision."
"It may still be hard for you to get used to it," Jake added. "I understand if you need some time."
My parents stared at each other, checking each other's reaction to Jake's words.
I frowned. "It shouldn't be that hard. He's already been like a son to you. Son-in-law shouldn't be such a stretch."
Dad arched an eyebrow at me. Through the years, Jake must have picked it up from him, because it was the same gesture on his face.
My mom laughed. "I guess this has really evolved through the years, if you're already talking about that."
I shrugged, with an echoing smile on my face. "It's a possibility. I just didn't know what else to call him in this scenario— and it fit well enough, right?"
"You know what this means, too?" Dad asked. "We made this table for ten people, thinking of each of you with your partner. We're going to have extra space now."
Mom put a hand on his arm. "It only means there's more room for high chairs."
I gazed at each of them in turn, a joke at the tip of my tongue. Mirth bubbled up inside of me, making it difficult to hide it.
"I do have news to share." I put a hand on my stomach, and waited.
Three faces looked at me with smiles frozen into shock.
"I'm starving!" I laughed, the rest of my words coming out broken up by my chortles. "I haven't had a chance to eat dinner yet!"
"Vi!" Mom exclaimed, while my dad laughed and shook his head.
"What a brat." Jake chuckled and kissed my temple. "Don't joke like that."
I still laughed, when I got up from the table and got Jake and I something to eat. We had dinner with my parents sitting across from us. They asked a few questions but, in general, seemed to take everything in stride.
Still, I could imagine them talking about it later, in the privacy of their room, still making sense of everything.
Once the dishwasher ran and everything was in order, my parents, Jake, and I stood by the kitchen island.
"We're going up now," Mom said. "We'll give you some privacy."
She hugged me, then Jake.
"Bye, Jake." Tío Raúl hugged him, then kissed me on the cheek. "I'm happy for you."
They left us in the kitchen, going away hand-in-hand.
I leaned on the kitchen island with a cocked hip. Jake watched my parents until they disappeared into the hall towards the stairs.
He turned to me with a confused look on his face. "I guess… that's it. We're good to go."
"Almost." I leaped into his arms and plastered my mouth to his. "There. Now it's sealed."
"Actually…" He glanced behind me, as if studying the island for some reason.
I started to do the same, before Jake made good use of his muscles and, grabbing me by the waist, sat me up on the stone countertop.
"Jake!"
I had never had a partner that could do something like that, and I shivered in pleasure.
He stood between my legs, cradled my head in his hands, and gave me a long, playful kiss.
"Now we're talking," he said, and kissed me some more.
It took us a while to stop, but we eventually did.
He put his forehead on mine. "Can you believe we're in the kitchen, kissing like this?"
"I can, but more than anything? I'm just happy."
He sighed and gave me one more kiss. "Loving you is inevitable. I'm glad I can show that to the world now."
I smiled, high on the joy flooding my bloodstream. "That first kiss in the gala a couple of years ago? To think you told me you were prepared to see me falling for someone else."
"I have never been happier to be proven wrong."
"I have never been happier to see that making mistakes isn't a sentence."
"And now to see how everyone else reacts."
"How about we shock them? Let's give them no warnings."
"I would say that's a little devious… but I won't, because it's making me laugh to imagine some of their faces. I can't wait to see how they react."
"People at the party, or people tomorrow at the office?"
"Everyone. I want everyone to know, and be happy for us. Or not. I will be on cloud nine anyway."
Later, we said goodbye at the kitchen door, agreeing to meet first thing in the morning at the office. I closed the door, my heart beating like a hummingbird's, but I watched him through the window.
He lifted both arms above his head in a celebratory gesture. His smile was wide and happy, like he'd been the underdog to his own story, but had won the match for the whole team.
I laughed and blew a kiss at him through the window, before he pumped his fist in the air one more time.