Chapter 12-2
833 Words
The talk with the twins doesn’t go over so well at the coffee shop. Those two are getting on my last nerve with their hovering. I’m about ready to toss my coffee at them as they stare across from me on their side of the table. I stand to leave, and Sawyer stops me with his plea. “You know we only want what’s best for you. Why are you acting like we don’t matter to you?”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Sawyer. I care for the both of you deeply. Now the two of you want to make me a priority. When we were together, I was in a relationship with myself. And it wasn’t like I asked you two to stop doing your jobs. I understood what I was in for. Trips away from home, and you two constantly being on the road, but would it have hurt to get a phone call or a simple text message. Now you bug me all the damn time. Don’t you have jobs to do? You two are with the CIA or is it NSA, you also do side jobs for Jackson’s company. I get you’re worried, I am too most days, but I’m doing the best with what I have.”
I leave the coffee shop, there are tears in my eyes, because I care deeply for them. Despite what they think. Men never listen to what you say. They hear things in pieces. Selective hearing is what my mother used to say. They pick what they want and then toss out the rest and strangely enough, honestly have no freaking clue what you’ve just told them. My mother once sent my father to the store to get milk, baking soda, and then asked him to pick up flour. Someone tell me why Dad came back with actual flowers. The thought was sweet, but Mom’s point is proved. Men and selective hearing. I don’t know how many times I told the twins to let me work things out in my own way, but somehow, they didn’t hear the part where I said my own way. Finn and Sawyer only heard the words work.
Anna is waiting for me when I walk through the glass doors.
“How did it go?”
I shrug. “Who the f**k knows, those two are hardheaded.”
Anna laughs. “Who you telling? Jackson is the same way. Doesn’t matter how many times I say one thing, he will always do the other nine times out of ten.”
“Right.”
We both laugh.
“You know we’re heading over to the bar after work, right?”
I nod and grab a stack of mail off the front desk. “We really should hire a receptionist,” I say.
“You say that, but let’s wait ‘til business really picks up before we do that. I think right now, between the two of us, we got this.”
Anna wasn’t wrong. Then again, I was getting the itch to get out and travel. Prior to Anna having the twins, and the rest of her brood, we’d often talk of all the places we wanted to visit before we settled down. There weren’t too many places I could visit, but now it seems I may do just that. I know deep down inside it’s an excuse to not be in my house, but the excuse I think is a way to self-heal. Rejuvenate and do what it is I want to do. I just don’t know how to approach Anna with my thoughts. It’s the reason I want to get some help here. I want to wake up and tell myself, “Today, Hawaii sounds nice,” or someplace farther if I choose.
“How are the kids doing?”
Anna turns to me and smiles. “The kids are good. More than good, and the twins are getting bigger every day. When you’re ready, come for a visit.”
I don’t know how ready I’ll ever be. I shake my head and clear the thoughts threatening to flood my mind. I walk over to Anna and quickly hug her. “I’ll stop by this weekend. I don’t want to be distant, and if it turns out to be too much for me, I know how to make my exit. Besides, I need some of your mother’s iced tea and I know you got it by the gallons.”
“Girl, you know my mom never leaves my fridge empty.”
“Then I will stop by on Sunday.”
“Good, and if Hae-in is still here, bring him along. Or not.” Anna winks.
“I’m taking him to the bar tonight. I think that’s enough. Bringing him around the kids and such doesn’t feel right. It seems too soon and I’m not even sure what we really are yet.”
“Understood. But if you change your mind, it’s perfectly fine.”
“Thanks.”
Hae-in isn’t gone for thirty minutes and he’s texting me already.
Hae-in: Why do I want to see you already?
India: Cause you got problems.
Hae-in: I don’t see it as a problem.
India: I think you’re suffering from shiny toy syndrome.
Hae-in What does that mean?
India: Remind me to explain later tonight. I have 2 work & so do you.
Hae-in: K ????
- Writer
