Divine (23 page)

* * *

My parents invited
Jonah over to our house for dinner the night before we left so I
could spend some extra time with him. I told him to come over around
eight o'clock; we were going to be having a late dinner that night
since we were busy getting ready for the trip.

A few minutes before
the clock turned eight I heard the rumbling of his engine pull up in
our driveway. I walked over to the front door and stood behind it,
taking an extra second to run my fingers through my hair and
straighten my shirt.

My heart raced when I
opened the door and watched him jump out of his truck and walk up the
driveway toward me, wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a tight green
t-shirt. I stepped back and let him pass me into the house. “Hi,
how are you?” I greeted him while shutting the door and locking
it behind us.

“
I'm good, how's
it going with you?”

“
Good. I like the
new shirt by the way; green's my favorite color.”

He looked down at his
chest and ran his hand over the stretched fabric. “Yeah, I
know. That's why I bought it.”

“
Ah, trying to
impress me, huh?” I teased.

He looked up and
flashed a smile that brought small crinkles to the corners of his
eyes. “Always.”

Man I love it when
you flirt with me. And just look at those eyes of yours; I never want
you to take them off of me . . .

My
thoughts clouded my mind as I stood there in front of him in silence.
I
tried to contain myself by crossing my arms and nodding casually
toward the living room. “You can go ahead and sit down if you
want, my mom's in there reading. I have to go
grab
something really quick.”

“
Okay, no
problem.”

I took the liberty to
admire his butt as he walked away from me, which was something that I
always found time to do; it was a favorite past time of mine.

The sound of my mom's
voice breaking into chatter with him filled the air as I hurried up
the stairs to my room. I went to my closet to get the money that I
had been saving for a new car; I kept it in a small pink box on the
floor underneath my pile of shoes.

The box squeaked as I
pulled the lid off and took out the wad of cash. I thumbed through
the bills and counted out three thousand dollars, the price of the
car that Jonah had found for me. Once I pushed the lid back on I hid
the box secretly back under my mess of shoes, making sure that it was
hidden completely from view.

As I walked down the
stairs I could hear my mom blabbing to Jonah about our Divine family
history. I rolled my eyes to myself before making my appearance in
the room. “Mom, what are you talking about now?” I
mumbled as I plopped down on the couch next to Jonah.

“
I was just
telling him about your grandmother and how good she was at
teleporting.” She rocked happily in her chair and watched us
both on the couch, smiling at us like we were the cutest couple in
the world. “I'm so glad that you let Summer tell us that you
are a Divine. I think it's good that she has someone she can talk to
about that kind of stuff. You know, besides talking to me about it.”

Jonah smiled at me
softly and patted me teasingly on my head. “Yeah, we talk a lot
about it.”

I laughed out a puff of
air and jokingly hit his hand away with my fist full of money. “Here,
I'll pay you guys to stop talking about it now.”

“
Whoa, what's all
the money for?” he bellowed as he grabbed it from my grasp.

“
For you, for the
car.”

He leaned back into the
couch and gave his finger an exaggerated lick before using it to scan
through the bills. My mom and I eyed each other and laughed quietly
at his humor.

“
Well, it looks
like it's all here,” he observed as he leaned to the side and
pulled his black leather wallet out from his back pocket, sticking
the cash neatly inside. “You trust me with that much of your
hard earned money, huh?”

I pulled my legs up
onto the couch and shifted toward him. “I wouldn't trust anyone
else with it.”

“
What kind of car
is it, exactly?” my mom cut in.

“
It's a Honda
Civic; it's in really good shape for the price.”

Our conversation was
interrupted by the heavy footsteps of my dad coming downstairs. “Is
that Jonah I hear?” he shouted down at us.

Jonah laughed and stood
to shake my dad's hand as he sauntered into the room. “It's
good to see you again,” Jonah politely told him.

“
You too. Now
what's this I hear about you finding a car for my little Sugar Bean?”

They both took a seat
on the couch, one on each side of me. Jonah turned to face my dad and
talked over my head at him. “Well, I know that Sugar Bean has
been trying to find a decent car for awhile now . . .”

“
Oh stop it!”
I shot back at him with laughter.

My dad chuckled at
Jonah's attempt at embarrassing me. “And what kind of car is
it?” he asked him.

“
It's a Honda
Civic. I have to fix a couple of things on it; that's why I'm getting
it for such a good deal. But don't worry, I won't charge Summer that
much for the labor.” His eyes shifted from my dad's to mine and
he looked at me with a deadpan expression, waiting for my response.

“
Oh you're just
full of jokes tonight, aren't you?” I said flatly.

“
Sorry, I can't
help it.”

My mom stood up from
the recliner and let out a small yawn. “Well that's awfully
nice of you to help her, Jonah. I have complete faith in you that you
will get her something reliable.”

“
And something
that looks good,” I added.

“
Don't worry,
I've got you covered,” he said deeply, glancing at me for a
moment between the stares of my parents.

I wish you had me
covered . . .

My dad got up from the
couch and joined my mom across the room. “Dinner's just about
ready if you guys want to go into the kitchen; I made a pot roast,”
he boasted.

“
Okay Dad. We'll
be there in a minute.”

“
What do you want
to drink Jonah?” my mom asked.

“
I'll take some
hot tea if you have some please.”

“
Okay,” she
nodded, “I have a whole drawer full. I'll put some water in the
kettle for you.”

“
Thank you.”

Jonah's request for tea
made me think back about the time when he had reached around my waist
to pick out the red packet from the drawer. He had been so close to
my body, with his warm breath breathing down my neck and the smell of
his cologne intoxicating me, leaving me paralyzed with the need to
have his lips pressed against mine.

“
What are you
thinking about?” he asked, being well aware that I was in deep
thought about something.

I shook the image away
and looked over at him sitting next to me. “Nothing,” I
lied with a slight shake of my head.

His mouth smirked as he
shot me his usual “come on, I know you're lying” look
that he was so good at giving.

“
What?” I
argued lightly. “Can't I have some private thoughts of my own?”

“
Absolutely not,”
he countered back with a laugh. He leaned over and put his arm on the
back of the couch behind my head, sending a slight whiff of his
cologne lingering toward me.

“
Well that's too
bad, because I'm not going to tell you what I was thinking.” I
jumped up from the couch and swayed slowly toward the kitchen,
looking back over my shoulder at him with a sly, sexy smile.

He leaned forward and
rested his elbows on his knees as he grasped his hands together in
front of him, closely taking in the movements of my body as I walked
away.

It didn't take long
before he was sitting across from me at the kitchen table. His eyes
were red from rubbing them; I wondered what color they had glowed
after I left the room. I was proud of myself for choosing to play the
sexy card when I had walked away from him.

“
Jonah,” my
mom called out, “what kind of tea do you want? I have green,
black, raspberry . . .”

“
Uh,
passionfruit, if you have it,” he told her, giving me a wink
while he buttered a slice of sourdough bread.

I lowered my blushing
face to my plate, trying to conceal the grin that was slowly
spreading across it.

“
Here you go,”
my mom said as she sat the hot cup of tea in front of him. He picked
up the string and dunked the bag up and down, releasing the herbal
infusion into the water and unlocking its fruity scent.

“
Here we go!”
my dad chorused as he approached us with a giant plate toppled high
with pot roast.

My mom's eyes grew wide
with fascination. “Wow, that looks amazing!”

“
Thank you,”
he said as he sat it down in the middle of the table. “I hope
it tastes as good as it looks.”

I picked up my fork and
stuck it into a juicy piece of roast. Before adding anything else to
my plate I took a bite to taste test it for my dad. “It's
really good,” I complimented him.

“
Thank you,
Summer,” he grinned as he sat down at his seat and dug in with
the rest of us.

Jonah took a long sip
of his tea and held the cup in front of him. “Yes, it all
tastes delicious. Thank you again for having me over.”

“
Well, you're
welcome,” my mom answered, smiling politely before she stuck a
fork full of potatoes into her mouth.

Our dinner conversation
wasn't anything special; we talked mostly about my car and about our
trip to Arizona, with my dad doing most of the babbling about what he
wanted to do when we were down there.

Like usual, my dad
finished his food first and pushed away from the table with a look of
comfortable fullness. “Man, I'm tired,” he said, reaching
up over his head with a long stretch. “I'm gonna have to get to
bed real quick if I'm going to be getting up at four tomorrow.”

“
Wow, four
o'clock?” Jonah asked.

“
Yep. The plane
leaves at eight, and they suggested that we get there by six. So we
all need to get up around four to make sure we're ready and there on
time.”

Jonah nodded and
shifted around on the seat of his chair. “That's pretty early.
I guess I should be heading out soon so you all can get to bed.”

No,
please don't leave yet
.
I wasn't going to see him for two whole weeks; I didn't want our last
visit together to be cut short.

My mom glanced over and
saw my sullen expression. “Oh, you don't have to leave because
we're going to bed,” she told him. “We're just old,
that's all. Summer stays up pretty late; I'm sure she will be up for
awhile longer so you can visit.”

Thank you mom.

I smiled with
thankfulness at her and pushed away from the table. “I'll clean
everything up, you guys,” I said as I gathered the plates and
took them into the kitchen, setting them gently down in the sink.

Jonah grabbed the empty
pot roast dish and brought it to me. “Okay, I'll stay a few
more minutes if you all don't mind.”

“
That's fine,”
my dad said, “just as long as you make sure the door is locked
when you leave.”

“
That's not a
problem,” Jonah smiled.

My parents said
goodnight and slowly walked up the stairs to their room, leaving us
alone in the kitchen.

When I heard their
door shut I turned away from the sink and looked at Jonah, who was
leaning against the fridge with his tanned arms crossed in front of
him. His face was serious.

“
What's wrong?”
I asked quietly.

He shook his head.
“Nothing.”

“
Oh
okay, now
you
can't
do what
I
do
to you; that's not fair,” I chuckled.